Hi diyAudio!
I'm an electrical engineering student and looking to beef up an old ghettoblaster. Push it into the 21st century so to speak.
For that i'm looking for an amplifier which has around a 100W of power.
While the internet gives a lot of options. I'm wondering if you guys have a suggestion which can help me.
Or tips for what to look for!
Thanks in advance
I'm an electrical engineering student and looking to beef up an old ghettoblaster. Push it into the 21st century so to speak.
For that i'm looking for an amplifier which has around a 100W of power.
While the internet gives a lot of options. I'm wondering if you guys have a suggestion which can help me.
Or tips for what to look for!
Thanks in advance
There's so much wrong with this post that I don't even know where to start but lets just take the glaringly obvious that probably any commercially available amp is going far exceed the requirements regarding sound quality when it's just to beef up an old ghettoblaster. Second is that as an electrical engineering student you should know that 100W (into what load impedance?) requires about 12W continuous average power consumption so battery life will be very limited unless you're planning of adding a sizable and expensive/heavy battery.
What you should probably be looking for instead is a small 15W amp or something else that can run directly on a 12V battery and don't need dc-dc converters. And throw out the ghettoblaster and use decent speakers instead in a proper cabinet.
Better still. Build a Boominator MINI or a similar project.
What you should probably be looking for instead is a small 15W amp or something else that can run directly on a 12V battery and don't need dc-dc converters. And throw out the ghettoblaster and use decent speakers instead in a proper cabinet.
Better still. Build a Boominator MINI or a similar project.
Well lets go through an "upgrade" process.
Lets say this old ghettoblaster is about 10W per channel.
This means that (optimistically) the power supply is about 30W.
To support 100W (total RMS) you need as a minimum for class D amp about 110W power supply and 150W for chip amp or class AB amp.
So you have to build a bigger power supply.
The speakers will have to be upgraded to handle the additional power. (they will probably be a little larger)
Between the power supply and the speakers you will most likely need a bigger box to put it in.
So what is left that does not need to be replaced:
Cassette tape transport
AM/FM radio
CD transport.
So if you are moving into the 21st century all you need is the AM/FM radio section...and maybe not that.
So this is why the response to suggestions of "upgrading" an old ghettoblaster is met with the reaction of " there are better things to do".
IF I had one and wanted to tinker with it, I would look at replacing the amplifier section with a class D amp for greater battery life.
But I would more likely build a boominator or similar project...as suggested by Saturnus.
Research, research, research.
🙂
Lets say this old ghettoblaster is about 10W per channel.
This means that (optimistically) the power supply is about 30W.
To support 100W (total RMS) you need as a minimum for class D amp about 110W power supply and 150W for chip amp or class AB amp.
So you have to build a bigger power supply.
The speakers will have to be upgraded to handle the additional power. (they will probably be a little larger)
Between the power supply and the speakers you will most likely need a bigger box to put it in.
So what is left that does not need to be replaced:
Cassette tape transport
AM/FM radio
CD transport.
So if you are moving into the 21st century all you need is the AM/FM radio section...and maybe not that.
So this is why the response to suggestions of "upgrading" an old ghettoblaster is met with the reaction of " there are better things to do".
IF I had one and wanted to tinker with it, I would look at replacing the amplifier section with a class D amp for greater battery life.
But I would more likely build a boominator or similar project...as suggested by Saturnus.
Research, research, research.
🙂
+1
100W sounds much too much for a ghettoblaster - they're usally very effective and often 1-8W/channel is enough
You would need a Step-Up-Booster to about 32V and huge batteries to reach 100W/channel - your batteries would be drained very fast and unless you're using high-end (expensive) LiPo batteries for huge RC-helicopters or 30kg lead-acid batteries they won't even deliver enough without getting boiling hot.
Better go for a TK2050 based boards like the board from Muse - they sound excellent, need low idle power, 12V are easy to reach without step-ups and they are very effective and 22,5WRMS/chanel are imho more than enough.
100W sounds much too much for a ghettoblaster - they're usally very effective and often 1-8W/channel is enough
You would need a Step-Up-Booster to about 32V and huge batteries to reach 100W/channel - your batteries would be drained very fast and unless you're using high-end (expensive) LiPo batteries for huge RC-helicopters or 30kg lead-acid batteries they won't even deliver enough without getting boiling hot.
Better go for a TK2050 based boards like the board from Muse - they sound excellent, need low idle power, 12V are easy to reach without step-ups and they are very effective and 22,5WRMS/chanel are imho more than enough.
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Hello,
I designed a potable radio a few years ago using a TI TPA3100D2, Silicon Labs Si4735D60, Maxim MAX9729(now obsolete), Atmel xmega128a3 etc. It works great, energy efficient, very reliable and sounds great too. You will be impressed with the sound and power of the newer TPA3116 as well. Suggest to use 2 of TPA3116(four speakers) to get to your 100W goal but I do not think 100W is necessary, 50W is more than enough for a getto blaster.
I just helped a friend rebuild the famous JVC RC-M90 which was TOTL in those days. My potable blows the doors off the ole RC-M90.
These old blasters where limited in output power by the DC supply, for the RC-M90 it is 10 "D" cells = 15V and it used a bridged amp to get more power out of the limited DC supply.
For one friend I built a DC-DC converter to step-up a car battery V for an old blaster that would not run off 12VDC, it wanted 13.8VDC to operate.
Good Luck with your upgrades.
I designed a potable radio a few years ago using a TI TPA3100D2, Silicon Labs Si4735D60, Maxim MAX9729(now obsolete), Atmel xmega128a3 etc. It works great, energy efficient, very reliable and sounds great too. You will be impressed with the sound and power of the newer TPA3116 as well. Suggest to use 2 of TPA3116(four speakers) to get to your 100W goal but I do not think 100W is necessary, 50W is more than enough for a getto blaster.
I just helped a friend rebuild the famous JVC RC-M90 which was TOTL in those days. My potable blows the doors off the ole RC-M90.
These old blasters where limited in output power by the DC supply, for the RC-M90 it is 10 "D" cells = 15V and it used a bridged amp to get more power out of the limited DC supply.
For one friend I built a DC-DC converter to step-up a car battery V for an old blaster that would not run off 12VDC, it wanted 13.8VDC to operate.
Good Luck with your upgrades.
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