Well, if I saw a video on Youtube that showed you exactly what to buy and how to build this thing I would. Hopefully someone will think of building something with the TPA3118D2 and put it on eBay.
Fakeout,
I started with nothing more than the TI product application note with circuit schematic and bill of materials list (BOM), and a desire to build this with my wacky dead bug technique. Digikey will sell you everything you need in parts. TI will give you samples for free. Just need magnifying goggles, iron, solder, tweezers, and steady hands.
I did not have high expectations, but was very pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. There are folks with pcb designs for these, if the boards were available, the rest is not too bad. Certainly easier than wire bonding to the tiny leads like I did.
There are lots of youtube videos on how to solder smd components. Conventional iron and reflow. Helpful to watch if you have not soldered tiny little things before.
I started with nothing more than the TI product application note with circuit schematic and bill of materials list (BOM), and a desire to build this with my wacky dead bug technique. Digikey will sell you everything you need in parts. TI will give you samples for free. Just need magnifying goggles, iron, solder, tweezers, and steady hands.
I did not have high expectations, but was very pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. There are folks with pcb designs for these, if the boards were available, the rest is not too bad. Certainly easier than wire bonding to the tiny leads like I did.
There are lots of youtube videos on how to solder smd components. Conventional iron and reflow. Helpful to watch if you have not soldered tiny little things before.
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I guess the big question comes down to how you listen to music. My main amplifier is an Odyssey Khartago. I have an aftermarket power cord on this unit that costs more than most Class D amplifiers. This alone greatly improves dynamic slam along with some increased air. Short changing an amplifier's power supply seems like a capital crime to me. It could be that Class D is just not as picky. I would still light up any Class D amplifier for what its worth just on principal. Music is never background music at least in my house. It all comes down to how you listen to music.
SSportclay,
How many watts is your amp? Normal 120VAC mains are typically 10 amps for 1200 watts. Class A/B efficiency is around 30% (so I am told) so that would put you at around 400 watts continuous but much more peak if a capacitor is holding a reservoir of power. I can't imagine how any more than standard 12 AWG 3-conductor power cord is needed ($27 for 25 ft at Lowes) - 9.3 amps continuous. If you actually ran at this level continuously you would trip your circuit breakers. For 1200 watt amps, they have 240 vac mains. I guess a $27 cord is more than a $20 Lepai class D amp
Anyhow, I only use single driver full range speakers where 50 watts is typically too much power. So yes, it depends on the music and type of speakers we use.
Regards,
X
How many watts is your amp? Normal 120VAC mains are typically 10 amps for 1200 watts. Class A/B efficiency is around 30% (so I am told) so that would put you at around 400 watts continuous but much more peak if a capacitor is holding a reservoir of power. I can't imagine how any more than standard 12 AWG 3-conductor power cord is needed ($27 for 25 ft at Lowes) - 9.3 amps continuous. If you actually ran at this level continuously you would trip your circuit breakers. For 1200 watt amps, they have 240 vac mains. I guess a $27 cord is more than a $20 Lepai class D amp
Anyhow, I only use single driver full range speakers where 50 watts is typically too much power.
So yes, it depends on the music and type of speakers we use.Regards,
X
SSportclay,
How many watts is your amp? Normal 120VAC mains are typically 10 amps for 1200 watts. Class A/B efficiency is around 30% (so I am told) so that would put you at around 400 watts continuous but much more peak if a capacitor is holding a reservoir of power. I can't imagine how any more than standard 12 AWG 3-conductor power cord is needed ($27 for 25 ft at Lowes) - 9.3 amps continuous. If you actually ran at this level continuously you would trip your circuit breakers. For 1200 watt amps, they have 240 vac mains. I guess a $27 cord is more than a $20 Lepai class D amp
Anyhow, I only use single driver full range speakers where 50 watts is typically too much power.
Regards,
X
My amplifier is around 100 watts per channel and it is driving a pair of Von Schweikert VR-1 bookshelf speakers with 6.5" woofers. The large power cord I am using is not snake oil. The difference in dynamic slam achieved is fairly large. I have little comment why this difference is so dramatic but the beast must be fed and typical power cords chock off dynamics and detail. More efficient full range speakers will change the equation of course. I guess the only way to find out how much damage your power supply is doing to your amplifier is to hook up a more suitable power supply and compare sound quality to your present one just like I did with power cords. It is always nice to theorize why things work a certain way but there is no substitute for actual listening. Some of the best amplifier designers the world over also have the best ears. Ears are the bottom line.
Fakeout,
I started with nothing more than the TI product application note with circuit schematic and bill of materials list (BOM), and a desire to build this with my wacky dead bug technique. Digikey will sell you everything you need in parts. TI will give you samples for free. Just need magnifying goggles, iron, solder, tweezers, and steady hands.
I did not have high expectations, but was very pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. There are folks with pcb designs for these, if the boards were available, the rest is not too bad. Certainly easier than wire bonding to the tiny leads like I did.
There are lots of youtube videos on how to solder smd components. Conventional iron and reflow. Helpful to watch if you have not soldered tiny little things before.
M'kay, I'll accept that as an explanation. I wouldn't expect anyone to do anything for me but I'd need a list of parts and a diagram showing me which wire goes where. lol, I wouldn't be sure where to start.
SSportclay,
I am not implying your power cord is snake oil. If the power main is choke point, and you are needing up to 200 watts or circa 600 watts total draw you are up there at 5 amps. At this current, I agree that typical 16 gauge lamp cord won't cut it (up 3.7 amps only). You will need at least 14 gauge wire for 5.9 amp rating. I would seriously look into adding some more capacitance to your main power supply transformer output. That will help more than any power cord.
I am not implying your power cord is snake oil. If the power main is choke point, and you are needing up to 200 watts or circa 600 watts total draw you are up there at 5 amps. At this current, I agree that typical 16 gauge lamp cord won't cut it (up 3.7 amps only). You will need at least 14 gauge wire for 5.9 amp rating. I would seriously look into adding some more capacitance to your main power supply transformer output. That will help more than any power cord.
M'kay, I'll accept that as an explanation. I wouldn't expect anyone to do anything for me but I'd need a list of parts and a diagram showing me which wire goes where. lol, I wouldn't be sure where to start.
The documentation from TI's website http://www.ti.com/litv/pdf/slou342 has the circuit schematic (shows you which wire to connect to where), and parts list with actual part numbers that you just copy and paste into Digikey's website for the actual part. The only part that was not in Digikey was the inductor which I substituted based on rating.
You can skip all the parts that are like binding posts, and connector jacks if you want and wire it directly as flying leads to save money.
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Upon going to TI's website for the TPA3118D2 EVM (eval module), it occurred to me that TI is really generous: they are giving the whole Gerber files for the eval board for free! If you wanted to get a PC board, take this file and send it to a PCB shop in China - like ITEAD. They have robotic board machines that will make these for cheap. Qnty 10 2x2 in 2 layer PCB's are $10 including shipping! I don't know how much a 3x3 in board is but maybe $50 to $70 for qnty 10? Someone should run off a bunch of these and sell them...
Gerber files here:
http://www.ti.com/litv/zip/sloc271
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You are right. I was told that you can actually ask for "free sample" of the chip too! However, I have my eyes set on the 3116D which I have heard and was very impressed. Unfortunately, that amp was built with all SMDs (based on the reference design) which I am not prepare to try my soldering skill with yet. I do not mind put up the money up front to order a batch of boards if someone knowledgeble is willing to convert the PCB layout from using SMDs to thru hole compnents.
Regards,
I doubt their eval license allows you to sell the PCBs... and samples are not really supposed to be used as free components to add to PCBs youve used their design for...
samples are supposed to be used by people evaluating the part for a design they are working on. but of course they know DIYers just use them as free parts, they even pay express shipping... I guess they treat it as cheap advertising or something; but I really try to keep it to a minimum these days.
performance will suffer using through-hole for something like this and SMD is much easier than you think
samples are supposed to be used by people evaluating the part for a design they are working on. but of course they know DIYers just use them as free parts, they even pay express shipping... I guess they treat it as cheap advertising or something; but I really try to keep it to a minimum these days.
performance will suffer using through-hole for something like this and SMD is much easier than you think
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I often wonder why some find it necessary use really fat power cords and speaker cables when the the 2 wires from the frame to the coil on loudpeakers are so skinny?
Not to mention the installation wires being of dubious quality in the first place and transmitted via power lines provided by the lowest bider. To each his own but generally, next time you feel like forking out a lot of cash for a power cord then give it to charity instead. Even if it's wasted, it will do more good.
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The run of wire from basket to voicecoil is very short - you can have small diameters for short runs and not suffer loss due to intrinsic ohmic heating. Note how small the leads are on a 200 watt power mosfet, it only has to conduct less than an inch. I am not saying that fancy power cables or speaker cables are needed (I use 22 ga solid wires from home security systems) but length of run is part of the equation.
Is it really? So you're saying the last 1 meter of power cable matters more than the miles of power cable before it reached the wall plug?
I am not looking for help because I am tickled pink what the power cord achieves. Thanks anyway.
Not sure what you are implying. Power delivered to voice coil is ultimately what we are looking for. If that power can be delivered via conduictive wires, RF transmission or optically with high power lasers and converted back to electrical current, it doesn't matter. I am just saying that it is a combination of wire gauge, length of run, self capacitance, inductance, etc... But for most applications in audio freq range the resistance of a wire and its run length are the important parameters. Look at how small the wire lead coming from the TPA3116D2 chip that goes into the inductor and then speaker cable is - and it carries up to 6 amps - but is 1 mm long.