Cheap TPA3118D2 boards, modding them and everything that comes with it

here's a mean-well (brand) I'm going to try (should be here in a day or two)

http://www.amazon.com/LPV-60-12-Sealed-12-volt-Supply-Driver/dp/B00DED2YLI

I don't know if its going to work in this app. I know its not 24v so it won't give me max voltage swing but it is plenty of current.

I want a safe, reliable psu and so I'm hunting down some industrial quality ones that are well known brands and/or have a u/l rating (or equiv). really trying to avoid the 98% junk that's out there.

will report back what I find once those things get here (that one and another brand, perhaps embeddable in 1U size). I ordered one and if I like it, I'll have to get 3 more (sigh).
 
Trying to figure out how to connect these safely myself. Ideally, I'd have a 2->4 ways system that I can bi-amp if needed.

Though I don't want to blow up the amps by connecting them with no load attached. Is there a speaker socket type or similar that would allowed an unconnected socket to divert through a resistance?
 
just mute the amp units that are not in play.

controller? I'm doing an arduino one, myself. or at-tiny.

I could do it with switches... Or indeed, mute the amps. That relies on an oik (me) remembering to do it though. I'd probably forget through excess enthusiasm for checking something else out then have the "oh-no moment" followed by alcohol fuelled sulking.... (OK, an exaggeration :) )

My other favourite is the sibling/parent/offspring inspired ****-up. Where you are interrupted in mid-project and then it goes kaboom! :)
 
got this one, in today, and so far I'm liking it:

41i%2B0rtFwzL._SY300_.jpg


meant for LED lighting (12v seems to be standard for those guys) and has 3A capacity.

its plastic covered (safe), small (I like that!) and for modest power listening, 3amps is probably good enough to get by, with. I need to fit 4 of these somewhere, so keeping the size down matters a lot. trying to get it all in a 1U somehow. and not a deep 1U, either, but more pro audio standard kind of size.
 
yeah yeah, laugh it up.

so far, everyone I showed that to, laughed also.

its cheap power and for the class-d, I'm not sure it matters that it is 'supposed' to be for led lighting. if the led lighting craze yields nice, thin, sealed, industrial quality 12v CV supplies, hey, I'm not about to tell my amp who is sending it power ;)

I hear absolutely no buzz or hum in my tannoy pbm8 with an ebay/amazon 'smakn' version of this chip. I think its set to 32db gain and I'm feeding it from a line-out on a portable DAP (the fiio x3-ii; a very nice dsd-native portable audio player). I hear more noise from content than I do this amp and I hear no hum or buzz even 1cm from the spkr.

I cannot find a single fault, yet, with this stupid LED power supply. lol

its cheap power that seems to be well built. I'm happy so far. 3 more are coming and I'll see how a setup with 4 of them works out, long-term.
 
yes, make sure you get constant voltage ones. anything marked WITH a voltage will be, though. if its a 12v adapter, it will be CV, pretty sure ;)

I just like the fact that the LED craze has made good industrial quality psu's available for my personal audio use (lol). thanks, led guys! its always nice to have cheap reliable psu's and not have to take risks with consumer fire-hazzard psu bricks.

I kept debating whether to buy 4 laptop bricks or go with something onboard, inside a chassis. the external bricks are easy to swap in and out and easy to buy, don't have to open anything, no soldering, no nothing. plug and go. but they often have a bad rep for catching fire or overvolting.

no guarantee with industrial ones, but they TEND to be built to a better standard.
 
The thermal pad of the tpa3118 is facing down into the PCB so the ground plane of the board can act as a heatsink. Therefore the chip can operate without an external heatsink if the board is properly designed. Since the blue 3118 is physically small, the heat dissipation with the ground plane is not optimal, but it does not require an extra heatsink.
 
Did anyone compared sound after changing gain settings? I plan to lower it to 20.

I lowered my gain and did not hear any problems. I did not do a careful controlled a/b or anything, but nothing jumped out at me as 'wrong' when I changed the gain.

you do want to drive this from a constant source z, though. volume pots seem to really mess with this, from what I've seen. a buffer stage before this seems prudent.