D2-Audio Bass Amp

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mlise

Member
2007-03-19 9:28 pm
Silicon Valley
  • #1
    I've started a bass guitar amp project with the D2 Audio DAE-6 chip (Intersil). The chip has a DSP pool that you program with a GUI, so no DSP code, and modulators for a whole bunch of channels. There are canned applications for psychoacoustic bass enhancement, stereo expansion, etc. Basically you should be able to make a really really big Jambox without much trouble.
    Before I go too far down the D2 road, are there any other chips out there with similar features?

    Thanks!
     

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    phase_accurate

    Member
    2002-05-01 11:00 pm
    Switzerland
  • #4
    Hi Marshall

    Are you the first owner of that beauty or did you get it 2nd hand ? I was always tinkering with purchasing an Alembic but before spending that amount of money I'd like to try the instrument first and thats not that easy in Europe.

    But back to topic.

    This is a feedbackless design by D2 audio, isn't it ? Digital PWM modulators with some signal processing are also offerd by Pulsus (Korea), Zetex (only to be had in BIG numbers, so not interesting for guys like us - the designer of the topology is a member on this forum here BTW), TI and Apogee. How much and what type of processing they offer in their chips you'd have to check by yourself.

    The other possibility is to use seperate power amp and signal processing. I.e. either conventional or switching power amp fed by a DSP solution. The SigmaDSP processors by ADI are quite interesting and they are also programmed by the use of a GUI. And some of them do also have A/D and D/A on board. I use SigmaDSP eval kits for the development/synthesis of analog active crossovers and they are very convenient for that purpose.

    As soon as I find the time I will try to do some bass processing on these SigmaDSP thingies. I'd like to record some custom ringtones for my mobile phone with my ERB and therefore I need some signal processing like cutting the low end, synthesizing pseudo bass, compression etc.

    Regards

    Charles
     
    xrk971

    xrk971

    Member
    Paid Member
    2012-10-20 4:50 am
    Metro DC (Virginia)
    www.etsy.com
  • #5
    mlise said:
    I've started a bass guitar amp project with the D2 Audio DAE-6 chip (Intersil). The chip has a DSP pool that you program with a GUI, so no DSP code, and modulators for a whole bunch of channels. There are canned applications for psychoacoustic bass enhancement, stereo expansion, etc. Basically you should be able to make a really really big Jambox without much trouble.
    Before I go too far down the D2 road, are there any other chips out there with similar features?

    Thanks!
    Click to expand...
    Looks like really powerful solution with features out the wazoo. Did you make the pcb or are you using an eval module? Which part number includes integrated power amp?
     
    M

    mlise

    Member
    2007-03-19 9:28 pm
    Silicon Valley
  • #6
    Hi,
    The board is a demo board. I was just at Intersil as an FAE and ordered it. It took Palm Bay 6 weeks to ship it. There are four versions of the board and they shipped the wrong one. Doh!
    D2 is closed loop. There are 5 different D2 chips with variations. DAE-1 os older, DAE-3 is newer and DAE-6 is the newest fully flexible part. You can put processing blocks in any order. DAE-4 is new, but has a fixed signal path, an integrated power stage, and you can tweak parameters on all the blocks. IPS is an integrated power stage good for 10 or 20 watts depending on load and if you bridge it. The variations are licensed options for Dolby, DTS or Mark Levinson's Mighty Cat.
    I have it up and running and it sounds great. I have four single ended amps into each of the 8 ohm speakers for a total of 30 big watts! With the bass enhancement it beats your head pretty well. My plan is to build discrete power stages with ISL2111 drivers and MOSFETs. Phihong has a 1KW 57V power supply at Digi-Key for $400 which is fine for prototype and early production.
    I bought the guitar second hand. I figured it would be good enough to learn on. LOL. I was working at Gallien Krueger designing bass amps and a friend called from Guitar Showcase and said if I wanted a stupid deal, get in the car and come now, not after work. Whoever sold it didn't even put it on consignment, he sold it directly to the store and probably got less than $1000 for it. As far as test driving one, let me know what city you're in and I'll find out from Mica at Alembic where a dealer is. My hope is to sell the amp through Alembic, so they can afford to hire me :)

    Best regards,
    Marshall
     
    M

    mlise

    Member
    2007-03-19 9:28 pm
    Silicon Valley
  • #8
    Hi,
    An FAE is a field applications engineer. I was the technical support for chips from Intersil in the Bay Area and Colorado. Before Intersil I was at ONSemi as an FAE. I think the chip would actually be around five bucks. No one has it in stock, so just order samples. Make up a company and you can order the demo board. They might even give it to you if you asked to just fool around with it. I spoke to the marketer for these chips about DIYAudio and she was ready to send out boards to get something going. The chips with the Dolby decoder should be hard to get without a license. I ordered a DAE-6 board without Dolby and they sent a DAE-3 board with Dolby. The parts are pin compatible, the DAE-6 just has a little more gas.
     
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