Do gainclones run hot like Class A's?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jump to Latest
Hybrid fourdoor

Hybrid fourdoor

Member
Joined 2003
#1
Hi everyone, I was just wondering if Gainclones operate like a class A amp and use a lot of energy and get hot. Or are they more like Class B's and up, that moderate there power usage?


I tried searching, but wasn't sure how that could be worded. I like the simplicity of a Gainclone and that the fact that a amauter like me could easily build one, but didn't know of it would be a room heater like my Monarchy Audio amp.

Thanks,
David
 
#3
So is the heat what limits it's output. Like thereotically if you could keep it really cooled you could get like 75watts per channel, like overclocking a CPU.

Also is the stepped attentuator used to bias the amp or is it used a passive preamp?

And one more question...is the DC offset like the noisefloor or something?

I have some basic knowledge (community college classes) of electronics, but I have never actually built something, and I didn't want to start a seperate thread for basic stuff.
 
#4
Gainclone heatsinking is very easy, I used a LM3886 to feed a 60H sine wave to my TT (3 or 4 W) and gets hot but nothin evil with a very small sink. You can get out the maximum power with a small sink. What do you have there?
Nothing like a bias meter or whatever, the atenuattor is used as passive pre. You can also use a pot.
DC offset is the DC voltage that appears at the output of the amp, and it's aimed to 0V. If not zeroed, the cone of the speaker will be moved slightly to one side. GC will give you a maximum of 30mV which is negligible. Noise floor is a completely different thing. Is the sound that is not expected (that is : noise :clown: ) and is actually where all the sounds are put on. If you live in a noisy enviroment (60dB) you will have to talk louder to be understood. Same thing in a Hifi.
If you follow the scheme you won't have any problem, believe me.
 
#6
Use a small heatsink of attach it to a thin case, and then take the volume to party levels (more than half) with 4 ohm speakers and you'll hear the thermal protection in action.

Guys, it's better to cool it properly.
Or the box is thick, or use some decent heatsinks.
It really gets hot when you abbuse.
No miracles here.
At normal listening levels, though, it won't get hot.
 
#7
Exactly. When I play at normal (or soft?) levels sometimes the chips are not even warm at touch. But when I push the amp really hard it can overheat (I have a small heatsink with bad thermic contact). So if you really need the full 50 watts, I would use a somewhat larger heatsink. Class A amps generate much more heat for less output power. And also in rest !!!

Fedde
 
#11
JCoffey said:
Anyone tried CPU cooling techniques to really chill the chips? Something like this would be really cool I think.....
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


http://www.3dcool.com/?module=product&sku=CP101###
Click to expand...


good idea i suppose 🙄

a friend told me that he recently tried using several fans and water cooling on his PC CPU, he froze the chip to -40 degrees C! the chip refused to work so cold :bigeyes: 😱 :bigeyes:
 
#12
Fan noise bugs me.
My kid's playstation2 has the fan tweaked:devily: by me with a diode, and makes much less noise than in original form.
But still it's audible.
I put a diode there because the PSU for the fan has so little current that even with a 10ohm resistor it refuses to work.:dodgy:
 
#13
a friend told me that he recently tried using several fans and water cooling on his PC CPU, he froze the chip to -40 degrees C! the chip refused to work so cold
Click to expand...

This is got to be the second physics world-wonder after the "perpetuum mobile".😉
You obviously meant "liquid nitrogen cooling" not watercooling.


Cheers
Jens
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom