Errr... TK2050 module for $20?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jump to Latest
J

jjne

Member
Joined 2012
#1
I've been thinking of putting together a TK2050-based power amplifier, and had noticed that the modules on eBay from Sure, arjen etc are typically between $45 and $100 each.

However I just noticed these;

LT-50 TK2050 50W+50W BTL 100W Amplifier board LCM-1 | eBay

These appear to be the reference design and pretty similar to the modules TEAC use on their 3-channel amp.

At the price it'd be churlish to refuse and I've bought a couple with the intention of bi-amping them and using them as the front channels together with the single TEAC I've bought. If the sound is sufficiently different to the TEAC itself I'll rethink my evil plan but they'll always find a use elsewhere 🙂

Question is, has anyone used these? They do seem remarkably cheap, and given the simplicity of the basic circuit it would seem to me that it would be tough to get the implementation wrong, but are they any good?
 
#6
If there are other modules available at similar price that's great (and it would be interesting to see how they compared with each other), but I'd rather this didn't degenerate into a p*ssing contest 😉

Was just interested in people's views on the quality of this particular system -- although I think it's new on the market so I might end up being the guinea pig lol.
 
#8
OK, got this module today, in case anyone's interested here's a brief review.

First, no connector included for the input -- had to piece one together out of bits for testing. Not overly happy about that I have to say....

OK, so is this better than a £700 amp (in this case a Shearne Audio Phase 2 Reference Integrated)? Errr, no. However what shocked me is that it ran it fairly close......

Used a Chinese Musical Fidelity clone valve buffer as a pre-amp for the purposes of testing. The amp is impressively detailed -- vocals in particular are excellent, and this thing is far more listenable than the typical £150-200 budget amplifier (and cost less than 10% of their price). I did find though that the amp is a little lacking in low-end grunt -- like the TEAC, only a bit more so I think. How much this is due to the pre-amp I'm not sure at this stage. The presentation is quite forward -- treble is very clean, mid-range is good and punchy, soundstage is good but no match for the Shearne.

The noise floor is acceptably low connected to an HP 31.5V printer PSU -- some slight mains hum coming through. I'm digging the fact that the power brick could house 2 or 3 of these amps lol.

I haven't had chance to tweak it yet, and cannot compare with other class-T amps, but I'm impressed with this for the price.
 
#10
I didn't crank it up very loud, or for very long, but the heatsink seemed adequate -- it was warm to the touch rather than hot.

This was laid out on a bench rather than in an enclosure, so I won't know for sure how it is heat wise until I've had time to put it all together.

For reference, the kit I was using the amp with was fairly old but still good quality; Cyrus dAD3 CD used as a transport to a TEAC D-T1 DAC, MF-clone valve pre-amp as mentioned before, Rogers LS55 speakers (floorstanding, twin-driver version of the LS5 monitor).

I'm not sure what I was expecting to be honest -- I've heard good things about the T-amps, and the TEAC L700P is an amazingly good amp for the money, but I didn't think something for £12 could possibly do a proper hifi system justice. I was therefore quite surprised at the result.
 
#11
With your speakers I would lose the tube preamp and go directly through the amp if you have another way of adjusting the volume. A simple alps pot would do.

Obviously, this £10 amp isn't as good as your shearne but you could easily get a TK2050 amp that will outform it if you'd be willing to pay a little more for the amp since this £10 amp is made from the cheapest available parts, and not "audiophile" friendly parts.

Realistically it's mostly the output filter components and input caps/input filtering that needs modding/changing, as well as a capable power supply instead, before you have a high quality amp capable of putting the Shearne to shame.
 
Last edited:
#12
Thanks for that Saturnus -- yeah I can well see now that the 2050 platform could be capable of great things, if a completely un-optimised version like this is pretty damned good to begin with.

The little Lepai 2020 gave me a taste for these T-amps, and this has really pricked my interest now. I will see if I can sort out an alternative for the valve amp -- any reason particularly why the speaker/pre-amp combination isn't ideal?

Without a doubt, this little setup will do the job for smaller systems around the house. There's probably about £300's worth of decent budget amplifiers here that can be upgraded with these things, and I'll make a profit on the deal lol.

I'll now have to think about where to go from here -- I'd rather start with something that's good in the first place rather then pull this thing to pieces and rebuild it with replacement caps etc.

I'm a wee bit scared of producing something that'll have the Shearne beaten to be honest -- it's been a faithful friend over the years and I still enjoy it a great deal. Still, they're worth £250 on the open market, so perhaps I shouldn't feel too sentimental 🙂

Regarding the power supplies (thinking ahead) -- are we talking S350s here, or am I going to have to put some thought into building something myself?
 
#18
hoka said:
When nothing is connected to the input mine is dead quiet too but as soon as there is even just a wire connected there is a relative loud hum, can't figure this out???
Click to expand...

Sounds like a ground loop.

I have a power amp like this. When the pre is powered down, this breaks the grounding causing a loud buzz through the power amp. Switch the pre on and silence descends.

I have not experienced hum on these modules. A little bit of high-frequency PSU noise yes.
 
#20
jjne said:
OK, got this module today, in case anyone's interested here's a brief review.

First, no connector included for the input -- had to piece one together out of bits for testing. Not overly happy about that I have to say....

OK, so is this better than a £700 amp (in this case a Shearne Audio Phase 2 Reference Integrated)? Errr, no. However what shocked me is that it ran it fairly close......

Used a Chinese Musical Fidelity clone valve buffer as a pre-amp for the purposes of testing. The amp is impressively detailed -- vocals in particular are excellent, and this thing is far more listenable than the typical £150-200 budget amplifier (and cost less than 10% of their price). I did find though that the amp is a little lacking in low-end grunt -- like the TEAC, only a bit more so I think. How much this is due to the pre-amp I'm not sure at this stage. The presentation is quite forward -- treble is very clean, mid-range is good and punchy, soundstage is good but no match for the Shearne.

The noise floor is acceptably low connected to an HP 31.5V printer PSU -- some slight mains hum coming through. I'm digging the fact that the power brick could house 2 or 3 of these amps lol.

I haven't had chance to tweak it yet, and cannot compare with other class-T amps, but I'm impressed with this for the price.
Click to expand...

Good to know 31.5V is okay. I've read 36V is even okay for the Sure TK2050. Do you think 36V would be okay for this board?

One other thing, the auction says the following:
"- Only then under the stereo speakers for more than six in Europe, then Europe speakers may burn out the IC, then 6-Europe speaker, the voltage can not exceed 24V"

Ummmm....what the hell are they trying to say?

Edit:
I lied. One more question. Have you tried running this off 24 volts?
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom