LM3876 Stereo Quality

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Joseph1

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Joined 2012
#1
Guys I'm going to build a high quality stereo system to my living room & need to have plenty BASS on it.

I'm going to make like a "Mini Component System" using two LM3876 chips.

I need to know how is the sound quality on this chips? Specially the BASS.What type of a pre amp do you use?Can I achieve super quality from this chip?

Earlier I used LM1875 after listening for many years I felt that is not enough sound.Also BASS is not enough.So I planned to shift to a modern chip 🙂
Whats your ideas...!!!
 
#3
If you want good bass it's all about the power supply; the bigger and better the latter is, the more impressive will be your bass. If you give the chip a midget power supply that's exactly how the system will sound ...

Frank
 
#9
Joseph1 said:
I need to know how is the sound quality on this chips? Specially the BASS.What type of a pre amp do you use?Can I achieve super quality from this chip?
Click to expand...

"Super quality" is a relative thing. But compared to LM1875 I would think that it is a huge upgrade. Not everyone will agree with that because the chip is only half way to the final result. People just have different skill and knowledge in implementing the chip amp.

"Bass quality" is also a subjective thing. Objectively the bass should be acoustically flat, reaches lower octaves, has low distortion. But there are more to it when people think about bass quality.

Out of the box, 3876 has better bass than 1875. But the actual quality level depends on the implementation. You need to know the "what affecting what".
 
#10
Jay said:
"Super quality" is a relative thing. But compared to LM1875 I would think that it is a huge upgrade. Not everyone will agree with that because the chip is only half way to the final result. People just have different skill and knowledge in implementing the chip amp.

"Bass quality" is also a subjective thing. Objectively the bass should be acoustically flat, reaches lower octaves, has low distortion. But there are more to it when people think about bass quality.

Out of the box, 3876 has better bass than 1875. But the actual quality level depends on the implementation. You need to know the "what affecting what".
Click to expand...

Very good & I'm satisfied with your reply.I really wanted a noticeable big change compared to LM1875.I hope this (LM3876) will give more power than STK 4191 series which we were playing early days.

Thanks for tips others 🙂

Yup I'll give more care on power supply & the capacitors I'm going to use.Speakers itself is another major problem for me.Thinking to buy a second hand branded 3way speaker pair.Like old Japanese ones.
 
#14
Don't want to get in a slinging match, but I will dispute the speakers being more important. I've listened to too many systems with tremendously ambitious speakers not performing, as compared to finely tuned setups with very ordinary boxes generating very dynamic and convincing bass to believe that ...

Frank
 
#15
fas42 said:
Don't want to get in a slinging match, but I will dispute the speakers being more important. I've listened to too many systems with tremendously ambitious speakers not performing, as compared to finely tuned setups with very ordinary boxes generating very dynamic and convincing bass
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The speakers are really more important. It is just that the whole system as one is the most important.

Complex passive speakers have complex impedance and are power hungry. Full range speakers tend to be more dynamic but tend to have more distortion too.

So why not think about this: Finely tuned tremendously ambitious speaker with extra ordinary boxes.

LM3886 out of the box will give much better dynamic than 3876. Better bass and power too. With 3876, we need extra work to match those, but we have sweeter and cleaner mid range already in our hands.
 
#17
Of course the speakers are more important! (Just get some used Magnepans and be done with it. <grin>)

I was merely pointing out an error in the OP's thinking about the two chipamps. He stated that the 3876 could produce more power. I didn't want him to make the wrong choice based on wrong information. Over 99% of DIYers have chosen the 3886 over the 3876.

But while he's at it, he might as well build several sets of amps and use line-level crossovers, and bypass the in-speaker crossovers.
 
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#18
Don't want to get into a slinging match either, but please consider these two real world comparisons.

1) you have a speaker which has reasonable efficiency and reaches "flat" down to, say 60 Hz.
I'm talking real, measurable, flat, not Sales Dept brochure Poetry.
It will cost "X" $.
Now find another one, same efficiency , which reaches *flat* (same as before) , 30 Hz.
It will probably be 2 to 4 X as large, and cost 4 to 10X more.

2) now take an LM3886 or any other SS amp or chipamp , which is flat to 60 Hz and you want to make flat to 30 Hz .... or 10 Hz .... or 1 Hz for that matter.
You'll spend $2 to $10 extra.

So, which is the technological and economic bottleneck/weak link/you name it?
The amplifier or the speaker?
What should worry you most?

Somebody's signature was: "It takes a $5 chipamp to match the frequency response, distortion, etc. of a $20000 speaker" or something like that. 🙂
 
#20
Well, I come from the point of view that whether a speaker is flat to 60Hz, or flat to 30Hz is almost irrelevant to the quality of the music. Making sure that the speaker can go to 30Hz will probably improve the quality of bass simply because the driver and cabinet engineering has to be of a higher order to make it happen. And will help to add ambience via the room rumblings of the recording space.

But, at least for me, 99.9% of the music action happens above these low bass frequencies, so I tend to concentrate on where the main story is ... 😀

Frank
 
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