Got my motorola, hooked it up. Looked at manual enough to figure out how to get digital audio going.
Sounds pretty good. I'm no audio expert, but I can tell its got the same type of sound as the amp6. They are very similar except for the power output of course. I can also keep the midrange in-check on my fe167's with the bass/treble control. Another surprise was using dolby digital intead of pcm even though I'm only using 2 speakers. I changed my sat receiver and pc (has Intel m/b with dolby digital live) to dolby digital 5.1 and I like it better than pcm.
I probably won't use 80% of the features of this thing, but <$100 is a very good deal for a nice sounding amp.
I can see why these were not a big seller(I assume). Big and heavy. Not very user friendly. Motorola- they make audio amplifiers? Where would you buy one? No HD output. Here's the biggy- cable companies are never going to authorize a digital cable device that they didn't provide themselves (for a monthly fee of course).
Lose the digital cable, dvd, all the video stuff, chop off 10 pounds, and you would have a very nice receiver. Although without the digital cable, Motorola would have no reason to make it.
But, I love it when companies make things nobody wants, so I can have it cheap.
Sounds pretty good. I'm no audio expert, but I can tell its got the same type of sound as the amp6. They are very similar except for the power output of course. I can also keep the midrange in-check on my fe167's with the bass/treble control. Another surprise was using dolby digital intead of pcm even though I'm only using 2 speakers. I changed my sat receiver and pc (has Intel m/b with dolby digital live) to dolby digital 5.1 and I like it better than pcm.
I probably won't use 80% of the features of this thing, but <$100 is a very good deal for a nice sounding amp.
I can see why these were not a big seller(I assume). Big and heavy. Not very user friendly. Motorola- they make audio amplifiers? Where would you buy one? No HD output. Here's the biggy- cable companies are never going to authorize a digital cable device that they didn't provide themselves (for a monthly fee of course).
Lose the digital cable, dvd, all the video stuff, chop off 10 pounds, and you would have a very nice receiver. Although without the digital cable, Motorola would have no reason to make it.
But, I love it when companies make things nobody wants, so I can have it cheap.
One of these days I'm gonna tear into the Moto. Gotta see if the amp part is really any good.
Compared to other Tripath amps I don't think the Moto is good at all. But it's hard to be fair to the amp section because it's hidden behind a rather bad digital preamp. I find it harsh and fatiguing to listen to, at least compared to other T-Amps. Even the TEAC sounds better, but it does not have the complicated front end of the Moto.
IMO, nothing beats a properly set up AMP6, if you can live with the power limitations. More modding to do!!
Compared to other Tripath amps I don't think the Moto is good at all. But it's hard to be fair to the amp section because it's hidden behind a rather bad digital preamp. I find it harsh and fatiguing to listen to, at least compared to other T-Amps. Even the TEAC sounds better, but it does not have the complicated front end of the Moto.
IMO, nothing beats a properly set up AMP6, if you can live with the power limitations. More modding to do!!
Hi all,
Well after lots of comparison the optical although sounding good, it has depth and a liquidness about it. But lacks the accuracy of the RCA's. I may be in the market for a top line DVD palyer now.
The modified moto makes these Paradigm Monitor 3's PIPE out the music. It put out some serious AIR movement, and bass. No comparison with my low watt SI amp.
Mod moto is appears to be breaking in. It is sounding better and better. theAnonymous1 did a great job!
Well after lots of comparison the optical although sounding good, it has depth and a liquidness about it. But lacks the accuracy of the RCA's. I may be in the market for a top line DVD palyer now.
The modified moto makes these Paradigm Monitor 3's PIPE out the music. It put out some serious AIR movement, and bass. No comparison with my low watt SI amp.
Mod moto is appears to be breaking in. It is sounding better and better. theAnonymous1 did a great job!
I also wanted to ask people what brand and model of RCA cables are really good. I have the monster cable 400 level RCA cables now, but I may want to upgrade when I get the new DVD Player.
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance
Coax revisited: I had only listened to the optical and the RCA's with the mod moto, and the RCA's were much better than the optical. I plugged in the coax today and to my surprise the coax sounded MUCH better than the optical. In fact it the coax is very close to the RCA's for accuracy (not quite), but a touch more fluid soundstage than the RCA's.
Did anyone else find the coax better than the optical?
Did anyone else find the coax better than the optical?
moto vs super t
Howdy. I'm new to this forum, but I have not seen a comparison of the Motorola DCP501 with the SI Super t-amp (unmodified). I currently have a Moto, which I am using as a pre for a SI t-amp. I am toying with the idea of investing in another Moto or trying out a Super t-amp. And I should probably invest in a preamp. I appreciate any thoughts, recommendations, or insights.
Howdy. I'm new to this forum, but I have not seen a comparison of the Motorola DCP501 with the SI Super t-amp (unmodified). I currently have a Moto, which I am using as a pre for a SI t-amp. I am toying with the idea of investing in another Moto or trying out a Super t-amp. And I should probably invest in a preamp. I appreciate any thoughts, recommendations, or insights.
Re: moto vs super t
Scroll back up the page to my post #183. It holds true for the Super-T.
The main problem (for me) with the 501 is the rather rough sounding preamp. It's almost impossible to judge the merits of the power amp alone, as there is no direct siganl path to it.
There seems to be some benefit in changing the amp's input coupling caps. That leads me to believe that there is hope for the power amp section, if fed by a better preamp.
angus bubba said:
Scroll back up the page to my post #183. It holds true for the Super-T.
The main problem (for me) with the 501 is the rather rough sounding preamp. It's almost impossible to judge the merits of the power amp alone, as there is no direct siganl path to it.
There seems to be some benefit in changing the amp's input coupling caps. That leads me to believe that there is hope for the power amp section, if fed by a better preamp.
Sorry, I have been extremely busy not to mention my power has been out since thursday. There was a freak snow storm that broke limbs off every tree that snagged power lines on their way down. Two feet of snow fell in less than 24 hours.
Every connector in the moto is clearly marked, but when I get power again I will add some comments to a pic of the amp board and post it for you.
There is definitely hope for the amp board Pano. Replacing the input caps made a world of difference and sending a quality signal straight to the board puts it in the same qualtiy class as any of the other "T-amps" out there but with a lot more power.
I don't think you will find a better deal than this for any Tripath based amp. You get 5-channels of power for only a few bucks more than the price of a 2-channel unassembled kit from 41hz.com AND it comes with a power supply. I'll admit the supply could be a bit better and bigger, but its hard to complain for the price.
Besides the input caps the rest of the board is of pretty good quality. I can't think of the brand of power filter caps on the board right now(SamY*?), but when I looked them up they are that brands high end "Audio Grade" cap.
Member
Joined 2003
My DCP-501 has arrived in the mail on Friday! Thanks again John65b! I am planning to use only the amplifier board, power supply, and toroid and re-box it. I feel bad throwing away so much excess electronics...
I like that the power supply has +-15V and 5V to drive any digital logic and op-amps (think digitally controlled pre-amp). The power supply also has +-6V for some odd reason; I didn't look at it close enough to see what that supply is for. The toroidal transformer is a bit smaller than I had expected. It looks smaller than my 400VA plitron, though I didn't do a side-by-side comparison I'd say this transformer is only 350VA, 400VA at the most.
One thing that really disappointed me was the method in which the mosfets are fixed to the heatsink. There is no way to remove the heatsink without de-soldering the mosfets or severely bending their leads. Makes me wonder how theAnonymous1 gained access to the overcurrent protection resistors.
I have still yet to hear an opinion of how the amplifier board sounds when you bypass all the excess electronics and send the signal directly to the amplifier via a high quality preamp.
I like that the power supply has +-15V and 5V to drive any digital logic and op-amps (think digitally controlled pre-amp). The power supply also has +-6V for some odd reason; I didn't look at it close enough to see what that supply is for. The toroidal transformer is a bit smaller than I had expected. It looks smaller than my 400VA plitron, though I didn't do a side-by-side comparison I'd say this transformer is only 350VA, 400VA at the most.
One thing that really disappointed me was the method in which the mosfets are fixed to the heatsink. There is no way to remove the heatsink without de-soldering the mosfets or severely bending their leads. Makes me wonder how theAnonymous1 gained access to the overcurrent protection resistors.
I have still yet to hear an opinion of how the amplifier board sounds when you bypass all the excess electronics and send the signal directly to the amplifier via a high quality preamp.
Member
Joined 2003
Wow...well I may be the one of the first to suggest it, I don't foresee that I'll get around to this project for a while yet. I still have a couple projects on the go that are in dire need of finishing. The first is my projector which is near completion, and the second is a digitally controlled source selector that I am building for a co-worker. This one is completely operational except for the VFD (vacuum fluorescent display, not to be confused with variable frequency drive) which seems to not work at all at the moment and I can't for the life of me figure out why. Maybe if I clear some room off of a table I can set up a test rig. I have a real nice Mauro Penasa Rev.C to compare with, and I figure I can run both the Mauro and the Moto off my Kookaburra preamp for a good comparison.
I think I've been babbling on enough here...I've been drinking late tonight and it's way past my bedtime, even for a night worker such as myself 😉. 5am is too late (or would you say early in this case) no matter what hours of the day you work.
I think I've been babbling on enough here...I've been drinking late tonight and it's way past my bedtime, even for a night worker such as myself 😉. 5am is too late (or would you say early in this case) no matter what hours of the day you work.
🙁
I think I've mentioned multiple times that I have done this already.
I did exactly that, bent all the leads while they were attached to the plate. I bent them just enough to get a small srewdriver in to unscrew them.
I did this to two boards and it didn't damage anything. I thought about unsoldering, but that would be way too much work.
Moto as a Pre-Amp!
Hi to everyone! I've been busy with other stuff lately, but I've been testing different set-up's with the moto's and also with the T-amp. The set-up I have to tell you guys about is using an unmodified moto as a pre-amp for the T-amp! The sound is the best yet I've heard!
You get the delicate touch of the T-amp with the bass and control of the highs with the moto as a pre-amp! And A REMOTE! I set the T-amp volume to just over 3/4 full volume, the other touch is to set the moto to +2 bass only. Keep the treble flat always! I just tried the moto as a pre-amp today for the first time, and I am enjoying the best sound yet out of my Paradigm Monitor 3's!
For that matter when using just the moto with the new Denon DVD player I also have the bass at +2, it's nice try it.
All of the testing I've done is with my new Denon model 1730 DVD Player. It was on sale at Ultimate for $143! This model year the whole Denon line including the 1730 has the Burr-Brown D/A converters! Last year it would have been around $320 for a Denon with the Burr-Brown, fyi.
This is a break-trough for me in sound! I will have to buy another $39 T-Amp for the moto in the basement! I will let you guys know more as I listen to this new set-up more.
Have a great week!
Hi to everyone! I've been busy with other stuff lately, but I've been testing different set-up's with the moto's and also with the T-amp. The set-up I have to tell you guys about is using an unmodified moto as a pre-amp for the T-amp! The sound is the best yet I've heard!
You get the delicate touch of the T-amp with the bass and control of the highs with the moto as a pre-amp! And A REMOTE! I set the T-amp volume to just over 3/4 full volume, the other touch is to set the moto to +2 bass only. Keep the treble flat always! I just tried the moto as a pre-amp today for the first time, and I am enjoying the best sound yet out of my Paradigm Monitor 3's!
For that matter when using just the moto with the new Denon DVD player I also have the bass at +2, it's nice try it.
All of the testing I've done is with my new Denon model 1730 DVD Player. It was on sale at Ultimate for $143! This model year the whole Denon line including the 1730 has the Burr-Brown D/A converters! Last year it would have been around $320 for a Denon with the Burr-Brown, fyi.
This is a break-trough for me in sound! I will have to buy another $39 T-Amp for the moto in the basement! I will let you guys know more as I listen to this new set-up more.
Have a great week!
Wow...that was the quickest ship to Canada I have ever experienced. I wasn't planning on your receipt of the unit for another week. Good deal.
So apparently Annonymous has tried a direct signal to the amp board. From Post 190, it sounds as if your impressed? You mention the excellent affordability of the amp but didn't get into anymore of the sound hilights....
Hey Annonymous - I bought one of those Number Cruncher jobbies and compared it to my simple TDA1543. No contest, the Number Cruncher sounded much better, clearer, and well, more focused.. And did you notice it's output? 2.5V! The single TDA1543 was lucky to get .7V. This is perfect for my 6L6GC/6SL7/5R4 Tube Amp I have that has very low gain (another project...another day).
I will attempt to stack another TDA1543 chip on the existing one to see i it sounds any better... just need the time...
So apparently Annonymous has tried a direct signal to the amp board. From Post 190, it sounds as if your impressed? You mention the excellent affordability of the amp but didn't get into anymore of the sound hilights....
Hey Annonymous - I bought one of those Number Cruncher jobbies and compared it to my simple TDA1543. No contest, the Number Cruncher sounded much better, clearer, and well, more focused.. And did you notice it's output? 2.5V! The single TDA1543 was lucky to get .7V. This is perfect for my 6L6GC/6SL7/5R4 Tube Amp I have that has very low gain (another project...another day).
I will attempt to stack another TDA1543 chip on the existing one to see i it sounds any better... just need the time...
john65b said:
I really didn't want to give a long drawn out subjective opinion of how it sounded. I believe I said it was as good as any of the other quality Tripath stuff out there and that it was quieter than my AMP1-B's. The only amps I have to compare it to is more Tripath stuff so....
I have four Entech DAC's and I think they sound amazing. You will be VERY hard pressed to find another complete DAC of this quality in the $40-50 range. I do suggest making a new supply for it though and get rid of the half-wave voltage doubler setup.
I'm trying to do way to many projects at once right now. I'm currenty working on an AMP3 put in an empty Entech DAC case to match a working Entech, AMP1-B + linear regulated supply, Entech DAC 6-channel + volume control, and all the moto guts laying on my floor waiting for me to buy two chassis and decide on a power supply setup.
Annonymous, can you hook one of those Entech's to a plain old simple computer cdrom drive using the 2 pin connectors on the back of the cd drive?