Sure Electronics Tripath boards?

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#581
Zigis said:
I feel real improvement of bass only wen I put 6800mf on power input terminals. I try 470 before, very small difference.
Interesting, I solder 3 x 470 on both sides parallel smd caps, small difference, again, wen I connect and disconnect 6800 on input - large difference in bass.
I don't feel I loose something in midrange or highs. This is not Gainclone.

Great improvement is soldering two low esr 470mf close to chip.

I replace 100mf in Arjen's board with Rubycone 470mf, great improvement, even with stock input caps.

Zigis.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the note!!

It was 1000uF, 2200uF, and 4700uF that caused me extra heat, extra midbass, jukebox bass, noise, etc. . . The least severe of those was a low-esr 2200uF; but, I didn't need it.

I got pleasant results with a 10,000uF in parallel with my power supply. It didn't cause any trouble. At this time, it was unnecessary for my choice of power supply.

Zigis said:
. . . Great improvement is soldering two low esr 470mf close to chip. . . .
Click to expand...

Is that greater clarity or extra bass power?
 
#582
Finally settled in to our new place so i can get to work on the boards Arjen sent me. I've got some capacitors and 'audiophile' inductors in the post and a couple of extrusions it should fit in with a skynet 8080 supply.

Just a couple of questions for people with experience with any of the board variations;

1) Is it possible to run the boards in mono without sticking a load across the unused channel?

2) If I wanted to run three boards with approx 8ohm loads would an 80W power supply be enough (its the power supply above, approx 80W)?

Thanks in advance
 
#583
phresh said:
Finally settled in to our new place so i can get to work on the boards Arjen sent me. I've got some capacitors and 'audiophile' inductors in the post and a couple of extrusions it should fit in with a skynet 8080 supply.

Just a couple of questions for people with experience with any of the board variations;

1) Is it possible to run the boards in mono without sticking a load across the unused channel?

2) If I wanted to run three boards with approx 8ohm loads would an 80W power supply be enough (its the power supply above, approx 80W)?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

#1. I do not know if that is perfectly safe; but, I have run mine this way for extended lengths of time. Why not "play it safe" and connect a minimal load to the unused speaker terminal--say a similar load as headphones, like a 100 ohm 5w sandcast resistor?

#2. That's a computer power supply, with a 6 amper max on the +12v line. Its plenty. However, you should probably power "something" from the 5v line so that the supply remains stable--perhaps a pretty LED (with resistor) is just the thing to keep that 5v line busy doing some work? There are also some preamp and DAC selections that can use 5v power.

EDIT:
And, if you were "dropping a hint" then THANK YOU!!
 
#584
phresh said:
Finally settled in to our new place so i can get to work on the boards Arjen sent me. I've got some capacitors and 'audiophile' inductors in the post and a couple of extrusions it should fit in with a skynet 8080 supply.

Just a couple of questions for people with experience with any of the board variations;

1) Is it possible to run the boards in mono without sticking a load across the unused channel?

2) If I wanted to run three boards with approx 8ohm loads would an 80W power supply be enough (its the power supply above, approx 80W)?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...


The answer to 1 is yes...it's perfectly okay to run mono with the output left open. Ideally, you should short the input of the unused channel to ground.

Tripath boards feeding 8 ohm loads will output about 7 watts a channel. Multiply that times six channels and you come up with 42 watts output. Divide that amount by .75 (the Tripath chips are between 75 and 80% efficient) and you come up with 56 watts of power draw.

So, running 8 ohm loads you would be okay-but with lower speaker impedances you could run into problems.
 
#585
danielwritesbac said:

#2. That's a computer power supply, with a 6 amper max on the +12v line. Its plenty. However, you should probably power "something" from the 5v line so that the supply remains stable--perhaps a pretty LED (with resistor) is just the thing to keep that 5v line busy doing some work? There are also some preamp and DAC selections that can use 5v power.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I had read about sticking a load on the 5V output on Decibel Dungeon, thanks for reminding me though, it's easy to forget these things!

dpuopolo said:

Tripath boards feeding 8 ohm loads will output about 7 watts a channel. Multiply that times six channels and you come up with 42 watts output. Divide that amount by .75 (the Tripath chips are between 75 and 80% efficient) and you come up with 56 watts of power draw.

So, running 8 ohm loads you would be okay-but with lower speaker impedances you could run into problems.
Click to expand...

Yeah it is going to be close to max pull with 6 channels. T be honest it is unlikely I will be using more than 4 to start with, and probably 5 at max but I thought i'd try and 'build-in' the extra capacity from the get go.
 
#586
phresh said:
Yeah it is going to be close to max pull with 6 channels. T be honest it is unlikely I will be using more than 4 to start with, and probably 5 at max but I thought i'd try and 'build-in' the extra capacity from the get go.
Click to expand...

I had assumed Dolby 5.1, which doesn't run the center or rear channels at full bandwidth. If its really 4 or 5 of full-bandwidth speakers, then the 6A is probably too small on a computer SMPS.
 
#587
How much dc offset is ok ?

I don't know what my dc offset was before removing c3 and c24, which are the only modifications i've done so far. Currently i get -105mv on channel 2 and +55mv on channel1.

Should I leave it as it is, or should i pull some resistors (r3 , r16) ?
 
#590
I've got to say that I'm very happy with my Sure Electronics Tripath.

First, I fixed the DC offset, and treble--so grateful that this was documented here in this thread. Thanks guys!!

For my linear power supply, I used the DC terminal blocks to discover some near-optimal caps for my particular power supply. That was here: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=1592510#post1592510

Exception: At the DC terminal block on the opposite side of the board from the barrel connector, a random model of 10uF was more likely to work than a random 22uF; however, if we can get specific, a Nichicon ES 22uF did nicely for me.

Then I de-soldered the DC terminal blocks and soldered in the caps.

Next, I did the 10k gain mod. Thanks guys!!

At this point, I took a little break to try out some SMPS, got inferior clarity, flat dynamics, and poor bass; plugged the linear back in, now quite confounded why so many people are going SMPS. Oh well.

Finally, I patched a 24ga solid copper insulated lead to the inbound side of the input filter caps to get a DC coupled input.
Of course I used this playing around to find my own "most pleasant" input filter cap. That was a rather huge Elna Cerefine in a size meant for tube amps (the only one on-hand at the time). It was too big, so it missed the high end slightly, and needed a little help from a small 22nF polyester dip cap. I chose the Cerefine because I had the amplifier so laid back that the soundfield apparently was rearwards of the speaker. There's a first for me, but, reportedly not uncommon for BTL amplifiers. The Elna fixed this up without producing hot mids or other errata. Nice!!

The pot I used is an Alpha A20K dual gang. Its performance is fairly high for a carbon type, so there's no reason to pay more for carbon pot technology. However, I'm thinking of a "law fake" with a linear pot as is documented over at Decibel Dungeon. That costs a few cents more, and I can adjust the audio taper to suit me.

For the speaker output terminals, I've purchased two "oversize" spring clip terminals so that the left and right are two seperate, 2 conductor units meant for "boom car" speaker boxes.
Its not a single 4 conductor terminal.
Its a pair of 2 conductor terminals.
This seemed the most reliable way to avoid "Tripath accidents with speaker wires" because the pair of oversize spring clips hold all of the speaker wires widely seperated, there are no exposed conductors, and the oversize clips maintain a constant, fierce, pressure that does not allow slippage at some later date.
Okay, really, I'm just too clumsy for binding posts, and I didn't consider a decoration worth the risk.

Costs:
Sure Electronics Tripath board, $30
The "botique" caps, $4
Pair of oversize speaker terminals, $8
Power supply, $14
Potentiometer, $2
Power switch, $1
Source selector switch, $3
Knobs, $3
Enclosure, $5
SO,
The total was: $70

Cost assessment and reason for purchase:
Unfortunately, I postponed this project for too long for it to be fully paid for off the energy bills, because summer is almost over.
However, if the Sure lasts for 14 months, then it will have been free. In my location, outdoor temperatures swing from -40F to +125F, with half the year at about 80F. On this half year, its possible to do without air-conditioning by avoiding generating heat indoors. Tankless water heat, switchable duct atop the fridge, metalized windows, and now a small amplifier from Sure Electronics, all help keep the energy bill near $20 for over half the year (because the air-conditioner isn't required for 74F indoor temps).
This was my reason for purchase, although energy saving potential depends on where you live--like cool electronics would make no sense for Canada residents while they're trying to keep warm. 😉

Value:
This amplifier has one nifty trick that's quite difficult to achieve with other amplifiers. Its transformer is so small that its easy to get a completely clear male vocal range. But, its power output approaches nightclub volumes on ordinary speakers. The Sure does it, not the Sonic(s), not the Trends. Its such an unusual combination! This all took just a few hours of tinkering, and that's also unusual. Adding up what it would take to do this performance without the Sure Tripath, comes to approximately $200 plus several weeks longer timeframe.
EDIT: Like the hybrid car, its possible that the Sure Electronics Tripath could be a "more than free" potential that's also very enjoyable. Of course, that depends on other factors and not the amplifier product itself.

That was the story, and this was all "in my opinion."

EDIT2: And, Thanks again for the mod documentations!!
 
#591
I finally got round this weekend to trying out my 5 Sure boards. The DC offset is highly variable as they come out the box.

However the DC offset mod sorted out the errant offset.

I have also tried removing the input filter caps and can report similar results to everyone else.

I would like to say thankyou to everyone who has contributed their modifications. I have written my own mini review of the boards on my website, and aim to complete articles on modifications as time allows.
 
#592
New lot PCB"s

Dear fellow DIY'ers,

I have a new lot of PCB's now, with some small improvements,

They have 470 uF buffer caps instead of 220 uF
and now uses a higher grade of SMD caps.

The supplier told me this might be there last lot, as they cannot produce these PCB's in small Qantity for the price i pay.

Therefore i will be designing a new PCB for the TA2024 soon,

I would like to have some feedback on what you guy's would like to see, what do you want?

- More space for buffer caps?
- Thru hole parts ?
- Intergrated voltage controller? ( for use with 12 to 35~40 volts)
- Ticker copper
- Gold plating for the PCB

Feel free to let me know what you would like to see, i will think about the results and come back with an idea, and see how much it would cost to get it made.

Also available now are the TDA8920 and TA2022 Finished PCB.

Greetings,

Arjen Helder
 
#595
RE-design TA2024

Sounds good, elfishi,

Thru hole parts can be done, ofcource equipped with 15 MOX resistors

I was thinking, maybe 2 connectors to eazely add some extra tank caps? 2X2 pins on the PCB somwhere close to the IC

Ofcource the DC adjustment, aldoh i noticed my new lot of boards is much better with DC offset, i just measured it, almoast zero.

i think also an improved copper plane for cooling the IC, would be good, plenty of via's for better cooling.

Adjustable Gain would be an option

Any more?

Greetings,

Arjen
 
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