Got my 3116 board, ybdz. waiting for a potentiometer , astron ps, input interconnect cable with rca's. I've read a lot about different internal cablings. Please advise. As I've heard these boards could sound a tad "lively" or "bright", would like recommendations on internal wire. Silver scares me a bit, don't want the amp to sound bright or thin with lack of warmth or bloom, or with an analytical sound.
Also, i've read solid core is smoother and cohesive vs stranded cable. Read here about the Belden 88641 Plenum Cable. Othger places about VH Audio UniCrystal AirLok Hookup Wire Cable, Shielded Silver Teflon Wire Coax, Nerve Audio hook-up wire, etc..
What gauge to use from board to potentiometer to rca's?
Which cable to use from amp outs to speaker biding posts?
Thanks in advance if you could recommend..
Thanks all for all your great posts on your builds, very informative and interesting!🙂
I would not worry so much about interconnect wires/cabling as long as the runs don't pick up noise or support the frequencies and current. Material choice like copper, silver, OFC, dipped in LN2, solid core, etc, IMO are a bunch of hype. It may make a difference in RF range but under 20kHz, probably inaudible.
I use shielded RG-174 50ohm coax for the connection berween the RCA jack to inputs on the amp PCB with shielding grounded to one end.
For connections from amp to speaker, 18 ga is plenty. 16 ga if you think you will running high power for long periods. I actually use solid core 22 ga house alarm wiring but doubled up.
This may start some debates, but I am a firm believer in cheap, readily available wiring. 😀
Why is this so? Batteries must be the quietest of all sources. Max amps of linear supply can't be higher than a lead acid - think of a car battery with 450 amps of cranking current for starter motors.
This is my latest find. I have modded it with four 3.3uF Mundorf M-cap MKP input caps (that made the power-on pop go even more boom! although I got a little more bass), 10uH bourns inductors (see sticker for model), x7r 220uf SMD caps, the recommended 330uF panasonic power caps, a simple 100K log stereo volume pot, and a $5 Sony 19.5V laptop brick (see pic). The difference between the 12V 6A LED light brick was 2A3 tube amp like sound quality (although still with some class D sharpness) and even more surprisingly - no more frightening power-on maximum excursion pop in my speakers!
Thanks y'all! Now I will take a break on the TPA3116D2 and start building the Pass Camp Amp to compare.
Edit: The power on pop returned when the volume pot is at medium. But no pop when volume pot is at 0. No anti-pop circuit used - I tried it, although using the wrong values in resistors and caps, and liked it better without. makes me think I should use a 100 uf cap at the volume pot. No?
Thanks y'all! Now I will take a break on the TPA3116D2 and start building the Pass Camp Amp to compare.
Edit: The power on pop returned when the volume pot is at medium. But no pop when volume pot is at 0. No anti-pop circuit used - I tried it, although using the wrong values in resistors and caps, and liked it better without. makes me think I should use a 100 uf cap at the volume pot. No?
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Hey Syklab did you end up getting your board? Mine is being delivered today finally.
As I am in Germany the cheapo linear PS is a small 'Voltcraft' unit - nothing to write home about - a bigger Voltcraft (as mentioned above) is on its way though.
Nice work Rewind! Mundorf on steroids! This reminds me of Mad Max's souped up Mustang Mach3 from the Road Warrior
See the similarities?
Looking forward to your ACA build and comparo. My guess is that the 50watt headroom on the 3116 will blow away any class A advantage you have with the ACA, unless you are listening with 95dB+ sensitive speakers.
I have the parts for an ACA waiting to go, but no time to build...
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I changed the power supply caps to the TI recomended 220uf 35v...and used Nichicon FG. I just looked at the TI data sheet and bought something of a nice quality in the value recommended. Someone said something about too much capacitance could be bad. The bass response i'm getting is great. I'm running it with some Infinity RS 2000's I bought at the thrift store for $5.99 and re-foamed. This seemed like the only obvious/easy mod to do with Audiobah so I didn't even listen before changing the caps I just did it because I didn't want to mess around with removing the board after installing in my enclosure.
I'm also eager to hear your impressions of the Sure tpa3116.
The original Sure tpa3110 (the $10 one without any output filter) sent me down this rabbit hole in the first place. I remember someone over on AudioCircle said it was amazing, and I figured, for $10, I had nothing to lose. And indeed, I noticed an immediate improvement over the HiFiMeDIY T1 TK2050-based amp I was using. Here I am a couple years later, and besides the original Sure tpa3110: two YJblue boards, two Ybdz boards, two mono DUG GB boards on the way...
How hard was it to remove that big heatsink?
If I read the specs right, Sure's 3116 is the same size as their original 3110, which is roughly the size of a credit card.
Is there any interest in a DIY PSU that isn't dirt cheap? Around $150 total if the PCB isn't overly expensive (can't see why it would be). That's a price if I had to buy all the parts myself in low quantity from Mouser (as if I was just another buyer). One of the expenses is the Nichicon Gold/Supertune CK series, but you could opt for the BK if you wanted to save a bit.
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Just curious whether anyone has experience with HIAMP's board/kits from Ebay? I need anyone TPA3116 board!!
Sad story - I finally decided to hook up my two Audiobah in PBTL mode and both amp boards were destroyed. Surprised to see that the boards still looked OK but I am sure the chip was gone. I actually saw flame and smoke when I hooked up the the power. My autopsy showed that everything was hooked up properly, no polarity screwed up etc.
To save space, I connected the two amp boards "bottom to bottom" using 4 brass stand-off at the 4 corners of the boards which has metal lined holes. I was assuming that the holes were completely isolated from the circuit. Boy was I wrong!! The holes were connected to the power supply input!. So the metal stand-off basically short the two boards and out came the "magic smoke" and flame. Previously, when the boards were used in stereo mode, the boards were secure onto a small wooden box with small metal screw and therefore, nothing bad happened. Now I am a little worry about using a metal case - or may be I should switch to nylon stand-offs.
Regards,
Sad story - I finally decided to hook up my two Audiobah in PBTL mode and both amp boards were destroyed. Surprised to see that the boards still looked OK but I am sure the chip was gone. I actually saw flame and smoke when I hooked up the the power. My autopsy showed that everything was hooked up properly, no polarity screwed up etc.
To save space, I connected the two amp boards "bottom to bottom" using 4 brass stand-off at the 4 corners of the boards which has metal lined holes. I was assuming that the holes were completely isolated from the circuit. Boy was I wrong!! The holes were connected to the power supply input!. So the metal stand-off basically short the two boards and out came the "magic smoke" and flame. Previously, when the boards were used in stereo mode, the boards were secure onto a small wooden box with small metal screw and therefore, nothing bad happened. Now I am a little worry about using a metal case - or may be I should switch to nylon stand-offs.
Regards,
Thank you for the link. I went through the rest of the thread and have similar questions that were raised by other thread followers after that post regarding how the measurement was done. Some of the noise signals in that spectrum were very curious and hard to explain. That poster never answered the questions. So should we say that the verdict still out. Has anyone on this thread actually used battery to power a TPA3116 board and found that it was not good?
Regards,
That's a bummer! I bet the TPA3116 is OK, but the board is fried. You can abuse that chip with reverse polarity I have heard. Proabably your main power caps are dead. Try replacing those and it may come to life again.
The heatsink is easy to remove and replace if you have the right tool. You have to carefully line up the three nylon washers when re-assembling.
The posted dimensions are wrong in SURE’s Amplifier Users Guide. Here are the actual dimensions.
SURE TPA3110 type 1 AA-AB32231........ 76mm x 50mm
SURE TPA3110 type 2 AA-AB32996........ 92mm x 68mm
SURE TPA3116.......... AA-AB32178........ 92mm x 68mm
I’m just now giving it a good listen.
It certainly has a lot promise as an off the shelf project amp.
The initial sound right out of the box is quite a bit different from the new and similar build of the TPA3110 from SURE, which has more relaxed presentation right out of the box.
This new 3116 from SURE has a more lively sound, increased dynamics and PRaT but also sounds like it’ll need a little more breaking in for the extended highs to relax.
Both are totally stock and have only an hour or two on them now as I listen back and forth. They both have a very different approach to delivering the music.
I’ll cook them both with a test disc under a load tonight and give them a listen tomorrow.
I expect them to be like all the other TPA31XX chips in that they are certainly sensitive to power supplies, front end equipment and preamps that are feeding them and with some help are capable of making music that belies their price point.
Pics Attached.... The SURE TPA3116 first listen and 2 pics of the new SURE 3110.
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I know the Red Wine amps used sealed lead batteries to power their Tripath powered amps, they got favourable reviews. I built one very similar but with linear/toroidal PS. In my mind the whole battery powered thing is a lot of hassle and investment, there aren't many power amps out there using battery.
Still would be interested if anybody tries and compares to a good regulated linear supply.