Trends Audio TA-10: Modding Potential?

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#241
Hope you enjoy it, nice little amps for the price, the one I'm listening to isn't mine so can't help much with your questions🙂

1 if the cap is wrapped in a black tape and the ends are yellow I bet they are the Bennics, these are actually not bad and sound quite decent in the Trends, some have reported the Bennics to sound better than the Auricaps, I'm now trying to find a local source to try them in my Amp6 which currently uses Auricaps.

2 If the caps in CD1 are brown ceramics the ones you want are 100pf 5mm polypropylene, the ones in the Trends amp I'm borrowing uses blue 100pf Evox PFR, you could also try polystyrene

3 Seems most are using the supplied SMPS, I

4 ts worth changing the main pair of supply decoupling caps, going from this thread it seems Panasonic FC or FM are the flavour.
BTW anybody compared the FM against the FC cap care to comment on any sonic differences?

5 you'll have to ask others who own these units for that😉 I did fit copper shields around the air core inductors as recommended by panomaniac, this is a worthwhile mod btw and thanks to panomaniac for sharing it, it seemed to clear a bit of high frequency noise I was hearing through my ribbon tweeters
 
#244
t. said:
So yours is cap coupled passive output stage?
I didn't like cap coupled passive output so I upgraded the internal active section, the internals are super regged etc, it drives the Amp6 and Trends really well.
Click to expand...

Sorry for going off-topic again

I think it must be cap coupled? it has Sonicap gen2's and sonicap platinium as bypass... I love the sound but it's output is a bit low , I miss some dynamics and low-end compared to my toshiba dvd player or my fathers Wadia CDP..... Is this why you upgraded the internal active section?

The burson buffer seems to be a very good solution ( or an active pre ofcourse)

:smash:
 
#245
"Sjef: Are you using a pre-amp?"
Don


well kind of, I'm using a DEQX PDC2.6P digital crossover / preamp wich is capable enough to drive my other amps full scale and deliver enough "drive" if that's what you mean. The Trends sound like there is no "drive" at all, like a cheap transistor radio. Remember I'm only comparing them to my own amps, and you will never hear me say that my amps are the best in the world because they are most certainly not. .I don't have any access to any other commercial amps or to the AV receiver variaty a lot of people are comparing them with so I really can't tell how it performs compared to those.

I'll stop posting here for a while and see if I can do something to squeeze at least some kind of good quality out of the Trends by experimenting with other preamps, power supplies, input/power supply caps, power supply etc.
 
#246
robert1325 said:


Sorry for going off-topic again

I think it must be cap coupled? it has Sonicap gen2's and sonicap platinium as bypass... I love the sound but it's output is a bit low , I miss some dynamics and low-end compared to my toshiba dvd player or my fathers Wadia CDP..... Is this why you upgraded the internal active section?

The burson buffer seems to be a very good solution ( or an active pre ofcourse)

:smash:
Click to expand...

Hi Robert,

After the other upgrades I tried passive out but didn't like it so I sorted the active output stage, it now has great drive and sounds crystal clear, no prepamp is needed, the dynamics are very impressive.
I've a few dacs and a modified cdp and to be honest I've never heard the Trends or Amp6 sound as good as they do with the modded SB3!
 
#247
I'm about to order some Parts at DIyhifisupply.... this will be my first attempt at DIY 🙂 and I have some questions:

Obbligato Premium Film Oil Cap 2,0 Uf

should I go for Solid or stranded leadouts?


PEC Volume Control 50K/50K/🙂

Is it possible to hook this up without deslodering the onboard Volume control ?


Kiwame 10 ohm 2 watt resistor 750 volts DC max

Is this one suitable for drawing 5volts from the skynet 8080 ?( as a dummy load)


Some DIY's friend RCA jacks and binding post ( 'just to be sure )

Special High purity soft-annealed copper hookup wire, teflon coated, rated 130c/600v 0.65mm/22g ( couple of meters )

Should I go for better/more expensive cable ?


And are the Sanyo 1500Uf's good enough or should I replace them? Can't find suitable Caps at Diyhifisupply for this.....


Thank you for your help, I am planning to put the amp on a simple Wooden board .... :dead:
 
#248
A few opinions from me:

robert1325 said:
Obbligato Premium Film Oil Cap 2,0 Uf
should I go for Solid or stranded leadouts?
Click to expand...

Solid is what I use. Should be easiest to get in the holes on the board.


Is it possible to hook this up without deslodering the onboard Volume control ?
Click to expand...

If you use the jumper pins, yes.

Should I go for better/more expensive cable ?
Click to expand...

Shielded cable is a good idea for the input wires. You may also want to ground the case of the obbligato caps.


And are the Sanyo 1500Uf's good enough or should I replace them?
Click to expand...

I think you can do better. I use 2700uF 16V Panasonic FM series. But they don't fit all the way down unto the board. Any good low esr cap should be OK. 10mm diameter is the largest that fits without forcing.
 
#249
Thanks,

So are the solid wires long enough , or can I make the longer myself If I want to ? 😕 I'm a total NOOB!!!

Those panasonic caps, is there any place where I can order them? I only need a couple .....

Thanks again, you're the T-king!

PS, the hawthorne SI's and Trends ta-10 is a real killer combo!
 
#250
You can get the FM caps from Farnell but the nearest values they do is 2200uf and 3300uf
http://nl.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=1219464
http://nl.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=1219465


For your smps the loading resistor across the 5v needs to be higher wattage than 2watt, also you don't need a audiograde one here, it make no difference to the sound🙂 about 7 or 10 watts would be better
http://nl.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=106931
These may be physically large
 
#253
So should I get this :

Gotham professional small signal cable. Blue cover, copper shield, 2 signal wires for one channel

For the input wire? I think they are for IC's ....


pS : the purpose of these mods is a warmer sound, with better channel seperation 🙂


EDIT:

just found this ebay shop :

http://stores.ebay.nl/Johns-Silver-...n-Wire_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ2QQftidZ2QQtZkm

I have some old IC's (vdhull) lying around, couldn't I use that stuff?
 
#255
sfogar said:


Can i also try to bypass them ?

I think they are used to filter RF...

All the best

Alessandro Fogar
Click to expand...

Yes they are for filtering RF, don't bypass them or you'll short the input signal to ground🙂
suppose you could remove them but you may get noise, I wouldn't tbh and just fit polypropylene or polystyrene if the ones in yours are brown disc ceramics, the ceramics sound worse according to Sjef
 
#256
You can use the 3300uF. It is the same lead pitch and diameter as the 2700uF, but about 5mm longer.

:att'n: DON'T push them all the way flat against the PCB. If you do you will bend the yellow caps near them and break the traces. You ca bend the yellow caps a little to get the big electrolytics close, but don't force them.

If you do break a trace, you can rewire it on the bottom of the board.
 
#257
I have to interfere. Are we talking about Trends tweeks. Obligatto may be an improvment but I do not think that any of the other proposed alterations would be any worthwhile improvement over the ver 1.1. As can be judged by anyone listening to it !

/Erling
 
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