Hi!
I have been working on a little project to to turn some of my spare speakers (SS-MF500H Specifications | Sony AU - 8 Ohms at 180 Watts) into a bluetooth system.
I am using a TPA3116 (2x 100 Watts) from Aliexpress ("1002 Hifi": ZK 1002 HIFI 100WX2 TPA3116 Bluetooth 5.0 High Power Digital Amplifier Stereo Board AMP Amplificador Home Theater|Integrated Circuits| - AliExpress).
For power, I am using a 19V with 3.67A laptop supply but also tried it on my benchtop power supply with up to 21V and 5A.
It works mostly as expected, but there is one little thing that I just can't understand. The sound quality is average at best, hence I measured the Watt consumption and even at full blast (it does get pretty loud), it only consumes around 2 Watts in total.
I am completely new to tinkering with audio, but my understanding is that it should use way more power than this (which should also result in better quality audio).
Would anyone be able to help me and point out what could be wrong - or maybe the board is just broken?
PS: I only want to achieve 'decent' sound (i.e. nothing audiophile), but I do want to make full use of the parts, meaning getting close'ish to 65 Watts at full power.
I have been working on a little project to to turn some of my spare speakers (SS-MF500H Specifications | Sony AU - 8 Ohms at 180 Watts) into a bluetooth system.
I am using a TPA3116 (2x 100 Watts) from Aliexpress ("1002 Hifi": ZK 1002 HIFI 100WX2 TPA3116 Bluetooth 5.0 High Power Digital Amplifier Stereo Board AMP Amplificador Home Theater|Integrated Circuits| - AliExpress).
For power, I am using a 19V with 3.67A laptop supply but also tried it on my benchtop power supply with up to 21V and 5A.
It works mostly as expected, but there is one little thing that I just can't understand. The sound quality is average at best, hence I measured the Watt consumption and even at full blast (it does get pretty loud), it only consumes around 2 Watts in total.
I am completely new to tinkering with audio, but my understanding is that it should use way more power than this (which should also result in better quality audio).
Would anyone be able to help me and point out what could be wrong - or maybe the board is just broken?
PS: I only want to achieve 'decent' sound (i.e. nothing audiophile), but I do want to make full use of the parts, meaning getting close'ish to 65 Watts at full power.
Power supply is weak at 70W input. Even the bench supply is a little weak (105W) to get 64W + 64W. However, if you were clipping due to supply dropout, that would sound horrible.
I wonder if you have the gain set high enough for the input signal you have. Here's a snip from the datasheet.
I wonder if you have the gain set high enough for the input signal you have. Here's a snip from the datasheet.
Attachments
Are you using the AUX input or the Bluetooth?
PS.
OMG, I'm looking at the Aliexpress link for the part:
"4. It's ok if the sound is small, but when the sound becomes larger, the sound will be turbid."
"5. It's ok if the voice is small, but when the voice becomes louder, the sound will slow down."
I'm dying.
PS.
OMG, I'm looking at the Aliexpress link for the part:
"4. It's ok if the sound is small, but when the sound becomes larger, the sound will be turbid."
"5. It's ok if the voice is small, but when the voice becomes louder, the sound will slow down."
I'm dying.
Yeah, it is certainly not the pinnacle of audio brands but I still expected it to perform at least somewhere within the specs.
In any case, thank you very much for your replies. Based on that I actually increased the power supply further to 26V @ 5A but without any perceptible change.
I am really starting to think there is just something broken on the board.
Might have to write it off and order something else, unfortunately I did not find any budget recommendations that have Bluetooth support.
In any case, thank you very much for your replies. Based on that I actually increased the power supply further to 26V @ 5A but without any perceptible change.
I am really starting to think there is just something broken on the board.
Might have to write it off and order something else, unfortunately I did not find any budget recommendations that have Bluetooth support.
You may be right. Increasing the supply voltage would not increase the output because you are limited by the gain. I think there are some wrong component values on the board causing the gain to be wrong.
I don’t think it reflects badly on their design that the translation from Chinese to English went badly. Still, Wuzhi Audio. I think they meant the joke.
I don’t think it reflects badly on their design that the translation from Chinese to English went badly. Still, Wuzhi Audio. I think they meant the joke.
ZK-1002 is known to have sound quality issue with the 3.5mm input. You can check out this for more info:
Review wuzhi zk-1002 (mostly subjektiv) | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum
19V with 3.67A should be pretty adequate. It's common for TPA3116 to use only 1-2W even at very loud volume.
Review wuzhi zk-1002 (mostly subjektiv) | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum
19V with 3.67A should be pretty adequate. It's common for TPA3116 to use only 1-2W even at very loud volume.
i did some testing a while ago with the 3116, at 24v input, I was only able to get 45w max out of it one channel driven. I have tested various cheap versions of the board and found lots of voltage drop across input protection diode. power switch. thin traces etc. the best version i have found is from jerrys Electronics.
https://www.jerryselectronics.com/diykits/kaa10021/kaa10021.htm
this is a high quality kit with decent output inductors, heatsinking, board design etc. MUCH better then any of the cheap parts express or aliexpress kits i have found!!!
https://www.jerryselectronics.com/diykits/kaa10021/kaa10021.htm
this is a high quality kit with decent output inductors, heatsinking, board design etc. MUCH better then any of the cheap parts express or aliexpress kits i have found!!!
At 19V your output will be limited. but you should be able to get more than 2 watts out of it. I would take a look at the voltage AT the pin on the IC, what is the voltage at that point under load? I bet it is dropping significantly. but still. you should be able to get 10w plus out of it.