Hello,
First time posting here, I know it's a well discussed territory over the years but after hours of reading older threads and trying out different solutions nothing seems to work for me so I thought I would ask for your opinions before throwing more money at it.
My problem is, like mentioned in the title, disappointing bass performance from my LM3886 based amp. Mids and highs I like a lot actually. But it's not just a they-are-louder-than-cheaper-amps issue. I played some pure sine waves through it and around A1-C2 (55hz to 65 hz) it gets real quite suddenly. When I turn the volume all the way up it sounds like there is a light distortion too. This test I did with my computer, both with its onboard soundcard and a USB- soundcard, which is my main sound source. But the lack of bass is also noticeable with my record player + OPA2134 based RIAA preamp.
Now, the amp itself. It's the most simple design, I tried to build it after BrianGT's recipe, since reading about that one made me interested in building it. It's on a different PCB but I used the same values. Here are a some points to mention which might be asked:
1. There is space for an input cap so I have a 2.2 uF Wima there (replacing this with a wire did not have an influence on the lack of bass).
2. After reading about more capacitence on the board, I soldered 470 uF paralel to 100 uF caps and this did not have any influence either.
3. I have 8 ohm speakers. First I used a 120VA 18VAC transformer. Replacing it with a 225VA 24VAC transformer made it not better, bass sounds weaker actually.
4. Zobel network is there but no thiele network.
5. On the power supply board, I omitted the snubber. It has the first 2.2k resistor and the .1 uF cap between the pins of 10.000 uF cap.
6. The heatsink (one per channel) is rated 1,8 K/W. The termal compund used is Arctic MX-4.
I would be really happy if anyone has any idea what might be the problem and shares it with me because the joy of it working after wiring it all up for the first time is slowly replaced by the frustration of it not sounding good.
First time posting here, I know it's a well discussed territory over the years but after hours of reading older threads and trying out different solutions nothing seems to work for me so I thought I would ask for your opinions before throwing more money at it.
My problem is, like mentioned in the title, disappointing bass performance from my LM3886 based amp. Mids and highs I like a lot actually. But it's not just a they-are-louder-than-cheaper-amps issue. I played some pure sine waves through it and around A1-C2 (55hz to 65 hz) it gets real quite suddenly. When I turn the volume all the way up it sounds like there is a light distortion too. This test I did with my computer, both with its onboard soundcard and a USB- soundcard, which is my main sound source. But the lack of bass is also noticeable with my record player + OPA2134 based RIAA preamp.
Now, the amp itself. It's the most simple design, I tried to build it after BrianGT's recipe, since reading about that one made me interested in building it. It's on a different PCB but I used the same values. Here are a some points to mention which might be asked:
1. There is space for an input cap so I have a 2.2 uF Wima there (replacing this with a wire did not have an influence on the lack of bass).
2. After reading about more capacitence on the board, I soldered 470 uF paralel to 100 uF caps and this did not have any influence either.
3. I have 8 ohm speakers. First I used a 120VA 18VAC transformer. Replacing it with a 225VA 24VAC transformer made it not better, bass sounds weaker actually.
4. Zobel network is there but no thiele network.
5. On the power supply board, I omitted the snubber. It has the first 2.2k resistor and the .1 uF cap between the pins of 10.000 uF cap.
6. The heatsink (one per channel) is rated 1,8 K/W. The termal compund used is Arctic MX-4.
I would be really happy if anyone has any idea what might be the problem and shares it with me because the joy of it working after wiring it all up for the first time is slowly replaced by the frustration of it not sounding good.
If its based on the Akitika design then its actively regulated and operates the LM3886 from a single rail PSU, neatly side-stepping the p*ss-poor PSRR on the negative rail. So decent bass looks to have been designed in.
You know...I've noticed a pattern here with your posts that I've seen over and over again.
Seems like no matter what problem(s) someone is having with their project/design, you always seem to blame their problem(s) on their PS...LOL.
Do you really think that everybody's PS's are the sole cause of their problems??
What's your sample size here?
Odd, in your case it was more likely your layout. Forgot that?
You blamed the manufacturer for having a poor-sounding part, I blame the implementation.Power supplies are the low-hanging fruit, not the sole cause though.
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What's your sample size here?
Odd, in your case it was more likely your layout. Forgot that?
What exactly does "sample size" have to with anything I posted??
I haven't forgot anything and you know absolutely nothing about my layout or implementation skills, though you think you do...LOL.
I can gladly state whether I think a particular op-amp sounds okay or not so okay if I wish while kindly ignoring your common replies that the poor sound quality must either be the PS or the layout.
I'll not be wasting anymore of my time replying to your criticisms of everyone's power supplies or layout skills since all of this is already OT and I'm not looking for any heat from the moderators.
Quite simple really, you referred to something you'd noticed in my posts. I was curious how many of my posts you'd based your generalization on.
Okay, thanks for your reply. Now I understand.
Hope you have a wonderful evening.
I apologize for any misunderstandings on my part.
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