quality amplifier boards for powered bookshelf?

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3wayaddict

3wayaddict

Member
Joined 2017
Hello,

Because of a lack of space and mainly because I think it's cool I want to make my future bookshelf speakers powered so I need amplifier boards. What are some good quality boards?
I was originally planning to use two Begringer A500s in dual mono but I'm in a pretty small room and I had a bit of a lack of space for them but the main reason I want to make powered speakers is because I think it's cool and I would like to do this. But these speakers and the system they will be part of are supposed to be my masterpieces, I want them to be very good quality, the drivers also are very high quality.
They drivers they have to power are a Dayton Audio ES180Ti-8 (100 w RMS, 200 w peak) and a Fountek NeoX1.0 (20 w RMS, 38 w peak). And because it would be stupid to use passive crossovers in powered speakers I want them to have DSP, and I kinda want it not only to be an active crossover but equalizer, bass management etc.

I've seen these Sure Electronics boards, they have a bunch of expansion boards for them, including DSP, do they sound good?

So what I want/need:
-class D or A/B
-100 + 20 w RMS, twice that peak power (more doesn't matter obviously)
-DSP
-very good quality, just as good as (or better than) dual class A/B A500s in mono would sound like
-I obviously prefer fan less, no noice has to be caused inside the speaker
 
jaycee

jaycee

Member
Joined 2004
How big are the speakers ? If they're bookshelf speakers, im pretty sure you wont need 100W to drive them.

It does sound like you want an electronic crossover, but this doesnt have to involve a DSP. I'd probably use 2x LM3886 power amplifier IC's and some linkwitz-riley crossover using opamps.
 
3wayaddict

3wayaddict

Member
Joined 2017
They’re big, very big for bookshelfs. Dimensions are 45x25x40 cm (HxWxD) but they won’t have side panels of 25x40, the Bach will be angled so the top will be smaller than the bottom. I’m going for a sort shrunk down combination of the Meridian DSP8000 and the Verity Audio Monsalvat design wise so the rear and top will be slightly angled and the sides will be slightly curved BUT not only will the sides get smaller because of the angle but they will also have 6-1/2” passive radiators on each side.
And I DO need the 100 + 20 Watts RMS, because that’s what the components are rated for and because the tweeter and woofer both have the exact same maximum output and their outputs in dB will stay balanced on whatever wattage and I want to keep that balance. And mainly I want the amps to be the full rating because I want the amps to be capable to drive the speakers full out because they’re really not that sensitive and so there’s headroom to avoid distortion when playing on lower volumes.
 
S

stevec67

Member
Joined 2008
3wayaddict said:
And I DO need the 100 + 20 Watts RMS, because that’s what the components are rated for and because the tweeter and woofer both have the exact same maximum output and their outputs in dB will stay balanced on whatever wattage and I want to keep that balance.
Click to expand...
Your logic is flawed here. You are confusing efficiency and max power rating, 2 different things. I have some Quad ESLs. They are inefficient AND have a low max power. If I put them with say a Klipsch with a high efficiency but a similarly low max power, they will never have a matched output.

And mainly I want the amps to be the full rating because I want the amps to be capable to drive the speakers full out because they’re really not that sensitive and so there’s headroom to avoid distortion when playing on lower volumes.
Click to expand...
You won't need it, but if you want it then build it. Big amps do sound good.
 
3wayaddict

3wayaddict

Member
Joined 2017
stevec67 said:
Your logic is flawed here. You are confusing efficiency and max power rating, 2 different things. I have some Quad ESLs. They are inefficient AND have a low max power. If I put them with say a Klipsch with a high efficiency but a similarly low max power, they will never have a matched output.
Click to expand...

I know the difference. The tweeter has a 20 w RMS rating and a sensitivity of 92 dB at 1 w/2,37 V. The woofer has a 100 w RMS rating and a sensitivity of 85 dB at 1 w/2,38 V. When you calculate the maximum output in dB of each driver by doubling the wattage until you reach the RMS rating and then multiply that number by 3 and count the sensitivity with it you get a maximum output of 104 dB as result in case of both drivers. So their output in dB is perfectly matched which is what you want. So that’s why I need the amp of the woofer to be 5 times as powerful as that of the tweeter, so the outputs in dB match.
I know how it works.

And I know you don’t necessarily need the amp to be as powerful as the driver can handle but the reason I want it to be just that is because even though it’s not necessary I’m just one of those people who cares about specs and wants everything to be maximised and, again, because I want headroom to minimise distortion. Also, even though I won’t need them to be super loud all the time, the drivers combined won’t have that high of a sensitivity and even at full power they will only produce 104 dB, so I want to be able to get as much loudness as possible when I DO want it.
 
3wayaddict

3wayaddict

Member
Joined 2017
I know about that one but it's size doesn't fit my design and mainly is it way to expensive, here in the Netherlands they cost €370,- each. My budget is around €250,- per speaker which is about the same as an A500 and the passive crossover would cost.
I've been searching and my idea was to have a Hifimediy T3S Jantzen cap with a SMPS300R power supply in each speaker and then one MiniDSP 2x4 HD in one of the speakers connected to the same single power inlet but with a separate power supply, so the amp and the DSP won't be in direct contact.
So, both RCA channels from my Yamaha WXC-50 streamer DAC will go to the speaker with the DSP in it, 2 of the 4 outputs of the DSP will go to the amp in that same speaker. The other two connections will go out again, to the other speaker without DSP, into the amp of that one. And than just wrap all of the external cables in Techflex to keep it tidy.
 
3wayaddict

3wayaddict

Member
Joined 2017
Yes, those amplifier boards are class D. I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be doing the setup I’ve listed above, it will cost me €533,- which is okay for me considering I would also crossovers which do not only cost quite a bit of money but are also a pain in the *** to get perfect, and I would also need long speaker cables in stead of just the internal wiring which can also get pretty damn expensive if you want some nice ones, which I want. The cables I would have made if I were to use external amps would also cost me over €100,-.

I would actually also like to make my subwoofers active but I have a problem with the power supply. I’ll obviously need a power supply dedicated to audio and the only manufacturer I could find was hifimediy as well but one of their power supplies is just not powerful enough, I would need 1200 to 1300 Watts peak power for one sub because the drivers are 1200 Watts peak but their power supply is only a 1000 Watts peak, just a bit to little. But their bigger power supply is way overkill, it could power both subs at the same time but I want each sub to have it’s own power supply because having a power cable go into one sub, then it coming out again and going to another one is a bit odd, it looks weird and than I wouldn’t be able to use the subs separately if I would ever want to.
Anybody any suggestions?
 
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