Flea watt amps/chip amps

Pastor Bill

I'm rather intrigued by the whole TPA3116 board/T amp thing. Am thinking of getting a TPA3100 or 3116 and some cheap high efficiency speakers for my flat screen TV as an experiment and way to get my feet wet. Any experiences/opinions that anyone cares to share?

tonyb

Feet wet with what....low powered amps ?

These are really meant for near field listening, desktop solutions. If your going to try and fill a large room with sound, disappointment awaits you. Not so sure they can handle the dynamic swings of movies either.

For a flat panel....and sound on the cheap, you can pick up any DD receiver off of craigslist for a 50 and add whatever 8 ohm speakers you like. Plus you'll have the benefits of digital inputs and processing that's most likely way better than what your flat panel has to offer.

For nearfield listening on smallish 8 ohm speakers in a smallish room, yeah they will work for music listening but everything has it's limits as they say and flea power doesn't belong in HT.

gce

I went with a powered sound bar with sub for my bedroom flat screen...works great!

mhardy6647

As I think you already know, I use relatively flea powered amplification (ca. 3.5 watts per channel), but no chips are involved.
It'll fill a room (26 x 26 feet), no problem, with appropriate loudspeakers... no TV allowed in there, though.

Amp mit Westies by mhardy6647, on Flickr



In terms of chip amps, they're capable of remarkably good sound -- get yourself a pair of Altec Voice of the Theatres (A5 or A7 will do) and do some real home theatre - 1950s-1980s-style.

I have one of these hyper cheap "class T" (Tripath -- or Tripath-clone -- chipset) amplifiers, used mostly for bench work... but I did try it on the Duplexes and it sounded remarkably good. A tad bright but by and large very respectable. Realistically, the output power of this particular little Lepai-branded (PartsExpress) amp into 8 ohm loads at reasonable levels of distortion is probably about the same as the single-ended 2A3 amp pictured above.

NakBX100running by mhardy6647, on Flickr

Pastor Bill

Thanks for the responses, especially yours Mhardy. DD receiver? I'm not familiar with the abbreviation. Since I have a music audio system that is quite satisfactory...my curiosity regarding class D, T, tri-path and chip amps is just that urge to tinker. I wouldn't actually think of using one of these for serious listening...that is the duty of the NAD 7140 and the rehabbed Model Qs. The idea that I could buy a chip amp board for 10-15 bucks, put it in a small craft box and hook it up to some cheap speakers and obtain reasonable sound...that's an idea that I would like to test.
I used to do the same thing with my hand loading...many of the things I did were because of something I had read or seen...and wanted to try mine own self.

cnh

That Lepai will surprise you with reasonably "efficient" speakers. On LOW to MODERATE volume it sounds almost as good as some of my best mid-power vintage receivers?

Check out RusSman's (Polkie) youtube review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Macr8u9kTwU&list=UUxq3zeVskwq0zxfTNOu97mQ

cnh

There is also a six part series on how to build a portable boombox using a T-Amp and rechargeable battery:

Here is Part 6 but you can work backwards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5OHa0lUNog&list=UUQQR-Lu1vjEgNwC2hhE_J-w

Pastor Bill

I had been considering the Lepai...but was put off by numerous reviews that indicated they didn't last and were having many quality control issues. My main concern with the Lepai is this...you have stereo output but only single RCA input. What's up with that?

cnh

It's a cheap T-amp meant to be used in desktop situations or with an ipod and the like. You don't need a lot of inputs for that, otherwise you'd have a more expensive Pre-amp configuration and the device would cost a lot more than $20?

BTW, it not only has RCAs it also has a 3.5 mm input for 3.5 to 3.5mm cord. Of course you can only use ONE of these inputs at a time. QC on the Leapi is much improved and besides, how much sense does it make to worry about an item as CHEAP as this failing. Mine is almost a year old and no problems!

There is also no H-phone in. If you want that, add another 40-50+ dollars. lol

Take a look on P-Express and you'll see what MORE FEATURES will COST you!

[[[Here's something Polk should think about. One Lepai T-amp ($20), one pair of Pioneer bookies on sale ($85), One decent portable DAC $100-150 = $205-250. Polk Hampden = $399.??? Bet the Lepai/Pioneer set up trounces it (I guess the Hampden is just "prettier"!]]]

On another note. Sheesshh, barely two weeks into the new semester and I'm already nursing my first cold. Went ALL summer without anything. Students and their lives (human petri dishes!)

cnh

mhardy6647

1. If you decide to go with a 'single input' T-amp, it's easy and inexpensive to add a source selector switch upstream of it! MCM sells a bunch of 'em -- I haven't actually bought one, but they look fine and they're certainly cheap enough (i.e., worth a try):
see mcmelectronics.com/browse/Source-Selectors/0000000292


2. Take care of ourself, cnh! :- )

Pastor Bill

Know what you mean about the human petri dishes. I work at the University of Florida Medical School...and (naturally) med students are the worst about personal sanitary procedures.

Pastor Bill

What I meant by the input situation is I (think) that my TV has L and R audio outputs in stereo. Would only allow me to input one side, correct? I'll have to check more carefully tonight.

mhardy6647

No the amp(s) in question have stereo inputs. Only one set (pair), so only one source... but stereo fo' sho'.

Trust me on this - there's a little Lepai sittin' up in the hifi room even as I type this...

EDIT: or, on the other, hand, one may - with a tad bit of effort - borrow a photo of the back side of the little "2020" from partsexpress, which does show the (unlabeled!) stereo RCA jack inputs (red = right, white = left) as well as the "3.5 mm" (1/8", to us old geezers) in-line stereo phone jack ("MP3"... iPOD, Walkman, etc.) analog input :- )


source: parts-express.com/Data/Default/Images/Catalog/Original/310-301_ALT_0.jpg
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cnh

Pastor Bill wrote: »

What I meant by the input situation is I (think) that my TV has L and R audio outputs in stereo. Would only allow me to input one side, correct? I'll have to check more carefully tonight.

Mark's shot above makes it clear you could use it exactly for TV sound and the Russman14 video I copied above tells you he "does" use it that way. He has his hooked up to a TV and two B&W bookies. He has the Lepai hooked to the VARIABLE AUDIO L/R outputs with the TV volume turned half way. He then sets the Lepai volume to around half or so and is able to turn the volume on the entire system up and down since the Lepai is being fed through variable volume RCAs which allow you to raise and lower the input to the Lepai using the TV's REMOTE. That's pretty cool if your HDTV has those outputs. But if not, you can still just use the Lepai volume to control the sound, just not the TV remote.

Thanks Mark, I'm using unorthodox methods on this incipient cold; lots of saline solution to FLUSH the sinuses, Vit C (OK, I know the establishment frowns on the efficacy here), cayenne pepper in large doses, Listerine for the throat, and enough water to DROWN myself (infinite fluids).

cnh

Pastor Bill

You may also wish to consider some vitamin D3...those "in the know" say that Linus Pauling stopped one vitamin short. The testing on the efficacy of Vitamin D3 has been much more thorough.