Hi all, T-amp board with Tripath TA-2024 chip at only RM55? Where could I order one if I am keen?

diyparadise dot com selling the Charlize board with TA-2020 chip at RM350.

jazzy, thank you so much, will liaise xtorm.

Just replied to your PM reply, TQ

A honest and excellent write-up, jazzy939.

The shy low frequencies of Sonic Impact T Amp also using Tripath TA-2024 chip was also mentioned in a TNT review on Trends 10.1 amp of which its author pointed to as attributes of "how the circuit was designed around chip" and "quality and value of capacitors and resistors used". See article here. To seek better bass, we may need to experiment with better caps of different value.

Well said, jazzy939.

I too have placed my order for the Class T amp from xtorm and is eagerly awaiting for their arrival. In my excitement, I poisoned 2 friends around me and shall have company in assembling our amps into their casings with the connectors required.

Will need to go parts hunting in JP / Octave Electronics during the weekend. BTW, do you think I could find Neutrik RCA connectors or others with equivalent quality for RM6.50 each or cheaper there? And, would a 50k ohm pot be a better choice for this kit amp than one with 100k ohm?

This post has been edited by Y.C.: Aug 15 2008, 03:11 PM

jazzy, my friends and I actually heard the Charlize amp (with Tripath TA-2020 chip) at the KLIAV 2008 in the diyparadise room; I thought the sound was very natural and hence the eagerness to build and own one.

Thanks for the info. Neutrik RCA connectors are available at Farnell for RM6.50 each and not really expensive unless the normal gold plated ones are much cheaper in JP. At diyforums, some diyers are saying that the 20Kohm non discreet type of potentiometers actually suits the class T amps more. The recommended PSU seems to be 13.5V DC 5A.

My T amps are expected to arrive in roughly 10 days from now, as xtorm puts it.

I look forward to read the sonic improvements brought about after your tweaks. Meanwhile, enjoy the music.

jazzy, all I could add after seeing the picture of your 2nd T-amp with gigantic caps is that I'm really excited and awaiting eagerly for my own T-amp to arrive.


xtorm, FYI the part numbers for Neutrik connectors are: Red NYS 367-2 (5008529) at RM6.50 each and White NYS 367-9 (5008566) at RM6.54 each. BTW how much did you pay for your RCA connectors? Problem with Farnell is, they don't stock up anymore in Malaysia and will courier the items ordered after payment directly to us if the minimum order exceeds RM20.

mysghooi, the recommended PSU is 12V DC 2.5A

This post has been edited by Y.C.: Aug 16 2008, 05:37 PM

I'm a lil lost here. How old is your son if you're only 36?

While waiting for my T-amp to arrive, I worked on the casing for it - a Rosewood jewellery box box measuring 8" x 5". I manually drilled some holes to fit in the speaker binding posts and RCA connectors and all this without proper tools, just using screw drivers of various sizes. I Would need another hole to fit in the DC current connector at one of the corner on the same side as these holes.

jazzy,

Thanks for the compliment. I actually got inspiration to house my T-amp in a wooden jewellery box from diyparadise website under the "Honey I bought you a jewellery box" series. I thought if the volume pot, toggle on-off switch, led light and all connectors are fitted properly with holes drilled carefully and meticulously, the finished product will look cool and unassuming amongst my stacks of books and magazines instead of housing it in a high-priced metal box. And it is very inexpensive considering I only paid RM35 for the solid Rosewood box with beautiful floral carvings.

You are quite right, waiting for the arrival of my T-amp now is more unbearable. I guess I need to proceed at a slower pace.


zzzxtreme,

The cheapest T-amp completely built up is a Zero-Channel T-amp from Hong Kong, at US$49.98 or RM170 thereabout with shipping costs included. See link here: T-amp It is without a volume control and purely a power amp, so you will need either an active or passive pre-amplifier to go along with it. A passive pre-amp does not boost up signal of the power amp and is basically a 10k ohm / 20k ohm / 50k ohm / 100k ohm resistor with variable resistance with you turning the volume control.

There are many rave reviews on T-amps out there but do treat them only as a guide instead of absolute truth. I would think the sonics of T-amp would easily surpass many entry level amps from NAD, Cambridge Audio, Marantz and the likes but amps costing $10k? I seriously have my doubts because if really so, many amp makers would be out of business by now as everybody would be rushing to buy T-amps. It probably could but you will need to engage in > 90dB sensitive loudspeakers (horn-typed, line-transmission, crossover-less full range drivers, ...), battery powered T-amp, matching input impedance of T-amp with output impendance of cd player and other sources and so forth.... Question is, are you willing to go all the way?

And as jazzy has put it, when you buy a ready built T-amp, half the literal fun of listening, testing and tweaking the sound to suit your taste will be taken away from you and what you are getting is only the other half - the finished product. It is actually about the journey (work involved) too rather than the destination (finished T-amp) alone.


xtorm,

The WBT style connectors are at RM33 per pair, from internet when I picked up other items earlier on.




This post has been edited by Y.C.: Aug 20 2008, 02:07 AM

xtorm, you sure your supplier got TA-2022 chip that could produce 200W? You could be mistaken.

To my knowledge (I could also be wrong though), all Tripath chips could not be bridged and the TA-2022 chip is only capable of 2 x 60W into 8ohm or 2 x 90W into 4 ohm and it is sometimes referred to as a 100W chip.

And TA-2024 chip sounding closer to tube amp??? I thought it is the other way around with TA-2020 being so. Even in term of pricing of Tripath chips alone without board and ancillary parts in capacitor, resistor and inductor, TA-2020 costs more than TA-2024.

Do check out diyforum on subject of "Gainclone amp vs T-amp"





This post has been edited by Y.C.: Aug 20 2008, 10:38 PM

Charlize T-amp is with the TA-2020 chip with max output of 2 x 10W into 8ohm and 2 x 20W into 4ohm.

In a 2005 TNT shootout where 4 different T-amps were compared, the reviewer preferred Charlize over others. See link: here.

Charlize is a product from diyparadise and available either in finished product at RM1,000 or in kit form at RM350.

And at such prices, I felt Charlize could not be compared to the TA-2024 kit at only RM55.

This post has been edited by Y.C.: Aug 21 2008, 01:04 AM

For info of all: A DIY Charlize (TA-2020) monoblock available for sale for RM480 where owner claimed amp was built with premium parts of Blackgate N capacitors, Jensen paper-in-oil capacitors, Aircore inductors, heavy duty gold plated RCA jacks and binding posts and Hammond metal casing all costing more than RM1,200 excluding labour charges.

Interested, check this out: amp

This post has been edited by Y.C.: Aug 21 2008, 01:22 AM

jazzy,

As much as I suspect that I will prefer the Charlize (TA-2020)'s sound over the RM55 TA-2024 kit amp that I ordered from xtorm with its slight more power and purported finesse if I were to perform direct comparison between the two, I wholeheartedly AGREE with you that the TA-2024 kit T-amp is the Best Bang per Buck Amp; and if I actually find the 2 x 15W into 4 ohm power of TA-2024 kit amp is adequate to drive my Q-Acoustics 1010 loudspeakers at moderate and not head banging level, I will stick with the TA-2024 kit amp and forget the Charlize kit at RM350.

The TA-2024 kit amp at RM55 is a no brainer, it is almost a sin not to try it out if we happens to be on the look out for an amplifier.

jazzy,

Under normal circumstances, amplifiers need 100 hours to run-in. However, after the first 30 hours of play, its sound is already quite listenable. The sonic improvements after this would be subtle - midrange becoming more liquid-sounding, treble less brittle-sounding and bass goes deeper and lower. If we were to put out ears close to the drivers of our loudspeakers, the tsssh sound from the drivers would be totally gone once the amp is fully run-in (speaking from my own experience)

The sonic characters of T-amp should already been very obvious by now, after 25 hours of playing music.

mysghooi,

A little hiss should be inevitable and acceptable as you cannot hear it from your listening position.
I once owned a Creek A50iR integrated amp and it developed a hiss or actually buzzing sound so loud that I could hear it in my listening position which is six to seven feet from the loudspeakers. And after I switched to another amp, the buzzing sound was no more there, only serve to confirm something is not quite right with the Creek amp. My subsequent amps do not exhibit such problems and when I put my ears close to the speaker drivers when music is not playing, it is a complete silence.

I have not receive my T-amp yet but strongly believe there should not be any hissing sound. Interference from other electrical appliances in your house may be possible cause to the hissing sound.

If totally without any hiss, the sound should come out clearer so, I would say it is slightly more transparent.

However, I believe you are referring to which amp will sound more real in potraying the musical event and to this, I cannot comment as I have yet to compare the T-amp to other amps. Let us find that out in couple of days' time.

Try plugging the amp into other plug point elsewhere, okay to use extension cords if not long enough.

If problem still persist, amp is the culprit and as I pointed out above, a slight hiss should be acceptable as the hiss does not actually disrupt your listening session.

ongbs,

how's your T-amp sounding now after change of input and power supply capacitors?

From the pictures posted, I did not see any resistors on the board, are they soldered underneath? And the 4 units of inductance cores, what are they actually (the ones which could be replaced with inductance air cores)? ferrite cores?

Thanks, xtorm and ongbs.

The 1% metal film type resistors could be found in JP? Apart from OE, any recommendation where I could pick up better grade capacitors and resistors?