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Recommend me a 'T-class' amplifier for the boat.


DHutch

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We need to improve the audio on the boat, and the previous car headunit and speakers are both well past their best.

Everyone is raving about the efficiency and sound quality of these mini 'T-class' Tripath Class-D hifi amps any while some suggest they are a little less warm than conventional amps it seems like the way to go, linked to some suitable speakers and a voltage regulator.

Browsing ebay, and past thread for recommended/know brands I have found the below. Can anyone comment on which would be the most likely to give the desired results, given the cost of all of them in very reasonable.

 

My gut feeling is to go with the SA-60 as it has the second front mounted input.

Emilyanne is 24v so a 24-24vdc regulator shouldnt be an issue I don't think?

 

In time there will likely be a second amp+speaker setup at the other end of the boat, maybe even a third, and the ability to link them to the same input source.

 

 

SMSL SA-36A pro - £32 from UK or £26.50 from China
- Single Input
- 2*20w output at 4ohm (12W at 8ohm)
- 19-24v input

 

SMSL SA-60 - £86 from UK or £53 from China
- 2x Analog Input (front and rear)
- 2*40w Output + Sub output.

- 24v input

SMSL SA098E - £71 from UK
- Single Input
- 2*120w Output

- 35v input

SMSL A2 - £55 from China £84 from Germany
- 2x Analog Input (front and rear)
- 2*60w Output

MUSE i15w - £16 from UK
- Single Front mounted input
- 2x15watt Output
- Max 14v input (supplied without power supply)

MUSE M20 - £21 HongKong
- Single Input
- 2*20w output.

MUSE SA50 - £35 from Chine
- Single input
- Output 2 x 68W at 4ohm (50w at 8Ohm)
- 12-24v power input

Lepai/Lvpin/Lepy? LP-2020A+ - £18 from UK
- Single Input
- 2*20w output.

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as in the other thread.. I can recommend the tpa3116 based amps, I've been hammering mine for a week now and have no complaints.

 

Others I know have put them up against the tri-path units (lepai etc) and are choosing the tpa based amps in preference.

 

the ebay items I mentioned here would give you either 2 x 50w (stereo) or 2 x 50w + 1 x 100w (2.1 audio)

 

looking over response curves from the chips datasheet they have a very flat response curve from 2hz up to around 10mhz (anything below 2hz will trip DC protection within the chip), in practice the amps are set to cut anything below around 40hz from the input and will filter anything above around 30khz on the output.

in terms of audio this translates to very tightly controlled bass (with an amazing amount of punch) and incredibly sharp top end (a hand clap can hit you like a gunshot)

 

in short it will make a good recording sound amazing but will do nothing to mask a bad recording

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Some recent info. in a recent thread that may be of use.
http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=81913&hl=


Ahh, I had found and re-read a number of threads from around the 2013 period but had not found that one, thanks for the link.

 

as in the other thread.. I can recommend the tpa3116 based amps, I've been hammering mine for a week now and have no complaints.

Others I know have put them up against the tri-path units (lepai etc) and are choosing the tpa based amps in preference.

the ebay items I mentioned here would give you either 2 x 50w (stereo) or 2 x 50w + 1 x 100w (2.1 audio)

looking over response curves from the chips datasheet they have a very flat response curve from 2hz up to around 10mhz (anything below 2hz will trip DC protection within the chip), in practice the amps are set to cut anything below around 40hz from the input and will filter anything above around 30khz on the output.
in terms of audio this translates to very tightly controlled bass (with an amazing amount of punch) and incredibly sharp top end (a hand clap can hit you like a gunshot)

in short it will make a good recording sound amazing but will do nothing to mask a bad recording


Ok, so the TPA3116 chip is considered better than the TA2020 chip?

Googling it appears the SMSL SA-60 I linked to above is based on the TPA3116 chip, and has the second front mounted input which is nice. Although a sub-woofer amp is a significant reason to jump ship I would be quite tempted to add one at a later data, especially if for space constraints the main speakers where more suited to being part of a 2.1 arrangement.


This is the one you have : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271992530382?
Black version thats similar but with RCA input; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272050233622?
With 'intergreted bluetooth' (receiver, presumably) ;http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271994735659?

Daniel
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if you have a speaker that you can use as a sub I would suggest going for one of the 2.1 setups, my sat speakers are little 6 inch cubes reclaimed from a creative megaworks 250 or 550 setup (and they are small enough to hide away easily) however my sub is a different story, it's 3 feet wide, 2 feet deep and 14 inches tall and contains 2 10 inch drivers (on the little amp it's enough to get anything in the office shaking)

on a boat I would use a far smaller sub (small enough to hide under seating)

 

don't worry too much about getting one with rca input, leads to go from rca to 3.5mm jack are cheap enough and tend to be pretty solid

for boat use I would go for one that had bluetooth and line level input, line level would be used for audio from the tv (as it's inbuilt speakers are dire) and the bluetooth for audio from phones / laptop etc

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  • 3 months later...

Hi read with your interest your post. I would like to upgrade my stereo. I bought an lepai amp, cut the adaptor and connected the wire to the yellow and black wire feeding the car stereo currently installed . I switched power on and blew the amp (had a 5 amp fuse and 12.4 volts coming through batteries). Can anyone please provide any advice on what t-amp to buy how to convert the power to run on 12v and how to wire on a boat. I do not have much experience of electrics so open to a recommendations of an electrical engineer.

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Hi read with your interest your post. I would like to upgrade my stereo. I bought an lepai amp, cut the adaptor and connected the wire to the yellow and black wire feeding the car stereo currently installed . I switched power on and blew the amp (had a 5 amp fuse and 12.4 volts coming through batteries). Can anyone please provide any advice on what t-amp to buy how to convert the power to run on 12v and how to wire on a boat. I do not have much experience of electrics so open to a recommendations of an electrical engineer.

From your description there's no reason why the amp should have blown unless...

1. The polarity was wrong.

2. The speaker connections were shorted.

 

It may have blown a 5A fuse though, depending on which amp it is.

 

Tony

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