View Full Version : AMP4 picture thread
Most of you will see some similarities in all my builds, but I thought it would be nice to post some pics as I've never shown any of my AMP4 amps so far...
It's simple as "beep", just a power amp with a toroidal transformer, modushop casing and an AMP4 module. No softstart (not necessary), no balanced input, just the plain amp.
I think it is beautiful in every respect...if I may be so bold to say so myself...[:I]
http://www.snapdrive.net/files/361770/AMP4/P1000913s.JPG
http://www.snapdrive.net/files/361770/AMP4/P1000917s.JPG
http://www.snapdrive.net/files/361770/AMP4/P1000914s.JPG
http://www.snapdrive.net/files/361770/AMP4/P1000916s.JPG
http://www.snapdrive.net/files/361770/AMP4/P1000915s.JPG
V-Bro,
What case is this, looks very sharp. What are the dimensions?
Mark
Vincent,
I like the glowing switch on this unit.
Where did you get this and about how much is it ??
It's great! Vandal resistant and reasonably nicely priced for the incredible rugged quality they are...
I got it from Farnell for around 12Eur...
http://nl.farnell.com/bulgin/mp0045-1e2bl012/switch-flush-latching-blue-illum/dp/1332000
http://nl.farnell.com/productimages/farnell/standard/133200007-40.jpg
------X-max. can be several meters on any driver, too bad it can be done only once...------
These switches look really nice. For anyone in Australia, I found a cheaper, lesser quality, copy of this switch. It looks the similar, but is only rated for 500mA @ 250V so you would only use it for switching a softstart like PSU1-SS or a preamp. I use one for my Truepath.
http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=S0933
It's around $10 compared with appx $40 at Farnell.
Also nice one Col! If we design a latch circuit with relay we can even use momentary switches, and the choices in them are enormous!
------X-max. can be several meters on any driver, too bad it can be done only once...------
bull041161
04-Sep-09, 00:03
Hi v-bro very nice job very profesional looking how does the amp 4 sound against the amp6b
In my opinion, the Amp4 sounds noticeably better than the Amp6. It's more of the same, but somehow more hypnotising and musical. Objectively, the distortion is a few times lower.
It does indeed not only have more "balls", but it also has more finesse/subtlety. Without direct comparison AMP6 is a stunning little amp that kicks thousands of other amps straight out of the ring. Even ones that cost as much as a bunch of AMP6'es. But when directly compared the AMP4 is quite a big upgrade and very easy to tell apart in a blind listening test.
------X-max. can be several meters on any driver, too bad it can be done only once...------
Hi V-bro.
Two questions for you about Amp 4.
1 - Looking at specs of TK2050 shows a significant difference of THD with other Tripath chips.
Do you know if it is due to more NFB ?
2 - Is it possible to use Amp4 as a balanced mono amp, i.e. with balanced input and paralleled outputs with one in reversed polarity ?
Hi Ecess, the difference in THD puzzles me as well, it would seem to me that they pulled off some kind of a dead time joke on this chipset. What I do know is that this difference is quite apparent in the sound quality. Even thought the character of all the Tripath amps is equivalent to one and other (and VERY good!) this chipset seems to do it all just slightly better...
The inputs are not differential by nature, but I'm investigating if there is the possibility to use the second TC2000/2001/2002 I/O for the differential signal. I'm afraid it is not going to improve much and you can just as well use an input transformer for this purpose (with the additional advantage of excluding the possibility to get ground loop noises...)
------X-max. can be several meters on any driver, too bad it can be done only once...------
Another Amp4 is finished. Amp is soldered together by V-bro, thank you for that:) . Case is 275x175x65mm 2mm thick Alu, nylon coated, its bought from ee.rsdelivers.com . Amp installed in case and some wire soldering were done by me.
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/464/03122009410.jpg
It has input transformers to get a signal for active subwoofer.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/9110/03122009412.jpg
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/1230/04122009414.jpg
I realy like the simple and clean look of the case. Ofc sound is Very Good also! :)
Whoa, that looks absolutely the bomb! Really nice box!
------For first power-up testing don't have the large power supply caps installed yet!!!------
It was a little tricky to get the box together, board and transformer are screwd to bottom side of the box.. everyting else - input, output plugs, connections etc. are at the top part of the box.. :)
quote:Originally posted by dfx
It was a little tricky to get the box together, board and transformer are screwd to bottom side of the box.. everyting else - input, output plugs, connections etc. are at the top part of the box.. :)
;) I'll be battling with this next week. The small aluminium box I bought for an Amp4 looks so much better when "inverted" and the amp board is on the "lid". Got any tips for getting the cable puzzle assembled?
quote:Originally posted by krilli
quote:Originally posted by dfx
It was a little tricky to get the box together, board and transformer are screwd to bottom side of the box.. everyting else - input, output plugs, connections etc. are at the top part of the box.. :)
;) I'll be battling with this next week. The small aluminium box I bought for an Amp4 looks so much better when "inverted" and the amp board is on the "lid". Got any tips for getting the cable puzzle assembled?
Naah not really, it was my first time soldering anything and stuff :)
but i tried to keep wires as short as possible but some wires could be even shorter when installid everything to one part of the box.
also its not very confortable to solder some short wires inside the box :p as you can imagine :)
Working on two more with more decent banana sockets and a fixed mains cable.
http://www.snapdrive.net/files/361770/AMP4/P1040112k.JPG
http://www.snapdrive.net/files/361770/AMP4/P1040113k.JPG
http://www.snapdrive.net/files/361770/AMP4/P1040101k.JPG
http://www.snapdrive.net/files/361770/AMP4/P1040102k.JPG
http://www.snapdrive.net/files/361770/AMP4/P1040104k.JPG
------
A picture tells a thousand words....------
I had both amps (pictures above) on trial/test in my livingroom for the past few days, after a longer while with the AMP6. I really like both the AMP4 and the AMP6, but I wanted to just comment some on the differences I have noticed.
The AMP6 is a rugged and fairly easy to build amplifier, by far the easier one to build and also a bit easier to place in a box. Most overlooked on the AMP4 is the mounting of the board involves the mounting to a heatsink as well. An often occurring problem is, like with the AMP3 that the bolts are overtightened and the amps shows problems due to broken contact/solders on the chip. It was always easy to solve by soldering it once again, but there's the aggravation of having to dismantle the whole amp again. Apart from such small hassles the AMP4 is well worth the trouble of building. It is truly amazing!
The two amps above have taken me about ten hours to build from scratch in total. But that excludes the cleaning up of the workbench!http://www.41hz.com/forums/images/icons/icon12.gif
The AMP4 switches on and off more silent than the AMP6. Actually most of the times there is no noise at all, and if there is you have to really have it all silent in the room. Then noise, well the AMP6 is silent. Very silent.... But the AMP4, like I've mentioned before is AMAZINGLY silent! Then detail. The AMP6 has a lot more detail than 110% of all commercial amps, but switching back to it after the AMP4 certainly pulled a thin curtain over the experience. The AMP4 was fooling me SO many times like I was hearing things as if they were not coming from the speakers, sometimes it was just freaky! I DO believe human ears can be easily fooled!
All in all I do know what future amps I will be building for my own listening room, TC2001 based they will be! (TC2000/2001/2002 that is...) Today they were shipped to Sweden to their new owners, I'm really missing them already!
Thanks for that report Vincent.
Any news on the higher powered version of these little amps?
Hi Kifysara, I am building up a proto TDA2500 module at the moment. As soon as that's done the design of the mainboard can begin, which will take more than a month at least, then ordering protos, testing and such... There's no way to tell when it'll be ready to ship....
Oh, thanks for that, but I was mostly asking for the HV versions of the 2050 amps! :)
Ah yes! Well there is also no saying when the chips will actually pop up at any distributor. Feel free to inverstigate and help us all!
I'd like to see, for instance, that amp4 when it's completely done, i.e. 'normal' user-ready.
And/or I'd like to know if the users get a user manual of some kind?
Or are these built for 41hz fans and NEVER will be lent out or sold?
If I would build for someone else I would not sent it off like this.
I didn't ship them like that, perhaps I should have made a 'final' picture... They are pretty simple and easy to use and operate amplifiers with only three buttons, there's not so much that can be done wrong, the amps are overcurrent protected, overtemperature protected etc.etc.
All there is to it is connect a source, two speakers and switch the amp on! :-)
The back panel has a main switch, just to disconnect the mains voltage completely. In daily life it doesn't need to be switched. Then there's a ground lift switch, only to be used when there's noise. It can't hurt to try it both ways, just choose the least noisy setting! :D Then there's just one switch on the front panel to mute the amp. This is all you operate in daily life...
Really a regular cellphone is MUCH harder to operate. And even small children pull it off these days...
No, I give all persons purchasing amps from me personal guidance on all the whereabouts of the amps they get. In this case the two brothers who are going to use them have good knowledge about the technical details and know how to use it. In the inquiry of what kind of amp someone wants I don't need more than two words to see if there's a complete noob there who needs everything spelled out or someone with decent knowledge of the matter. If someone specifically asks for an attenuator I reckon they know what they ask for. In this particular case the one asking even knew the exact output Vrms of his preamp. Definitely no beginner!
teflondon
12-Jan-10, 18:30
Hey Vincent, how many amps do you average per week? How many for customers, work, and yourself?
These two amp4s are gorgeous, by the way.
Hi, well not that many lately because I am too busy these months...
Sometimes I finish two or three per week....
Those last two AMP4 were so nice I wanted to keep them myself! :)
V-Bro,
The amp case looks very nice. It looks like the power for the LED in the Bulgin switch is off the Amp4 board. Can you explain how that was connected?
Thanks.
V-Bro,
The amp case looks very nice. It looks like the power for the LED in the Bulgin switch is off the Amp4 board. Can you explain how that was connected?
Thanks.
I just took it from the main rail, but with resistor in series, then I used the second pole of the switch to turn it's own led on at the same time as the other pole unmutes the amp. Simple! :)
I just took it from the main rail, but with resistor in series, then I used the second pole of the switch to turn it's own led on at the same time as the other pole unmutes the amp. Simple! :)
My electronic skills are not very advanced, and the Bulgin switch is expensive. I would like to get a get a "sanity check" on my resistor size. I am measuring 25 vdc off the main rail. My understanding of the Bulgin is that is expecting 12 volts to power the LED because it has an internal resistor for the LED. Assuming the forward current is 20 mA for the LED, and the forward voltage is 12 volts I'm getting a 680 ohms resistor. Does this sound reasonable?
Try 1K first, the light will be quite bright if you follow the manufacturers instructions... I never like too bright lights piercing my eyes ;)
Usually the mute function (which I always connect to this switch) has a MUTE and GND pin. So I only pull a + wire with inline resistor for the light. Then I bend two pins towards each other and solder them together on the switch (GND and light -) then light+ gets the wire...
Get this? This takes only three wires towards the switch....
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