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Dayton Audio HTA100BT Initial Impressions

grey_beard

grey_beard

Active Member
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I decided to see how this budget hybrid amp performs on my desktop system in front of a pair of ADS L300s. The amp is listed at 50 wpc into 4 ohms which seems about right. The tube preamp is class AB so I figured for $165 (restock from Parts Express) I would take a flyer.

Previously I was powering these speakers with a Pioneer SX-850 with very good results.

I haven't seen much on AK about this little amp which surprises me though perhaps it's the "Hybrid" that keeps folks away.

My initial impressions are very positive with the caveat that this is my first experience with any tube amp. I'm running it off of the soundcard in my Macbook, though the Bluetooth sounds nice as well. It really is a musical little bugger. Frankly, I couldn't have hoped for more at the price. It just sounds sweet. Reproduction is clean. Not overly colored. The highs are well represented. Low end is tight and clear. I really can't imagine wanting more for my desktop (though we all know the bug will bite again).

There are a few cons:
My biggest warning is about the phono stage. It's not quiet. If I were going to use this amp for phono I might consider bypassing the phono preamp or running through the AUX. Either way it would be tempting to use a separate phono pre.

The VU meters are a joke. You really have to crank it to get them to do anything more than wiggle the tiniest bit and I don't find them attractive anyway. An upgrade may be in order here.

I have read that the fan can be noisy though mine has yet to kick in as I'm not driving it hard. I did get an upgraded fan to put in so that's coming but at the levels I'm running it is completely silent.

Also, there is no way to connect headphones as the only output is speaker L/R.

I'd love to hear other thoughts or impressions. Questions welcome.
 
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There may be adjustment pots for the meter circuit. A lot of these Chifi amps a d preamps with meters use the same meter boards. They usually have an input sensitivity adjustment. You could buy or build a switch box to switch between headphones and speakers. To use speakers you just need a couple resistors to knock the gain down. Thats what they did in integrated amps and receivers.
 
Lavane said:
There may be adjustment pots for the meter circuit. A lot of these Chifi amps a d preamps with meters use the same meter boards. They usually have an input sensitivity adjustment. You could buy or build a switch box to switch between headphones and speakers. To use speakers you just need a couple resistors to knock the gain down. Thats what they did in integrated amps and receivers.
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Good ideas there, Lavane. I like how you think. I'll check for pots once I get inside this little bad boy. For headphones you're talking about taking the output from the speaker terminals on the amp and running that into a switch? I assume you meant to say, add a resistor to the headphone output on the switch to knock the gain down, not the speaker side. That sounds like a fun little project.

I've been looking around for mods other than the fan and haven't found any. Kind of surprising really. I suppose I should check the HTA20BT and see what people have done with that one too.
 
Radio shack used to sell a box that connected to the speaker terminals that had headphone jacks on it. Most headphone jacks on amps and such are connected to the output transistors with some resistors in between to knock the speaker level down so you don't blow out the headphones. Most of the SS integrated amps and receivers were built like this. I only ever had one preamp with a headphone amp built in separate from the preamp stage.
 
50 to 200 ohm, 1/2 to 1 watt were the common size resistors used. You could start with 200 ohm and work your way back to see what works best. Or even up if needed to get a good range of volume.
 
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Now I'm wondering if there is room in the box to do it internally. It's not too tight in there. I did check and there is no pot to adjust the VU meters. Oh well.
 
All that's needed is a DPDT switch, a couple resistors, speakers terminals, a stereo headphone jack, a box and some wire.
 
surprised there isn't a meter range switch. Was a common thing, often -20db but on this one I think -10db would be more appropriate. That would be 5 watts on low range and 50 on high range. My Phase Linear has a -20db switch, 3.5 watts or 350 watts full scale.
 
If there aren't any trim pots maybe a fixed resistor could be swapped out for a lower value.
 
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