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TPA 3116 vs the tripaths

Hi all been awhile since I played with these amps. Any recommendation on boards that would work better for making an active speaker, or perhaps what’s the best implementation of the 3116 these days? The facmogu f900 looks interesting at 30 bucks.
 
Poultrygeist said:
Amazon was showing an 11% discount on the Aiyima A07 TPA 3255 yesterday so once again I yielded to temptation. I plan to use it to drive two 15" Eminence Alpha bass OB woofers which are fairly sensitive. Will use one of my active crossovers to low pass the Alphas. Finally I'll get to see how it compares with the Volt+D. The hype this little amp has received is impressive.

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after reading this post (and a bunch of others) i also grabbed an Aiyima A07 TPA 3255 on amazon. arrived today and put it in my bedroom system (in place of an amp camp amp). lots of power and clarity right off the bat. will play for a while and see how it settles in. i have the TI evaluation board (in my garage system) so have tried the 3250 (plus a lot of 3116 amps/boards).

if it does well i'll go down the power supply rabbit hole!
 
rogerfederer said:
after reading this post (and a bunch of others) i also grabbed an Aiyima A07 TPA 3255 on amazon. arrived today and put it in my bedroom system (in place of an amp camp amp). lots of power and clarity right off the bat. will play for a while and see how it settles in. i have the TI evaluation board (in my garage system) so have tried the 3250 (plus a lot of 3116 amps/boards).

if it does well i'll go down the power supply rabbit hole!
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well, that was odd... have been playing this amp for almost a week. just now, after running for about 2 hours, it developed a very loud screech. turned it off, waited 5 minutes, and it is gone. will see if this happens again. may be returning this one.
 
Mine has been on almost 4 weeks straight, only turned off when I swapped opamps and last week when I cleaned the den, but has not had any untoward moments.
 
The 3255 Aiyima paired with open baffles. It easily drives two wide band drivers per side wired in parallel ( always thought that was no no but you live and learn ). That 3.5 mm output sends a strong signal to the sub plate amp. Some are critical of the fact the sub output is not volume controlled by the amp's pot but I'd rather use the plate amp's volume knob for that. I can understand why folks are critical as they don't use an external sub amp which is close at hand.

The Aiyima is more powerful than the SMSL DA-9 and if you don't need all those EQ settings it's a far better value. But I really like the DA-9's EQ settings with complex diy OB's as it allows them to be dialed in and is capable of removing any troublesome driver warts.

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I have both the Volt +d and the Aiyima. I use them both with our television in our living room usually with a pair of RCA Lx5 speakers (the ones with the Linaeum tweeters) though I've also used them with a pair of self-built SEAS 5.25 woofer/mid and 1" SEAS tweeter that are probably better than the Lx5s (wife acceptance factor issues). I've gone with the Aiyima for now, but that's for very specific reasons. The Lx5's are not terribly efficient speakers and, while I do listen to Spotify in the living room, the vast majority of time I'm using the system for video. I have a 3e audio tpa 3255 with my main music system which I prefer to both the Volt +d and the Aiyima (though not by much), but again that's with medium efficiency speakers (Scanspeak home brew). The Volt +D probably comes pretty close to maxing out the potential of the tpa 311x series chips. It's a very musical amp, but it's probably best matched with high efficiency speakers. I think bass and dynamics will otherwise always be a bit limited. For me, those matter a bit more with video than they do with the sort of music I generally listen to (classical and jazz). The Aiyima is a competent take on the tpa 3255. I do find that it's missing some of the inner detail of the Volt +D in the mids and highs. I might well prefer the Volt + D for small scale acoustic music, but I have it connected to my TV. I do want to hear Allo's long-awaited take on the tpa 3255 because I am convinced that the tpa 325x series has more potential than the tpa 311x chips and what's a close call in the mid to upper frequencies won't be with more careful implementation. Finally, the Aiyima is considerably cheaper than the Volt +D (though both are quite inexpensive as these things go) and if you're into these things there's more of a budget friendly upward path via changing op amps, upping the power supply voltage, etc.
 
Hi Gang! I’m a long time follower of this thread haven’t done much with the TPA amps recently. I’m considering a new project though, and looking for some suggestions for the best way to go about it.

I want to build a Bluetooth enabled amplifier, using my phone as a source, to power a pair of ADS 300s on my sailboat. That means 12vdc. I want to build the case for it, so I’m looking for plain board, not a finished amp.

What is the latest consensus as to the best current iterations? I read great things about the Volt+D, but will it perform with just 12 volts? And is it available somewhere with Bluetooth capability? I could also go with a separate Bluetooth board I suppose, but I’m really in the dark as to which options for that are good, bad or indifferent.

I’m thinking that the 3116 chip is the most likely candidate, though I know there was a lot of love for the 3118 as well. I don’t need a ton of power. It is a small (28’) sailboat and use will be in the cabin. Think world’s smallest listening space. The antithesis of a wakeboard/ski boat.

I imagine that my answer is already in the thread, somewhere. But nearly 500 pages now- I’m too lazy to do that much homework. I appreciate your help and my apologies for any repetition.
 
The tpa3118 (the chip for the Volt +d) will work with 12 volts, but you'll y be getting less wattage or power. It's not a huge difference, I think the Volt D+ recommended voltage is a little under 20. I'd recommend the Allo Volt + board which is $39 or so and you can put it in your own case (something that'll do better with the elements) . iirc ADS 300s are 4 ohm speakers, but also not terribly efficient. My guess is that if you're planning to rock out on your sailboat or even want to listen loud when you're out of the cabin, you may be a little disappointed. If you're listening close up, it'll likely work fine. Another way to do it is to get a step up converter that'll let you run your amp at a higher voltage. They're cheap and aren't perfect audiowise but it'll let you play a bit louder. I'd first see if 12 volts is loud enough for you though. The Allo amps don't have bluetooth, but it's pretty easy to add a bluetooth receiver. I like the qudelix, but it's almost as expensive as the Allo Volt D+.
 
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Chicago Electronic Distributors sells an 18 volt power supply with the Volt D+. In one of the thread on diyaudio, I think someone from allo thought hte best tradeoff between linearity and power was at 18.2. You might be able to go to 26 volts, but my understanding is that 30 volts would fry it.
 
airbus said:
Chicago Electronic Distributors sells an 18 volt power supply with the Volt D+. In one of the thread on diyaudio, I think someone from allo thought hte best tradeoff between linearity and power was at 18.2. You might be able to go to 26 volts, but my understanding is that 30 volts would fry it.
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I think 28 VDC is about right for max, 30 absolute max for Volt+D with voltage drop thru the cap multipliers.
I'm using a 24 VDC/5A supply on mine.
 
@airbus, great information, thanks! I had forgotten that the Volt D+ was based on the TPA3118. With so much praise for that iteration I will probably go that route and add some sort of Bluetooth receiver. The step up transformer is a great idea if it turns out to be needed but I suspect that I will be OK. I already have a TPA3116 amp built a while ago that I’ve run with success (adequate volume) on 12 volts. My solution may wind up simply trying to find a way to stuff a Bluetooth receiver into that. I built that case out of teak and it is a nice match for the teak veneered ADS. All very boaty. I would love an excuse to try the Allo though, so we will see.
 
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