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TPA 3116 vs the tripaths

lico said:
Depends on your "use case". My only experience is with 19V laptop bricks. They work well. The higher the voltage the more watts you will get. Most folks don't need a lot of wattage, lots of folks are quite happy with 12V supplies.

Anecdotal evidence... was playing with my dual mono PBTL amp (modified red boards) tonight using a 19V brick (10A) that powers both boards. Lots of questions around here thinking a laptop brick isn't good enough. Also posts about why anyone would ever want to run the 3116 in PBTL mode since the TPA is only rated for 2-3 ohm speakers in that mode. I'm currently testing a couple of different speaker pairs (low efficiency 86-87 dB each) to see what I like best, each pair is 6 ohms, and the TPA with the 19V supply will drive either set into distortion and not have any power issues.

Then I said what the heck, let's put them in parallel and dial the volume up. Good grief, the 3116s deliver when pushed to the limit. Heat sink hardly warm too... didn't run for a long duration but I will :) With higher efficiency speakers that what I have I can't imagine power supplies are even an issue.
Click to expand...

Hi Lico,Were are the instructions on the parellel wiring I am going to do PBTL too in the future .I will coppy the instructions and save.Thanx,found the data sheet,is there something a little easier to understand,Like with Pictures LOL no but for a simple layman like me.ok if you can tell me what INPL INNL OUTPR OUTNR mean I can figure the rest,I think.

MONO MODE (PBTL)
The TPA31xxD2 family can be connected in MONO mode enabling up to 100W output power. This is done by:
• Connect INPL and INNL directly to Ground (without capacitors) this sets the device in Mono mode during
power up.
• Connect OUTPR and OUTNR together for the positive speaker terminal and OUTNL and OUTPL together for
the negative terminal
• Analog input signal is applied to INPR and INNR
 
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cleonjr said:
ok Another day got my preamp just need to make sure this transformer will work wth it can some one verify it will,,, http://www.ebay.com/itm/220V-110V-1...309?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f22cbf815 or is there a better one here is the preamp http://www.ebay.com/itm/Assembled-6..._Mixed_Lots_Other_Formats&hash=item3cd6c8818f I bought the preamp already just needed to make sure this is the right power supply and is on american voltage it says it is
Click to expand...

The voltages are okay but looking at the power rating in Watts, the transformer seems a bit on the small side for this application. It is better to have some headroom than to max out your transformer (causes distortion)
 
phalanger said:
The voltages are okay but looking at the power rating in Watts, the transformer seems a bit on the small side for this application. It is better to have some headroom than to max out your transformer (causes distortion)
Click to expand...

Is there an American supplier,the chinese either are 220v or not strong enough plus They charge shipping and the weight.I will look at PE, any other sugestions on American suppliers,also what power rating iwill i need in watts?
 
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lico said:
Depends on your "use case". My only experience is with 19V laptop bricks. They work well. The higher the voltage the more watts you will get. Most folks don't need a lot of wattage, lots of folks are quite happy with 12V supplies.

Anecdotal evidence... was playing with my dual mono PBTL amp (modified red boards) tonight using a 19V brick (10A) that powers both boards. Lots of questions around here thinking a laptop brick isn't good enough. Also posts about why anyone would ever want to run the 3116 in PBTL mode since the TPA is only rated for 2-3 ohm speakers in that mode. I'm currently testing a couple of different speaker pairs (low efficiency 86-87 dB each) to see what I like best, each pair is 6 ohms, and the TPA with the 19V supply will drive either set into distortion and not have any power issues.

Then I said what the heck, let's put them in parallel and dial the volume up. Good grief, the 3116s deliver when pushed to the limit. Heat sink hardly warm too... didn't run for a long duration but I will :) With higher efficiency speakers that what I have I can't imagine power supplies are even an issue.
Click to expand...

I just don't know why everyone is shying away from 24V power supplies? It's rated for it and I've tried several and they sound great! Lots of punch!
 
cleonjr said:
Is there an American supplier,the chinese either are 220v or not strong enough plus They charge shipping and the weight.I will look at PE, any other sugestions on American suppliers,also what power rating iwill i need in watts?
Click to expand...

According to the add you linked to, that preamp needs the following power ratings:


Voltage: AC6.5V（15W）

AC150V-0-AC150V (10W)
 
mr_light said:
I just don't know why everyone is shying away from 24V power supplies? It's rated for it and I've tried several and they sound great! Lots of punch!
Click to expand...

I have a variable 12v-24v 6A brick and I use all 24 vbut there are suttle differences in using less voltage,just a matter of ussing all the resource or just cruising,on a sunday afternoon.but the power is there regardless.
 
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I ran various modded tpa 3116 blue boards--various gain settings--with the 24v/5a supply from a dta-100a amplifier.

I found little useable difference between 12v, 18v, and 24v supplies because I use my 3116 for near field on my desk and it is just too damn loud to turn it up very far. 24v power supply seemed like overkill.

When I hooked up the YJ 6Z4/6n3 pre-amp, I REALLY didn't need extra power since the gain is pretty high on that pre and even with the 3116 reduced to lowest--20db--gain setting, I hardly ever go more than half way up on the volume pot on the pre...

AND, I noticed that with the 24v supply, both the heat sink and the inductors ran hot on my 3116 board, but as soon as I dropped the supply down to 18v that heat went away completely. Chip sink AND inductors are totally cool to the touch. Maybe the sink has a touch of perceptible heat, but I am running those coil craft inductors, and those things are room temperature at 18v.

And, with lower voltage power supply and the lower gain setting on the YJ blue board, there is less system noise, no hiss, etc.

So, I don't see the need for the 24v supply in my application.
 
Kind of a layman question, but how does one add a power switch to the blue board? Or I guess what type of switch? It just has those +/- screws.

Say you use a laptop psu and add a chassis jack. You're run the positive and negative to a power switch and then back to the board.

At the hardware store they have a bunch of different switches but the directions were basically nil. I could figure which ones were just on/off but there were 2,3,4 post etc. Which type would one use and how does it get wired?
 
prighello said:
Kind of a layman question, but how does one add a power switch to the blue board? Or I guess what type of switch? It just has those +/- screws.

Say you use a laptop psu and add a chassis jack. You're run the positive and negative to a power switch and then back to the board.

At the hardware store they have a bunch of different switches but the directions were basically nil. I could figure which ones were just on/off but there were 2,3,4 post etc. Which type would one use and how does it get wired?
Click to expand...

For the laptop psu you can always use something like this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/310690401254
 

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prighello said:
Thanks, but I'd rather just wire a toggle switch so there's something external on the chassis to turn it off and on. I'm sure this is real easy and I'm just missing it. My brain has been in a fog lately.
Click to expand...

You could easily wire a contact-switch between the power lead and the +voltage input on the board and mount it on your chassis
 
phalanger said:
You could easily wire a contact-switch between the power lead and the +voltage input on the board and mount it on your chassis
Click to expand...


Yeah, that's what I thought, then run the ground directly to the board. Why do people run 3 and 4 prong switches with the ground running through the switch? Is there an advantage to this?
 
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