| Curious about Chip Amps? [message #44814] |
Thu, 24 June 2004 11:50  |
Garland garland
Messages: 22
Registered: May 2009
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Chancellor |
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I just splurged a whole $35 on the little Sonic Impact 15W/ch class-T amp from Target (on-line only) and powered by my 2amp DC power supply this thing sounds pretty darn amazing. Very quiet and dynamic with very detailed bass and transparent midrange. Good handling of sibilants and seems effortless with my Theater 4s. Only criticism at this point(only 3 hours break-in) is somewhat recessed high freqs. Compared to my modded Bottlehead Paramours, the chip amp is more transparent but lacks the last little bit of musical liveliness. Also the sound can be a bit hollow or plastic sounding with some recordings but I suspect that this is, indeed, the sound of the mikes used in the recording studio.
All in all, this little amp is one of the best I've ever heard!!! Truly hard to believe, but for $35 plus a 12V power supply you can't go wrong.Garland
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| Re: Curious about Chip Amps? [message #44817 is a reply to message #44814] |
Thu, 24 June 2004 14:45  |
Bill R
Messages: 10
Registered: May 2009
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Chancellor |
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Garland, hello! They are very load dependant. As the impedance drops, the top frequencies are shelved. Most chip amps do not like a drop below 6 ohms. Perhaps you may need to look at the impedance curve of your loudspeakers AND cables and see where the dip is and see if this is recessing the top. those amplifiers with proper load provide exceptional phase and bandwidth power response. Look at the impedance curve. Wish you well fellow!
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| Re: Curious about Chip Amps? [message #44818 is a reply to message #44817] |
Thu, 24 June 2004 15:05 |
Garland garland
Messages: 22
Registered: May 2009
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Chancellor |
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Thanks for the feed back. As per the impedance of the Pi Theater 4s I'd have to refer to Wayne but I believe they are fairly tame and flat. Yes, Wayne? ...and as per the cables I'm using single bi-wire runs of 26 awg magnet wire; each run is 8 feet. Not sure on the capacitance of this wire but I'd think it is fairly low. And one other comment: this hi freq issue may well be recording dependent. I may also be acclimated to some upper midrange distortion which may be gone with the chip amp and therefore the "lack" of the sensation of robust highs. G.
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| Re: Curious about Chip Amps? [message #44829 is a reply to message #44814] |
Sat, 26 June 2004 22:39 |
wasteh202
Messages: 137
Registered: May 2009
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Master |
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Garland Thanks for you post about the chip amp. I bought a Griffer Powerwave amp a couple months back. I also was very impressed with it. I paid much more than you did for the Target... I think about $100.00 total. My digital amp has only 10wpc. My finding were simular to yours. I was extremetly pleased with the bass from a amp that had only 10wpc. VERY GOOD BASS ! Mine is stock but these things are being modded.
I hooked the powerwave to my computer and my 2Pi towers to the Powerwave.. WOW ! Nearfield listening with the Powerwave and the Towers was quite reveling ! Also as you said... the highs were rolled off. Not a problem for me as my Towers are a bit too bright for me. My Powerwave worked best with the computer. For some reason when I conected the digital amp to my preamp and source... I got a slight hum through my speaker. Not a bad one... but noticable enough to bother me in between tracks. I believe it is only a matter of time and the digital amp will pretty much replace tube and SS amps. Smaller, lighter and cheaper.... and sound good too... how can you loose ? Mine even has a nice pretty blue light that glows for the tube lovers out there that want something pretty to look at while listening to there favorite artist.
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| Re: the hum. [message #44830 is a reply to message #44829] |
Sun, 27 June 2004 07:41 |
GarlandGarland
Messages: 60
Registered: May 2009
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Viscount |
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I had originally played the amp through my Foreplay 12AU7 preamp and found that with the preamps volume set in the high output range and the pot on the amp(100K) set low that hum was negligible but with the amp pot upped and the preamp turned down there was considerable hum and buzz. Ground loop problem? The amp sounds good straight in from the CDP though. -Very transparent but reveals a bit too much of the CDs inherent problems. G.
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