OK, maybe not world class, but really, really excellent. I'm thinking about selling my stuff which cost 5x more. What is it? Funny you should ask. . .
I heard about the Sonic Impact T-Amp, written up by TNT audio and 6moons as an unheard of value, and competitive with offerings thousands of dollars more than its $30 price. Yep, $30. Ecost had them for $19.95. Problem? 5 watts per channel output.
People with low-powered SET amplifiers have been using high efficiency speakers for years. The combination can be enchanting and many of these fringe-dwellers would use nothing else.
So, gotta get myself some hi-eff speakers. No dough though. I looked high and low and there is a lot of buzz over a new driver from Fostex called the FE-206E that is very favorably reviewed, at about $85 a driver delivered. A big part of the appeal is that it's a single driver, with rated extension from 39 hz to, I think, 18 khz. TNT has an article on how to build a bass reflex cabinet for these:
Got them built and Kaplowie! A little carpeting here, a little damping on the driver there, and these speakers are incredible. The driver tweaking is a journey in itself but worthwhile. They are explosive, in a good way, and are sublime with emotion and detail. The low-bass octave is missing, but not obviously so. They rock. Total cost? About $250.
T-Amps are not available, or haven't been. My big amp hisses with the hi-eff speakers and I needed an amp for them. I settled on the Clari-T, which is getting a lot of play over at Audio Circle. Break-in time is supposed to be at least 100 hours with these and out of the box I was not impressed. One day later, it was better than my HCA-2 with these speakers. Tonight?. . .
It's an odd amp. Output is 6 watts, which CRANKS my very large room. Very clean. Pristine. It's battery powered, needing to be recharged for an hour each 6 hours of play. It only has one set of inputs and a volume control, so it's a one-input integrated, about the size of a cigar box. It needs a passive (preferably) pre for switching sources.
Here's the thread on the amp and a link to the manufacturer:
Positive Feedback Online will be reviewing this amp in the next few months, as I'm sure will other publications. If you haven't heard of it, you will. Cost for this odd duck? $499 delivered.
The combination in my home is incredible and represents the best value in audio I've ever seen. I haven't tweaked the speakers nearly to their potential and the amp isn't broken in. It's almost scary.
Anyway, too long a post already and there's a lot more to tell, but suffice it to say that there is a potential revolution here, and one with downward implications for cost. If that isn't exciting, I don't know what is.
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The little T-amp can be run off an AC adaptor...no recharging the batts. also as the batts. ware down speakers sound like crap...keep the constant power to it. You can find the AC adaptor here:
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What kind of db output with high efficiency speakers can you expect from such a setup? Thought it might be something worth experimenting with some bookshelf spks off ebay or something.
The Fostexes are listed at 96 db at 1 watt. My room is essentially the whole house, about 30 x 25 x 15. I had some heavy dub music playing last night and it was really loud. I have an SPL meter but I forgot to break it out. Maybe if I beat my wife home tonight. . .
I don't think it would be worth trying with anything under 90 db unless you have a very small room. There are used Klipsches available for cheap that certainly will give a good taste of the tripath driver control.
Also, with a few adaptors, the stock Sonic Impact is supposedly very good, especially if you use a sealed lead acid (SLA) battery to power it. The SLA battery has particularly good current dumping abilities and does great things for the amp. You can get one for about $25. Because of the phenomenal qualities of the stock amp and its cheap cost, many people have been modifying it. It is widely held that the battery is the best and easiest improvement available, much better than the aftermarket AC cord.
Some used Klipsch or other hi-eff speakers and a stock SI could be had for probably $150 and would surely whet the appetite for further (still cheap) improvements.
I will be taking photos of my completed speaker project and posting them as well. Fun, fun, fun.
on Soundgarden's Superunknown last night with the volume half way up. I had to put ear plugs in to do the test.
One caviat with the speakers. You will have to be ready to spend some time tuning them to your taste. They sound great off the bat, but have a native hump in the lower treble/upper midrange that with simpler music is nowhere to be found, but in blazing rock or orchestral music can be peaky.
This can be tamed in different ways. Those with a Behringer or similar EQ are already set. If it's annoying to others, there are increasing levels of tweaks that can be very productive, some reversible, some not. Further, the bass port can be different lengths, which tunes the low-note. Longer means lower, but can result in a recession somewhere further up.
To save more dough, smaller and less expensive drivers are available, some as cheap as $20. Fostex has some that start just a little over that, and RadioShark actually carries some decent ones for very cheap. Just make sure to get some with a good sensitivity rating. The variety of drivers available to stuff in the 8" hole is impressive.
Good point, Rob. There are other choices for tripath amplification too. Teac and Panasonic also make lower powered amps which others are modding. These amps are significantly more powerful than the lowly SI. There are others modding the the Sonic Impact as well.
Vinnie at Red Wine Audio has a pretty sweet looking amp based on the Clari-T, as do a few others. Looks like you better buy an extra now if you can; it looks like they're getting scarce. I'd heard a rumor that the company was responding to the success of the Clari-T by creating a fancier version, but the company flatly denies it. Many cheap products of it's ilk are only in production for a year or two, so this is the time to stock up. They're cheap enough.
Lots of guys are raving over the TEAC, and it's a pretty good deal too (30 Watts X 3 for $99). My P-wave is a little lower powered, but it sounds great, too.
Ed at the Horne Shoppe has spoken very fondly of the new digital amps, and lots of his customers are driving their horns with Tripaths.
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what would the minimum efficiency of a speaker be for it to be compatible with this amp? Would 91 db 1 watt 1 metre be ok? I'm dying to try this cheap little guy out after reading the reviews. Thanks for the heads up miklorsmith! I am looking into getting an old marantz 930 dvd player to use as the audio component. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated as well.
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Last edited by Takeereasy : 03-02-2005 at 08:54 AM.
Dunno. Conventional wisdom would dictate an absolute minimum of 90 db for an amp of this size to drive effectively, preferably 95 db. This is where the project speakers make sense, as the drivers are 96 db. The combination is sweetening daily, BTW.
The curious have been plugging in just about everything they can get their hands on and most of the accounts are positive. One guy was using some 84 db British speakers that he said sounded positively electrostatic with the amp. Some particular combinations with notorious speakers are said to be problematic though. No harm in trying out whatever you've got if you're prepared to rethink speaker choice if it doesn't work out.
It seems this particular execution is less picky with speaker pairing than most other small amps.
Of course, 6 watts won't make your ears bleed with inefficient speakers. Further efficiency will add to the explosive potential of the amp and will likely sound better. With my ears 2" from the 96 db speaker and the volume maxed out, I hear nothing. Nada, zilch. This thing is quiet as the grave, so increasing efficiency doesn't produce the nasties that a bigger and noisier amp would with, say, 100 or 103 db matches.
For clarification, the Red Wine Audio "Clari-T" is the amp I'm running, based on the Tripath 2024 chip. Sonic Impact introduced the T-amp last year, getting the buzz started at 6moons and TNT. If you can get one, the Sonic Impact is $30 - $40, whereas the Clari-T is $499 delivered.
I can't resist trying one. I am going to order one from parts express, but I am a little concerned that they are back ordered till March 9. I am only concerned because I wonder how firm a date that is, I don't really want to wait 3 or 4 months. It costs $30 US so by the time I get it here should be about $60 CDN. I am going to try and pick up a Marantz dvd 930 to use as a cd player for about $40 CDN, and I've already got a very nice adaptor to use as a power supply. I am going to try it with my PSB 2Bs but if they don't work I'll give some other products a whirl. I am very curious to hear the sound I can get for around $100. (plus I always enjoy another project) Thanks again miklorsmith, great post.
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