Mazeppa1 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Hey y'all. I've got the bug to try a Class D amp with my Quartets, and could use help in choosing between these two: http://cgi.ebay.com/TK2050-TP2050-2-100W-CLASS-T-D-TRIPATH-T-AMP-Board-/130397808636?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5c50a7fc#ht_1737wt_1139 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130406075583&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_1701wt_1139 A little background info. My Quartets have the Crites cap kit, autotransformer and titanium tweeter diaphragm in them. As can be seen in the listings, one is recommended for 8 ohm (T1) speakers, the other for 4/8 ohm (T2). I've read several posts on other forums that confirm the vendor's recommendations. So you say, "Quartets are rated 8 ohm nominal, doesn't that answer the question?" It would except that I have read that some tube amp guys running Forte's have had very good results when changing to the 4 ohm taps on their amps. Plus, the SS amps that I've tried w/my Quartets that sound the best to me are ones that are known to handle low impedance loads well ( HK 330c and Soundcraftsmen A2502). Soooo, can it be that these series of Klipsch often dip to fairly low impedances in actual use, and the 4/8 ohm (T2) amp listed above be the best choice? I'm leaning that way, but would value any comments/opinions from the forum members regarding this question as audiobux are getting harder to come by and I'd like to make the most informed decision possible. "Turn it up!" - Lynryd Skyrnyrd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazeppa1 Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 As can be seen this is my first post. Would someone tell me how to get line spaces to transfer from the draft to the actual posting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Welcome to the forums. Chances are, you are probably using a Mac with Safari. If so, the only way to get the returns/new paragraphs to show up for the forum is to insert a paragraph tag for each one. It's not so bad once you get used to it. Use a less than symbol, a 'p', and a greater than symbol, with no spaces. Those are a shifted comma and period, btw. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazeppa1 Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Thanks for the reply, but I'm using a Dell PC + Google Chrome. Maybe I should try Explorer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Two answers at once: Chrome and this website doesn't recognize the carriage return. However this site does work well with Firefox, if you want to switch. OK that's out of the way, now lets talk about low power class D amps. Although they do sound OK at low volumes, they are really just OK and not that great. If I was shopping for an amp I'd look at an quality integrated in the 50 to 60 watt range. An Onkyo A-9555 would do the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazeppa1 Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Two answers at once: Chrome and this website doesn't recognize the carriage return. However this site does work well with Firefox, if you want to switch. OK that's out of the way, now lets talk about low power class D amps. Although they do sound OK at low volumes, they are really just OK and not that great. If I was shopping for an amp I'd look at an quality integrated in the 50 to 60 watt range. An Onkyo A-9555 would do the trick. Gotcha, carriage return prob is Chrome related. Using Explorer for this post, we'll see how that goes. Not really amp shopping, just got curious about the Class D's. My understanding is that their output is usable up to about 50% of rated power before THD reaches objectionable levels. The boards I'm looking at are rated 80WPC & 100WPC, so 40WPC & 50WPC usable can be expected. The HK 330c (15WPC) sounds wonderful w/the Quartets for 90% of my music listening, but falls short when I want to get get really loud. The Soundcraftsmen (+ Emotiva pre) has more than enough power, but sounds good w/the Quarts, not wonderful. Are you running an Onkyo A-9555? Which speakers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 My understanding is that their output is usable up to about 50% of rated power before THD reaches objectionable levels. The boards I'm looking at are rated 80WPC & 100WPC, so 40WPC & 50WPC usable can be expected. I don't think you are quite getting it. The little class D amps you listed are around 20 watts @8 ohms with little or no headroom, weak power supplies and no storage capacity (big caps). In other words they are a weak 20 watts, not what you are looking for. Some of the mass consumer level receivers are rated at 100 watts a channel and suffer from the same problem, no guts. My 15 watt tube amps blow them away. Try a GOOD amp sometime and you will hear the difference a quality amp makes. Happy hunting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazeppa1 Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 My understanding is that their output is usable up to about 50% of rated power before THD reaches objectionable levels. The boards I'm looking at are rated 80WPC & 100WPC, so 40WPC & 50WPC usable can be expected. I don't think you are quite getting it. The little class D amps you listed are around 20 watts @8 ohms with little or no headroom, weak power supplies and no storage capacity (big caps). In other words they are a weak 20 watts, not what you are looking for. Some of the mass consumer level receivers are rated at 100 watts a channel and suffer from the same problem, no guts. My 15 watt tube amps blow them away. Try a GOOD amp sometime and you will hear the difference a quality amp makes. Happy hunting. The listing links in my original, messy post are a bit difficult to pull out so here they are again: http://cgi.ebay.com/TK2050-Hifimediy-2-80W-CLASS-T-TRIPATH-T-AMP-Board-ALPS-/130406075583?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5cceccbf#ht_1821wt_932 http://cgi.ebay.com/TK2050-Hifimediy-V2-0-2-100W-4ohm-Meanwell-27V-350W-/130410496357?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5d124165#ht_1512wt_932 The second listing now includes the power supply recommended for both boards which is a 350w, 27vdc unit. I'm not sure if I'm sold on a switching type power supply, but note the rating. These are not complete amps, but amp boards to be assembled into an amp. They may be more comparable to the consumer level receivers rated @ 100W you mention, but I think they could be much better. A lot of guys over diyaudio seem to think so. If you don't mind me asking for the particulars of your system? 1. Amp type (SET, PP) and make, power supply capacity,how connected to speakers (multiple taps on output? if so, which used?)? Comments on low impedance load handling capability. 2. Speaker model, nominal impedance. My understanding is that actual impedance presented by a speaker to an amp varies w/frequency and that some speakers dip lower from nominal than others in use. What I'm trying to figure out here is if in spite of the nominal 8 ohm impedance rating of my Quartets, might they be better served by use w/an amp capable of working well w/6 or 4 ohm nominal impedance loads? The Class D amps seem to be bit load sensitive is why I'm trying to narrow this thing down as closely as I can. BTW, I'd love to try a good tube amp, but it's not in the cards for me quite yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryd Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 klipsch speakers are actually 4 ohm when you measure them..so the amp you are looking at only pushes 40 watt at 4 ohm. half that and you have 20 watts. my guess is bass controll will be very poor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BE36 Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Are you measuring Resistance or Impedance? Which Klipsch Speakers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BE36 Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Welcome to the forums. Chances are, you are probably using a Mac with Safari. If so, the only way to get the returns/new paragraphs to show up for the forum is to insert a paragraph tag for each one. It's not so bad once you get used to it. Use a less than symbol, a 'p', and a greater than symbol, with no spaces. Those are a shifted comma and period, btw. Bruce Good solution. Using Firefox works also, elminates need to use paragraph tags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryd Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Are you measuring Resistance or Impedance? Which Klipsch Speakers? kg 2.2 ad forte 2 measure 5.0ohm resistance. I cant measure impedance. that varies with v and fq. impedance drops well below 4 at low freq this is the cheap amp worth trying you may have seen thread already http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=76400.360cheap amp and good bass is VERY difficult to achieve/find Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazeppa1 Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 Are you measuring Resistance or Impedance? Which Klipsch Speakers? kg 2.2 ad forte 2 measure 5.0ohm resistance. I cant measure impedance. that varies with v and fq. impedance drops well below 4 at low freq this is the cheap amp worth trying you may have seen thread already http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=76400.360 cheap amp and good bass is VERY difficult to achieve/find I rather suspected that my Quartets (little brother to your Forte II) may well drop to a rather low impedance at low freqs. Of the two I listed, the 4/8 ohm amp is probably the better choice then. However, the amp in the thread you mentioned cetainly seems to be well thought of. Quite a bit more power, and USA origin, very interesting, Thanks for the tip and impedance info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazeppa1 Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Wound up trying the T1 amp board (80W x 2 @ 8ohm) and have found the above stated doubts about good bass performance proved to be true. Pretty lame on the low end. The squawker and tweeter sounded so good, very smooth and detailed w/o any harshness or listening fatigue, that I moved up a plan to bi-wire the Quartets. The little T1 pushing the mids/highs, and a Soundcraftsmen A2502 (125W x 2 @ 8ohm, 190W x 2 @ 4ohm) pulling woofer duty. The combination is working very well, really brings the magic out of a well recorded cd such as the MoFi "Dixie Chicken" by Little Feat for instance. While by no means a stand alone, giant killer, the little T1 Tripath from Hifimediy is very, very good within its power limitations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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