Weird But Practical - Leper Amps!
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- No matter how you spell it or pronounce it, they can be quite useful - with some modifications and routine maintenance. Just a note that the model 2020A that you find is not the same as the 2020A+.... Enjoy!
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Hehe Most would have said, "These things are junk" and tossed it. Fran figures out how to fix it. That's why we love Fran.
5:13 “Dying by inches for years”! That’s the story of my life!
Class-D amp switching efficiency has gone way up in 20 years. At a prior employer, we wanted to upgrade the next generation of our equipment with something better than a simple piezo alarm annunciator, so we put in a Class-D amp and a wider-range piezo speaker. We applied an inverse transform of our piezo speaker response to our sound files to get surprisingly decent sound output. The resulting sound files placed large demands on the amp driving the speakers, which it handled with aplomb, even through thermal testing, without any heatsinking beyond a copper flood on the PCB.
Yep. The market for portable Bluetooth speakers has really pushed demands for amplifier efficiency. Typical efficiencies of well over 90% are now normal, made possible by big reductions in MOSFET RDS(on). Integrated amplifier chips like the MAX9744 or TDA7491HV can operate quite happily at a nominal 20W per channel with no heatsink, just stitching vias on the ground pad. Infineon's new Merus series can go as high as 100W per channel without a heatsink, thanks to what is basically a hybrid D/G topology with a multilevel output stage. The Tripath TA2020 was a radical and brilliant chip 20 years ago, but (audiophile concerns about distortion characteristics aside) it has been obsolete for some time.
I dunno if Fran reads comments, but she really needs to hook those up on the bench and see if they can deliver 20 watts RMS at reasonably low distortion and without burning out. You never know until you try.
@@j.dietrich From day 1, class D was billed as the efficient alternative to traditional A, A/B, and B amps. The difference is very little bias current at the cost of switching noise. To get transistors into a reasonably linear range and to set the amplification, you need to burn some current. Think of it as standby mode or something. With digital output, the output is switched on and off so that very little... why am I explaining this like you're all idiots? This is probably the only place on the internet where people know stuff like this. Anyway, it's impressive thermal efficiency and probably the specs on the box are a little too generous.
Yes, modern D amp efficiency is stunning. I have built up some Differential D SMD HT6872's in tandem, and have been shocked at how good they sound, and how cool they remain even when driving @ 3W.
@@davidg4288 For most of these chips I've encountered, nominal power is rated at 10% THD into 8 ohms. Clean power is somewhere in the 10 to 15W range, depending on supply voltage and load impedance. They tend to have thermal protection and overcurrent protection, so they usually just shut down rather than burning out.
3:31 - Adding a capacitor between the switch contacts should minimize damage from arcing.
When the idea of a Switching Amplifier occurred to me, back in 1986, I made one very simply from a CMOS 555 timer chip, one low-pass output choke to average out the square waves (while especially killing their sharp edges), one external transistor (to give a 50% duty cycle on the square wave output), small caps and resistors to set the oscillator, plus a small pot to tweak the free-running frequency. I set it to oscillate at close to 2 MHz, adjusted so that none of the square wave harmonics would be in the AM Radio band. This also put any residual square wave noise far above the human audio range. Nyquist sampling rate (nearly 2 MHz) was very high, giving very good wideband frequency response. *Audio Input was to the **_analog_** PWM pin,* through a small cap for DC blocking. It was only monaural, but it put out very good audio with no detectable DC offset, about half a watt while running on 5 volts, and there was no sensible heat generated. If it had half of a MOSFET H-bridge added to the output, it would have been able to run cool at high power.
One thing I like about the tripath 2020+ is when driven to just barely clipping. They do not sound harsh at all like most class-D chips when overdriven slightly. More like tube-fuzz if that makes any sense.
Yep Those Tripath amplifier modules can produce some very pleasing amplification and seem to be able to drive some interesting impedances. I have been using an amp with the module to drive the near field monitors I use for recording/mixing as well as taking a set of floor standing speakers and an amp to do an AV upgrade for a viewing at other peoples places! No it won't produce enough volume for a very large space with some speakers (even a 200W class A/B will struggle with the wrong speakers!) Some say they are good for the price the reality is they are just good...
Fran is right these little amps are great for TV, computers, and bedroom size stereos.
The one I have is pretty nice. It has USB and Bluetooth. The downside is the remote sucks! Even with a fresh out of the pack battery you have to be 2 feet away from the amp, in order for it to work.
Class D is not only more efficient, but also can be hifi. There are highend class D amps that have as little distortion as class A, except at higher power and better efficiency. Purifi and Hypex for example.
It would take decades untill class D becomes thrue HiFi. In bass class AB is faster and controls heavy drivers many times better.
On jazz vocals D is useless, try AB test with any decent A class amp. Literally there are things missing in music on hi grade D class amps. Tryed Ice and Hypex, was not impressed.
Wish I had been able to do some careful listening to some of the newer class D amps my company was making in my reference system. Class D (& G) amps can be very clean, and there are many "audiophile" branded class D/G amps being sold. All portable devices (phones, laptops, tablets, Bluetooth speakers and wireless earbuds) use these (& Much smaller) ICs for audio output. My car has a 630W, 11 channel factory audio system for example. (Edit to fix autocorrect)
I'd be interested in a test of the new (smaller chip) system . . . chip temperature - vs. - power output.
The amp without a huge heatsink is probably based on the TPA3116/3118/3130. According to the Texas Instruments datasheet, the chip will do 2x15w without external heat sink on a single layer PCB. 2x30w on a dual layer PCB.
Exactly, and often just the board is enough to be the heatsink.
These amps usually use the case for heatsinking. The company I worked for was getting 2x30W into 4 Ohms from ICs similar to the later lepy amp. Now they use discrete mosFETs and produce hundreds of Watts. Happy to see the insides & hear some history, so I now know to avoid those little amps.
Been a fan of ICEPower for class D. Have a very beefy 500W ICE powering my homemade subwoofer.
That said these little cheap class D amps are great for bookshelf speakers or near field monitors. I wouldn't trust any serious audio work with them but for playback it's fine.
I read on forums when i bought this Lepai that the Tripath history was that it is chips made for really high-end amplifiers, but that the company got bankrupt and heap loads of chips sold for nothing ended up in cheap amplifiers from China. The 2020A+ is a great amplifier for sure :)
I did mod the 2020A+ with ring core chokes, i cut away the crappy preamp chips, i cut away the tone controls because i like the source unmodified, and cut away the stock input electrolyte capacitors, in other words i bypassed everything with only i think 0.22uF film caps between the chip and RCA plugs, and the sound improves alot like high end stuff shall be. It was descriptions and inspirations on the internet for these mods.
Also use a stronger power supply than the stock ones, it need more power for bass when playing loud. I think i used a ancient laptop PSU for this purpose.
I still got this old Lepai.
I also did modify it with warm nice orange LED's with the right resistor to adjust the light, it is really nice now compared to the stock blue ight it had :) I tested first with warm white LED's, it was okay'ish, but not enough, so i found orange to be even better :) My first chrome and teak cased germanium transistor Philips amplifier i had as a kid had orange power light on it so i wanted to copy that idea :)
I use it with a Eltek kit build DIY (cut MDF plates yourself) speakers, with SEAS speaker elements (Norway's best speaker factory), alu tweeter on it i think H400, and modified removed dustcap & cut spider on the speaker element, for mid/bass, a description for making the speaker more freely moving with more details in the sound.
I also bought some other lower powered Tripath's too as spares back in those days, the thought was if i ever needed something in my car or home. It is said that the smaller ones shall have a warmer sound to it, almost tube like compared to the 2020A+, not 20 watt like the Lepai but i think 15 watts, great for low sound (to get the distortion figure down properly) near field listening. Shall we see, yes Tripath TA2024 chips it is in these.
Search TA2024 on ebay and you still get these dirt cheap, with even nice red audiophile caps on the green PCB already installed, so perhaps try them out instead of these shitty new Lepy ones? :)
I read that some people even prefer these smaller ones, because of the warmer sound, if they usually listen to music not so loud and near field.
I also bought two stronger than the 2020A+ Tripath amps on PCB, TK2050, to make something some day perhaps for the car.
I has not tested any of these yet because the 2020A+ covered my needs so far.
I also has two different kit build 6N3 tube preamp buffers if i like the tube sound anyway. The ones with 2x 6N3 tubes gives weakly warmer still neutral sound, does not change the sound much.
While the i think the starved one 6N3 tube PCB gives very warm sound, and, in some cases i like this one :)
That is if i want warm sound like my 1945 Tandberg Sølvsuper 4 (Silversuper 4) radio i had as a kid, i for sure get it with that one, if not more, yeah, too warm sound gives me something if i want my ears to relax from modern music :)
I bought and still have that same Lepai purchased for less than $30 about 10+ years back and it has been competently driving a pair of Polk 2way bookshelf speakers ever since. The only downside has been that dodgy power switch which doesn't make full contact on every power up.
OMG as soon as i saw the title i was like i have been using that same one on my system forever. For the price there great.I use my old Denon surround speakers .Have a great day.
@Rob Rain In English the words THEY'RE and THEIR are spelled differently because they mean different things.
I absolutely love them. Perfect sound quality, no noise (contrary to some Genelec I tried), supe reliable.
I use a Kinter K3118 unit to run two 3.5" coaxial Infinity Reference Speakers in custom enclosure boxes. It works well enough for my needs. I also use a small powered subwoofer with it.
My personal experiences that lepai 2020 is far better sounding than the one Kinter I used -although I don't think it was the same one you have...
I used my 2020 with 8in fostex en Series speakers and got one of the best sounds I've ever had in my life, comprable to a tube amp in some ways but with far firmer bass control
Most powered studio monitors from the past decade use Class D amps for at least mid-to-low bands. They're cheap, efficient, and consistent.
I have used several of these "original" amps for many years and have been very impressed with the build quality and longevity for the price point. Most of them came with a minimal power supply and will do much better with more amps in.
It’s a Leperchaun amp ;-)
We've got a 20 watt class-D mono amp board we make at work that doesn't have a heat sink. There's some via stitching to dissipate the heat into the ground plane, and that's all the manufacturer of the chip recommends.
Been using a Lepai for years now and it does the trick. Great little amp, frees up lots of table space and drives my speakers louder that I need or can stand.
Latest Texas Instrument chips are amazingly efficient. 20W in a 4mm x 4mm package !! The fist amp I built 50 years ago had a heatsink which was a tray which I filled with beer at the Disco! The beer would boil! 😀
I use a Lepy in my garage for music....works allright
I bought a 2x50w TI powered amplifier from amazon for £12 a while back, they're really decent considering their cost.
Most data sheets will guide you with how much PCB copper clad you need as a sink. Frankly, as for holding up against vibration, it is way better than all that mass yanking on the PCB and chip.
I had two of those on my work bench, at a sound company I worked for... Just used them for function testing on a variety of speakers, as they came back into the shop from being out on rentals.
I'm amazed at how well these little Class D units work, the punch they pack and the sound quality. I've had a little unit running on a laptop power supply (19.5V @ 5A) running on our 'main system' (living room PC & TV) and when the sound effects start flying it will shake the house. Very impressive.
yeah right
DItto on the laptop PSU...made a huge difference to sound quality at high volume! These things rock.
Kinter Tripath 2020 IS available now for about 45 bucks on Amazon. I bought one and it sounds great.
OMG that amp...We used to have a chinese restaurant and it always humored me to see that little amp playing music in the dining room, it sounded pretty good, but the most amazing thing, It always seemed to be on and I went there for 15 years before they finally went out of business.
I hooked up a 2.1 version of these to a franken mix of 2x hifi floorstanding speakers and a large 2ohm car subwoofer and amazing the amp drove the setup, including the sub, extremely well. Could get the whole room shaking and it wasn't noticeably overheating.
For us older engineers, it can be hard to believe how much better FET technology has gotten. I just implemented a replacement for an existing battery load tester with modern FETS, and the new Rds on values at full saturation are mind-blowing. The part we used was good for 1.6mOhm, despite being rated at 250A. I could easily believe 20W is achievable out of that newer amp.
I was amused by the power bricks though, especially the Vonage one. That was definitely a surplus buy.
I have 5 of the LP-2020A+ Lepai amps. I got them on sale from Parts Express 10 years ago for $20 each and they even came with 12V 2A wall warts (although they run better at 18V). They are pretty good for what they are. One thing I really like about them is the protection circuit. If you give it too much volume with anything lower than 8 ohms impedance it will reset. I would use it to test out crossovers I built and it would let me know if I messed up lol. They were perfect for DIY projects back then but, you can get better ones now for around the same price.
So what is the best sounding inexpensive Class "D" amp out there right now?
If you want more bass I'd add a powered subwoofer rather than crank the EQ knob. Monoprice makes some great models starting at $90. I thrifted for mine and have a ridiculously awesome velodyne for under $20!
I've always said that every technician should own a few little decent-quality integrated amps. They really are so darned useful for quick testing components you're working on, etc.
I just started using one of these, as now i am married. And the wifes not havin the very loud music, and my old 1000 pound 80s poineer amp is on the fritz.. i paid 375.00cad for the pioneer 8-9 years ago.I payed 30 canadain for one of these little one types. Loving it so far
I bought the Lepai a few years back. I did not work out of the box. Granted, I could have sent it back and increased it's carbon footprint two fold. Instead, it currently resides in the scrap pile. I am glad you had better luck with yours!
I was just writing a comment about Tripath, and then you mentioned it :)
Its the Tripath chip that does it - they sound incredible, I've used mine for about 15 years now.
9:03 - The "Vonage" supply is kind of funny. Did they get those surplus from that Voip company?
I have "Kentiger" mp3 player version, in that the heatsink is actually the aluminium casing. Amp circuit is screwed to the side of the casing. It is also pretty powerful if the powersource is good enough. I have used it mostly in car. Sound from the mp3 player is a bit noisy, but it was good enough for car. If it would have been a little better quality, the idea of little amp which includes line input, radio and mp3 from usb and memorycard, is very good. It had also overly bright led lights, I took them off completely.
You can get the amps cheaper if you buy the PCB bare. They are really good, and with a heatsink they will definitely do 40w.
it's hard to beat lepy pricing. at least in thailand. like, there's a shop that sells bare boards and lepys/lepais/whatever locally to me in thailand. like it's cheaper than a random amp board and comes in a case already, unless you count against the 5w with bt boards they got and stuff like that.
edit: I'd rather use a goodwill or whatever amp though but there is basically no vintage electronics like that here, at all.
Those Lepai / Lepy amps are just my go to any time I need a small amp. It would be preaching to the choir if I listed everywhere I've used them. I've also had good mileage with the newer 2020Ti models with the Texas Instruments chip, so if you have not, I'd suggest trying one or two of those.
I have that same 2020 amp. It’s not bad sounding at all. Used to use it with my TV. Parts Express where I purchased mine still sells them.
Nice one, I got a couple of these rigged to mp3 players.
Excellent pronunciation of the word "arse" also.
Awesome hands.
7:03 that unit probably has a class D from TI, and modernish ones can easily handle 2x15w-20w output without needing a big oke heatsink, the board is usually enough to act as the heatsink.
I was originally looking at these for a small amp for my bedroom TV sound system, but I instead went with an SMSL AD18, Micca MB42x, and a Micca MS10 subwoofer.
I used to do IT for an arts centre we used to use that first model you show all over the place. They are very good for the price. For us not an issue if the odd ones die, just replace.
My favorite resource is to pull the all the different data sheets for that chip. Most likely that whole design is someone's application circuit. What I like is the chip manufactures sometimes gives levels of options to reduce cost. You can add those omitted parts.
Also, when it comes to heat dissipation, the difference between analog and switching amplifiers is exactly the same as fixed voltage regulator equivalents.
The analog voltage regulator dissipates ALL the excess power as heat in the pass transistor.
A PWM switching regulator's power dissipation is from the on saturation resistance of the switching FETs. FETs have improved a lot over the years and ON resistance can be a factor of 100 lower now for the same price, which makes them much more efficient.
Looks like they are all clones of the original, some are better than the others, and the usual cost cutting to get the cost down to as cheap as possible, and use of either recycled components, or actual counterfeit ones. Date codes could be correct, or they are second source chips that are being used, with fake part number to hide the lower power chipset inside.
I have one of those in my garage with some cheap speakers just so I can have sound there. I'm rather unimpressed with the stated power level on the box. I have to turn the volume above halfway in order to get decent sound. They are perfect for that application. If not a little weak in the knees. For the price I got it online for I can't build anything better. You probably could find something on Craigslist but then you run the risk of it being a steaming pile of excrement .
Tripath was a client of mine for tradeshows... I was told, as they were liquidating, that no one makes the chip any longer and all chips are NOS.
They have been recommended for home recordists for ages.
All hail Class-T amplifiers!
RIP TriPath.
PS I use an old cable company modem power supply as they're safer (fire, etc...)
I used one during college it didn’t sound great but I listened to a lot of music through it!
I mean all most people need is basically what's in a pair of computer speakers but slightly better and more powerful. this fits the bill. especially for converting computer speakers that sound hissy but with an amp replacement sound good, or even goodwill speakers
I've had one of these for quite a few years, it is just that handy, and surprisingly decent power for a little economy radio/amp. It did better than a brand name receiver much higher in price I bought once, found too quiet and returned. It's easy to put wherever I need a radio receiver, takes up almost no space. I've even been tempted to buy another for a spare room but instead went for my standard Denon since for a permanent install I might as well go for something a little more quality when I can afford it.
The bodge was my favorite part.
I have a lepai amp. It runs off 12VDC so you can splice the power cord and use it in a vehicle. I use some efficient 6x9s.
I'm glad the only thing that died on my old Lepai 2020+ is the LED on the volume ring.
I should have one of these lying around. Else I have been using the cheap Chinese D-class amps every here and there and for a crazy project I got a 2+1 channel amp that hade a sub bass channel. Worked fine.
Now I ordered some Ayma 3” drivers from AliX and have a 2x15W amp that will be perfect to make a simple monitor system for my synths.
And the small 3W not-switching amp that once sold for 20 cent was absolutely stunning.
Quality with a K....running joke two jobs ago...meant it was like something from K-mart.
In 1982, I bought a small amplifier and am/fm tuner at a yard sale....it ran nonstop in a shop for just under 35 years...
Well these things are a bit more advanced than the Realistic SA-10 I used as a kid...
Got an early one of these. Controls are getting a bit noisy (especially the tone defeat switch) but no other problems. They sound pretty decent for what they are.
It looks like Parts Express has those Lepai 2020 amps in stock. I just visited their showroom last week. Pretty cool place; the two guys working there were friendly and helpful. Lots of stuff to look at.
The currently available model is the LP-2020TI. It uses a Texas Instruments TPA3118 chip instead of the Tripath TA2020. Some people claim the Tripath chip sounds better, but I can't tell the difference. The TI version can be powered by a 19.5V laptop power supply for additional output power, but the A+ version shouldn't be run above 12V because of the voltage ratings on the caps.
@@jonathanadams8497 Would the Tripath TA2020 chip be in the LP-2020A+ amplifier? There's currently three new ones on ebay located in Tucson, Arizona.
I have used The dayton digital amp modules !
I’ve one of the Lepy-branded ones from a few years ago (there’s a video of it on my channel). On mine almost everything is branded Lepy including the pots and the chip. There’s no heat-sink but they seem to have used a multi-layer board with multiple ground planes to handle the heat, kind of like an led lamp. It’s very hard to solder! Not as good as a proper heat-sink of course.
Great for around the garage and basement - since about 2015 for me. :)
I've got one of these Lepai amps. Never opened it but also assumed it used the case as heatsink. Now I'm going to have to open it to look inside! It's stereo with a sub ouptut that has a VERY sensitive output level setting. I've had it for years for various uses and it has not let me down yet. Great little amp. for very cheap price 🙂
Class D dissipate very little relative power - the output transistors are either hard on or off.
My Dad loves these for blasting out motown music from his camper van, I reckon he's gone through about ten of them so far 😆(not from device failure I might add, mostly for increased power or additional features)
It's funny how similar your experience with these amps was with my own. I got the original Lepai and it works well, although 18 years later, it sounds crunchy when I turn the volume knob. I needed another one for the TV and I gpt the Lepy which was so lackluster by comparison so I replaced it with a $25 ebay Harmon Kardon receiver that sounded much better. Then I found a pair of huge Dahlquist DQ 20s on the street, and the Lepai was not up to the task so now it is used for my computer speakers. The Lepy lives in my parts bin.
Some deoxit into the volume pot would completely fix that crunchy sound, it's just a dirty pot.
Great to see some intelligent comment on these amps !
But .. how do they get 20+20W out from a 24W DC supply ?
Honestly they don't - but they claim RMS - you can provide a beefier supply and run them at higher current but I don't recommend it, the amps are just not constructed for that kind of duty.
That's part of how they keep the cost down, undersize the included house fire power supply.
@@FranLab , so apparently the FTC no longer enforces audio amplifier output-power specifications?
@@jamesplotkin4674 , in the 1970's and 80's, yes, they did.
Just stumbled across this. Jeez... I've got two of 'em that I've used for years for my computer setups. Great video.
I used these for TV sound using Wharfedale speakers and they are fantastic for that purpose, they way outclass many stereo soundbars.
By coincidence I have a couple 2020s as well. Bought one on a whim and it worked well so kept finding uses for them. LIke mounting the Lepy to the back of one of a pair of a big old Pioneer 3-way speakers with 10" woofers to create some cheap powered monitors with a lot more mojo than some little bookshelf speakers.
Also it's nice to keep the amp separate from the speaker because I have had it happen where I spent decent money on some studio monitors and after a year the built in amp fried itself leaving them dead. A pair of passive speakers can last decades, maybe longer, it's always the amp that dies first.
I think one of my pinball machines uses one of these Lepais. I'll have to check next time I swing by the bottleshop.
I have a couple of these small class D amps that also have the tube preamp built in. The ones I have sound great! Very warm sounding. Nice!
Lepai. 2020 I love that amp. It's sound quality is comparable to far costlier units. I love my Lepai.2020. I also bought a pair of those lesser models with the Sanyo chip, in comparison that model sounds like dirt, but it's good enough for TV sound and such
Here i south east asia this type of amp is very common..newer versions are bluetooth compatible,DC input voltage. I use a japanese sansui speakers for this still working until now the only thing ireplaced was the voltage regulator.
I'm messing around a lot with homemade analog synths, so my ears perked up at "voltage control". I mean, of course, they'd have to have something like that if they didn't want to add a separate microcontroller with ADC, but I hadn't considered that aspect of class-D amplifier chips. Now I'm wondering how hard it'd be to build VCA modules out of them.
Class D amps are extremely accurate, and hence more HiFi than most vintage HiFi. So don't fret about using it. Audiophile claims are 99% complete nonsense, even more so when they claim that digital is bad.
A video showing 2 amplifiers nulling would be really interesting. What the difference is between two?
Wow. They really made some cost cutting on the 838.
Both of my 838 boards have a full sized chips.
The bass driver chip in mine is on the bottom of the board and makes contact with the aluminum case.
The stereo chip sits on top and has it's own heat sink.
Fran, these are very nice little amplifiers with some 20 watts of output. I bought one for my son to use with his computer, because the unit had a headphone hookup, because only he uses headphones. The down fall of the amplifier was the switching power supply that came with the made in China system, was it did not have any line filter in it. The PS was a transmitter of EMI noise to all the radios in the house. The final solution was to replace the PS with one that had a line filter in it.
Thanks for showing the de-evolution of a brand of electronics to the lowest common denominator.
omg I have one of those class D amps almost identical to the one you are holding at the start of the video for my bedroom TV. The blue LEDs were so friggin bright I ended up opening it up and lifting the surface mount resistors to the LEDs off the board with a soldering iron... Need darkness in my room! Mine doesn't have that relay in it... mine is likely an amazon knockoff.
Being pedantic, but the degradation of the pot should be referred to as oxidisation, not oxidation; oxidation has a very specific meaning, making an ion (or atom) more electropostive by loss of an electron. Chemistry students will no doubt be familiar with the acronym OILRIG (Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain; referring to electrons)
Oh, you're fun at parties. aren't you?
@@FranLab Not even a hint that that was said tongue in cheek? Not a nice thing to do to your subs!
You're being pedantic and I'm not nice. You are the perfect 2022 viewer for sure. But educate me some more - what is tongue in cheek about your comment exactly?
I was hoping your reply was tongue in cheek, perhaps I am wrong.
I got one way back when for its typical use, to run some bookshelf speakers. I've since used quite a few of them for various projects. I still use the one with my bookshelf speakers...6" two-way Yamahas. It's been in HEAVY use daily for about 10 years...maybe even longer now. The potentiometer is getting a little "gritty" and has a dead zone at max volume. Probably just needs cleaned and I haven't been bothered by it. These little amps are easy to hide...in computers (yay 12V), in a desk, drawer, etc. Quality power supply and they sound pretty decent, honestly. And I grew up with access to a multi-thousand dollar hifi setup with all the stuff, Yamaha amp and Cerwin Vega towers, etc. Although...the one I have is a "Kinter" brand, but it looks much the sames, specs are the same from what I remember. Mine did not come with PS, I use a universal 65W laptop charger and there is very little distortion even at full volume.
Kinter MA-170 is the one I still have. I've bought the Leper ones before though!
If you live in an apartment, these little guys are about all the power you'd need / want. Aliexpress...can get 'em for like $10.
Don't under estimate that TPA3110. that thing can pump 15W+15W of clear full on power. I was very surprised! Doesn't even get hot, yet it's rattling 35Hz BASSS. Amazing tech
I have a Kinter 20 Watt amp just like your older Lepai for almost 5-years now. It employs the TriPath chip with the large heat sink. It drives a pair of 30+ year old dicast car speakers with an Advent Mini passive subwoofer of the same age. I use it everyday as PC speakers and it really does a great job. Lots of power and bass. Only complaint is the tone bypass switch. Really cheesy. Intermittent, takes lots of cleaning. It's hard to find a good replacement switch. It has a few more parts in it then your older Lepai. Great little amp. I would get another anytime.
I use one for my computer sound with a pair of Jamo Studio Reference speakers. Sound good.
I have a slightly upgraded model from parts express, the lepai lp168ha. Darn good little amp. I ended up with 2 as i complained to parts express that the sub output was noisy sounding. Turns out a 4ohm sub with the 12/3 power supply wouldn't supply enough power and it would clip. The stereo output sounds quite good in contrast and has been a good little beater amp for small areas.
These are also very useful for replacing the bulky and noisy buttkicker amp. (Buttkicker is a vibration feedback device for games and simulators)
It would be interesting to run an actual test with the "where's the beef" leper - does it even function as an amp? Does it distort the output more than the original? Does it smoke long before 20W?
I agree! This would be an excellent video idea!
Williston audio labs have done just that....
I had a lunch lecture by Axign a little bit ago. Super interesting stuff about newer class D amps. They are even in some of the more beefy JBL "portable" boxes these days. I wonder if you can get their chips as standalone modules, would be awesome.
Yes, you can. Look for ICE, Hypex, Purifi... They often outperform class AB amps in their price range. Hypex for example sells multichannel panel modules that sound wonderful and are used all over hifi and pro audio market.
The least expensive, but mighty amp is a German Infineon. They are configurable to up to 4 channels per chip with digital inputs and other fancy stuff. They sound rather clean.
🤔 i got a crappy lepai like that for some computer speakers/trash sub, but the chip inside is different and it's tied to the chassis for heat with some goo. externally it looks the same
Yeah, those switches are designed for switching AC current, not DC. I struggled to find a switch that was rated to switch a decent DC current for a project, because I needed a right-angle PCB mount switch.
I'd also look at adding an RC snubber across the switch. Even if the output is muted when it's switched on, the thump still happens, so that could help reduce the spike in power through the amp. I read it helps reduce arcing when breaking high-current loads, so I'm looking at adding one to my project since it would be running in the 2-6A range most of the time.
Hi Fran, sry bur jour wrong . The TA 2020-20 is not only an class D Amp . It is an Class T AMP > evective and class D and an AB Amp in One
Becaust this the sound Qualiy shoud be better..
greats Stefan
How can I be wrong about something I never said? Class T is a trademark invented by the Tripath company and they went out of business.
@@FranLab I too think it's different from conventional classD...
"T" amps use something similar to " fm" type mod. ..but more likely pfm type for power switching....( higher the amplitude... higher the f_sw. or something alike..)..around(600-800)kHz...
Whereas classD started with an f_sw around (250-300)...but now most use (350-600)kHz
9:20 Ha! A Vonage power supply? Vonage is a VOIP company, it looks like they just grabbed an old wall wart from some Vonage hardware and used that as a cost cutting measure.
I also have one with a Mitsubishi embossed logo on it. Just surplus supplies every time.
Well done Fran, you're starting to master the English language.. "My Arse"...
just a warning, the modern ebay Chinese amp identical to the first one in the video can give you a tingle of a shock. Although it runs from a 12volt power brick on a humid day with a damp hand you can get a small shock from the volume knob or case. I have 2 of them, 1 drives a set of speakers in my tool box (snap on epiq) and its true the are a good sound, perfect for an auto workshop the other I've not yet installed but will be in the garden summerhouse.
"where's the beef". ..80s flashback...
"no roger, no roger, like me. ......roger, you're really pushing my buttons".
I'm not much of an audiofile but I could use a small cheap amp. I had to throw one together quick and dirty this summer but it wasn't that good. At least you have a pile of project cases
i have a 10 watt minature amp i use for my PI computer to play music loud