[Markvdv]

tpa3116 chip is sold for around $1 in Asia, complete ampboards like we buy for $7 to $9. I don't think shippingcost will come down a lot.

[jstevensiam]

Best photos I could get without unmounting the board and I try to minimize this to avoid weakening where I have wires soldered to SMD pads to go to transformers (I don't want the pads to lift). I'm sure it could be done much neater than this, but the quality of the sound I'm getting leaves me satisfied.

Hi, I have this same ybdz board. Can you please advise what are the part# for the bourns Inductors? How did you take the older ones and placed these in? i see the holes are very tiny. Would you have used now others instead such as the coilcrafts highly rated here and in other boards? I read about their size being a problem for this board..

Thanks for your advice if you can..

[Letitroll98]

Branded cables are off limit in this thread, amps above $350 too

And what is wrong with a $65 branded cable that makes your amp sound better? This is not a DIY forum.

Mark is correct in the letter of the rules, however the spirit of the rules is a little softer.  There is exceptions allowed on branded cables if the price is exceptional and in the range of DIY pricing.  A $65 cable is pushing those boundaries pretty hard, but if it's in context of an amp for $27 with a $50 PS, making the the whole amplifier system, umm, carry the one...$142, or something like that example, it could be considered as part of the discussion.  A $65 branded cable alone as a point of a discussion thread would be in violation of the guidelines.  As with a $500 amp, if the point of the discussion thread, probably not.  But in a post, or series of posts, as a point of comparison to the C&C amp that is the discussion topic, allowed.  You can compare the $27 amp to $100,000 amp if you want to, just that the C&C amp has to be the thread topic.

The spirit of this thread has always encouraged the use of wiggle room.  The key thing is having fun and enjoying ourselves putting together awesome systems on the cheap.  Concurent with that end there are guidelines to prevent total anarchy.  However the guidelines are not the end result, only a tool to get us there and the fences will always be bent here if it's in the interest of good times.  Thus the acid test is if you can convince a reasonable person that your special little component will be part of a complete, musically satisfying system for under $1,000, you're likely in.

[dboy]

Hi, I have this same ybdz board. Can you please advise what are the part# for the bourns Inductors? How did you take the older ones and placed these in? i see the holes are very tiny. Would you have used now others instead such as the coilcrafts highly rated here and in other boards? I read about their size being a problem for this board..

Thanks for your advice if you can..

Hi,

I bought these

http://uk.farnell.com/bourns-jw-miller/2200ht-220v-rc/inductor-high-current-22uh-9-3a/dp/2112804

There are a range including larger and smaller ones but I found these 9.3A ones fit well. Smaller might go on a tad easier, but I do not think you would have a problem with these, so long as you go carefully. If you wanted to use the Coilcraft or larger Bourns/other ones then you might need to follow Rhing's advice and move a few output filter capacitors to the bottom of the board. This way you just bend them over a bit. I do not regret the route I went as it all sounds so damn good and I am confident that the inductors are well secured to the board, but that is a personal choice so of course feel free to experiment.

The inductors have SMD pads, not holes. I trimmed a little wire from the ends of the inductor leads and bent over a section just shorter than the SMD pads (which are comfortably large). You can bend it in just such a way that it contacts the pad along the bent length giving excellent attachment. I added a little extra solder to the leads and the pads and then while I soldered them together pressed the inductors gently down to make good contact with the pad through the molten solder and held that while the solder cooled. I added the blu-tack to reduce wobble (which I thought might affect sound quality)and make the inductors like one solid mass, adding stability and reducing stress on any individual pad which might be weak.

Before doing this I thought it would be difficult to pull off, but in the event was surprised how easily everything fell into place. I would say just take your time and plan each trim/bend, etc., carefully. The bends are different for the front and rear inductors because of the orientation of the pads. Good luck! Please let us know how you get on. 

[Markvdv]

The pcbtraces and smdpads are very thin, a toroid could easily rip them off when touched by accident, I think, glue/tack might prevent that from happening?

[dboy]

I am fairly confident in the security of mine now with the blue-tack in place, although it does create a single big weight hanging off the board. I have even held the board upside down and shaken it to make sure.

I have on occasion used epoxy glue for projects - that is non-conductive - and I think earlier in the thread someone suggested hot melt glue. In this instance I like the non-permanence of blue-tack and suspect it has good vibration damping, although obviously it is less secure.

[rhing]

A good electronic grade Silicone RTV sealant like this would work in supporting board-mounted components. Silicone RTV sealant also has some vibration damping characteristics.

http://www.amazon.com/Clear-Electronic-Grade-Silicone-Squeeze/dp/B0063U2RT8/ref=pd_bxgy_misc_text_y

[dboy]

That stuff looks handy to have around. Although with shipping it costs nearly as much as the YBDZ board itself. 

[Folsom]

That stuff looks handy to have around. Although with shipping it costs nearly as much as the YBDZ board itself. 

Most things do..

[dboy]

We'd better make do with chewing gum then. 

[OzarkTom]

Mark is correct in the letter of the rules, however the spirit of the rules is a little softer.  There is exceptions allowed on branded cables if the price is exceptional and in the range of DIY pricing.  A $65 cable is pushing those boundaries pretty hard, but if it's in context of an amp for $27 with a $50 PS, making the the whole amplifier system, umm, carry the one...$142, or something like that example, it could be considered as part of the discussion.  A $65 branded cable alone as a point of a discussion thread would be in violation of the guidelines.  As with a $500 amp, if the point of the discussion thread, probably not.  But in a post, or series of posts, as a point of comparison to the C&C amp that is the discussion topic, allowed.  You can compare the $27 amp to $100,000 amp if you want to, just that the C&C amp has to be the thread topic.

The spirit of this thread has always encouraged the use of wiggle room.  The key thing is having fun and enjoying ourselves putting together awesome systems on the cheap.  Concurent with that end there are guidelines to prevent total anarchy.  However the guidelines are not the end result, only a tool to get us there and the fences will always be bent here if it's in the interest of good times.  Thus the acid test is if you can convince a reasonable person that your special little component will be part of a complete, musically satisfying system for under $1,000, you're likely in.

No problem with the $1000 system that I would buy.

4 pairs of Pioneer SL22 speakers done in a line array-$340
TPA amp and mods-$50
used Astron power supply-$50
Reality Cable power cord-$65
used Oppo 980-$80
Itube-$299
Used Astron power supply converted to 9v-$50
Reality Cable power cord-$65
equals $999

I would challenge this system to any other $1K system that is out there today. The forum guidelines for C&C on cables is:

"- no brand cables in this circle except DIY. We can make some exception for true basement bargains tho."

I strongly feel this power cable is a bargain basement bargain. Especially after you hear the improvement in your system. It equals the improvement that the Astron makes, maybe even better.

[jstevensiam]

dboy,

Thanks so much for your answer! making a list of parts to order all at same time:
For now i have:
2 oscons 25SEPF330M
4 bourns ind. 2200HT-220V-RC or should be 2100HT-100-V-RC-ND as diy audio site indicated? just making sure..
2 caps for astron ps, PANASONIC-EEU-FM1V102, PANASONIC-EEU-FM1E222L
for the snubber mod, which are the parts for it? it will risky, i hope i do not damage the board. but looks like its necessary!
there's another cap in board, that one does not need replacement? i see in pictures you are not using it as you use transformers in?
Any other parts to upgrade  this ybdz board needed? i know maybe some more discoveries will be made soon, but up until now?

Thank you again and to all the rest like Rhing and Xrk971 which have kindly responded to my questions..and the others for their contributions here!

[gychang]

On the other hand, my TDA7297 Class A/B chip amp is dead silent. My SMSL SA-S1 Tripath TA2020 T-amp is not dead silent, but significantly less noisy than the TPA3110D2. Still, with the little bit of noise I hear, the sound quality of the TPA3110 amp is more pleasing to my ears than either of the other two amps.

My brief experience is same, cheap TDA7297 rejects unwanted signals out of the box much better than some t-amps...

[rhing]

My brief experience is same, cheap TDA7297 rejects unwanted signals out of the box much better than some t-amps...

Keep in mind that the cited quote was made before I added Ferrite beads to the speaker outputs of my Sure TPA3110 without the LC filter. Now all of my TPA31xx amps are quiet. 

[lacro]

No problem with the $1000 system that I would buy.

4 pairs of Pioneer SL22 speakers done in a line array-$340
TPA amp and mods-$50
used Astron power supply-$50
Reality Cable power cord-$65
used Oppo 980-$80
Itube-$299
Used Astron power supply converted to 9v-$50
Reality Cable power cord-$65
equals $999

I would challenge this system to any other $1K system that is out there today. The forum guidelines for C&C on cables is:

"- no brand cables in this circle except DIY. We can make some exception for true basement bargains tho."

I strongly feel this power cable is a bargain basement bargain. Especially after you hear the improvement in your system. It equals the improvement that the Astron makes, maybe even better.

Tom - Can you point me to the Reality power cable that is $65? Their site only shows one, and it's $225!

[Blackmore]

I'll jump in ahead of Tom and say that you contact Reality Cables and he will get back to you about the cable.  It's available, just not listed on the website. 

[gychang]

Keep in mind that the cited quote was made before I added Ferrite beads to the speaker outputs of my Sure TPA3110 without the LC filter. Now all of my TPA31xx amps are quiet. 

Any chance of pics?  Am having noise/hiss from t-amps

[OzarkTom]

Tom - Can you point me to the Reality power cable that is $65? Their site only shows one, and it's $225!

Thanks Blackmore. 

[lacro]

Snubber mod done - YES! 

[rhing]

Snubber mod done - YES! 

Nice job lacro! You've really come a long in your DIY skills since starting this thread. How do you like the sound?

I'll jump in ahead of Tom and say that you contact Reality Cables and he will get back to you about the cable.  It's available, just not listed on the website. 

Thanks guys. These look to be very well made and the price is right. I have an Element Cable that costs about the same. Unfortunately, Element Cable is no longer in business. An audio friend brought over four different power cables ranging from the budget-priced Element Cable to the high-end Moray James power cable. The Moray James was a clear winner when used with my EL84 tube amp, but the Element Cable clearly beat out the more expensive PS Audio and Audience AU-24 power cables.

Any chance of pics?  Am having noise/hiss from t-amps

gychang,

What helped reduce the noise for my Sure TPA3110 Class D amp was to construct my own shielded hook-up wire.

• I took some Mundorf 0.5mm (24 AWG) Silver-Gold wire and inserted it into some 22 AWG PTFE Teflon tubing to make two insulated pairs of wires for each channel input.
• I twisted the wires and wrapped Teflon plumbing tape around that to keep the twist intact.
• Next, I sleeved that with 1/8" spiral wrap tubing and slid tinned Copper braid shielding over that.
• Lastly, I soldered a small piece of wire to the shield to serve as a shield drain wire to connect to the RCA input ground connections.
• I finished it off with some TechFlex sleeving and some heat shrink at the ends.

After that, I also added some Bourns Ferrite beads to help attenuate the RFI from the amp's output.



This is the amp before I replaced the two 1,000uF/25V Elna Silmic II caps closest to the amp IC with two 330uF/25V Panasonic SEPF OSCON caps for an even sweeter sound. These OSCON caps work wonders with Tripath TA2020 amps too. A buddy of mine replaced the two DC decoupling caps in his SMSL SA-S1 TA2020 T-amp and really liked the results. Of course, he prefers his modded YJ TPA3116 blue amp.

Since your Tripath amp already has an LC-type output filter, you can try the Ferrite beads, but it may cause other problems with the amp's frequency response like rolled-off high's.

Another problem may be interference from your power supply if it is an SMPS-type supply. If you can find a good deal on a used Astron regulated linear power supply like the SL-11 or RS-12A, this can help a lot.