[OzarkTom]

Any difference +/- with the Pangea?

I will try that this weekend if I am not too busy.

[OzarkTom]

Good point. Most of the newer production Astron power supplies have IEC power inlets, so you can use your power cord of choice. The older production units like mine had fixed power cords.

My new 11A has IEC inlet. Here is a Ten Tec up for sale right now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ten-Tec-937-11amp-power-supply-/181426194869?pt=US_Radio_Comm_Device_Power_Supplies&hash=item2a3dd809b5

[wushuliu]

The Astron is taking the TPA to that 'set-like' performance...

[wired4sound]

Poultrygeist, is your greenboard the same as this one?  http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-1pc-TPA3116-Class-D-digital-amplifier-50W-50-W-with-Silent-Sleep-Design/1586764360.html

I received mine but cannot tell on the terminal of output (L&R) which is negative/positive. It is in Chinese and no label on the board. Emailed the seller but no response.

Green board with top cover removed is up and running. Excellent sound with the 3 tube preamp but less than spectacular with the solid state TC preamp.

No annoying on/off pop with this one. Can't say at this point if it's better or worse than the blue/black.

Having sampled all colors, they're all winners. 

[Markvdv]

wired4sound, no your board isn't the same, but is your board green? (most are blue) doesn't matter btw, top of 4 point speaker connector is a plus for originally right speaker, but most chinese amps change that to left, the minus is below that, another channel plus beneath that one and finally a minus for speaker again, originally left but on chinese board probably right channel:)

if in doubt follow traces + right originally top output speaker connection like in picture ebay goes to third pin from top on chip (or 4th pin)

minus left channel = bottom speaker output should go to 4th or 5th pin on chip from bottom (in ebay picture)

If you want to be sure + is plus and - is minus, you have to check Input side of chip + and -, the chip doesn't care, handles both equally.

Pin 4 from top if you hold board equal to ebaypicture is right channel plus (signal) input side, and you should be able to follow that to inputsocket on pcb, pin 5 from top is negative/shield, again chinese don't follow this, and name it left.

On input side of chip 6th pin from bottom should be - negative/shield, 7th pin from bottom is + plus (signal) and should go to input pin on board


I wrote how TI chip connects inputs to outputs according to TI datasheet. If inputs are connected differently in real life on your PCB regarding plus and minus, output plus and minus changes too. Is not very likely, but never know:)

[Markvdv]

Ok I received the "made in norway" smps powersupply, size is identical to Dell 19.5V 10,8A brick. Just a black box with some parts, does look tidy:) Now I got to replace the bricks I use for 3116 and see if there is a difference in sound:)

[Poultrygeist]

Poultrygeist, is your greenboard the same as this one?  http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-1pc-TPA3116-Class-D-digital-amplifier-50W-50-W-with-Silent-Sleep-Design/1586764360.html

I received mine but cannot tell on the terminal of output (L&R) which is negative/positive. It is in Chinese and no label on the board. Emailed the seller but no response.

My board is from audiobah.

[Poultrygeist]

The Astron is taking the TPA to that 'set-like' performance...

What are the dimensions of the Astron? I'd consider one if it will fit inside a case.

[rodge827]

What are the dimensions of the Astron? I'd consider one if it will fit inside a case.

Here is the Linear PS page from the Astron site,

http://www.astroncorp.com/linear.shtml

All of the different dimensions can be found there.

Chris

[rhing]

4.5" (H) x 8" (W) x 9" (D)

Keep in mind that the heat sinks on the rear of the case need full exposure to properly channel heat away from the Motorola transistors and the rest of the unit. Also note the 1/4" air gap between the top of the rear panel and the top of the enclosure. For safety purposes, I wouldn't have this in a home with small children.

[OzarkTom]

What are the dimensions of the Astron? I'd consider one if it will fit inside a case.

If you heard what the Astron does for your TPA amp, you wont worry about putting it in a case.

Here is a Ten Tec that ends less than 24 hours and the bid is only $20.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ten-Tec-937-11amp-power-supply-/181426194869?pt=US_Radio_Comm_Device_Power_Supplies&hash=item2a3dd809b5

[rodge827]

Here is a Ten Tec that ends less than 24 hours and the bid is only $20.

Picked one up on The Bay last weekend for $38+$17.50shp total was $55.

Good luck 

[OzarkTom]

Here is a 12A for $59 and free shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Astron-RS-12A-Power-Supply-Output-9-Amps-Continuous-13-8VDC-/291164119578?pt=2_Way_Radios_FRS&hash=item43cabbe21a

[ebag4]

The Astron is taking the TPA to that 'set-like' performance...

How is the noise floor as compared to a battery?

Thanks,
Ed

[OzarkTom]

How is the noise floor as compared to a battery?

Thanks,
Ed

Astron PSU beats the battery in every way.

[rhing]

I still had a couple 330uF/25V Panasonic SEPF OSCON caps in my parts bin, so I decided to upgrade the power supply decoupling caps in my SMSL SA-36A Pro TPA3118D2 amp. As with my Yuan Jing TPA3116 blue amp and Sure Electronics TPA3110 amp, the improvement was significant. The amp sounds less analytical and more musical while still increasing the level of detail. The bass is tighter and the soundstage is more three dimensional with the image is more focused.

To upgrade the caps, I had to remove the board from the chassis, which meant breaking that small piece of foil seal tape that voids the warranty. Oh well. The board is nicely laid out, and I used this as an opportunity to add a touch of Cardas solder to most of the solder joints. Whatever solder SMSL uses doesn't flow at all. I had to add Cardas solder to get it to flow so I could use my Radio Shack solder sucking tool to clear out the thru-holes. I still had to use a medium-size safety pin to ream out the thru-holes to allow me to fit the OSCON leads through them.





These caps barely fit in between the inductors. Ideally, the 180uF/25V Panasonic SEPF OSCON caps would have fit better since they are a bit smaller, but more capacitance and a slightly lower ESR of 14mohms are good things.

Eventually, I will replace the eight (8x) general purpose 470uF/25V Panasonic M electrolytic caps with better 680uF/25V Panasonic FM electrolytic caps with lower ESR and longer life.

[gregfisk]

Here is a 12A for $59 and free shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Astron-RS-12A-Power-Supply-Output-9-Amps-Continuous-13-8VDC-/291164119578?pt=2_Way_Radios_FRS&hash=item43cabbe21a

I just purchased this Tom,

Thanks!

Greg

[Markvdv]

Noisefloor is something interesting, combined with the 9522 mascot smps I am listening to today. The smps itself is 100% vibration and noise free, I connected it in place of 2 Indeed for audio bricks, it is shocking what the difference is. I just got a tubepreamp connected basicly to see how to improve that for use with tpa3116. It was quite noisy befor, remember it has its own linear psu!!! Replacing the Indeed bricks with the 9522 on tpa3116 totally changed the tubepre that was still connected to the tpa3116 and I had thought I needed to remove it from chain to seriously listen to tpa3116. Noise of tubepre has disappeared it seems,  somewhat stressed high frequency respons of the tubepre is totally gone too, it seemed to compress the sound a bit, gone now. Is that transfered through AC from the bricks, or is it the 0V connection is so much cleaner now??? Shocking, tubepre was not close to hifi befor, changing another products psu made an unbelievable impact. At this time I am very close to feeling the tpa3116 with tubepre sounds better then ever befor solo, and coming from not even hifi status, that is shocking.

[rhing]

Welcome to the club!

[matt_garman]

Matt, for my Astron RS-12A, this is what I upgraded:
[ ... snip for brevity ... ]

Thanks for that.  I see you posted before over in the cheap 12v linear power supply thread, complete with pics.  Sorry I didn't check that thread first!

Given the comments you made about the age of your Astron RS-12A, were your part changes truly "upgrades" or simply "maintenance" required because of the unit's vintage?  In other words, would you expect your PSU to be on par with a brand-new one, or better?  I haven't dated my RS-12A, but I suspect it's similarly old... it would probably benefit from a recap as well, although I'm thinking for convenience I might just buy a brand new unit.

For a DC power cable to connect the power supply to my TPA31xx amps, I use a DIY cable made from twisting a pair of 16 AWG Teflon insulated-Silver-plated, stranded Copper Mil-Spec wire terminated with a Switchcraft 2.1mm x 5.5mm DC power connector. I wrapped the twisted pair in spiral-cut tubing and put TechFlex-type expandable sleeving over that. On the power supply end, I stick the bare wires into the thru-holes on the 5-way binding posts on the Astron's rear panel.

Probably wouldn't hurt for me to make a better power cable... the one I'm using is pretty thin (Detachable mini-plug kit #120-537 for convenience).

I don't know why you don't hear differences between power supplies.

I am not sure what your sources are...

A picture says a thousand words:



Source is CD audio in FLAC format on computer.  Optical SPDIF to a Cambridge Audio DACMagic (original), to tpa311x amp.  Speaker cabs were built from a Slim Classic Golden Ratio (CGR) dMar-Ken7.3 flat pack Planet10 cut for me.  Drivers are Markaudio Alpair 7.3 with Planet10's EnABLed process.

As you can see, this is a very nearfield setup.  When I'm sitting at my desk, my ears are probably about 2 feet from the speakers, and listening around 60--65 dB.  (The other side of that wall is my toddler's bedroom; I usually only get to listen when she's sleeping, so practical considerations force me to keep it down.)  Today I had a bit of time to "crank it"... by my standards anyway, I had the music around 70--75 dB.  (SPL measurements taken with an app on my phone---obviously not the last word in precision, but presumably the right ballpark.)

In this setup, I don't think the room dynamics should matter too much.  Speakers are front-ported, and I'm very close to them.

Anyway, I kept going back and forth between the cheapie wall-wart and the Astron... I plugged the wall-wart straight into the AC outlet (to remove my UPS as a variable).  I think I could hear some difference.  It wasn't night and day.  But to me, by analogy, the wall-wart was kind of like looking at a picture that is ever-so-slightly out of focus: you don't even notice that it's out of focus until you see the proper focus version.  The Astron is the "proper focus" version, of course, some sounds were just a bit "crisper around the edges", so to speak.

I told my wife I want to close my eyes and have her switch (or not) power supplies randomly, and see if I could hear a difference.  She sighed and rolled her eyes. 

I'm happy with the sound either way, though it is fun when something gets tweaked and the change is obvious and immediate.  Aural considerations aside, I like that little wall-wart because it's more efficient (according to my Kill-a-Watt) and also physically small.

As soon as all the parts arrive, my next tpa3116 project will be for my living room rig.  Everything is different: DAC, speakers, listening distance, etc---so it will give me another opportunity to audition different PSUs.