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Of course not. I ordered a TPA3116 amp from Sure Electronics this morning. It does seem that the brightness and sibilance does subside as these amps break in. The Panasonic OSCONs really do a nice job with these Texas Instruments amps. I would try adding a couple more and see what happens. Like Salis Audio said, you'll probably get more bass, but not in the sense that it will be more boomy or flabby. This, of course, will depend on the frequency range of your speakers.
How are you guys doing the face plate labeling? It looks 'sweet'
I just wanted to note that it is an easy and very worthwhile improvement to the YBDZ/Wiener board to swap the inductors for the Bourns 9.3A ones. I am clumsy and not very skilled at tricky manoeuvres on small PCBs, but it went smoothly. You have to bend over a couple of the capacitors which are sticking up and mount the inductors so that they sit partially above these. I stuck loads of Blu-tack on and between the inductors to provide some damping as they felt a little wobbly and I was worried this might affect the sound. Needless to say the replacement provides a very good improvement in sound quality. I don't think the big Coilcraft ones would fit unfortunately, but these are great. I really like Elna Cerafine 220uF 25v too.
Rhing, I bow to your greater modding skills - those are fine suggestions to mount the Coilcraft. I should probably be more adventurous but hey, the Bourns sound great and doing it this way was just so easy (considering big inductors/compact board). I'll try to take some photos tomorrow but my wife has borrowed the good camera and gone away for a short trip, plus the board is mounted in a box. So photo quality might not be so helpful. Anyway, I make no claim that my way was the only or the best possible.BTW, have you got your transformers set up yet? I don't do so well at keeping up with the diyaudio thread, but would be interested in any results relating to transformers if you don't mind posting here too.
Worse then current YJblueblack is hardly possible, but stock Sure3116 does try hard I bet it is worst sounding TPA3116 completely stock, because you already had to mod speaker output
Talk is cheap, and modding is always easier said than done. Actually, you did an admirable job fitting those Bourns inductors into such a confined space. I'm sure you'll hear the subtle improvements that the new inductors make on your amp. I find that the Bourns and CoilCraft inductors allow more fine detail to come through.
My expectation is that with using the CineMag input transformers, I will hear more of the music like you are. Some people on these forums abhor detailed descriptions, so I use the word "detail" in the broadest sense. With the upgrade in output filter inductors, especially with low DCR and high current capability, I hear more timbral detail, complete notes from attack to decay, and greater transients. You are correct that with the refinement in the amp's performance you can hear more shortcomings in the recording and/or mastering, if there are any. That's probably why I find myself lately purchasing high end vinyl like the Analog Productions RCA Living Stereo remastered recordings and the Music Matters Blue Note remastered 33.33 RPM LPs. However, I haven't brought myself to purchasing the Electric Recording Company LPs selling for over $600 USD. I just attended the California Audio Show featuring some very high end gear, and my friend and I agreed that a properly implemented TPA3116 amp can stand on its own with many of the amps we heard. I think that's the draw of these amps--that they can perform at a very high level at a fraction of the cost of more expensive amplifiers. The trick is matching speakers with these amps.
Do you have a pre-amp buffer? The transformer will act like a pre-amp buffer in many ways. I don't know what I'd prefer, DC coupled buffer or a transformer. There's super high end gear that uses transformers, and lots that does not.
I decided I liked the sound of one of my modded YJ Blue/Black boards enough to put it in a permanent housing. My decision was the smallest possible box I could stuff it into. The Sure Amp box from PE was the ticket! The fit is extremely tight, and required a little surgery to the box for the switch and power input jack. The footprint of this finished amp is smaller than a dollar bill!
