[steve k]

Hi All,

I ordered and have setup one of the new Super D Class D amps.

All arrived in excellent condition but no manual was included.

Does anyone with a Super D also have a manual with the hookup instructions?

I'd suggest emailing Tom about it. He told me he would have the Super D manuals on his website this weekend so maybe he has a file he can send you that's just not posted on his website yet.

steve

[parodielin]

I just checked there are four screws on the up-facing side of the board mounts the heat sink and there are two screws on the down-facing side of the board.  Would any of these work? 

I asked Tom that awhile back. He said the amps really don't need to be grounded but if you still want to, he suggested grounding to one of the screws that mounts the heat sink to the board.
steve

[steve k]

The ones on the down facing side might be better. I'd use a crimp connector with a loop on it and put the screw through it.
steve

[parodielin]

Good idea.  Thanks!

The ones on the down facing side might be better. I'd use a crimp connector with a loop on it and put the screw through it.
steve

[roymail]

Steve, isn't your amp mounted in an all wood cab?  I was also planning to build a wooden enclosure with no place to ground.

If it works ok laid out on a bread board, it should be fine in a wooded box.  Right? 

[steve k]

Mine work fine in wooden boxes. I don't have a tuner or TV to worry about interference. Mine are dead quiet with your ear to the speaker.

[parodielin]

Mine work fine in wooden boxes. I don't have a tuner or TV to worry about interference. Mine are dead quiet with your ear to the speaker.

My experience was that it worked fine in a wood/MDF box.  I did not notice any noise at listening distance.  Until recently, b/c there is a big hum after connecting the unshielded Pass B1, I did a comparison of the "noise" level between HK 635 and Class D, and I found HK 635 is a bit "quieter" than Class D (When my ears are against the speakers).  It's subtle.  But again, some people have been fine with Pass B1 without metal enclosure.  So it could be my environment issue.  But now I'd like to do it the right way - using metal sheet to shield it and ground it through through the ground wire from the power switch module.

[jtsnead]

Ok I was wondering if anyone is using the amps bridged?
I have the SDS-254, always wondered if amps sound any
worse when they are bridged?

It would be easy to add another amp to my case.
Would only cost coupl hundred.
The power goes form 120w to 500w, I do not need that
much power but when I did have a higher powered Wyred
4 Sound it did offer better headroom. I do not want to add
any more hardness etc.

[steve k]

6SN7 is running two amps in bridged mode as monoblocks. You might PM him.
steve

[jtwrace]

6SN7 is running two amps in bridged mode as monoblocks. You might PM him.
steve

Maybe he'll post here. 

[jtsnead]

thanks guys, I will ask 6sn7

[6SN7]

My ears are ringing--someone must be talking about me.

I'm running two CDA-224 amps, bridged, as mono blocs.  I've done this to allow me the flexibility of either placing them directly behind my speakers or side-by-side inside my cabinet.  I posted pictures of one of the amps a couple of weeks back, and as of yesterday, the enclosure for the second amp is now complete.

My enclosures are wood and ungrounded, but since the amps are currently sitting behind my speakers, I don't know if they would interfere with my other components or not.  In their present positions, all they do is pump out music--no noise whatsoever.

And now that the amps are enclosed (rather tightly, I might add) and have been running for many hours, I can confirm that even though they are feeding my 4 ohm rated Magnepans, they run at a very comfortable temperature--warm, but not hot.

I can't say how these amps compare sonically, between running in stereo and mono mode, as I've had them hooked up only as mono blocs, but I can say I'm still happy I replaced my tube mono blocs with these.  As I've mentioned previously, the only down side to what I'm hearing with Tom's amps is a lessening of depth to the sound stage compared to my tubes.  Other than that, I love what I hear.

That's my experience in a nut shell.
Bob     

[jtsnead]

Thanks Bob,
I am going to order the other amp board and give it a try
what the heck, pretty cheap and cheerful

[wushuliu]

The first experiment will be with 30k per rail (two pair of 15k, 60k total on board) and to use the third position for bypass and snubber parts.  If that works well enough I'll clone it for the other amps, box 'em up and move on to serious listening.  Apart from input coupling and power supply I haven't identified anything else that I want to change . . . yet . . . . . .

any news?

[pjchappy]

Finally got my first amp up and running.  I changed the layout and wiring a bit.  As you can see with the extra stand-offs, this case is ready to take another amp to run 2 boards, with very minor wiring changes.  I may throw another one in there and run 2 bridged amps.

Again, a big thanks to jtwrace for his great cases! If you're interested, you can get them here: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=79902.msg772255#msg772255

Here are a some pics, along with the ICs I made for them.  For more pics, click here.














Paul

[jtwrace]

Finally got my first amp up and running.  I changed the layout and wiring a bit.  As you can see with the extra stand-offs, this case is ready to take another amp to run 2 boards, with very minor wiring changes.  I may throw another one in there and run 2 bridged amps.

Again, a big thanks to jtwrace for his great cases!

Here are a some pics, along with the ICs I made for them.  For more pics, click here.

Paul

Paul

Looks great! 

What do you think of the sound?

Thanks again.   

[pjchappy]

Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.  Just got it together late last night.

[Nick77]

Well, armed with a little to much free time and an idle soldering iron I went to work on my power supply. After doing some research and following in the steps of Wushuliu I upgraded to 40,000uf with the Panasonic TS-HA series caps (4x10,000uf). These caps seem to be highly regarded as a best bang for the buck when building a power supply for chip amps or class d.
I wasnt to sure I would get the same results that Wushuliu got because I started with the larger power supply.

First I removed the Nichicons slowly heating each post and rocking back and forth until able to remove cap.




Then I used solder wick to clean the holes for the new caps to fit in.





I soldered in the four new caps and rewired supply, I have 2 open slots to hit 60,000uf if I decide to max it out.




Fortunately my results completely mirror Wushului's comments on the upgrade. Probably a little more subtle than his but I have a more dynamic sound with improved lower and mid bass. Seem to be getting a little overall increase in seperation and imageing. Very pleased with results, of couse this is all system specific. My speakers are quite revealing so the upgrade was obvious on my behalf, your results may vary. SuperD @ 125wpc.

Of course you shouldnt consider doing this without proper supervision. 

[dewardh]

any news?

No problems with 60k (total) on each supply board with 25A rectifiers.  The lights dim at switchon  , but maybe not bad enough to add soft-start.  I've decided to put a third amp board in the box rather than keep using my 3886 tweeter amps . . . it's raising some "issues", but hopefully nothing that careful shielding and maybe down tuning the switching frequency on the woofer channels won't cure.  One thing for sure . . . when I switch my center channel and subs over to Class D it will be in a bigger box  . . . things are a bit crowded with three amp boards and two power supply boards (and the transformer) all in (what was once) an Adcom 535 box . . . .

[jtsnead]

Hey Nick,
Where did you get the caps, why did you only replace
4 of them, could you do 6?
How about the resistors on the board, are they worth
messing with.
I am getting ready to order another board to run bridged
SDS254's