Teac Tripath - thoughts to date

mcgsxr · « **Reply #80 on:** 17 Nov 2004, 06:26 pm »

It continues to make me happy, that other people are discovering, and enjoying these Teac amps. I forget what thread I first read about them in, here on AC, but I soon bought two. Even with all the border hassles, extra shipping fees etc, they have proven a wonderful setup for me.

I continue to anticipate the Bolder Teac, it should not be too long, and taking some time to see how it is. I never did just pull the boards out of the two already had, even though some suggested I try this.

In any case, keep the comments coming, so that others will discover this little gem!

albee · « **Reply #81 on:** 17 Nov 2004, 09:47 pm »

Thanks, guys.

I'm assume you guys mean the center channel is rigged for one channel only and not bridged to mono giving more power. I also presume that's the reason you guys are pulling the L/R board when running mono blocks.

So, if I understand correctly, I could open up the case and simply unplug the center channel board and pull it out, yes? I don't plan on getting a second Teac.

So, far the Teac has been the best compromise to my ears. The Powerwave was noisy. The Blaupunkt amp was too warm sounding and ran above Class A hot. The Sonic Impact was too warm sounding and way too delicate with its construction (speaker bindings and mini-plug).

As a result of my bargain basement experiments I now own FOUR different Pyramid power supplies! Yikes!

ludavico · « **Reply #82 on:** 17 Nov 2004, 10:23 pm »

Matts - keep us posted, hopefully we will have three data points (including Larry's) on this monoblock lunacy soon.

Teac #2 is enroute to Texas as I type.

Albee- interesting about your experience with the other cheapie chip amps. What are the power supplies you mention?

John

mcgsxr · « **Reply #83 on:** 17 Nov 2004, 11:21 pm »

The center channel is indeed rigged only to push 1 channel, and is not bridged, correct.

To remove a board, you have to remove 6 screws to get the U shaped cover off. Then you need to remove 1 screw from the rear of the chassis, that holds the board to the back of the amp. Once that screw is out, you can pull the amp board up, to remove it - it is held in by 3 connectors that mate to the main board on the bottom of the amp.

Here is a pic of the rear, see the 1 screw above Center and 1 screw above Surround on the back of the amp? That is the screw that holds it in - other than that, it is just a snap in and out carefully proposition.

Some people remove the extra amp board to reduce the load on the PS, others so that they have a spare should anything bad happen...

Sorry for the fuzzy pic, I was stretching to get the camera back behind the rack...

corwin99 · « **Reply #84 on:** 17 Nov 2004, 11:28 pm »

Mark,
Do you know if it is easy to convert the amp to 2-Channel, like having one channel run off each board and disable the third channel or is that necessary?

neL

mcgsxr · « **Reply #85 on:** 17 Nov 2004, 11:36 pm »

Hey Nel, I know that you do not HAVE to mod the board - you CAN just plug one speaker into C, and one into either L OR R - that way you are driving each speaker with one amp.

Now, there are two concerns here - the first is that some have reported that their C channel is slightly louder than either the L or R. I have not found this with either of my amps, but it could be some variance with respect to QC (quality control...).

The other concern is one that I am still not sure is real or mythical. Some say that running one channel of a stereo amp is bad for the amp - IE if you were to plug one speaker into a regular stereo amplifier, and run it for a few days, some claim that this will cause the amp to blow. I am clearly NOT an authority on this, but I can say that I have been at parties (when much younger I assure you...) where this has happened.

So, I HAVE run my Teac in this manner (one speaker from C, one from R for example) but am concerned that it could damage the amp in some way, so I do not promote this as an option.

As for how to mod it to do so? Again, not sure...

I would see if the C channel is louder on your amp, and then decide what to do...

Let us know how that comparison goes over there on the West Coast, once you have all the gear setup, and some time narrowed down!

ludavico · « **Reply #86 on:** 17 Nov 2004, 11:40 pm »

Mark,

I just pulled the cover off the TEAC and removed the screw holding the L,R amp board to the rear panel. I do not see a slotted connector like the ones used in computers for mating memory to motherboards however.

Did your amp board rock back and forth then pull straight up?

I see the three connectors you spoke about, but they seem to be hard-wired to the amp board and the motherboard.

I must be missing something....

John

ludavico · « **Reply #87 on:** 17 Nov 2004, 11:55 pm »

Me so scared.

I really got down on that sucka just now and thought that if I apply any more upward force on the amp board I would snap the motherboard into pieces.

Then...bingo. It came right up.

Sh*t, I really had to muscle that mofo....

Careful gents, but it does come off.

John

PS- Dude, where's the amp? You mean that tiny IC that barely has enough room for the word "TRIPATH" is an amplifier?

corwin99 · « **Reply #88 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 12:01 am »

Thanks for that info Mark... i seem to have glanced over that somewhere earlier in this thread but i had forgotten. Damn.. i just went to JR and did a calculation on the Amp.. and its $25US to ship it to Canada via UPS Ground... which means i'll get spanked with like a $30 Customs charge, or its $65US to do it 2nd day air.. $65!!! to ship a $100 amp!!

mcgsxr · « **Reply #89 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 12:43 am »

Nel, you HAVE to buy 2 to make it worth it....

mcgsxr · « **Reply #90 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 12:46 am »

ludavico - yep, that tiny thing is the Tripath heart of the matter - the whole board that you removed is the amp, with associated goodies, but that little thing is what makes it special!

Nel - I don't think you CAN order the Teac with UPS ground - when I tried in the summer, it would not let me close out the transaction, unless I paid for UPS Air. On the upside, there are not any extra fees on the delivery with UPS Air.

corwin99 · « **Reply #91 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 12:52 am »

Mark,
Weird.. cuz it adjusted the Ground amount for $16US for US delivery to $26US for canada delivery.. i never tried checking out, i just wanted to see the prices... do you remember if 2 was much more to ship?

neL

mcgsxr · « **Reply #92 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 01:17 am »

I paid US$259 delivered via UPS Air, for my two, back in July.

lcrim · « **Reply #93 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 01:33 am »

I have a feeling that pulling the Tripath board for the L,R channels allows the little switching power supply to run in a less burdened and therefore better sounding fashion. It certainly runs a lot cooler as a result of powering just one board.
If anyone can provide some guidance on a simple way to get rid of the little volume pot to clean up the circuit further, I would be grateful.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #94 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 02:45 am »

You can connect the inputs directly to the amps, by doing what this guy did - please understand that I have no idea about this, I am just fascinated with this amp, and read EVERYTHING I CAN about it.

I know that Wayne's mods include this bypassing all the non essential circuitry.

http://www.tommytube.com/Teac-tripath/a_tour_inside_the_teac_a.htm

Check out this site, you might be able to sort it out from this...

albee · « **Reply #95 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 05:01 am »

Vico, power supplies?

I ordered a 13.8V for my 2020 eval board (which I didn't mention earlier).
Got an adjustable 3-12V p/s for the SI and Powerwave. And, by accident (long story), a 13.8V/22amp switching p/s and a variable 6-15V/25 amp p/s for the Blaupunkt. The variable p/s set at almost 15V sounded best on the Blaupunkt.

I ran my Teac for over a month using the C and R channels. When I moved the connection from C to L there was no apparent damage to the L/R board. So, with no i/c connected to the L channel and the gain set off seemed to be the ticket for not having to fight that tight binding post situation.

ludavico · « **Reply #96 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 04:08 pm »

"If anyone can provide some guidance on a simple way to get rid of the little volume pot to clean up the circuit further, I would be grateful." -Larry

That, and how to easily replace those skanky binding posts.

I think it is going to be major surgery here on out...

John

PS - Thanks Mark for the URL ref above.

toobwacky · « **Reply #97 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 04:41 pm »

There's 2 possible modes of stereo operation with this amp.

One could remove the "center" amp board and use the "L+R" board for both channels... Or, one could use the "Center" board for one channel and the "L+R" board for the other channel.

Does anyone care to opine which mode would be best for 2 channel operation?

Thanks.

TW

lcrim · « **Reply #98 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 05:02 pm »

As long as both boards are in use, even if you could "unjumper" the one doing double duty, the power supply seems to be the weak link. Cleaning up the signal path by removing the volume pots, input caps etc. brings benefits but you still have that inexpensive, "dirty" in terms of emi, switching power supply to contend with. Replacing it with a decent linear power supply or a battery (& charger) would pay off in much improved sound quality. Essentially, thats the route VinnieR took w/ the smaller Tripath chip. I believe he may be the same VinnieR from AudioAsylum, who came up w/ the mods that were so sucessful on the Toshiba 3950 DVDP. Great guy to have as a resource.
In any event, reducing the load on the power supply by removing the L,R board seems to be a tweak that almost anyone with a screwdriver and $200 can accomplish. Thirty watts of "monoblock" Tripath power sounds very sweet.

ludavico · « **Reply #99 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 05:08 pm »

Larry or Mark - do you know if the speaker binding posts on the TEAC A-V700P accept regular banana connectors?

The only decent cabling I have is terminated with spades, so I was thinking of using a banana/spade adaptor (e.g. Cardas CAB)

John