Teac Tripath - thoughts to date

Zero · « **Reply #160 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 03:21 am »

I recieved my little TEAC amp after my Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated blew last night !!!!!

Right after taking it out of the box, I opened up the chasis and removed the center channel circuit board. Afterwards, I hooked her up to an AMC 1100 pre amp (my very first pre amplifier) and a pair of Totem Acoustic Tabu's. Wow, right out of the gates - I am already digging its sound.

It sounds very good. No, so far its definately no competition for hifi pieces, but its already much better then I had guessed it would be - and that is considering the previous products Ive owned with chip amps. Impressive stuff. I look forward to breaking in this unit.

Cheers,

Sean

gongos · « **Reply #161 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 07:21 am »

Do you just yank the center channel board out?

lcrim · « **Reply #162 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 02:15 pm »

gongos:
The answer to your question is buried in this thread. I know it may be tedious but the answer is there.

Zero · « **Reply #163 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 02:22 pm »

Gongos,

Its very simple. Just un-screw the case... and you will see the circuit board lined up with the center channel output. Just unscrew it from the back - and take it right on out. Easy as pie, unless it gives you resistance.

ludavico · « **Reply #164 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 02:34 pm »

gongos: I have two TEAC A-L700P amps. Both gave me a real fight when I tried to remove the amp boards. They do come out though, but I would advise being careful. I had to flex the begeesus out of the main/mother board before the daughter boards yielded.

John

geofstro · « **Reply #165 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 06:06 pm »

I've just received some nice cables from Chris Venhaus for replacing the stock PC on my Teacs.

Any tips on doing this would be much appreciated. For example, is soldering required/recommended?

Thanks

geoff

soundboy · « **Reply #166 on:** 6 Dec 2004, 09:03 am »

Esoteric's mono version of the TEAC digital amp?

albee · « **Reply #167 on:** 6 Dec 2004, 03:59 pm »

Is the Esoteric $99 through J&R? I can't wait!

mcgsxr · « **Reply #168 on:** 6 Dec 2004, 08:39 pm »

Interesting looking Esoteric amp - just mildly better casework than a stock A-L700P no?

I wonder what the power supply is...

I don't think I can pop for a pair of these, and start another thread...

ymw · « **Reply #169 on:** 14 Dec 2004, 10:53 am »

Anyone has the service manual for this? I would be interested in the schematics of the power suppy.

Thanks.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #170 on:** 14 Dec 2004, 11:44 am »

I have the service manual for this device, but no schematics are available, as per my face to face with the Canadian service manager for this amp

...

The "service manual" is just an exploded diagram of the chassis, and a component listing of each section of the amp.

ymw · « **Reply #171 on:** 14 Dec 2004, 05:18 pm »

Hi Mark,

Does the service manual have diagrams showing the component layout and pcb traces? Thanks.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #172 on:** 14 Dec 2004, 05:21 pm »

ymw - PM me your email address, and I will email it to you, and you can review it, to see if it is of any use for you.

That offer stands for all actually, if you PM me your email address, I will gladly send off the service manual pdf to you.

JDUBS · « **Reply #173 on:** 28 Dec 2004, 02:12 am »

Hey Guys

Would anyone care to discuss the bass produced by the Teac? I'm looking for something to power 100db / 1 watt bass cabinets (~25hz to ~150hz) and was wondering if the Teac would be up to the task.

Thanks
Jim

lcrim · « **Reply #174 on:** 28 Dec 2004, 04:51 pm »

I had Vinnie Rossi mod a Teac for me which has about 150hrs burn-in now so I could comment. Mark in Canada has an extensively modded Teac by Wayne @ Bolder Cables as well and I know he will weigh in.
It seems to me a bit of a waste to use what is a pretty nice nice full range amp to power a bass speaker only. With a few simple DIY mods, it can be the basis for a very nice system. Extensively modded by a professional, it has forced me to look more critically at my speakers. The resolution is just extraordinary. The mods have taken the strengths of the amp in revealing inner detail to another level. The hardness or glare is gone replaced by a very transparent top end.
Previously I had a Sony digital receiver the SCR-DA3000ES which is rated by Sony @ 150 watts per and the Teac (@ 30 watts) provides noticeably better speaker damping than the Sony ever did with exactly the same speakers. The Tripath chip, the 2050 I believe, in the Teac with help from numerous well planned mods has such a good damping factor that I am strongly considering a single source driver type of speaker and getting rid of my powered sub.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #175 on:** 28 Dec 2004, 07:07 pm »

I think that lcrim is right on many counts here - the stock unit is very good, with clean highs, and amazing woofer control. A modded unit is even further down both sides of that road, without etching the highs, or woolying the lows.

Now, I can see why someone might want to use this as a bass amp, especially at the price. Money aside, this is still a very good platform, and with mods it is proving astoundingly good.

Like lcrim, the modded Teac that I have (a Bolder unit) has me with new speakers. I built up a set of CSS 4.5 inch full rangers, and I am shocked at how good they are, paired with this little amp.

I do not yet feel that each new piece of my system has settled down enough to offer a review, or report, but I will go on record saying that so far, this synergistic match is great - modded Teac, with CSS full range speakers.

I also have a stock Teac with VinnieR mods to just the power supply, that I am using as my surround amp, for HT. I will, once all break in, do a comparison of the following.

1 - stock Teac, stock PS
2 - stock Teac, VinnieR modded PS
3 - Bolder Teac

But back to the question at hand - do I think that a Teac amp would do well driving 100db bass drivers? Good lord yes, since you would really only ever use the first 1-5wpc, you should have a great match there - I do agree with lcrim that the Teac is capable of much more, but if this is your intent for your system, I would hazard a guess that you will be well rewarded. I would suggest trying the Teac full range at some point, following some of the simple DIY tricks so generously shared in this thread by others, to see if it floats your boat.

Back to the break in!

JDUBS · « **Reply #176 on:** 29 Dec 2004, 01:10 am »

Great guys, thanks for all of the info! My motivation for using the Teac solely for the bass cabinets is that:

1. I'd really like to biamp my horn / bass cabinet combo (using a digital signal fed into a Behringer DCX2496 digital crossover).
2. I really want to try one of the battery-powered Tripath solutions on the horns. I could use another one of these for the bass cabinets as well, but throught I'd give something else a try

3. Hopefully the 30 watts / channel of the Teac will offer a little more "control" over the big 18" drivers in the bass cabinets.

Who knows if any of that reasoning makes sense? Oh well. I think I'll give the Teac a go....at $100 its worth a shot. I'll also pull the board for the center channel and may look to change out the connectors. I'll be sure to throw my OneAC 1107 into the mix to make sure the power getting to it is decent.

Thanks again everyone.

-Jim

trunks · « **Reply #177 on:** 4 Jan 2005, 01:34 pm »

Does anyone know if the System Link is just a standard 12 volt trigger? I would like to try and see if my pre/pro will trigger this, but I am hesitant to just plug it in (don't want to fry anything).. I assume it would be eaiser to test with a DR-L700P just using a multimeter.

Thanks in advance,
Jake

BTW, thanks for all the posts and info. Without this forum I would've never found this ultra-inexpensive gem of an amp.

awetmore · « **Reply #178 on:** 17 Jan 2005, 08:47 pm »

Has anyone measured the power draw of this amp when there is no input signal? I'm thinking about getting a few to power speakers in other rooms, but since it has no trigger for power I'm a little worried about power draw.

I know that most digital amps are better at this than others. I'd be replacing a Hafler DH-200 which draws 85w at idle and that is pretty noticable on the power bills when running it 24x7.

alex

mcgsxr · « **Reply #179 on:** 17 Jan 2005, 09:20 pm »

I don't have the ability to measure the draw that you speak of, but since the unit is rated only to 45w max, and it runs around 90% efficiently, it cannot be much at all.

I replaced a Sugden integrated that ran Class A for the first 15wpc, and my bills went down...

Great little units, run cool, and sound great stock.

I will be posting my thoughts on the Bolder modded unit later this week, assuming I can find a little more time to finalize a few things.