Grriffin Powerwave Outfreakage

Bwanagreg · « **on:** 10 Mar 2004, 05:12 pm »

Several of us have been posting in various circles (Square, Omega, Digital Domain) about the little Powerwave Tripath amp. For folks with high efficiency speakers and/or smaller rooms, the quality of the sound from this cheap little fellow is truly astounding. This is not a good amp for the money, this is a good amp that happens to be dirt cheap.

This of course leads to the question of how much better it would sound if it had appropriate mods done to it. It desparately needs better speaker connections (maybe even a new little case), a better power supply, and who knows what else internally. Any interest in these parts in exploring a Bolder mod? I'll sign up for sure. Like Wayne needs more work to do, but I had to ask.

Wayne1 · « **Reply #1 on:** 10 Mar 2004, 06:30 pm »

Like Wayne needs more work to do,

I am interested in exploring this device.

If any of you are willing to send me one to play for some time, I would be happy to work on mods for it.

It may take awhile. I should get the plates for the Panny mod soon. I am working on the Audcom preamp this week. I will also be building the Napalm replacement...

Dmason · « **Reply #2 on:** 10 Mar 2004, 06:50 pm »

I can tell you that with a better PSU the PowerWave gets jacked up to where it should be, sonically. I am using a Hoeschler 12V medical equipment unit, and the quality of sound doubled. Peopl with PW's should think about the Scott Nixon power supply, which is just an excellent product..

This weekend I should be able to crack it open for a look, and consider giving it a more worthy home, my main motive is to get rid of that awful little light on top and rewire the speaker taps. I can imagine this thing or something like it becoming the de facto digital amplifier for the Hi E Fostex/Lowther 206 crowd. A new day is dawning, fo shoo.

For those of you interested in Tripath amps,

Motorola offers the obscure DCP 501 aimed at the home convergence market, which has 100X5 watts of Tripath, DVD-CD-CDR-MP3, Lexi-chip DSP, and, interestingly, a cable tuner. It comes in a big, ultra-nasty looking box reminiscent of the Robot from Lost in Space, but looks like an excellent candidate for tweaking, with possibly lots of room to move around in. The 501 entered the market @ $845 and now can be had for under $300. The amplifier potential alone makes this ugly duckling a pretty good bet.

Bwanagreg · « **Reply #3 on:** 10 Mar 2004, 08:13 pm »

Sounds great Wayne. I sent a PM.

Wayne1 · « **Reply #4 on:** 10 Mar 2004, 09:58 pm »

Greg has been kind enough to agree to send me a Power Wave to play with

I will work on a different power supply for it, better input and output connectors, perhaps a different case. I will also see what, if anything, can be done for upgrading the internal components.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #5 on:** 10 Mar 2004, 10:02 pm »

As usual, I was a little slow on the draw!

Oh, well. If you need a *second* one to experiment on, let me know! This little fella does have some potential, that's for sure.

Bwanagreg · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 Mar 2004, 10:45 pm »

Too bad I had to twist your arm so hard Wayne

.

vpolineni · « **Reply #7 on:** 19 Mar 2004, 07:22 am »

wayne, have you been able to do any mods to this unit? I think it would really benefit with some binding posts..

Wayne1 · « **Reply #8 on:** 19 Mar 2004, 03:09 pm »

I have not received the PowerWave, yet.

It should be here by early next week.

I will also be getting a demo pair of HornShoppe Horns next week. They were used by Pass Labs for a few months, so they should be well broken in.

Wayne1 · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 Mar 2004, 07:44 pm »

The PowerWave just showed up in today's mail.

It is SOO CUTE!.

I just LOVE the speaker break-out box

I have it currently hooked up to the AVReality 3Ds with Sub modules. This is a three way ScanSpeak driver design.

The little PowerWave is doing a pretty good job driving them.

I do prefer the sound of the Radii EL-34 Class A mono blocks, but hey, the Power Wave is only 5% of the cost of the Radii

The sound is a bit compressed ,sterile, and doesn't really go too deep, but I did just plug it in.

I will let it burn-in for the week-end and then start ripping it apart.

For an inexpensive power supply replacement for the "brick" that comes with the PowerWave, PartsExpress has some nice regulated 12 VDC ones.

Look at: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=120-532

You can use these connectors with it http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=120-537

Bwanagreg · « **Reply #10 on:** 22 Mar 2004, 04:01 pm »

Wayne,

Thanks for the tip on the power supply. You can keep the breakout box as a souvenir if you want

I'd expect that it will do a lot better with the horns. I doubt I'm ever using much more than a watt with my Omegas. The one time I pushed it it got harsh and wooly sounding in a hurry.

Wayne1 · « **Reply #11 on:** 23 Mar 2004, 04:35 pm »

Here is the the naked PowerWave out of the case.

As has been noted, EVERYTHING is surface mount.

This does make capacitor substitution a bit more difficult.

The input jacks should be easy to replace. The output connector shouldn't be too hard. But that is about it for this unit. Put it in another case and use a good power supply.

I will say it seems to sound better out of the plastic case

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #12 on:** 24 Mar 2004, 12:43 am »

Will your mods retain the USB input or go with just line or mini jacks? I'm curious to see what you propose and see what the price will be. What type of case will you put it in?

Wayne1 · « **Reply #13 on:** 24 Mar 2004, 02:41 am »

Rob,

I just cut the case off it today. I haven't really thought about any other inputs but the RCAs

I'm kinda thinking of just posting my findings and let folks mod their own.

I have read a lot of comments where people get all uptight about paying more for mods than the cost of the unit. Working on this PCB would take some time to do it right and time is money

The case I am going to use is made by LMB Heegar. It is the same case I used to build my Bugle phono section in. I happen to have a few of these cases on hand. It is an all aluminum case.

I can definitely say it sounds a WHOLE heck of a lot better without all the plastic around it. I have the circuit board just sitting atop a wood platform.

I received the Horn Shoppe Horns today. The little Tripath amp with these sounds pretty damn good. The Horns need to be loosened up a bit so I will be feeding them lots of Oriental drum music the next few days. I did play Yim Hok-Man - Poems of Thunder through then and it was pretty impressive for a 3" driver and a 15 watt amp.

Chris_B · « **Reply #14 on:** 24 Mar 2004, 02:53 am »

Wayne - I am interested in hearing your overall impressions of the Powerwave even if you don't plan on Mod'ing it. Also, did you try it will headphones as well?

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #15 on:** 24 Mar 2004, 03:45 am »

Sure, some guys don't wanna spend 3 times what a unit costs to mod it, but in this case the amp's so damn cheap in the first place that it could be worth it. Besides, people offended by that wouldn't have to buy it!

Still, if you describe what you're doing, I guess it would make DIY'ing a bit easier.

I bet a better PS makes a world of difference with the PW.

albee · « **Reply #16 on:** 25 Mar 2004, 03:18 am »

Hi, Wayne.

I just connected the recommended Pyramid to my Powerwave and noticed an immediate improvement in clarity and tightness--not day and night, but a noticeable, positive difference. After about a two hour session, both the Pyramid and Powerwave were cucumber cool. (Using Klipsch RB-5's).

There is obviously a break-in time. At first the topend wasn't very extended and sounded very "digititis". After about ten hours it's starting to improve. I hope it goes a lot further. One thing that might effect that is my cd player has an analog volume pot. I noticed that the Powerwave seems to have TOO MUCH gain as the volume pot is barely cracked open. I figure there could be some impedance mismatching there and the more I open up the pot the better overall sound/balance. You have any "free" ideas on decreasing the gain of the unit?

I have read a few comments about Tripaths not sounding warm or tube-like in receivers. I was wondering if the Powerwave was voiced for desktop speakers? Most desktops having a rather bright, thin sound would benefit from what I'm hearing--kicked out bass, fleshy midrange, and slightly attenuated highs. Seems to be a pretty good offset. I was wondering if I got my hands on a 15-watt test board if it would sound the same or would it sound more "hi-fi"? Any thoughts? (You probably noticed that the 15 watt board has regular banana recepticles for speakers and power supply.)

Please do post you recommended changes to the Powerwave--I know everyone will be interested.

Thanks.

Louie (Albee)

Bwanagreg · « **Reply #17 on:** 29 Mar 2004, 03:22 am »

Hi Wayne,

I just saw Ed Schilling's post. Sounds like you and he like what you are hearing with the Pwave and Ed's speakers!

Wayne1 · « **Reply #18 on:** 29 Mar 2004, 03:30 am »

I have been talking with Ed about the Horns and the PowerWave. I suggested he give the PW a try.

It is a VERY synergistic match.

Smeggy · « **Reply #19 on:** 29 Mar 2004, 08:27 am »

Hi all

I just ordered a PW and was wondering if anyone here had any recomendations on a suitable passive preamp to use with it so I don't have to rely on a computer link. Preferably cheap-ish as I'm pretty well tapped out by now.

Better still If Icould get a volume control added to a new case also containing the innerds of the PW, one box is preferable to two