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December 6, 2010 - 11:17am
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If you had only $50 to spend on your stereo amplifier:
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Well the only thing I can think of in that price range would be offered by the company linked below. It belongs to the Class "T" Amplifier family. I assume you may need to purchase some kind of cable that converts the 1/8 jack to an RCA and also possibly use the volume control from your laptop to control the output.
http://www.opiaudio.com/
Do you already have speakers - what are they?
If you don't already have them, then you can consider powered speakers (where the stereo amp is built into the speaker cabinets). Probably a sensible way to go with a laptop.
Thanks to both of you so far.
If there are recommendations for powered speakers within that range, please let me know. The powered speakers I've bought in the past have been so unsatisfying, and died within a year.
Otherwise, I am dimly aware that matching a set of speakers to this is another battle. I have at least three or four sets around here I can try out to see what I like, though some may take some rehabbing, like the ones my dad built in the 50s or 60s that used to sound fantastic but need help.
Thanks also for the Tripath link. I looked at the class T amplifier, along with an unflattering review, and remembered I've got, sitting in the basement, a 40W Optimus 12V stereo power booster that I got on Radio Shack clearance ... I could give a shot at soldering it into a usable form, before ordering another. Somebody gave me an ICB several years ago (and I guess I soldered it to this, because it's connected) that looks like it's part of the power supply although I still need to add a power cord. I'll give it a shot. Apparently OPI's quality control wavers, and hey! so does mine. If they can ship out components that buzz in one channel, I'll beat them at their own game by making my own component that will buzz in both.
Also:
Any recommendations for older used solid state (or tube) components I might well find within that price range?
I have an extra Radio Shack Accurian amplifier I could part with.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=126730&highlight=Accurian
Please message me at http://forum.stereophile.com/messages/new/1138?destination=user%2F1138 to see if we can arrive at something mutually beneficial.
Thanks, jackfish. Accurian is a possibility. How far west in Western Wisconsin are you? I live near the Needle Doctor. (Minneapolis.) For some reason I haven't figured out why I can't message you directly yet.
I'm 85 miles from Minneapolis and sometimes eat at Shuang Cheng on 4th SE and Restaurant Alma on University. You may want to contact Stephen Mejias at stephen.mejias@sorc.com about the messaging issues.
excerpt "If there are recommendations for powered speakers within that range, please let me know. The powered speakers I've bought in the past have been so unsatisfying, and died within a year."
AudioEngine 2's or 5's.
Excellent, thanks for the tip. The cheaper of those two is still a couple hundred bucks, but I appreciate the info, and the reviews were good reading.
I'm not too familiar with active speakers unless they're custom and often expensive as such, using power packs made by companies like Bryston. If I were you I would check out places like Good Will, Value Village, and the like on a regular basis. If you get lucky you might find an old amplifier built like a bombshelter in the $50 range or if you're really lucky you might find a pair of decent active speakers. Coincidentally the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are the Paradigm Studio Active 20's, otherwise I active speakers are far from my forte.
Best of luck.
Hi again. So I need simple electronics advice:
I'm hooking up a 12VDC (6A, neg ground) 40W amp to be used with my laptop. Figured I'd try it.
I'd originally tied in the ground wire from the power supply to the neutral, but when I powered up, the 60Hz hum encouraged me to clip the ground out of that connection. Powered it up again and it still has the hum (loud).
Originally I hooked up a board to do the AC/DC inversion but one of the inductors started to smoke on Friday when I plugged it in.
So instead I've got what was orig a power supply for an LCD computer monitor (which needed 12VDC, 6A, too, so that matched up nicely). However, I don't know what an acceptable noise level is coming through the power supply on the monitor, as opposed when one uses it for amplified sound.....
What do I need to ground, or change elsewhere, to kill this hum?
Your input on this unwanted input is wanted. Thank you.
My dad tells me to put a capacitor across the power supply.
Okay, 4700 uF (35v) electrolytic cap across the power supply and I still get the hum. What do I try next?
Hi again. Well, while waiting to solve that ground loop, I picked up a Class T amp for $20 (Lepai) and I've hooked it to one set of bookshelf speakers for the time being (KLH 905b) which I'll probably swap with a different set once I've repaired those.
The class T is ok so far, seems like nothing special really but it's fun to try out, and no ground loop ...!
...this class T amp is proving to be perfectly sufficient.
If everything sitting in my iTunes were lossless maybe it would be worth getting a more expensive amplifier, but maybe not. So far, so good.
$20! Thanks for the tip, dumbo!