I did two quick and easy mods today. I changed the output wiring and main reservoir capacitor and I really like the difference. Except for the 90 minutes that I worked on it. It’s been playing continuously for about 30 hours and it’s sounding better and better.
(I also swapped the positive and negative speaker terminals on the rear panel so that the positive set is on the bottom… it’s a personal preference.)
I’m definitely going to have to get one of these for myself.
This amp is very easy to work on. It takes just a few minutes to have access to the pcb board top and bottom.
(here's how to do it)
1. Remove the four pieces of rear panel hardware.
2. Remove the three knobs and the three nuts that fasten the knobs to the front panel.
3. Remove the four pieces of front panel hardware
4. The top cover extrusion section cover can be lifted off.
5. Remove the front panel.
6. The bottom chassis extrusion can be removed by pulling it forward (The PCB slides inside of a channel on each side of the lower extrusion.
Here’s a tip for anyone buying this amp.
The three knobs have holes that are deeper than the shafts they go on so the knobs can be a little rough when turning them. I wadded a little ball of cotton and put them in the holes before putting the knobs on the shaft. This will keep the back edge of the knob from rubbing on the front panel and the rotation will be nice and smooth.
(I also swapped the positive and negative speaker terminals on the rear panel so that the positive set is on the bottom… it’s a personal preference.)
I’m definitely going to have to get one of these for myself.
This amp is very easy to work on. It takes just a few minutes to have access to the pcb board top and bottom.
(here's how to do it)
1. Remove the four pieces of rear panel hardware.
2. Remove the three knobs and the three nuts that fasten the knobs to the front panel.
3. Remove the four pieces of front panel hardware
4. The top cover extrusion section cover can be lifted off.
5. Remove the front panel.
6. The bottom chassis extrusion can be removed by pulling it forward (The PCB slides inside of a channel on each side of the lower extrusion.
Here’s a tip for anyone buying this amp.
The three knobs have holes that are deeper than the shafts they go on so the knobs can be a little rough when turning them. I wadded a little ball of cotton and put them in the holes before putting the knobs on the shaft. This will keep the back edge of the knob from rubbing on the front panel and the rotation will be nice and smooth.
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Sure, I wanted to have a little more headroom voltage-wise since my buddy is currently using a 24V power supply so I opted for a pair of 2200 / 35V Nichicon GoldTunes and I bypassed them with a .47/50V Blackgate NX nonpolar cap. These are parts that I had on hand and that I have used many times in the past with positive results.
I wanted to redo the output wiring because frankly, there was a lot of room for improvement.
There is about a half inch of barrel in the speaker binding posts that wire can be laid into achieving a lot of metal to metal contact that wasn’t being used and in fact some of the wires had only slight metal to metal contact leaving the solder as the primary signal conductor (not a good thing in my experience). I used some 16G stranded high purity copper wire (cryo treated) that I’ve become very familiar with over the last few years and quite fond of the way it sounds. I also used some Mundorf solder that I like too.
I hadn’t intended to do anything to it today when I opened it up but when I saw the output wiring, I decided to re-do it and as long as I was futzing with it, I upgraded the cap.
I forgot to see why the power LED is always on.
I really think this amp is a winner. It's a tiny little bugger but it's delivering some big sound.
KJA,
The Breeze amp is a very good looking package. Definitely looks different from your amps- your "bamboo chop board" series have more character though
Happy New Year!!
Regards
Thanks Lo Tse!
At the time of purchase we left a note asking for the PBTL monoblock boards and that's what he did received. I didn't had the time to really dig on the circuit...I went to set it up and running because he was so anxious to hear these things... From what I could see the soldering to the bridges is the way to set from stereo to mono.
And your test Power Supply is?
It is always a pleasure to hear about converts and from people who are skeptical about SQ. It is almost mythical. It is certainly hi-fi none the less.
It really comes down to,
crappy speakers = crappy sound
good speakers = good sound
$20 amp and $2000 speakers or somewhere in between
Enjoy your BBQ, It is -10C here, no BBQ for me, although a great idea, I must save the propane for heat. Talked to my bro he has -30C, enough work just to keep warm and he heats with hardwood.
Ever tried BBQ turkey legs? = one of my favourites.
Happy new year and enjoy TI Class "D" technology!!
I was already so wasted even before the exchange...2 0 1 4 , I really like these numbers!
He had one meanwell ps-65-24 per amp.
Will keep that in mind for the next BBQ ! Tx for the tip.
He has some kef ref 205/1, tannoy eyris dc3 and also the build that we both have with with the usher 8945a, neo8-s and neo3. I really like the tannoys and the neo's build. I did the briefly listenning with the Usher/neos build.
As per order request, he received the mono setting.
[]'s
I hope I can receive my green boards in the next few days to have a calm and close look / listenning and write it down here . I will also measure components values.
Enjoy 2014 !
Here is the YJHIFI version I bought. Can't tell from the photos what version it is, nor do I remember from the thread what, if anything the red PCB signifies.
I've only had it a couple of days over the holiday and haven't done any serious listening with it yet. I can say that in it's stock form the sound is indeed very good. I was especially surprised by the imaging and the amount of bass for such a small amp. The Chinese have come up with some new tone controls, TRIBLE and VOLVME!
When I have been listening to it, I'm using a rather modest pair of Andrew Jone's branded budget, mini tower speakers from Pioneer. They sound really good with this amp. While the bass is certainly not pronounced, it is subtle, yet solid. I'm going to hook up a sub this weekend, when I have more time. May open it up to see what's under the hood too. I have not peeked inside yet, so haven't made any mods.
So far, I'm very pleased with the sound. For $42 you can't go wrong.
Rick
Sorry, that link shows $75. I purchased from along.
I've only had it a couple of days over the holiday and haven't done any serious listening with it yet. I can say that in it's stock form the sound is indeed very good. I was especially surprised by the imaging and the amount of bass for such a small amp. The Chinese have come up with some new tone controls, TRIBLE and VOLVME!
When I have been listening to it, I'm using a rather modest pair of Andrew Jone's branded budget, mini tower speakers from Pioneer. They sound really good with this amp. While the bass is certainly not pronounced, it is subtle, yet solid. I'm going to hook up a sub this weekend, when I have more time. May open it up to see what's under the hood too. I have not peeked inside yet, so haven't made any mods.
So far, I'm very pleased with the sound. For $42 you can't go wrong.
Rick
Sorry, that link shows $75. I purchased from along.
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Very interesting stuff going on here...I sniffed around on this Aliexpress site and found this one, which looks promising:
Aliexpress.com : Buy Assembled board ES9018 32bit 192khz Hi End DAC Optical Coax and Balanced output from Reliable output card suppliers on YOYO Best Co. LTD .
But this is a TPA3123 Chip, is this of any disadvantage soundwise? I don't need a lot of power, even 15 watt are more than enough. I like that it is a pure stereo amp without those stupid tone controls for trible and whatever. And no subwoofer amp as well.
Just in case I would like to order one of those: is it that easy just to register on Aliexpress and place an order, paying via Paypal and being done?
So many of these boards popping up like mushrooms, hard to make a decision. Best would be a group buy with happyrabbits cool boards, of course parts included
cheers,
Juergen
Aliexpress.com : Buy Assembled board ES9018 32bit 192khz Hi End DAC Optical Coax and Balanced output from Reliable output card suppliers on YOYO Best Co. LTD .
But this is a TPA3123 Chip, is this of any disadvantage soundwise? I don't need a lot of power, even 15 watt are more than enough. I like that it is a pure stereo amp without those stupid tone controls for trible and whatever. And no subwoofer amp as well.
Just in case I would like to order one of those: is it that easy just to register on Aliexpress and place an order, paying via Paypal and being done?
So many of these boards popping up like mushrooms, hard to make a decision. Best would be a group buy with happyrabbits cool boards, of course parts included
cheers,
Juergen
I have ordered the YJ delux one .
TPA3116 2 1 Amplifier Board Deluxe Version | eBay
It is on the way and i guess it reaches next week. I have an old laptop power supply which is almost double times bigger than a usual laptop adapter.
TPA3116 2 1 Amplifier Board Deluxe Version | eBay
It is on the way and i guess it reaches next week. I have an old laptop power supply which is almost double times bigger than a usual laptop adapter.
Has anyone used this YJ 2.1 board with adjustable sub XO freq?
Wholesale Product Snapshot Product name is 2.1 TPA3116 Hifi Class D Digital Amplifier Board 100W + 50W + 50W 50mA 12V-25V
Wholesale Product Snapshot Product name is 2.1 TPA3116 Hifi Class D Digital Amplifier Board 100W + 50W + 50W 50mA 12V-25V
Hey guys, happy new year!
Got a refund from the YJ seller on ali, so the green (not the pbtl) and blue boards from taobao are on the way.
Good news: the green board (pic below) is now avaiable on aliexpress. Just search for TPA3116 and order by price. Much safer than buying with middlemen.
Got a refund from the YJ seller on ali, so the green (not the pbtl) and blue boards from taobao are on the way.
Good news: the green board (pic below) is now avaiable on aliexpress. Just search for TPA3116 and order by price. Much safer than buying with middlemen.
Hey guys, happy new year!
Got a refund from the YJ seller on ali, so the green (not the pbtl) and blue boards from taobao are on the way.
Good news: the green board (pic below) is now avaiable on aliexpress. Just search for TPA3116 and order by price. Much safer than buying with middlemen.
By the picture you can see a pretty square board but the description says 37x78mm and that means a pretty rectangular board... If the photo is real then I guess the dimensions for this board are in fact 78x78mm and the 37mm is the actuall height of the board.
78x78mm equals to 60.83 cm²
Audiobah board is 65x69mm equals to 44.85cm²
One board is $ 14.85 and the tiny, smd one is $ 28.89 One has trough hole components and the other smd.
Since it has been stressed that smd components are the way to go and the PCB size matters I would not care to pay $ 29.00 for the board showing a better, proper designed circuit that you can use in BTL or PBTL by just bridging some pads and maybe changing cheap smd caps.
These boards are already sooo cheap that I will not waste more money on non optimal designs.
It has been stressed that the 2.1 yuanJing board is OK but far from the best designed TPA3116 2.1 amp. If you want the best sound from the TPA3116 in a 2.1 config then make your own 2.1 using one stereo and one MONO board or build your own design from scratch. The breeze 2.1 board also seems to work fine;
Virpz, while I don't disagree with you there is some wasted space on the board, the "useful area" might be very similar for both boards.
This one is cheaper and seems better than the standard YJ.
I am on a tight budget, and needing 4 channels I had to choose cheaper 2-channel solutions. I plan on setting up a 4x mono boards system, but with the dollar value as is it's a future project. And by then something even better may show up.
Regarding your speaker, I do remember seeing something similar, at least with a Neo3 and Neo8, but I don't remember where. Have you ever shown your design somewhere or am I mistaken?
This one is cheaper and seems better than the standard YJ.
I am on a tight budget, and needing 4 channels I had to choose cheaper 2-channel solutions. I plan on setting up a 4x mono boards system, but with the dollar value as is it's a future project. And by then something even better may show up.
Regarding your speaker, I do remember seeing something similar, at least with a Neo3 and Neo8, but I don't remember where. Have you ever shown your design somewhere or am I mistaken?
I received the TPA3116 Breeze 2.1 mini amp today that I ordered as a gift for my son. He's using it to power a pair of 8ohm Polk Audio bookshelf speakers and a 2ohm 6" sub that I built awhile back. I set everything thing up in his room and powered the amp using a12v 5a supply as that is all I have for now that has the proper dc plug.
I can say that we are very impressed with the sound of this mini dual 3116 amp even at 12v. I was surprised at how well it controlled the "SPERKERS"! The adjustable xover works reasonably well for such an inexpensive unit. It sounds like a 2nd order at best and had to be turned all the way down to blend well. I will be ordering an adjustable power supply tomorrow so I can set to 21v.
KJA - Thanks for the useful tips you posted. I did open it up to check the heat sink and all was well. I do see what you mean about the speaker outputs. Most of the connection are sound, but two of them could be better. I also noticed that the amp you have has a blue led. Mine happens to be red and also stays on even when the front switch is off. I guess it just lets you know that you have connected the power supply
Thanks to all who have posted useful info in this thread.
I can say that we are very impressed with the sound of this mini dual 3116 amp even at 12v. I was surprised at how well it controlled the "SPERKERS"! The adjustable xover works reasonably well for such an inexpensive unit. It sounds like a 2nd order at best and had to be turned all the way down to blend well. I will be ordering an adjustable power supply tomorrow so I can set to 21v.
KJA - Thanks for the useful tips you posted. I did open it up to check the heat sink and all was well. I do see what you mean about the speaker outputs. Most of the connection are sound, but two of them could be better. I also noticed that the amp you have has a blue led. Mine happens to be red and also stays on even when the front switch is off. I guess it just lets you know that you have connected the power supply
Thanks to all who have posted useful info in this thread.