So I put a audio amplifier on a PCI bracket

[EvilKitty]

Parts:

* Bracket from 56K modem

* Scrap aluminum bar

* Simpson Strong-Tie  5-in 20-Gauge Galvanized Steel Tie Plate Wood To Wood (TP-35)

* Nylon standoffs/spacers

* 3 ceramic cement 20Ohm resistors

* 2x100W TPA3116 D2 Dual Channel Digital Audio Amplifier Board 12V-24V

* DC-DC Boost Converter 10-32V to 12-35V 6A Step Up Power supply Module

* 18 AWG wire (Black/White, i do not have red or yellow wire)

* Zip ties (4 and 6 inch)

* ferret core

* insulted spade connectors (tired of dealing with molex plugs)

* heat shrink

* 3M stainless steel scews/nuts/washers,lock wasters

Had issues with the system rebooting when the amp is turned on so that is what the resistor bank is for (the caps on the board charging up must eat too much power from the PSU for the system to stay running)

 

Was having issues with some static in the speakers then stuff got worse and a cap failed on the boost converter (i had 2 so i swapped it) now you can only hear it if you are listening for it with no background noise, i do not think the ferret core is doing anything useful, but it does not hurt, I am not sure if adding the resistors or swapping the original boost converter made it sound better (maybe i killed that cap by reversing the polarity by mistake, not sure if i did) but i am not getting any more noise/static from the speakers then i get using a external power brick vs the PSU

Bent one edge of the stong-tie to add rigidity

Hoping the ferret core will remove the hum from the speakers when not in use (very tolerable if it does nothing)

Speaker wires run through opening in the bracket to the amp board

This monster is going to live in the top PCI slot where I do not have a PCIe slot cause of a M.2 port, the boost converter just clears a low profile addon card

It does sag a little, it pulls around 0.25A when running

 

This will live in my server, it will receive audio input from the front panel audio header on a sound card (the white header on the middle back of the amplifier board)

[thrasher_565]

1 hour ago, EvilKitty said:

Parts:

* Bracket from 56K modem

* Scrap aluminum bar

* Simpson Strong-Tie  5-in 20-Gauge Galvanized Steel Tie Plate Wood To Wood (TP-35)

* Nylon standoffs/spacers

* 3 ceramic cement 20Ohm resistors

* 2x100W TPA3116 D2 Dual Channel Digital Audio Amplifier Board 12V-24V

* DC-DC Boost Converter 10-32V to 12-35V 6A Step Up Power supply Module

* 18 AWG wire (Black/White, i do not have red or yellow wire)

* Zip ties (4 and 6 inch)

* ferret core

* insulted spade connectors (tired of dealing with molex plugs)

* heat shrink

* 3M stainless steel scews/nuts/washers,lock wasters

Had issues with the system rebooting when the amp is turned on so that is what the resistor bank is for (the caps on the board charging up must eat too much power from the PSU for the system to stay running)

 

Was having issues with some static in the speakers then stuff got worse and a cap failed on the boost converter (i had 2 so i swapped it) now you can only hear it if you are listening for it with no background noise, i do not think the ferret core is doing anything useful, but it does not hurt, I am not sure if adding the resistors or swapping the original boost converter made it sound better (maybe i killed that cap by reversing the polarity by mistake, not sure if i did) but i am not getting any more noise/static from the speakers then i get using a external power brick vs the PSU

Bent one edge of the stong-tie to add rigidity

Hoping the ferret core will remove the hum from the speakers when not in use (very tolerable if it does nothing)

Speaker wires run through opening in the bracket to the amp board

This monster is going to live in the top PCI slot where I do not have a PCIe slot cause of a M.2 port, the boost converter just clears a low profile addon card

It does sag a little, it pulls around 0.25A when running

 

This will live in my server, it will receive audio input from the front panel audio header on a sound card (the white header on the middle back of the amplifier board)

looks cool but if your looking for help witch i dont no if you are or not but a link to the parts and schematic would help.

 

i built an am in hi school and used an old pc psu to power the led and fan, and cd drive (i no over kill) and used an old laser disc case.

[EvilKitty]

just showing what i made

[Rivettz]

Maybe add some modders mesh around it to give it a more Audiophile look.

[PriitM]

And why do you want it in your PCI slot?

[EvilKitty]

6 hours ago, PriitM said:

And why do you want it in your PCI slot?

cause that is where i have free space, gets power from the system PSU and it gets audio from internal header, the only wires that go out of the case are the wires to the speaker

 

i had a old MB fail, ended up switching from a mATX case to a ATX case and i am trying to make use of the internal space

[tkitch]

please say you didn't buy a case with an included PSU....

[jaseg]

Looks awesome! If you are having trouble with speaker hum, you might want to add some larger electrolytic capacitors at the power input of the amplifier (behind the boost converter in your setup I think). On these modules the manufacturers sometimes cheap out on those because they can be large and expensive. I had an issue like that on a bluetooth audio module, and managed to make its noisy output much quieter by just adding a large cap on the voltage supply.

[EvilKitty]

11 hours ago, tkitch said:

please say you didn't buy a case with an included PSU....

no, i used a old case from the 90s and an old 300W seasonic PSU (well past it warranty though), typical current draw is under 60W from the PSU, not even enough to use 20% of the capacity, this was the PSU that replaced one of those included units years ago, it was last used in a FM1 socket based build, now it runs a AM4 2200GE, 2 sound cards, a NIC, a cable modem, speakers (Creative T12), this amp and the monitor speakers, and a pair of DACs, and i plan to add 4 HDDs and 4 SSDs replacing the single HDD in use ATM, once i add the HDDs i should have enough load to hit the 20% threshold to be in the 80+ rated efficiency curve

 

8 hours ago, jaseg said:

Looks awesome! If you are having trouble with speaker hum, you might want to add some larger electrolytic capacitors at the power input of the amplifier (behind the boost converter in your setup I think). On these modules the manufacturers sometimes cheap out on those because they can be large and expensive. I had an issue like that on a bluetooth audio module, and managed to make its noisy output much quieter by just adding a large cap on the voltage supply.

i do have a hard to hear low hum, i was thinking about replacing the stock cheap caps with some UFW1V102MHD

[PriitM]

14 hours ago, EvilKitty said:

cause that is where i have free space, gets power from the system PSU and it gets audio from internal header, the only wires that go out of the case are the wires to the speaker

 

i had a old MB fail, ended up switching from a mATX case to a ATX case and i am trying to make use of the internal space

You do understand these T-class amps are meant to be installed close to the speaker drivers? They dont like long amplified signal cables...

[jaseg]

3 hours ago, EvilKitty said:

no, i used a old case from the 90s and an old 300W seasonic PSU (well past it warranty though), typical current draw is under 60W from the PSU, not even enough to use 20% of the capacity, this was the PSU that replaced one of those included units years ago, it was last used in a FM1 socket based build, now it runs a AM4 2200GE, 2 sound cards, a NIC, a cable modem, speakers (Creative T12), this amp and the monitor speakers, and a pair of DACs, and i plan to add 4 HDDs and 4 SSDs replacing the single HDD in use ATM, once i add the HDDs i should have enough load to hit the 20% threshold to be in the 80+ rated efficiency curve

 

i do have a hard to hear low hum, i was thinking about replacing the stock cheap caps with some UFW1V102MHD

In an audio amp, 1000 uF isn't that much. I'd go for something like these CapXon caps: LCSC (they're cheaper than nichicon and will do the job just fine). I'd also not outright replace the stock caps. The stock caps are probably alright, they're just not enough

 

1 hour ago, PriitM said:

You do understand these T-class amps are meant to be installed close to the speaker drivers? They dont like long amplified signal cables...

I didn't know that. I thought since the board they're using has the output LC filters that TI recommends for that chip, running long wires shouldn't be a problem. What's the problem here? I can imagine that the wire impedance in series with the speaker's voice coil moves the LC filter's input impedance, which might mess up the amplifier's output stage. Or is the LC filter just not that sharp so that the long wire will radiate?

[EvilKitty]

5 hours ago, jaseg said:

In an audio amp, 1000 uF isn't that much. I'd go for something like these CapXon caps: LCSC (they're cheaper than nichicon and will do the job just fine). I'd also not outright replace the stock caps. The stock caps are probably alright, they're just not enough

 

I didn't know that. I thought since the board they're using has the output LC filters that TI recommends for that chip, running long wires shouldn't be a problem. What's the problem here? I can imagine that the wire impedance in series with the speaker's voice coil moves the LC filter's input impedance, which might mess up the amplifier's output stage. Or is the LC filter just not that sharp so that the long wire will radiate?

my wire length is about 50 (right) and about 55 ft (left) using 16 awg wire, very low environmental RF noise (cinder-block walls + rural area), only nearby cables are ethernet and audio cables (note that both audio feeds will not have active data transmission at the same time)

 

also it would be silly use use the amp at 100% volume without having very low software volume, the speaker are way overkill for the space and are not high end ones