audio amplifiers for PC's

Somebody told him they're cool.

And heck, the sound's coming out of a ditital computer, right?

;-P Rich

nope, just cooler, Analogue is "cool"

martin

After the first death, there is no other. (Dylan Thomas)

well, change your soundcard to an external card, say M Audio, would be my first step. Digital audio power amps are reasonable sounding, but can produce some nasty aliasing. A brief search through some spec's of the IC manufactures, some time ago, showed that they are not up to the quality of reasonable designed analogue amplifier.

The most significant advantage of a digital PA is the high efficiency.

Try to put a 5.1 system , say 40W/channel in a small box, you can do it, but this would be difficult with an inefficient analogue amp, since you could not get rid of the heat.

I cant/wont comment on your need for all those (stupid) effects that you want, I would rather listen to how the recording was originally made.

Go analogue, its easier, often better,

martin

After the first death, there is no other. (Dylan Thomas)

The *digital is better* marketing myth has become so prevalent that I wonder how long it'll be before we have 'digital food' advertising or whatever.

Hang on - if I eat with my fingers that makes it digital - right ? ;-)

Graham

digital is like McDonalds..... efficient

martin

After the first death, there is no other. (Dylan Thomas)

Why do you think a *digital* amplifier would be any better ?

Those features aren't included in any 'digital amps chips' or chipsets that I know of - that needs separate DSP.

Yourt obsession with *digital* is illogical. Class D amps are used for power efficiency not sound quality. The better Class D amps are getting close to mid / low high end range analogue audio quality now though.

Buy a cheap 2nd hand hi-fi amp off ebay.

Graham

Whilst you're apparently in the UK, I can clearly see that you haven't experienced McDonalds in Swindon on a Sunday. I wasn't there by choice I hasten to add - but considering it's meant to be fast food - the service was anything but.

Graham

I thought it was Wendy's that went digital.

--
  Keith

So u r suggersting that i should go for analog amplifier isnt it? but then why the sound card manufacturer like creative and all make these digital sound cards cant they provide some anolog amplifiers as u suggest which can be externally connected to computer. besides i presonally want to construct this amplifier so can u suggest some sites where i can get circuit diagrams for same that would be really helpful. Also if u can direct me in a particular direction for designing such a amplifier will be really very helpful regards, thankyou

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 01:36:14 +0100, in sci.electronics.design Pooh Bear wrote: snip

experienced

Nope, I bailed out of the UK 3 years ago, I live in a white Anadalucian hillside village 20KM from Cadiz, I can see the sea when I look out of the window. Stunning. Sure beats living inside the M25 (watford)

The last time I ate in a fast food restaurant was in Kuala Lumpar in

97 I think, or the one near the Science Museum in Kensington, (but that was work)

martin

After the first death, there is no other. (Dylan Thomas)

would you please elaborate more on such DSP's

So how should i improve the sound quality

as i said i want to make it at home ,so i need a design that will allow me to interface this circuit(amplifier)with pc's audio out and my speakers

experienced

but

Ak ok - was going by the email addy - should have checked the IP !

Ahhh. Watford - I understand ! I'm 'up the road' in St Albans as it happens.

Sounds very nice where you are now.

I'm having trouble recalling the last fast food restaurant I ate in. I suspect it was McDonalds in Dubai airport en rote to Mumbai in Nov 2000 IIRC ( couldn't get a direct flight at short notice ). That was work too.

Graham

I can't help but either laugh or cry when I hear about the "Organic food" craze - what the hell, are the rest of us eating inorganic food?

Thanks, Rich

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Start by forgetting digital, its not what you want. Theyre much more complex, more money, and generally lower sound quality.

3 options:

1. buy a ready made home stereo amp and use it

1. construct a pair of amps around an audio amp IC of your choice
2. Make a very low cost but good sounding amp from power trs, and opamp and a few bits. Minimal cost, good sound, but no short protection.

It depends first on how much power you want. Then on what money youve got. Then on whether youve got any of the parts already, eg power supply.

Very rough costs: for a 1-2 watt rms per channel discrete amp, £2 for a 50wpc IC amp, £40 and much more work

Bass boost is easy to add using RC in the feedback loop. The other gizmos, I'd forget em and concentrate on getting decent sound.

NT

try this link, TDA2030, probably ideal for a beginner

or just google tda2030 pcb diy

the 2030 has been around for decades, its simple and it works

martin

After the first death, there is no other. (Dylan Thomas)

Yup.

They're only *digital* sound cards since that's how a PC stores sound ( and how it communicates with expansion cards ). It's not done for quality reasons. In fact most PC sound cards are of abysmal quality ! Especially the ones that come ready integrated onto the PC motherboard.

Check this out.

The inputs and outputs to the sound card are mainly analogue, since they have to connect to the *real world*. Some provide digital I/Oconnections too for ppl who have more esoteric gear.

Because other companies already make amplifiers far better than Creative would be likely to ! Creative are just a consumer manufacturer really. You won't find their sound cards in the 'platinum' list in the link above

If you want to simply assemble a kit try googling 'gainclone'. It's only a National Semiconductor IC power amp - but one of the better ones. Ready made pcbs are available and it works. The hi-fi 'audiophool' nuts are crazy over it for some reason.

There's plenty of ways to go wrong making your own power amp. It's a veritable trap for the unwary or inexperienced.

Graham ( expert power amp designer ) :-)

DSPs are a veritable source of study in themselves. I've only relatively recently started using them - indeed for audio effects like reverb.

Try here for a simple introduction. It's actually a very useful site that I've learnt bits from myself.

Well.... most sound cards have really cheap and nasty amplifier chips built into them that are only intended to output a few watts at relatively low-fi for 'squawk boxes' and the like. Therefore an external amplifier is a good move.

Analogue amplifers ( except very poor ones - like the ones on sound cards ) outperform swiching amplifiers - technically called Class D - that are sometimes marketed as 'digital amplifiers' though.

Most PC speakers ( 99.99% of them ) are utter garbage too.

The above ( about ebay ) is still the best economic advice.

Graham

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote> >

As has already been pointed out, forget "digital", it's a silly fad.

You also said, in your first post, that you have "low end 2.0 mercury speakers which makes the sound more worse."

Just upgrading those will make it sound "more better."

So will cotton in the ears ;-)

...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |

| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.