Output Based Specifications Mod

Sure TA2024 - Power Line Modifications

The Sure Electronics Tripath TA2024 Board is out of the box a good value for money amplifier module. However with some careful tweaking it can be made to sound better. This article focuses on the power supply to the Tripath chip and shows some improvements that can be made.

Hobbyists that enjoy the sound from Class-D amplifiers tend to favour the sound from SMPS power supplies, though some still extol the virtues of using well filtered traditional transformers.  I have not tried both out yet, but chose to go the SMPS route as many were happy with the sound.

In my case I am using a Mean Well S-350-12 SMPS Power supply. This outputs 12v with a potential 29A available.  I bought it as I am going to be running 5 amplifier modules simultaneously in my project amplifier.  I did not wish to run out of power, and as price wise this and the next size down were not worlds apart price wise I went for the higher powered option.

The Mean Well S-350-12 SMPS power supply comes in an aluminium enclosure. The connections are placed at one end. Rather confusingly two sets of outputs are available. One set labelled +V and the other –V. The –V is on fact the ground line from the power supply. It would appear to be isolated from Earth.

The Mean Well power supply has a voltage adjustment variable resistor that the manufacturer specs will give +/-1.2V adjustment to the 12 volt line. In reality, I am measuring 14.2 volts at the output when the voltage adjustment trimmer is adjusted to the maximum it will go.

On the Tripath TA2024 Datasheet, Tripath recommend 12 volts as being the typical power supply value, a minimum of 8.5 volts and a maximum supply voltage as 13.2 volts. They do specify an absolute maximum of 16 volts is what the chip has been designed to withstand. However over on the forums at DIYAudio.com Bongoman reported that he was running the Sure module using 16 volts from a laptop power supply without disaster and better still he reported some improvements in the sound. Others have also reported sound improvements with Tripath TA2024 based amplifiers when ran on higher voltages.

Looking at the Sure boards, the power supply enters and then passes through a largish Diode. Marked D1 on the board, the power supply diode serves one function. It has been included there to prevent accidental reversal of the plus and ground connections of the power supply. Put the plus voltage onto the ground line and vice versa will smoke the chip.  Sure have been thoughtful adding this diode to the circuit.

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