The Temple Audio Bantam Gold is not Tripath - its a different chip so is D class rather than T. It's 25Wpc and is really rather good. Yes it is tiny. I am currently using one driving Neat Motive 2SEs (while I decide what to do with the NAP140 that normally does that job). Not that good a match but as long as the volume isn't ramped up too much the sound is really good. I did have a couple of the Temple Audio Monoblocks which are 40w each. One of them blew though (I think it was my fault, not the amp). They were very good. The monoblocks are out of stock but I think the Bantam Gold is still available on the Temple Audio web site. I still can't understand how they can get so much power out of a small SMPS with no huge transformer or capacitors. I think you will be surprised about how good they can sound!
T-Amps
- Thread starter Tony L
- Start date
Sorry Tony, I have just seen your query about comparing them, yes I have both the standard Bantam T (15W) and the Gold D (25W). I have never compared them side by side. I was aware of the lack of power in the 15W amp which I didn't really notice with the Gold. Trying to remember what I thought of the standard Bantam - I wasn't expecting much. I bought it not for hi fi use but it is this amp that got me back into hi fi. I was astonished by the natural vocals on Eliza Carthy's Dreams of Breathing Under Water. It sounded like Eliza was in the room (having seen her unamplified at a local folk club). So, the standard Bantam was very good, the Gold is even better.
Tony L
Administrator
Forgetting power output do you think the TP60 is a better sounding amp than the TP20? It appeals as it has an inbuilt power supply (and would also drive the JR149s if I ever wanted it to).
PS re: break-up at volume etc mentioned upthread: with the Klipsch power really is not the slightest issue. You have to be a right headbanger to get beyond a watt or two with that kind of speaker, especially the La Scalas - one could play a typical pub gig through those things with 2 watts and deafen those standing at the front!
GRC
More Red Wine Member
Your thinking is exactly the same as mine re the TP60 PSU. And it's a big old toroid in there. But the answer is "No" - it's not a "better" sound - just a bit more of the same. Interestingly (and don't ask me to explain this), I actually have to crank the TP60 volume up more than the TP20 into my Dynaudios for a given volume level. Go figure, as our American cousins would say.
If you're running sensitive speakers I see no reason to part with an extra £100+ on a speculative basis for the TP60. A £50 punt for a TP20/TP22 is fairly manageable IMHO, and you could probably sell on at minimal loss if you don't get on with it. If you like it, consider the TP60.
As peeps say, keep the volume below 60% (assuming you have a decent line-in signal) and all is good. Heck, if a TP20 can drive my Contours, maybe they could give your JR149s a good tickle.
Thank you and goodnight.
Peter Stockwell
Back for more ...
I soooo regret having to part with my Klipsch speakers, sob!
With T-Amps, it's all about creating a system that plays to their strengths. To hear them as 'world-class' giant killers, you need to surround them with just the right ancillaries - otherwise, you'll find them underwhelming.
To justify any hype about Tripath being competitive with elite gear, you will need a really good power supply (say, £200-400), a really good high-efficiency speaker (£XX@$@!). It would be wrong to suggest that a T-Amp is a cheap-as-chips panacea.
When we suggest active speakers, they only dominate as smart buying options within certain constraints, too:
1. The smaller/less efficient the speaker, the more important it is to activate it.
2. The smaller the budget, the more lopsided the equation in favour of active speakers.
So, if you're looking to spend more than, say - £3K - on amplification/speakers, the case for active is weaker: offset by the benefits of larger, well-designed - perhaps more efficient - transducers. Nonetheless, there are usually always gains to be had from doing away with a passive divider whatever the design.
To justify any hype about Tripath being competitive with elite gear, you will need a really good power supply (say, £200-400), a really good high-efficiency speaker (£XX@$@!). It would be wrong to suggest that a T-Amp is a cheap-as-chips panacea.
When we suggest active speakers, they only dominate as smart buying options within certain constraints, too:
1. The smaller/less efficient the speaker, the more important it is to activate it.
2. The smaller the budget, the more lopsided the equation in favour of active speakers.
So, if you're looking to spend more than, say - £3K - on amplification/speakers, the case for active is weaker: offset by the benefits of larger, well-designed - perhaps more efficient - transducers. Nonetheless, there are usually always gains to be had from doing away with a passive divider whatever the design.
There's a lot to said for the simpler designs being better: the original Sonic Impact was shockingly good once the obvious gremlins had been fixed. Like I said, we've had a very wide variety of very good, good and average T-amps through the door for a decade or so now.
If you look carefully at the design of the KingRex and Virtue amps, they're a cut above the Topping, PopPulse, Trends models. The Bantams look like a good second-tier design a cut above the basic, - I've not actually heard them - but Google around: you'll see the two I've mentioned are widely considered the Bentley of Tripath, for a few quid extra.
If you look carefully at the design of the KingRex and Virtue amps, they're a cut above the Topping, PopPulse, Trends models. The Bantams look like a good second-tier design a cut above the basic, - I've not actually heard them - but Google around: you'll see the two I've mentioned are widely considered the Bentley of Tripath, for a few quid extra.
Edited as above
Tony L
Administrator
I've gone with a little Topping TP20 Mk II from teh eBays here. I've done a fair bit of reading elsewhere and the TA2020 chipset seems to be the favoured one and the little Topping is apparently a nice example of same. Will be fun to have a play with it - should make for a nice little system with the Heresys and a Marantz DVD player I've got doing nothing at present. I'll give it a go with the La Scalas too and see how it shapes up against the Quad 303 currently in use.
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GRC
More Red Wine Member
Good choice IMHO
. Let us know what you think after a good burn-in of the little chap. What model / vintage are your Heresey and La Scala speakers? I'm sure you posted about getting them (for a song?) but can't be a*sed to search. Not familiar with them at all.And don't forget to try the JR149s as well.
Good luck
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Tony L
Administrator
Good choice IMHO
And don't forget to try the JR149s as well.
The Heresys are a very late MkI from 1984-5 IIRC. They are the transitional phase referred to on the Klipsch forum as '1.5s' from just before the MkII appeared - they have a K53, plastic mid-horn and E2 crossovers, but are otherwise a Mk1. The La Scalas date from 1993 and have the ElectroVoice built K55M drivers, K401 plastic mid-horns and AL-3 crossovers. I've no idea about the La Scala's impedance curve, I've not been able to dig-up a plot yet, though IIRC they drop down to about 5 Ohms around 55Hz (about where the bass vanishes), but they seem ridiculously easy to drive if very critical of what's upstream.
The JR149s are inefficient (about 84db) but high (15 Ohms) impedance, so may actually sound ok. I get the impression they respond well to power though. There's also the 15" Tannoy Monitor Golds too, though again I get the impression they want power - I haven't liked low-power SETs into them, whereas they do fine into the similar efficiency Heresys. The Tannoys seem to want a good 40 watts or so IME.
eddie pugh
pfm Member
Tony
A word of caution. Take care to make sure your T amp is stable and safe before you entrust your prize speaker terminals to it output connections
I bought a Muse T amp / DAC from some seller in Hong Kong off the evilbay a while back and thought nothing of connecting it up to my prize Yamaha Ns1000m's as a test
It worked fine for a few minutes and then went into scream mode.
Fortunately I was close enough to kill the power before it did any damage
The seller sent me a replacement motherboard but that also had quality problems and I ended up dumping the lot
The T amp chip was a Texas Inst of some vintage but it's not easy to hand solder these megachips without damaging something internally
I suggest you connect any new unproven amp of far eastern provenance to a gash speaker and torture it for a good long while until it has been proven to be stable and safe
eddie
A word of caution. Take care to make sure your T amp is stable and safe before you entrust your prize speaker terminals to it output connections
I bought a Muse T amp / DAC from some seller in Hong Kong off the evilbay a while back and thought nothing of connecting it up to my prize Yamaha Ns1000m's as a test
It worked fine for a few minutes and then went into scream mode.
Fortunately I was close enough to kill the power before it did any damage
The seller sent me a replacement motherboard but that also had quality problems and I ended up dumping the lot
The T amp chip was a Texas Inst of some vintage but it's not easy to hand solder these megachips without damaging something internally
I suggest you connect any new unproven amp of far eastern provenance to a gash speaker and torture it for a good long while until it has been proven to be stable and safe
eddie
Tony L
Administrator
Good point. I was wondering how these fail / whether it was in a safe manner - I was assuming that as it was only a little wall-wart PSU they couldn't do a lot of damage. There are certainly some hair-shirt "audiophile" amps around that I'd not be prepared to connect to a valuable vintage speaker!
Elephantears
Trunkated Aesthete
I did try a T-Amp with the La Scalas - I think it was a 2020 design. It did work surprisingly well, but I think Rodney's point about the dancing bear is pertinent. Just the fact that this tiny thing was making sounds out of those huge horns caused some head scratching. I did intend to order a Bantam to compare but never got around to it.
Tony L
Administrator
Got my Topping TP20 MkII today. It's now setup with the Heresys in the 'Record Shop' system:
First impressions are it's really rather good - very quiet (no hiss or hum I can hear and no switch-on/off thump) and it sounds clean, clear and nicely full into the Heresys. It gives a comfortable background level (around 65db I guess) with the vol control at about 'quarter-to', and is quite 'loud' by ten-to' but still adjustable enough. I'll report more in a few weeks when I've got more of a handle on it, but it appears to be a perfectly decent amp in this context - I certainly can't hear anything 'wrong' anywhere.
PS the 124 is just ornamental, it's been orphaned by the La Scalas downstairs! The source is an old Marantz DVD player.
First impressions are it's really rather good - very quiet (no hiss or hum I can hear and no switch-on/off thump) and it sounds clean, clear and nicely full into the Heresys. It gives a comfortable background level (around 65db I guess) with the vol control at about 'quarter-to', and is quite 'loud' by ten-to' but still adjustable enough. I'll report more in a few weeks when I've got more of a handle on it, but it appears to be a perfectly decent amp in this context - I certainly can't hear anything 'wrong' anywhere.
PS the 124 is just ornamental, it's been orphaned by the La Scalas downstairs! The source is an old Marantz DVD player.
