$7500.00 chipamp revealed

[sendler]

Ever seen the inside of a $7500.00 chip amp?
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http://www.shine7.com/audio/jeff.htm

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Check out the nice review.
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http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/amp/messages/7578.html

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Maybe I need to try these chips again and use a few more of them this time. I didn't pay attention at the time, what with all of the fervor surrounding them, but a gainclone with 1 LM3886 per channel is only making 38 watts into 8 ohms which may go a long way towards explaining why my TDA7250 amps sounded so much better.

[blair]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

I wanted to build that amp a while back, but I could not find those boards. Do you see where he got them, or had them made? I have since moved on and am building a pair of 300w SKA amplifiers.

Let me kow if you know his source please. I still may look into these. Because god knows, I need another amp!!;)

Blair

[sendler]

Boards

He didn't make any more boards but these chips are easy enough to work with on perfboard. Check the Chipamp board at DIYAudio for thousands of posts on these chip amps.

[dbe]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

Maybe I need to try these chips again and use a few more of them this time. I didn't pay attention at the time, what with all of the fervor surrounding them, but a gainclone with 1 LM3886 per channel is only making 38 watts into 8 ohms which may go a long way towards explaining why my TDA7250 amps sounded so much better.

Scott,

The Rowlands do sound very good. One of the guys in town has one and it is impressive, even driving Apogee Divas.

The chip amps that I've built and/or listened to have run the gamut from excellent to problematic. I built a pair of 41Hz Amp 5 with the high current power supply and am less than happy with them. They put out so much RF that my Cary 306 CD player sounds more like a Discman than a high end player. My bad, mostly, because I haven't built a Faraday cage for the amps and I need to build another A/C filter to keep the crapola off of the lines.

I have heard some 3886 amps driving HE speakers that sounded fabulous. As always, I attribute their stellar performance to their power supplies. My friend Matt's have very low impedance, high speed, high current supplies and they have slam AND inner detail.

I would think that paralleled 3886's would be easy to do and get the performance of the Rowlands for a tenth of the price.

Keep us posted.

Dave

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

the guys name is on the board of the amp, so something tells me that he had it made, and that case alone had to have cost a fortine, looks like its milled out of a solid chink of aluminum.

[dbe]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

the guys name is on the board of the amp, so something tells me that he had it made, and that case alone had to have cost a fortine, looks like its milled out of a solid chink of aluminum.

The "guy" is Jeff Rowland. He has been involved in high end audio for over 30 years and has produced some great pieces of gear during that time.

http://www.jeffrowland.com/index.htm

He also inspired people like Mike Grace in the recording audio industry with his designs.

http://www.gracedesign.com/

These are people that design the best pieces of gear that they can: no compromise.

Dave

[lhwidget]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

I just finished a little chip amp for casual use and speaker testing that worked out really well.

It's a bit funny, these chips have inspired everything from really serious amps like Rowland's, that are really close to worth the money, to the $6000 solution offered by 47 Lab... :rolleyes:

http://www.sakurasystems.com/products/47amp.html

It's all fun though

[dbe]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

the $6000 solution offered by 47 Lab... :rolleyes:

http://www.sakurasystems.com/products/47amp.html

It's all fun though

Japanese minimalism always intrigues me, especially when that minimalism commands maximal money. Maybe I don't get it. :p

It is all fun, I concur.

Dave

[DS-21]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

It's a bit funny, these chips have inspired everything from really serious amps like Rowland's, that are really close to worth the money,

I don't see why they're "really close to worth the money." They're just amps, after all. OK, the casing is nice-looking, but I'm of the school that prefers audio equipment to be heard and not seen whenever possible.

[Pete Schumacher]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

I don't see why they're "really close to worth the money." They're just amps, after all. OK, the casing is nice-looking, but I'm of the school that prefers audio equipment to be heard and not seen whenever possible.

Having something so overbuilt as that Jeff Rowland amp is as much about long term function as it is about gorgeous aesthetics. Coming from a military hardware design background, I can truly appreciate the craftsmanship and no holds barred attention to rugged quality. Excepting the packaging on the chip amps themselves, that gear looks like it would sit in the M1-A1 and feel right at home. Excellent quality PCBs and massive heat sinking ability means long, long, long service with little to no degradation in quality.

[dbe]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

Having something so overbuilt as that Jeff Rowland amp is as much about long term function as it is about gorgeous aesthetics. Coming from a military hardware design background, I can truly appreciate the craftsmanship and no holds barred attention to rugged quality. Excepting the packaging on the chip amps themselves, that gear looks like it would sit in the M1-A1 and feel right at home. Excellent quality PCBs and massive heat sinking ability means long, long, long service with little to no degradation in quality.

My Dad taught me to do things the very best way that I can. I'm sure that Jeff Rowland's father and mine would have gotten along famously. All of his products have been statements of quality. There are a few people in the high end audio game that are perfectionists. There are some that build "pretty" pieces of crap, too. It is the old school way of doing things that I think you and I appreciate. Build "IT" ,whatever "IT" is, the best way that we can with what we have. Obviously, Jeff Rowland has more stuff to do with than I do, but I do appreciate a functional piece of art, too. Too bad that quality like that carries such a heavy price.

Alas, we live in an injection molded, disposable world. I can remember when worm drive saws had cast aluminum frames and cases.

Dave

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

Alas, we live in an injection molded, disposable world. I can remember when worm drive saws had cast aluminum frames and cases.

Dave

Skil 77???

[lhwidget]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

I don't see why they're "really close to worth the money." They're just amps, after all. OK, the casing is nice-looking, but I'm of the school that prefers audio equipment to be heard and not seen whenever possible.

It's not that I would buy one of Rowland's amps. They're a bit past my budget, but I can appreciate it, just like Pete and Dave described above.

I actually agree with you, my test amp was built per Rod Elliott's design, it makes absolutely no noise of any sort, very low distortion, and adds nothing to the signal that I can hear. I can't see any variation in frequency response on my old scope from 15 Hz to 100000 Hz, but it won't oscillate, nor will it amplify DC. It cost less than $200.

However, the effort to get a 2 channel amp stuffed into a 3.5" x 5.75" x 8" box basically cost in long long term quality. Cheap pots, no real heat sinks, and point to point wiring on two chips relegate this to something that probably won't last for many years of hard service. Something Rowland's amps will definately do.

But hey, I can hold mine in one hand

[lhwidget]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

My Dad taught me to do things the very best way that I can. I'm sure that Jeff Rowland's father and mine would have gotten along famously. All of his products have been statements of quality. There are a few people in the high end audio game that are perfectionists. There are some that build "pretty" pieces of crap, too. It is the old school way of doing things that I think you and I appreciate. Build "IT" ,whatever "IT" is, the best way that we can with what we have. Obviously, Jeff Rowland has more stuff to do with than I do, but I do appreciate a functional piece of art, too. Too bad that quality like that carries such a heavy price.

Alas, we live in an injection molded, disposable world. I can remember when worm drive saws had cast aluminum frames and cases.

Dave

I find myself bumping my nose on this phenomenon more and more often... About 3 years ago, I went looking for a good tape measure, one that wouldn't break if I used it near its capacity often. Guess what, they don't make them any more, when I was ready to pay $50 to $100 for a 30' tape measure with a metal case & replaceable tape, all I could find was $15 plastic tape measures that will die early...

It's becoming pervasive and it's sad.

[dbe]

Re: $7500.00 chipamp revealed

Skil 77???

Yeah, the 77's made today are magnesium. The old guys were aluminum and weighed a ton.

Dave