How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

[dareblue]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

After re-soldering the relay connections, the audio still cuts out. I guess I need a new relay. Thanks for everyone's help and input. It's much appreciated!

[dareblue]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

Just in case the suspense was killing anyone, a new relay fixed the problem. My amp is good as new! Thanks again

[AJ]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

Randy, this a public forum. Advise you to remove your phone # and change your email to "randy AT yahoo.com" for example to make it harder for the spam bots.

[gychang]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

All,

A few weeks back, at the Lone Star Audio Fest, a forum member (TC) gave me his broken down and shorted AudioSource AMP-100. His only request for me was to fix it and "pay it forward". Well, fixing it was easy, but I wasn't satisfied with the performance.

[/ATTACH]

wow, this is interesting, I have minimal experience with soldering but have put in pot-volume, etc on t-amps (can't read schematics), is this project for a near beginner?, very good pictorial...

[tyger23]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

wow, this is interesting, I have minimal experience with soldering but have put in pot-volume, etc on t-amps (can't read schematics), is this project for a near beginner?, very good pictorial...

If you can remove and replace a volume pot, you shouldn't have much issue with doing the modifications. Removing components is more difficult than just adding them. There's lots of YouTube videos to help educate you. Another forum member, psychoacoustics, did the mods and documented his experience here. Perhaps he will lend his opinions:

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?241760-OT-Tyger-s-Audiosource-Amp-100-Mod-s&p=1975159

[Psycoacoustics]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

wow, this is interesting, I have minimal experience with soldering but have put in pot-volume, etc on t-amps (can't read schematics), is this project for a near beginner?, very good pictorial...

Yes, Gychang, even beginners like us can do this mod! Read my post and follow Tygers directions to the letter and you will have an amp that you can not only be proud of,,,, it'll sound really nice too! Ok,,,, it won't sound nice,,,,,, it'll BLOW your socks off!

I enjoyed myself so much I modded two, and I just received the parts for a third.

Have fun! Mark

[Mrbobb]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

Thank you very much for this thread, I finally fixed my 2 Amp/One annoying cut-out problems. My relays were not sealed so I took it apart to clean the contacts, too impatience and too cheap to buy new ones, dremel’ed it with the wire brush seems to have done the job for now, see how long it lasts. Digikey new part Z3075-ND.

Now my contribution: a few years ago I grew tired of having to replace my Amp/One power meters’ incandecent bulbs every year or so, so I replaced them with last-forever LEDs. Basically I made my own PCB and mounted 3 glass square rods as diffusers, and for the light of me I can’t remember where I got these glass rods from but am thinking where they sell acrylics would be a good place to look, then wired up 3 pairs of white and yellow LEDs, rated ~5,000 mcd each, plus 1 resistor and 2 trim pots. Start both pots at the LED’s dimmest position, dial up the white to obtain the desired intensity, then pump up the yellow for the desired amount of yellow tint, this should approximate the hue of incandescents. Have fun!

AmpOled.pdf

Now for future project: A while back I tried to reverse-engineer how the auto-on/off circuit works, which doesn’t work too well with low signals, forgot why I gave it up. I asked Audiosource once if they would tell me how to do it and they wouldn’t budge.

[Rcstark]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

I've completed the mod and when powering up I get a nasy buzz in the right speaker output both A and B channels. When I actually touch theamp it goes away. Grounding issue? Is there anything obvious I should look at to start troubleshooting?

Ok new information, input 1 the buzz comes through both channels and me touching the amp does nothing. Input two just the right channel and touching the amp can stop it. When it is silent it sounds great so that is for the awesome tutorial.

[[email protected]]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

I think he mentions that. use one only.

[tyger23]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

It definitely sounds like you've got a grounding issue. Sadly, that's tough to debug. I recommend going back thru all the changes very carefully and making sure all connections and cables are connected and tight. Also, make sure all screws are tight and properly inserted and the boards are mounted in the right places. Double check all your soldering to make sure you didn't inadvertently short two pins together that shouldn't be. Look on the bottom especially.

Regarding the inputs - my reworks made no changes to the automatic input selection. Per the original factory manual, you should use LINE 2 IN as your primary input. LINE 1 IN is the "switched" input, meaning the amp will switch over to LINE 1 only when a signal is sensed on that input.

Good luck!

[tyger23]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

Oh - a few quick suggestions for the grounding issue:

1. Make sure your "source" and the amp are plugged into the same outlet strip, etc. You might even try plugging your "source" power plug into the back of the AMP-100, provided the source is not a 3-pin.
2. Some source equipment has a screw terminal for a grounding strap. If your source has that capability, try running a wire from that grounding strap to one of the unused BLACK speaker terminals. Those black speaker terminals are all ground.
3. If your source equipment uses a 3-pin power plug (with a ground) try using a 3-pin to 2-pin plug adapter. This will float the grounding pin and may solve your issue.

[Rcstark]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

Thanks. Already tried all the easy ground lift procedures. I'm going to go back and double check all the work tomorrow. There must be a short somewhere. One question... With the volume turned up 3/4 of the way should I be hearing noise? That's where the majority of the problem starts to manifest.

Source is an ipad battery power.

[tyger23]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

Thanks. Already tried all the easy ground lift procedures. I'm going to go back and double check all the work tomorrow. There must be a short somewhere. One question... With the volume turned up 3/4 of the way should I be hearing noise? That's where the majority of the problem starts to manifest.

Source is an ipad battery power.

When you say 3/4 of the way up, do you mean that the volume knob is pointing at the 9 o'clock position or the 3 o'clock position? I assume you mean the 3 o'clock position, and if that's the case - that's extremely loud for that amplifier. The layout of that amplifier is not the best, and the noise floor will become more and more audible once you go above the 1 o'clock position on the volume knob, especially since I actually increased the amount of gain in the amplifier with some of my changes. However, the "noise floor" would sound more like a hiss rather than a buzz. A buzz would generally indicate a short somewhere.

As a general rule, I recommend that when you connect your iPad, make sure to have the iPad volume all the way up.

[Rcstark]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

3 o'clock position. When there is no source connected it is totally clean. What I do notice though is if I turn the gain up to full with nothing connected the right speaker cone moves all the way out and back in again when I get right to the end of the rotation. I dont know if this could indicated a bad volume pot? I did cut the shaft, now im wondering if I could have damaged it when I did that... Also I just went over the whole board and checked for shorts and cold solder joints, didnt find anything, now that doesnt mean there is not...after all I definitly am not an expert!

Thanks for the help, it is very much appreciated.

[Psycoacoustics]

Re: How to turn your AudioSource AMP 100 into a real amp. (Paying it forward)

Rcstark, I feel your pain! Sorry your having so much trouble. I've done two of these and both went well until I made a bone head error of soldering on it when it was still on.

What Tyger said about the I-pad volume is important. Make sure the I-pad's volume is all the way up. You want the amp to control the volume not the I-pad. Not that I know, but I suspect that having all the input voltage you can get a hold of will help with the noise floor.

You may also want to check the ground connections at the input jack. They are not the most robust jacks and maybe as you were working on it one of them came loose or even cracked slightly. I've repaired the input ground connection on a sub and a pre-amp, although they were just plain broken and wouldn't pass any signal.

Step back,,,, take a deep breath,,,,,, and keep looking. My fingers are crossed for you. Good luck, Mark