So I had this amplifier around since about a year. And since I`m cheap and bored, it was time to make an upgrade and raise a little bit the power and sound quality.
After a look inside, I located the main integrated amplifier, took the code, and of course it didn`t took me long to find a better one.
The new Pin-compatible with the old amplifier ( the STK4151II series), the STK4151V attracted me by offering a low THD (total harmonic distortion) of 0.08% at f = 20Hz to 20kHz. In a word, it was HI-FI.
The increase of power was just of 10 watt, so 30W RMS/channel. But hey, for a small room is way MORE THAN ENOUGH. I could had ordered on of 50W/channel, but that would had required a larger transformer as well and bigger capacitors. Besides, who needs 50W RMS in a small room?
Here are some amp. porn pics:
After a look inside, I located the main integrated amplifier, took the code, and of course it didn`t took me long to find a better one.
The new Pin-compatible with the old amplifier ( the STK4151II series), the STK4151V attracted me by offering a low THD (total harmonic distortion) of 0.08% at f = 20Hz to 20kHz. In a word, it was HI-FI.
The increase of power was just of 10 watt, so 30W RMS/channel. But hey, for a small room is way MORE THAN ENOUGH. I could had ordered on of 50W/channel, but that would had required a larger transformer as well and bigger capacitors. Besides, who needs 50W RMS in a small room?
Here are some amp. porn pics:
Of course, I needed to remove the entire case to have a good access to IT, leaving just the board exposed.
New vs Old
Joints are off. Time to detatch it from the heat-sink and atatch the new one in place.
Although the amp was NOT connected to the heat-sink, the damn thing was still absorbing a lot of hit so some of the joints were not quite perfect (Cold joints). However... because my soldering iron was not too powerful and the integrate was handling small current loads and no vibrations, I was quite pleased with the quality of the joints. After all... we have to do our best with whatever resources we have.
On the back case, in the left side, I mounted a switch. On the top case (not shown here) I mounted a computer fan, from a power source. I took the power from transformer 12V B+. I suspected that if I crank it to FULL POWER for long f = 20Hz to 20kHz periods of time, the transformer might overheat. So I mounted this additional fan, that could be switched on when was the case. And indeed it was because after about a week I made a party in a bilding near by. There was quite a big room and about 70 people. It performed absolutely fantastic. At full power, it was covering all the people by far. All screaming and jumping. But, of course, as I was expected it overheated. After I turned on the fan it cooled down in 3 minutes and it remained cool for the entire night with the BASS on full power. It was throwing a nice, warm bass. My guests were impressed and it turned out a great party. I´m proud...