2. amps-preamps
  3. 1153416583

Gainclone chip amp

This post is geared toward owners or previous owners of this diy amp. I probably should have inqired with the diy site but wanted to hear what A-goners may have to say. This is my first chip amp and after seeing many auctions and ads here and on ebay I decided to take the plunge. On the technical side of things the layout looks very simple. No huge caps or numerous parts. I do know that this design is from the 47labs camp but not all that familiar with the product. As for sonics this an amazing piece of gear. My amp is supposed to be 60w into 4 ohms and I suspect there may be more power to boot. I can't figure out where all this sound is coming from with the small caps and all Must be in the chips. Like I said amazing. For the rest of my system I'm using a nad 304 as the pre, nad tuner, philips sacd player, and epos ELS3 spkrs. I plan on upgrading my pre(used sugden)and possibly selling the 304. Well just wanted to share my thoughts and look for any advise or info on possible tweeks for this jewel of a amp. Enjoy the music!
south43
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
Hey South43,

Here's a site that sells chassis Autoconstruire..the company is out of Italy. maybe these prices are a little closer to what you would like to spend.

As far as the chips go..Peter would be better at answering your question. I do know he prefers to use dual transformers for these loads. I remember seeing some high powered dual tranny Gain clones for sell on Audiogon. I don't remember who the builder was..but the units looked well made.

The Gainclones are very sensitive to noise from upstream components. This maybe the buzz you're hearing from the use of the NAD as a preamp.
That's a another key to success with the Gainclones. You need quiet upstream equipment. If not.. they will stick out like a sore thumb. I hear absolutely no noise fron my unit unless hooked to a noisy preamp. This is with my ear physically touching the driver.
jtgofish
209 posts
 
My paralelled 4780 will drive low impedence speakers well.Even some 2.5 ohm Equinox speakers.It too has a slight buzz though which the maker put down to some earthing problem in the PCB.It does not really seem related to the preamps used.It can be reduced to barely perceptable by turning the gain controls down to about half.Plus installing gain controls means you can better match it to preamps or even use them as a passive preamp-which will sound better than a lot of active preamps.
The3876T amp is very silent.I installed Alps blue 100kohm pots in this without any apparent degradation of the sound.
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
JT has a good point. This type of amplifier is already high gain. No real need to add more. More than a few dB seems to add noise. I like passives on these units. That's the reason for the Burson HDAM buffer..it gives me the drive of an active without the extra components and noise in the signal path.
south43 OP
386 posts
 
Hi Gmood1,
Thanks for the info once again. I did email the builder of my amp and he has various chassis that may fit the bill. (He also has a amp for sale here) The buzzing I mentioned seems to have vanished. Ahh the magic of the chip. JT I'll look at the 3876 you mentioned.
jtgofish
209 posts
 
Passive preamps do seem to work unusually well with these chip amps but the combination with a good tube preamp[like the Suprateks] really is pretty special.An adsurd mix of technologies and costs I know,but it is probably,on balance,as good as I have heard for anywhere near the combined cost.
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