Tripath amps and sub woofers.

[aob9]

I have access to a Topping TP60 tripath amp as a "gift" if I want it. Most of my gear was destroyed recently in a flood and it would be a nice boost to get to listen to music again. Does anybody know if it would be safe (for the amp) to coonect a sub to one of the speaker outputs. There is one pair of outputs so it would mean hooking up in parallel with the mains speakers i.e one of the channels will feed a speaker plus the sub. I ask because I have heard somewhere that class D amps and subs don't mix, and tripath is a type of class D amp.

http://www.tpdz.net/en/products/tp60/

[walpurgis]

The Topping TP60 amp is quite decent. Certainly for the money it costs and it deserves better than to have one channel driving a sub and main speakers. You'd probably blow it up doing that anyway, the load is likely to be very low impedance. Mind you, I hate subs anyway. I've never heard a system with one in where the sub was not affecting the sound in a way I didn't like.

Get the Topping and use it just as the main amp only. It's punchy and clean sounding, with a slightly reserved quality (some might say dull), but It's pleasant.

[aob9]

Thanks for the very quick reply and your advice is duly noted, especially the bit about blowing up the amp.:rolleyes:

Can you bare with me while I ask another "off topic" question. I'm trying to rebuild so I'm on uncharted territory. I gather tripaths benefit from a little pre-amping. I have a Beresford Capella which I can fit in-line if it was to offer any benefit as a pre-amp. For now all I'm driving is a pair of Boston Acoustic A25's, which are decent enough to keep me going. Do you( or anyone else) reckon the Capella would be of benefit to this temporary "limited" system?

http://www.bostonacoustics.com/US/Product/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?CatId=HomeAudio(BostonAcoustics _US)&SubCatId=ASeries(BostonAcoustics_US)&Pid=A25Bookshelf(BostonAcoustics)

[walpurgis]

You don't need a pre-amp with the Topping.

[Firebottle]

The class D amplifiers are usually operated in a 'Bridge Tied Load' (BTL) arrangement where neither of the speaker terminals are at zero voltage, or ground.

Do not connect a sub unless you know what you are doing with a BTL output.

I have heard that a preamp is of benefit though have no direct experience, :)

[danilo]

Tread lightly with the Ta2020 chip amp.. While Topping was one of the Better chi-fi Tripath adventures, still luck 'o the draw for ultimate S Quality.
However if 'lucky', it can be surprisingly good sounding, Not all examples were.
Also the Tripath chips were a bit Fragile (from direct adventures :-) be cautious in wirings and hookups, errors will instantly kill it.
Unfortunately, there's No longer reasonable replacements.. except with a really low Quality Chinese clone chip.

[wee tee cee]

In answer to your query regards putting the Capella in front of it I would suggest trying it. The Capella is a very good single line active pre and from experience of having driven several chip amps with it I felt it gave the amps an easier time. I havent tried the topping so cant say definitively that it will partner well but various Temple audio amps and amptastic units I have tried partnered up really well.

Give it a go and let us know how you get on. The Capella lets you power another 12v dc component with its bypass-check and see if the topping is 2.1mm centre positive!!!

[wee tee cee]

Just checked your attachment, the topping works off the mains so cancel the 12v ramblings....