Stereophile review of the T-Amp


Just a little joke! Of course Stereophile would never review such a small piece, especially amidst all those beautiful expensive pieces. But, just for fun I hooked up a T-amp to Axiom M3ti speakers and a small portable CDP in my bedroom. At low to moderate volume it is very impressive for the cost. Not impressive compared to everything else I have or you have, but for under $400 total?? My wife wasn't impressed, but I don't think she's been impressed by anything else in the bedroom for a while! ;) Anyway, I hope some of you enjoyed the teaser line and what the heck, try an inexpensive system for a change. You might be surprised! Now back to the usual esoterica!
tgrisham
Actually, if you scanned the Stereophile Forum, you would have known that JA purchased a T-Amp and I obtained a Super-T.

Kal
Of course people here have used the T-Amp!! It's all over the net, especially on TNT. My point was to remind those who might not have tried it to give it a spin. If you already have it, then you know what I mean.
The T-amp has been around and is legit for the price. It should almost be bought just for that reason, and some people use it and put it in another case and mod it.

It just shows what can be done on the cheap. I'm not buying one simply because it won't replace my current amp, and I'd play with it and put it in the closet and never see it again. But for someone wanting to get into audio, it could be a cheap way to see what it's all about.
Tg,

Kal is a writer for Stereophile and so is JA that he referenced. He was merely pointing out that Streophile has mentioned the T-amp.

You've been trumped.........

Enjoy,

TIC
Tgrisham wrote: "So when can we anticipate the long-awaited review of the T-Amp in Stereophile?"

How long can you have been waiting since you weren't expecting it until today? ;-)

I don't know the answer, btw, nor do I know the format it will take.

Kal
The coolest thing about the T-amp, other than the price, is something I didn't anticipate at all. In my home office, where I spend way too much time in front of the computer, it's incredibly handy to have the amp and its volume control right there on the desk just in front of the hand that's on the mouse. I'm constantly making adjustments to the volume depending on the source or whether I have to answer a phone call and moving my hand just a couple of inches forward to do that is way easier than fiddling with software controls or even picking up a remote.

I put the T-amp board in a case with a decent potentiometer, output jack and speaker terminals. Driving a very small pair of Acoustic Energy 301 speakers mounted at ear level on the back corners of my desk has most of the advantages of headphones without the isolation. I enjoy the setup a lot.
Good for Ipod use right?I am sure it can be used nicley with some Class C or D speakers better than say that Altec "yste," which looks good but in an office or bedroom you canm get by with the 25 watts.Maybe something cheaper with Fostex drivers like the Omega speakers bought used would sound great relative to cost.
Chazz
Just be careful, there are some conversations on headfi that mention electrical issues.

One guy fried his AKG K1K (one of the earspeakers). I guess you still get what you paid for.
I wonder what would happen if I put one T-amp on one channel and one T-amp on the other? I was only thinking about it in terms of balancing the volume (my bed is not right in between the speakers) and possibly allowing me to hook up a small subwoofer without destroying the amp (by combining the signals-it apparently has shorted out the chip). Anyone tried this?
I wonder what would happen if I put one T-amp on one channel and one T-amp on the other? I was only thinking about it in terms of balancing the volume (my bed is not right in between the speakers) and possibly allowing me to hook up a small subwoofer without destroying the amp (by combining the signals-it apparently has shorted out the chip). Anyone tried this?
Here's a little Class D shootout which included the T-Amp:

http://www.gr-research.com/amps/amps.htm
Tgrisham,

They can't be bridged. So, you'd have the same results as just one.

From what I've read anyway.

Rob
I use the Super-T with a Squeezebox and Arro's in my bedroom and I think the setup sounds fantastic.
This month's issue of Stereophile (October) has just such a Sonic Impact Super-T review, among other components with real world price tags.

Just to top it off, September included the squeezbox.
The Squeezebox and a Super-T make for a killer 2nd or 3rd of 4th system. Put a setup like this in every room in the house and you won't have spent much to have excellent sounding music everywhere you go.
$34.90 for an amp? As usual Stereophile always goes for the high dollar stuff. Now here's a better bargain, has nice RCA's on the back too so you don't need a "Y" connector for the inputs:

$15.00 Audiophile amp
Tgrisham: actually I have tried it, and enjoy it.

I mono'd the inputs of two of my t-amp's, and use one amp as a mono block on each channel.

I run both channels into a set of tri-wired speakers, they run the mid, and lows.

I then use a third un-modified t-amp for the tweeters. I enjoy the setup very much.
Its correct that they can not be bridged, at the same time I feel there is performance gained just by seperating the channels.