[Atraii]

I am rather disappointed with it. I just got my LP-2020A+ in the mail today and set it up with the purpose of putting some use back into some older, (extremely) cheap speakers I had laying around. Namely a pair of  Optimus Pro AV7's and AudioSource LS100's.
 
I didn't have a clue how the AV7's would sound, but was expecting something different then that awful murky/static-y sound that came out when they were hooked up. At first I was like, well they ARE old and dirt cheap, and I didn't expect much out of that. When I hooked up the LS100's and had the exact same strangled noise come out I thought there might be something up. Like I said earlier, I didn't really know what to expect from these things, but I was hoping that they would sound better than my little Yamaha $10 computer speakers. I decided to use the speakers with my Nikko NA-550, and what do I find? They sound... well ok they don't sound great, but they sure sound WAY better than what came out of them earlier through the LP-2020A.
 
I did notice that the sound did seem to open up a bit on the LP-2020A with the AV7's if I turned the volume up. That's when I hit the next problem: the amp cut out on me, consistently. I wasn't even at 50% yet, and everything was still really quiet, yet it kept cutting out with the light dimming and the speakers making static before coming back to life. These are 8 ohm/40 watt speakers, I didn't think that the amp would struggle with these.
 
The reason that I decided to post is because of all of the positive reviews I have read about this thing for it's price. I don't understand if I just got unlucky and the one I received was faulty, but I expected at least something slightly better than this. Anyway, I am curious to see if someone else has something to say about this amp and offer their own thoughts.

 

[trog]

Quote:

 That's when I hit the next problem: the amp cut out on me, consistently. I wasn't even at 50% yet, and everything was still really quiet, yet it kept cutting out with the light dimming and the speakers making static before coming back to life. 

That is extremely worrying - i have owned or fixed up 10+ to date and never had this issue 

 Mostly i direct peeps to diyaudio (modding matters) or the Q/A section of PartsExpress (basic matters) but i am thinking this looks like a PSU issue - get it RMAed
 
Also tried to find efficiency of your AV7s to rule out very inefficient drivers (amp overload) but couldn't find any info 

 
 
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/class-d/195459-helder-hi-fi-ta2020-mkii-turns-off-music.html
 
http://answers.parts-express.com/answers/2444-en_us/product/310-300/lepai-lepai-tripath-ta2020-class-t-hi-fi-audio-amp-w-power-supply-questions-answers/questions.htm?page=2

 

[OJNeg]

I own the 2020 as well. Keep in mind, it pushes out 20W into an 4 ohm load, meaning it pushes much less into a 8 ohm load.
 
From the sound if it, your loudspeakers are much too inefficient for the Lepai to handle. Also, it could be that the power supply you're feeding it is not rated for enough current to deliver full power. Try using a power supply rated for a higher wattage before giving up.

 

[Atraii]

Quote:

i am thinking this looks like a PSU issue - get it RMAed

Thanks for the advice, I believe you are correct. I hadn't expected anyone to come along with helpful advice so quickly. Thank you kind sir.

 

[tzjin]

I agree with OJNeg. On Amazon there have been comment of how cutting out is fixed with a power supply that provides more current. How powerful of a supply did yours come with?

 

[Atraii]

It came with a 12V 2A PSU. I was reading a thread on DIYAudio that a 13.5V 3700mA is more ideal, and if I could get one with a ferrite core all the better.
 
Of course, the question becomes, where does one find such a PSU?

 

[Atraii]

Also, I hope this isn't too much of a noob question, but what do you look for on speaker efficiency?
 
 
Quote:

Also tried to find efficiency of your AV7s to rule out very inefficient drivers (amp overload) but couldn't find any info

 
 
If it helps those speakers are the exact same as Minimus 7's except magnetically shielded and about 10x heavier.

 

[tzjin]

Typically, when powered by something like the Lepai, I would suggest 87db to be the bare minimum for efficiency.
 
That is an intriguing piece of advice that I'd probably follow. Unfortunately I have no idea where to get one. Perhaps you could ask the poster? If you're interested, popular auction site has plenty of 12V6A PSUs floating around.
 

 

[OJNeg]

You can probably snag a basic 12V 4/5/6A power supply on Amazon or eBay for pretty cheap. Just make sure the adapter is the right size to plug into the Lepai. I'm not sure of the exact size. Let us know if that solves your problem.

 

[Atraii]

I know it's pretty late for an update, but I finally got that new power supply in and had time to test it out.
 
The new power supply cleared out a bunch of the 'noise' that I was hearing with the sound and the overall quality improved greatly. The level before cut-off was still somewhat disappointing even though it was considerably higher. I wasn't bummed out with it too long though because I hooked it up to a pair of cabinet speakers a friend had given me and it sounded pretty awesome. A good part of the problem was from poor efficiency speakers I think. The cabinet speakers take up more space than I really wanted for the setup. But for an extra parts kinda deal I think that this setup works fine.
 
I still get a bit of fuzz or 'noise' when listening at really low or really high volumes, but it really isn't that noticeable. Also, someone suggested that I might do a simple capacitor mod that should clear that up. I might give that a shot.

 

[tzjin]

Are they 4 ohm speakers? Lower impedances are less forgiving of noise.