Featured T-Class Amplifiers. Anyone know anything about them ?

[JayBoogie808]

Anyone know why the car audio industry stopped making T-Class amplifiers? Also what makes T-Class special ? What's the pros and cons of T-Class? How does T-Class do against other classes ?. I have googled T-Class and done some research but I would like to hear about it from guys that have actually used this class of amp in the field. Id appreciate any knowledge

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[ThxOne Premium Member]

Not sure but I remember Blaupunkt had some and they were in a few Car Audio and Electronics magazines and Crutchfield.

 

[JayBoogie808]

Not sure but I remember Blaupunkt had some and they were in a few Car Audio and Electronics magazines and Crutchfield.

If I remember correctly. Sound Stream also had a T class 4 channel. Google says that it's a proprietary Tech but I swear other amps had it

 

[mahc 10+ year member]

Tripath chips are expensive and have a limited lifespan. They generally are not worth fixing. That is why they never caught on.

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

T-class are more efficient than AB, but not as efficient as D class. I had one of the Blaupunkt T class amps. I couldn't hear a difference in sound quality. I would assume a Bass Mekanik edition of a US Amps would be high quality. I would google search for that specific model/series and see what you can find.

 

[JayBoogie808]

Tripath chips are expensive and have a limited lifespan. They generally are not worth fixing. That is why they never caught on.

I was thinking something like that. Where it cost too much to produce so it wasn't implemented in future models. Lifespan is also a big problem especially if it dies fast. Thanks for the reply I appreciate it

 

[JayBoogie808]

T-class are more efficient than AB, but not as efficient as D class. I had one of the Blaupunkt T class amps. I couldn't hear a difference in sound quality. I would assume a Bass Mekanik edition of a US Amps would be high quality. I would google search for that specific model/series and see what you can find.

Yup. I seen some stuff about it being in-between A/B - D classes. How did your T-Class do with Heat ?. I was hoping it would have a cleaner sound but you stated you didn't hear any difference vs other classes so maybe it was mainly for power / Efficiency vs sound quality. I'll see what else I can fig up. I'm about to post a (Brand New) US Amps 100HC. I need to get info on that one too because Google is all over the place with its specs

 

[Old_Slapper]

Class T use to be the high-end version Class D. The biggest difference is Class T would filter the sound before pushing it out. Class D has come a long way, Class T is no longer worth the money.

 

[Old_Slapper]

I couldn't hear a difference. If you want a cleaner sound, get a class A.

 

[JayBoogie808]

I couldn't hear a difference. If you want a cleaner sound, get a class A.

I have 1 class A amplifier. An mid 2000s Oxygen Audio Air series amp. Extremely clean sound but it gets Hot AF . But I remember hearing that class A is very bad with heat regulation

 

[Old_Slapper]

I have 1 class A amplifier. An mid 2000s Oxygen Audio Air series amp. Extremely clean sound but it gets Hot AF . But I remember hearing that class A is very bad with heat regulation

Those are good amps.
Yes, class A amps are known to get hotter than any other amp. They are not a very efficient amp. Tube amps are even worse, obviously. I installed 4 tube amps in the trunk of a Mercedes, after running in for a while, the trunk reached over 100 degrees while in the shop that was in the 70's.

 

[JayBoogie808]

Those are good amps.
Yes, class A amps are known to get hotter than any other amp. They are not a very efficient amp. Tube amps are even worse, obviously. I installed 4 tube amps in the trunk of a Mercedes, after running in for a while, the trunk reached over 100 degrees while in the shop that was in the 70's.

OMG . You could have cooked a pizza in that trunk did your amp ever go into thermal shutdown from it ? Or were there no such systems on those amps ?. My daughter left a Doll in the trunk when I was running the class A. We found the doll and her hair was a solid clump because it got wedged near the amp and the hair was on the amp. That's when I truly knew how hot that amp could get. So me and a buddy made a tubing system that led from the center console AC vent that went to the trunk and hovered above the amp. It worked like a charm and kept the amp cooler than usual. And when not using the sound system at all it kept groceries super cold till you got home. I never understood why car companies never thought about AC for the trunk I'm planning on making another system like that but much more improved

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

Yup. I seen some stuff about it being in-between A/B - D classes. How did your T-Class do with Heat ?. I was hoping it would have a cleaner sound but you stated you didn't hear any difference vs other classes so maybe it was mainly for power / Efficiency vs sound quality. I'll see what else I can fig up. I'm about to post a (Brand New) US Amps 100HC. I need to get info on that one too because Google is all over the place with its specs

If I didn't run it into clipping it didn't run hot. When I clipped it, it did run hot. Is there a reason you're looking at T-Class vs modern full range D class amps?

 

[JayBoogie808]

If I didn't run it into clipping it didn't run hot. When I clipped it, it did run hot. Is there a reason you're looking at T-Class vs modern full range D class amps?

I have 2 brand new T-Class Bass Mekanik amps. I was thinking of actually using them but I might just sell them instead

 

[Old_Slapper]

The amps are designed to get that hot. The tubes are, technically speaking, high wattage light bulbs. I can't remember how many bulbs each amp had. We ended up venting the rear deck and using a crossflow fan to circulate the air.