SMSL SA-98E the ultimate space saver rig amplifier!

Is this amp OK?
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AcousticScience
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SMSL SA-98E the ultimate space saver rig amplifier!

#1 Post by AcousticScience »

Lightweight, economical on electricity and 4 to a rack space!
But seriously it started off as a joke but they get pretty darn loud, even on the subwoofers.
My flight case does look ridiculous with the gaping hole where the 2 x Peavey IPR 1600 used to be.
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rig3.jpg
Gotta love how low the idle power draw is. The driverack probably uses more at 14 watts.
Gotta love how low the idle power draw is. The driverack probably uses more at 14 watts.
rig1.jpg
Last edited by AcousticScience on Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:54 am, edited 2 times in total.

AcousticScience
Posts: 148
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2015 4:37 pm

Re: SMSL SA-98E the ultimate space saver rig amplifier!

#2 Post by AcousticScience »

That's weird, the forum is placing my photos upside down, so I'll have to rotate. Hmm why does when I rotate the image upside down it puts them the same but in normal mode it flips them. Seems like this forum is trying to be a smartass and put my pics upside down. At least when you click on the image it's the right way up.

Bruce Weldy
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Re: SMSL SA-98E the ultimate space saver rig amplifier!

#3 Post by Bruce Weldy »

Unbalanced inputs at -10 vs. balanced at +4......think I'll stick to pro gear for pro uses. This would be fine for the garage or house.

6 - T39 3012LF
4 - OT12 2512
1 - T24
1 - SLA Pro
2 - XF210


"A system with a few knobs set up by someone who knows what they are doing is always better than one with a lot of knobs set up by someone who doesn't."

AcousticScience
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Re: SMSL SA-98E the ultimate space saver rig amplifier!

#4 Post by AcousticScience »

I'm not sure what the problem is, it's fed from the output of the drive rack with the volume control used as an attenuator, left amp is bass (33-95) and right amp is tops (95+) and yes it is in my room haha. Because of the fan noise and glaring blue lights on Peavey IPR1600 amps being annoying during a film night, plus it uses only 20% of the electricity at quiet levels as a bonus. It's probably loud enough for DJ and even the subwoofers get loud. With a dual stack of DR250 on each channel, one of these would certainly get a party going even more than a single Omnitop 12 a side. I haven't tried it with live sound though lol.

As far as noise it's quieter than my mice that's for certain. I was going to say as quiet as a mouse but then I remembered my mice scratch the walls at night. I'm a bit rusty on the whole balanced vs unbalanced stuff other than finding out balanced uses two copies of a signal, one with inverted phase which is reversed and cancels out noise. It might be useful for a musical instrument or microphone. Related to noise, one of the 36V switch mode power supplies was a bit noisy (made a high pitched buzzing sound, maybe it's not as noticeable without horn speakers) so I swapped it for a 24 V one I had on an old SMSL SA50 that had a blown channel, and used the other 36 volt one on the subwoofers. You can hear a bit of background hiss but that's horn speakers for you and I'm not some fussy audiophile.

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Seth
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Re: SMSL SA-98E the ultimate space saver rig amplifier!

#5 Post by Seth »

Tim, how many volts can you get out of one of those channels?
Build in process - 2 WH6, one Alpha 6a loaded, one PRV Audio 6MB250-NDY loaded

Two 2x6 shorty SLA Pro's
One T39, 16", 3012LF loaded
Tall AutoTuba, 20" wide, 2x 8" MCM 55-2421
TruckTuba, 8½" wide, 2x 8" MCM 55-2421

AcousticScience
Posts: 148
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2015 4:37 pm

Re: SMSL SA-98E the ultimate space saver rig amplifier!

#6 Post by AcousticScience »

I will have to measure. I'm thinking it will be somewhere between 20 and 25 V at its full 36 volt power input. I will confirm back when I've put a volt meter to them. If I could get a bank of power resistors it would give me a better idea of its capabilities (with a piezo tweeter in parallel to listen for clipping) than a simple open circuit measurement. It is difficult to get accurate power output figures on these amps I have heard figures of "2 x 160 watt" and "2 x 120 watt" and "2 x 80 watt" thrown around, usually tested at 10% THD although I'd expect at least 100 continuous watts out of each one. On tests with 4 ohm car speakers I have found the 36V 4A power brick to be the limiting factor. The amp cut out at high levels. With lead acid batteries totaling 36V, the amp did not cut out (but the inrush current spark can cause damage to the DC input tab). I will confirm I tested an Acoustic Solutions SP101 at 17 clean volts under load (it would get in the lower 20s if I clipped the hell out of it), and these are more powerful. The Lepai LP2020A is fairly gutless compared to these amps. I only managed 7.5 clean volts out of each channel. Compared to a Peavey IPR1600 that manufacturer's spec power figures comes to around 50V @ 8 ohm, 45V @ 4 ohm, 40V @ 2 ohm.

Having said that, I would hazard a guess that if you were to place one of these amps on a stack of 4 V-Plated Titan 39s (2 parallel per channel), it would surprise you how much bass it would make.

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