Mini Amp required

[Bjd]

Hi,
I am planning to install a Squeezebox in my bathroom. Speakers should be small ones sunk into the ceiling. So I need a very small amp to power the speakers, anyone have any recommendations?
I know that I could also use active loudspeakers, but up till now I couldn't find any that could be sunk into the ceiling.

Cheers Brian

[slimpy]

The Sonic Impact T-Amp has been mentioned frequently. It's small, cheap and sounds amazingly good for its size/price.
http://www.si-technologies.com
-s.

[Paul_B]

I had the same requirement and have been looking for ages. Have found this and will buy shortly and then get some high sensitive in wall speakers (>89db/w/m)

http://www.audiotrak.co.uk/music_production/dr_amp/dr_amp.shtml

[notanatheist]

You can get the Sonic T-Amp from Thinkgeek.com . Then find a 12V wall wart around the house up to 3A. I'm using a 12V 1500mA power supply to run it and the speakers that came with my plasma for a bedroom system. It gets plenty loud enough. Also, when connecting the T-Amp and a Squeezebox use RCA to minijack adapter. The sound quality is considerably better than the minijack to minijack.

[James]

That Dr. Amp looks great - I will be looking for a bathroom setup soon and that looks ideal.
Let us know what you think when you get it - seems it has the same digital amplifier as the t-amp inside?

James

[funkstar]

I like the look of that, much more profesional than the T-Amp IMHO. UK supplier too, which is nice :)

[joncourage]

The Sonic Impact T-Amp has been mentioned frequently. It's small, cheap and sounds amazingly good for its size/price.
http://www.si-technologies.com
-s.

+1 (I have the Super-T and it's fantastic)

[Paul_B]

Well I have gone ahead and order the DrAmp so will wait eagerly for the arrival and then testing. If it performs well it will end a six month search for a small amp that I could hide in the wall void and power some in-wall speakers from a Squeezebox.

[mactavish]

I bought a Sonic T-amp last week, it's powering 2 outdoor speakers very well. It's small, run's cool and sounds great. It would be my choice for any small amp needs every time !

[Paul_B]

DrAmp arrived yeterday and only had chance for a quick play. But here is what I think so far.

- Does seem to do exactly what I want. Small, relatively inexpensive, capable of powering in-wall speakers.
- Packaging is more than I expected, come with nice thick interconnects, din-out to fit in line-out / headphone socket and splits into two interconnects. Nice thick speaker cable ending in a phono connector
- Amp itself looks pretty robust and simple to use, includes an overload LED
- Quickly plugged into my PC and connected up a couple of cheap, inefficient floorspeakers that are normally attached to my 100 wpc Sony home-cinema amp. DrAmp had no problem powering the speakers at least as loud as I would normally go.
- No discernable interference or other "noise"

Only grip is with the transformer, it is big and ugly. Plus the one that came in my box only had a two-prong , euro-style plug. Would be nice if it was a sleek and slimline as the amp. It is 15v DC, 1.2 amps

On the whole it is just what I have been looking for and will easily fit into a wall void out of sight. It should then amplfy the signal from my Squeezebox to some good quality, high sensitive speakers.

My advice is go get one. At £60 it is a steal

[notanatheist]

That's over $100 US! The Sonic T-Amp is a whopping $30. An adequate power supply can be pulled from some old device around the house or something new from Radio Hack for less than $20. The T-Amp uses standard speaker wire clips meaning you're not as limited to cable length either. For $100 I want a remote and more features.

[Paul_B]

I did look at the Sonic T-Amp and also the more expensive Super T-Amp but they didn't meet my requirments. The T-Amp also needed a transformer although granted that was only about another $20.

The DrAmp met my needs and I am very happy with my purchase as I can hide it in the wall void of each room that I fir with in-wall speakers and Squeezebox

[James]

It's a shame Dr Amp doesn't come with a UK plug.
That would be the main attraction (along with the slim design) over the T-amp.

James