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Looking for driver measurement amplifier

sbradley02

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Jan 16, 2026
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Getting ready to do response measurements on my first speaker project in 40 years, and new to the measurement arena.
I need to find a small amplifier for the tests. Don't care about sound quality all that much as far as listening is concerned but needs to be pretty linear. Only need a few watts. The reviews here aren't encouraging. Is there anything that fits the bill that is both small and reasonably priced? I could home build one if I could find a design, but wouldn't want a large secondary project.

And bummer on the Parts Express story. I buy a fair amount from them (and Madisound).
 
Hey, welcome to ASR. :)
The reviews here aren't encouraging.
There are heaps of small and lowish powered amps reviewed here, some better than others however.

This recent product reviewed may fit the bill;


JSmith
 
Don't use a "D" amp or a bridged amp of any class. Best is to use a good A/B chip amp in Mono.
The LM3886 is perfect for this task, because is has no distortion, is linear, unconditional stable and short protected in any way. For a measureing amp you should not use it's voltage potential, but go for a lower voltage, like a 15-20 Volt dual supply. You do not need that much power for measuring. This will keep the heatsink small, the capacitors cheap and cost for a transformer low.
There are no such finished amps of this kind I know of, except for very pricy professional offers.
There are other amp chips that work as well, but the LM3886 seems the best IMO. Use a steel enclosure if possible, to keep noise down and have a stable base for in and output.

This is a basic, well working and cheap example I have used, you find it at Ali, Amaz. ebax etc.
lm3886.jpg
 
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Because sooner or later you will be running into ground issues when using it with a sound card. Maybe not you, but a beginner. Why provoking smoking his gear?
 
Maybe spec what kinds of measurement scenarios the amp should support?
 
Because sooner or later you will be running into ground issues when using it with a sound card. Maybe not you, but a beginner. Why provoking smoking his gear?
Can you please explain more? What ground issue that is particular to class D amps is going to result in his gear going up in smoke?
 
Maybe avoid simpler class D without post filter feedback for testing treble drivers due to the higher output impedance and possible interactions with the frequency response .

The editi mini 300 amp seems more predicable .

Reason for edit Roland is probably correct and im in the deep end without this experience

Do you want to measure treble drivers above >20kHz ? Have a look at the bandwidth , simpler class D might not do much above 20k ?

A purify amp might not be economical for this purpose :)
 
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Can you please explain more? What ground issue that is particular to class D amps is going to result in his gear going up in smoke?
I think if its a bridged design neither + or - is ground and when measuring you have to make sure your measurement circuit connected to driver and amp also are differential , another thing that go wrong ?
 
Don't use a "D" amp or a bridged amp of any class. Best is to use a good A/B chip amp in Mono.
The LM3886 is perfect for this task, because is has no distortion, is linear, unconditional stable and short protected in any way. For a measureing amp you should not use it's voltage potential, but go for a lower voltage, like a 15-20 Volt dual supply. You do not need that much power for measuring. This will keep the heatsink small, the capacitors cheap and cost for a transformer low.
There are no such finished amps of this kind I know of, except for very pricy professional offers.
There are other amp chips that work as well, but the LM3886 seems the best IMO. Use a steel enclosure if possible, to keep noise down and have a stable base for in and output.

This is a basic, well working and cheap example I have used, you find it at Ali, Amaz. ebax etc.
View attachment 504583
Because sooner or later you will be running into ground issues when using it with a sound card. Maybe not you, but a beginner. Why provoking smoking his gear?
Amplifiers using the LM3886 and various TDA7293 and similar chips are not ideal for these applications.
These types of amplifiers are significantly more sensitive to oscillation and other problems, and can even fail or burn out. The problems and experiences encountered in various DIY projects speak volumes, and often even minor component changes or slightly different capacitor values have fatal consequences—I can confirm this from my own experience.
As a measurement amplifier, this is an absolute no-go for me.

With the AliExpress boards, there's the added issue that most are shipped with counterfeit amplifier ICs, especially when the entire board is so cheap that it can't possibly be an original amplifier IC. There are countless threads about this as well.

The goal is to measure the frequency response of loudspeakers, which is usually done with microphones, so there's no grounding issue with the measurement amplifier.

Getting ready to do response measurements on my first speaker project in 40 years, and new to the measurement arena.
I need to find a small amplifier for the tests. Don't care about sound quality all that much as far as listening is concerned but needs to be pretty linear. Only need a few watts. The reviews here aren't encouraging. Is there anything that fits the bill that is both small and reasonably priced? I could home build one if I could find a design, but wouldn't want a large secondary project.

And bummer on the Parts Express story. I buy a fair amount from them (and Madisound).
The TPA3251/55-based Class D amplifiers are the complete opposite. These amplifiers are extremely robust and can withstand a lot. I've built and tested over 50 amplifiers of this type – from AliExpress boards, self-assembled boards, evaluation boards, and complete amplifiers – sometimes in extreme situations and with critical impedances, but not a single one has failed on me yet.

The Mini 300 recommended by @JSmith should be the ideal amplifier for you, as it's unbeatable in terms of power, resolution, and measured performance for the price. Furthermore, its frequency response is exceptionally good, especially at low power levels.

The next step up would be the 3E Audio A7 (not A7se), which is even less sensitive to low impedances, but I don't think that's necessary unless you're building extremely impedance-sensitive speakers that drop well below 3 ohms at lower frequencies.

Regarding crossover design, I'd like to draw your attention to the possibility of using active systems, which makes much more sense these days than sinking your money into passive components.
Furthermore, it simplifies the design process considerably; you avoid all the negative effects of passive components and can control everything.
 
Passive filter design kind of sucks, lots of work and money has to spent before you get good results. I would never suggest anyone even bother with it unless they enjoy the pain of the process. You can buy amps with DSP built for about the same price as a passive xover (wondom stuff), you can get a speaker dialed and ready to go in like 10 minutes vs. potentially weeks of passive component swapping and testing.
 
Thanks for all the replies thus far. The Topping Mini 300 seems overkill since I only need 1 watt of power, but it might be the minimum price of admission. I have looked at a number of low power amp chips, and all seem to have lousy response curves.
Regarding active, I use a digital crossover and biamp for my large home theater mains. This is for a much smaller (yet still pretty high end) speaker for my home office, so passive fits best in a smaller setup in my opinion.
And yes grounding is not an issue with my planned measurement setup.
 
Thanks for all the replies thus far. The Topping Mini 300 seems overkill since I only need 1 watt of power, but it might be the minimum price of admission. I have looked at a number of low power amp chips, and all seem to have lousy response curves.
Regarding active, I use a digital crossover and biamp for my large home theater mains. This is for a much smaller (yet still pretty high end) speaker for my home office, so passive fits best in a smaller setup in my opinion.
And yes grounding is not an issue with my planned measurement setup.
Alternatively, I could recommend the SMSL A50, which I used for a while and found to sound very good. It's also fully 2-ohm capable.
SMSL no longer produces it; the MSRP was around €75-80, and a used one shouldn't cost much more than €50, probably less.
However, it won't be on par with the Mini 300.

Please don't confuse it with the A50 Pro; these two amplifiers are technically completely unrelated. The A50 Pro, on the other hand, is truly awful.
 
These types of amplifiers are significantly more sensitive to oscillation and other problems, and can even fail or burn out. The problems and experiences encountered in various DIY projects speak volumes, and often even minor component changes or slightly different capacitor values have fatal consequences—I can confirm this from my own experience.
As a measurement amplifier, this is an absolute no-go for me.
Uh... what? It's easy to ensure stability with any reasonable load.

Furthermore, its frequency response is exceptionally good, especially at low power levels.
Not sure what "low power levels" has to do with frequency response. Any passingly linear amp will have the same frequency response at any useful output level up to clipping.
 
Thanks for all the replies thus far. The Topping Mini 300 seems overkill since I only need 1 watt of power, but it might be the minimum price of admission....

Second hand Audio Source AMP 100's are a popular measurement amp.
 
Getting ready to do response measurements on my first speaker project in 40 years, and new to the measurement arena.
I need to find a small amplifier for the tests. Don't care about sound quality all that much as far as listening is concerned but needs to be pretty linear. Only need a few watts. The reviews here aren't encouraging. Is there anything that fits the bill that is both small and reasonably priced? I could home build one if I could find a design, but wouldn't want a large secondary project.

And bummer on the Parts Express story. I buy a fair amount from them (and Madisound).
I use a Lepai LP-2 that I got from Parts Express. It's a very decent amplifier for $40.

https://www.parts-express.com/Lepai...plifier-with-Power-Supply-310-3000?quantity=1
 
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