[flashback a couple months...]
I just bought one of these tripath amps, but have not installed it yet. When I say this post I got a little bit concerned because I was going to mount this amp in the stock location, although now I might put it in the far side of the trunk...
But anyway, after doing some research I came across an engineering document from Tripath (the owner of "class T" design) and they say the following:
"The use of high-speed switches in both the power supply and the amplifier creates a challenge to
a successful, production worthy EMI design. In the Tripath case, the output transistors are
switching at an equivalent rate of 0.2 to 1.5 MHz. For an amplifier in the 100+ Watt class, this
produces tremendous energy at the switching frequency and its harmonics. Unfortunately, the
switching frequency also overlaps the AM broadcast band. If the amplifier packaging is not
properly designed, AM reception is severely hampered."
from:
http://www.tripath.com/downloads/an11.pdfThat leads me to believe that it is just AM that is affected, not FM; as FM is nearly 100x higher frequency. The document also goes on to say that aluminum shielding should be sufficient to block out any unwanted interference.
I'm just wondering if anyone has done any tests yet about the reception with the amp on and off? Thanks.
A side note: I believe Blaupunkt stopped making the amp, not because of technical problems, but because they had to pay royalties to Tripath for using this design.
