I'm looking for a domestic High Fidelity reasonable quality, not too expensive (<$200-300) 20-25 Watt amplifier where the mains Power Supply can, if need be, can be swapped out and replaced by a 12V 40 AHr SLA battery power supply + 25W Solar Panel combination, which can be used in conjunction with the following.

Archos 605 + Docking Station or a WD media player (used with the mains power only)
http://www.archos.com/products/gen_5/archos_605wifi/index.html
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=572

Cambridge Audio DAC Magic (An original 10 year old DAC Magic 2 is currently in use with my PC digital output)
http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/set_territory.php?TID=1&Redirect=/summary.php?PID=320

KEF IQ5SE speakers (hopefully to soon replace some rather elderly Tannoy Mercury M3s)

I would want to keep the power requirements to less than 30-40 watts in total.

Any ideas?

A_F_L_M, you're a total audio nerd. Good for you!

I can't make any direct recommendations. But having messed around with photovoltaics and inverters for a while, perhaps I can offer an off-the-wall (and off-the-rack) approach.

All those funky uninterruptable power supplies (UPSs) for computers provide super-clean, regulated, pure sine wave power. At their heart, they have a 12vdc lead-acid gel cell. Usually a ridiculously tiny one. With standard connectors. It would take nothing to connect this to a larger sealed lead acid cell. Or, for that matter, the 12VDC wet cell from a bulldozer (watch out, they often connect two in series to the starter).

The one wrinkle is that most won't fire up unless they detect a proper earth ground. That's up to you. In wet ground, a tent peg and a few metres of discarded speaker wire will do it.

Yes, it's a duct tape fix. I don't know if it fits the specific application you have in mind. But it may just open a new line of enquiry for you. Note that UPSs with dead internal batteries are just about free ...

Cheers,
Doug

Get a high-end car system! They are designed to run of 12V DC from the start, and it will greatly expand your options!


Watch out for the loudspeaker impedance. Most car speakers will be 4 ohms, and most high-end indoor speaker will be 8 ohms. I'm certain you won't break anything trying to run 8 ohms speakers on a amplifier designed for 4 ohms - at worst you'll only be able to play at low volumes - but you'll have to actually try it to hear how good or bad it sounds. Or consult someone more knowledgeable than me on the subject. Anyway, finding 4 ohms speakers is probably easier than finding high-end systems that run of 12V and are NOT designed for use in a car or a boat.


You even get DVD systems for a car... You'll probably want to invest in a system with an external amplifier, which will put you in the same range quality wise and power wise (play it LOUD) as many indoor systems.


If you want to use car speakers, building a box for them is really not that difficult: Get some good car speakers and build as solid a box as you can using MDF boards. Smaller boxes are easier to do properly and get absolutely rigid. Bigger boxes will give more base (low frequency tones) but may have more resonance to the higher frequencies). If base is important to you, you may overcome these shortcomings by building a small pair of satellites for the high frequencies and a sub woofer for the base. Search for it and you'll find plenty of DIY material about how to build your own speaker system.

Oh, and by the way: Don't believe any of the power ratings they use on car systems! They are absolutely ridiculous! 25w "quality watt" for a domestic system with a conservative rating may translate to 100-200 w for hyper-inflated RMS watt ratings. Go with the car audiophile crowd and you'll find what's good and what's not.

Well I finally decided on the Trends Class-T Amplifier TA-10.1 after reading these reviews;

http://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/trends_ta10_e.html

http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews/trends/ta10.html



The Trends TA-10.1 is known as a Class-T Amplifier or should really be classified as a Class-D or digital amplifier and is specified to 6 Watts per channel but easily drives the Tannoy Mercury M3 floor standing speakers to moderate volumes for a medium sized room. The Amplifier is also extremely power efficient and can even be powered using compact Lithium Ion power packs such as the PowerGorilla with an appropriate 12V voltage power convertor.

The TA-10.1 Amplifier/Cambridge Audio DacMagic and Archos DVR station is currently being powered by a 25W solar panel/8A Solar Charge Regulator and an Automotive Ring Powering 40Ahr Battery pack from its 12V auto cigar outlet.



The sound quality of this setup is definitely high end Audio (the sound is superb when solar/battery powered due to the constant voltage power supply and no power supply harmonic interference) and best of all is easily battery/solar powered so can be used in the event of a mains supply failure. It is also extremely reasonably priced at around $190.

The Trends TA-10.1 as an excellent general purpose high efficiency audio amplifier being extremely compact and lightweight and may even suit portable applications for the HAM enthusiasts etc as the TA-10.1 will handle a huge array of domestic speakers from 4 ohms impedance and up.