George - it appears that TI bought this tech.
Quote Originally Posted by amirm View Post
I thought Tact Licensed that technology and the actual company that designed Equibit was Toccata.
My sense is that it is a different design. But to be sure, I have email into Harman people and will report back what I hear.
The Equibit design was developed by Tocatta, originally implemented by Tact T. But TI purchased Tocatta and the Equibit design. Not many companies are using the technology that I know of. Lyngdorf (formerly Tact T) still does, and I know Panasonic built some AV receivers using the Equibit amps; I own one of those.
Tim
Todd_Packer said:
07-16-2012 02:18 PM
Quote Originally Posted by amirm View Post
I thought Tact Licensed that technology and the actual company that designed Equibit was Toccata.
The Harman Drive Core amplifier chip is a completely in-house design done through Crown engineering. The only thing we used TI for was their expertise in IC Chip manufacturing. There are several patents on the chip design, although the basic topology is a Class D output stage. The Drive Core technology is used in several places, including the Lexicon DD-8, and several Crown amplifiers. There are 2 chips, one is a complete amp on a chip that includes an output stage that is capable of delivering 75 - 150 watts into 8ohms (depending on power supply and application requirements) and is table to 2 ohms, and the only thing that is really needed is a power supply and an input stage. The first use of the technology was in the Lexus LFA supercar. The requirements were high output, small size, high efficiency (greater then 90%), and great sound. Moving the input and output stages onto a single IC allowed much tiger tolerances of the clock and triangle wave form generator that is the heart of all digital amp designs, and often the cause of the "Class D" sound some people don't like. There is also a version that is everything without the high output stage (the input, waveform generator, feedback circuit, etc...) that can me used to drive higher output stages either Class D or our patented Class I, where more then 150 watts is needed.
thanks for the interest,
Todd Packer
Harman Luxury Audio Group
Field Application Engineer
Quote Originally Posted by amirm View Post
I thought Tact Licensed that technology and the actual company that designed Equibit was Toccata.
My sense is that it is a different design. But to be sure, I have email into Harman people and will report back what I hear.
The Equibit design was developed by Tocatta, originally implemented by Tact T. But TI purchased Tocatta and the Equibit design. Not many companies are using the technology that I know of. Lyngdorf (formerly Tact T) still does, and I know Panasonic built some AV receivers using the Equibit amps; I own one of those.
Tim
Todd_Packer said:
07-16-2012 02:18 PM
Quote Originally Posted by amirm View Post
I thought Tact Licensed that technology and the actual company that designed Equibit was Toccata.
The Harman Drive Core amplifier chip is a completely in-house design done through Crown engineering. The only thing we used TI for was their expertise in IC Chip manufacturing. There are several patents on the chip design, although the basic topology is a Class D output stage. The Drive Core technology is used in several places, including the Lexicon DD-8, and several Crown amplifiers. There are 2 chips, one is a complete amp on a chip that includes an output stage that is capable of delivering 75 - 150 watts into 8ohms (depending on power supply and application requirements) and is table to 2 ohms, and the only thing that is really needed is a power supply and an input stage. The first use of the technology was in the Lexus LFA supercar. The requirements were high output, small size, high efficiency (greater then 90%), and great sound. Moving the input and output stages onto a single IC allowed much tiger tolerances of the clock and triangle wave form generator that is the heart of all digital amp designs, and often the cause of the "Class D" sound some people don't like. There is also a version that is everything without the high output stage (the input, waveform generator, feedback circuit, etc...) that can me used to drive higher output stages either Class D or our patented Class I, where more then 150 watts is needed.
thanks for the interest,
Todd Packer
Harman Luxury Audio Group
Field Application Engineer