Lepai LP-168HA 2.1 2x40W Mini Amplifier + 1x68W Sub Output

There are plenty of reviews detailing the features of this amp, so I'm going to discuss my specific setup, what worked for me, and what didn't. I purchased this amp to power the audio for my Burning Man bicycle, which is using a Tang Band W8-670C 8" 8ohm subwoofer in a ported enclosure, and two Tang Band W3-594SB 3" 8ohm drivers in sealed enclosures. MOSFET's, heat, and thermal paste My amp doesn't get very warm, even after an extended period of music at high volume. Several other reviewers reported poor factory application of thermal paste, so I was concerned that the heatsink wasn't getting warm due to the MOSFET's not making good contact. I opened it up to check and they looked just fine, but I went ahead and re-applied some thermal paste for good measure. After doing this I haven't noticed any difference in performance or temperature. Crossover The LPF crossover is a total joke. Mine "works" in that I can hear an audible change in the subwoofer output as I turn the knob, but the amp still sends the subwoofer nearly full-range input. Using only the included crossover, the overall audio quality is mediocre, and both the subwoofer and drivers were clipping well below the volume I had hoped for. I ended up purchasing a 225hz LPF crossover (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FNI3N4Y/), and it made a world of difference. The overall volume can now get much louder without clipping, the subwoofer hits harder, and the drivers sound great. With the crossover installed, this no longer sounds like a cheap ~$30 amplifier. If you are using this to power a subwoofer, do yourself a favor and get a crossover! You won't regret it! Power Source The included 12V 3A power supply works acceptably, but prevents the amp from reaching full volume. I've had the best luck with either a 12V 5A power supply, or a 12V SLA battery. Checking with an ammeter, the highest current I saw at full volume (with a bass-heavy track) was just over 4A @ 12V. Rattling I have this amp mounted on the subwoofer enclosure, and I quickly discovered that it likes to rattle. All of the knobs rattle, as does the case. The case rattling can be solved by putting some hot glue on the inside of the seams where the case pieces attach, but I'm still grappling with the rattling knobs. My "best" solution so far is a piece of electrical tape stretched across the tops of all of the knobs, but I'm sure there is a better way to do it. Audio Input Levels One unexpected problem is that a high input voltage is required for the amp to reach maximum volume. I first used a second generation iPod Shuffle. This worked in that sound came out of the speakers, but it just didn't get particularly loud. I then tried two modern Android phones (an LG G2 and an HTC One M8). The HTC produced the highest volume and clearest sound, but both it and the LG worked pretty well. You should try a variety of input sources if you're not happy with the volume. Final Thoughts Buy this amp (and a crossover)! I wasn't expecting much from a sub $30 amp, but it's a surprisingly cool little device.

I received this in good order. hooked it up, The high end (top row) of speaker outputs works beautifully, the sound is full & clear...as I hoped & expected just as it is from my LP-2020A+, the sub/low end hook ups made a strange popping sound & I wasn't sure why, thought there was something wrong with it & it needed to go back. as it turns how you hook up the sub is strange. After I hooked it up properly the popping stopped & it was VERY deep. the power supply this amp was sent to me with is inadequate for the power needs of the unit. On the back of the unit it says it needs a 14.4V 5amp power supply, it came with only a 12V 3amp power supply. so the thing needs to be shipped with the proper power supply. Why Lepai can't get their ducks in a row on this power supply thing eludes me BUT I shopped around & for ONLY another $8 got a new power supply that meets the needs of the amp. There's a little blue light on the front next to the bass settings that acts as a 1 light 'EQ' blinkie kinda thingy. It blinks according to the pulse (bass) of the music coming from the low end. It's irritating as all hell. It blinks far to brightly to NOT cover up...it's obnoxious enough to put someone into a seizure...considering it's under my desk it's not to bad though. UPDATE: It's been a great work horse for my computer desk sound system sub-woofer (bottom row of the speaker connections which is bridged) & my "highs" (top row speaker connections). I have a different amp (Fiio A1) powering a pair of Micca MB42 Bookshelf Speakers (full range mids). HOWEVER after a year of use the left channel has begun to "go out". works sometimes, then doesn't others. I little jiggle on the line & it's working again. I think something is going on with the connection on the inside of the amp. why this is I am not sure. It has stayed in one spot for the entire time I have had it. it is mounted ON the sub so that 'may' have something to do with it due to vibrations. It's worth buying another one, so I have. I am going to use this amp with a bad channel strictly as a sub amp for my living room to power a 2nd sub for my entertainment system.

I have owned a lepai 2020+ amp and loved it with a grounded 6.8 amp power supply, it sounded great with my bookshelf speakers. Unfortunately, the volume and tone pots are poor quality and eventually it output nothing but static and thumps maxxing out the excursion on my speakers. Here's where this comes in. I wanted a little more "oomph" on the low end with the same speakers. I found this amp with a dedicated crossover and sub out. For the money, it was worth a shot. I ordered it and it arrived quickly, packaged great. I dismissed the power connector that came with it and plugged in the adapted from my deceased lepai 2020+, plugged in my bookshelf speakers and a Sony 8" home theater woofer. I was very surprised with the output on the low end! Very very solid bass, loud and clear with this tuned port sub. Actually have it turned only 1/4 way up and fills the room with nice clean lows. The mids and highs however, aren't as defined as the 2020+. Should that deter you from picking this up? It is a small sacrifice to make. If you have excellent bookshelf speakers that reproduce sound well, the 2020+ is a great buy with a grounded transformer, just dial it in and leave it. Adjust the volume with your device. If your speakers lack lows and need backup, this amp has the power to deliver. I am very pleased with this and if it bites the dust in a year, I will happily purchase another. A few negatives though, the led lights on the front panel are blinding. Really REALLY bright. The sub out light is blue and for some reason flashes with the intensity of the subs output. They are covered with electrical tape and haven't been a nuisance since. Also, the sub out frequency control is just a dial, it makes no discernable difference in range. Mind you, no mids bleed through so its not a problem for me, even at high volume levels. All in all, I would buy this amp again.

This amplifier is fantastic! It easily powers my mids/highs setup in my room and actually pushes the speakers that are rated for 30RMS past their distortion point on 6 or 7 volume level out of 10. I hooked it up to the bose Components in my living room(which are far larger) and this amp pushes clean un-distorted sound all the way to 9 or 10(depending on the song) volume. I tested the sub out on my mids/highs and I cannot be sure if its the amplifier clipping or the speakers just cant handle the sheer power put behind the sub out..... I get the feeling it's a combination of both but i will hook this thing up to my car in a day or so and update my review. Overrall though, if you want a very inexpensive amp that can push high loads into your home audio or DIY application this beast is the way to go. It is almost as loud as the receiver in my living room (which is very impressive considering it's small size). I would recommend this to anyone wanting cheap, clean sound. UPDATE: So after 2 days of rocking out on this amp it decided to blow it's right channel..... Not sure exactly why because the volume was no where near max.. but yeah. So I'm lowering my rating to 1 star because at below the advertised rated power the channel blew within 2 days of recieving it.

This little guy does what it does quite well. Forget the 40 watt stuff. It's not there. Same with the 68 watts for the sub. Perhaps peak, but otherwise divide by 2. That said, once I set aside my disappointment with the output and resisted the initial urge to cram it back in the box, we became friends. This isn't a wall of sound. But it will do a nice job amplifying the signal coming from your computer or iPhone. That's what it does. 1. Forget the AUX input on the front and head straight for the RCAs on the back. Sound quality is substantially richer. 2. Use the thinnest gauge you can find in that big box filled with speaker wire. It doesn't like the low numbers. 3. The manual is in Chinese. Unfortunately, I skipped class the day they taught Mandarin. The photos, however, are quite nice. No big deal, you can wing it without the instructions. 4. The crossover for the sub, at least on mine, seems to work as advertised. As others have noted, the sub volume is independent of the master volume. I quickly grew to like this feature. 5. Yes, the dials are small. But so is the amp. If you're skilled in Braille, you shouldn't have any trouble finding and using them. 6. It makes your desk look bigger. Which is where it belongs. It's a desktop amp that, when paired with decent speakers, makes for a very nice desktop system that won't have the cops pounding on the door. But when cranked up, you'll need to crank it down to hear your wife yelling at you to crank it down. (That's my version of a bench test.) Ignore the 2x40 and the 68. They ain't there. But if you can live with what is there, it rates those five stars. EDITED: Just stapled a salvaged 5A 12V power supply and a competent JBL sub to this puppy. I believe the police have also just arrived. Those 40 and 68 watts that aren't there? They're there. Just gotta find 'em. (You can get a 12V-5A thing on Amazon for just $8. Tape the windows first, however. I'm running the amp at 6. And I'm having chest pains.)

Got this amp to replace my computer 5.1 setup and since I have a Lepai 2020a+ in my living room, I was sure this system would work just as well. My old system finally went out, and I had 2 6x9's and an 6" sub woofer laying around so i figured this amp would work just fine. Since I don't need to compete with the neighbors stereo, my application works just fine. I have a keyboard with a volume control center built in so controlling the volume on the amp once set was a breeze. Keep in mind that this is an amp and should be set-up and handled as one. The volume control on the amp(as others have stated) is to control the 2-40 watt channels. The sub woofer is not controlled by this knob. The crossover on the sub woofer doesn't seem to work adequately, but the sound difference IS noticeable. I also have to say that I tried do remove the cover to inspect the thermal compound, but I couldn't take it apart without feeling I would break it. (I must have overlooked a screw somewhere to enable the removal of the housing). Nonetheless, since setting it up and using it, it has performed very well! I have used it for about a 5-hour music session and am very pleased with it. I have noticed the heat build up a bit on the power side, but it stays relatively cool elsewhere. This is definitely a fantastic value for a pc sound system or a small bedroom surround. I plan on getting another amp to use in the bedroom.

I bought this unit to replace a power amp in expensive computer speakers that powered 4 satellites and a subwoofer. It was far less expensive than trying to get the unit repaired, and to find a similar high quality speaker set would run $150 to $300. I didn't have the problems with the crossover that many mention - it seems that most of the bass goes to the woofer, and mids and highs to the satellites. I also didn't expect this unit to provide anywhere near the advertised power. Watching tests of the power output online using the provided power supply seems to indicate it has about 5 watts per channel, and 10-11 watts for the sub woofer. That seems about right for what I am hearing on my system. While not as powerful as the amp it's replacing, it's still plenty of power for a PC speaker setup - far better than most of today's 3-piece computer speakers. The overall tone of the amp isn't the best. The treble control is heavy on lower frequencies around 2000Hz, and the bass control heavily emphasizes the 500Hz range. Both were corrected with the sound cards EQ by lowering 500Hz and increasing 8000HZ and 16,000Hz a bit. Also, I found that you can easily overdrive this amp in to harsh clipping if you turn it up too much. I am running the Sub at just past half, and the regular output at about 2/3 or so, and get the cleanest, loudest signal. The LED's are really bright - you might want some electrical tape over them. There are a few important issues. First, the instructions are in Chinese, and worthless. You have to BRIDGE the terminals for the sub-woofer output, as indicated with the lines painted below the terminals. Connect negative to negative, and positive to positive, and THEN to the speaker wire to get the correct power output. Also, the speaker terminals are very cheap, and can easily fall apart if you press them too hard or try to stuff too large a wire in them! Use the smallest speaker leads you can, and they should be OK. My final complaint is that since I use this with a PC, when I start up or shut down the computer there is a rather loud THUMP sent to the speakers. This doesn't happen turning the amp on or off - it's only when the Sound card fires up or shuts down. You may want to turn the amp on and off manually to avoid this. Would I recommend this unit for a living room stereo? No. It's way to under powered and the sound isn't up to par with a good amplifier. But for a very small office system or for PC speakers, it's a very good deal at the price!

Clean Power. They sent a power brick 12v 3a which is powering the unit just fine at lower volumes. Have it hooked up to 2 Klipsch KG 3.5 Speakers (65w 8ohm) which sound full. The Amp does distort at higher volumes when there is lower freq playing... therefore, you can hear the clipping at the tweeters pretty quickly... this is with and without a sub hooked up, no difference there. Mine also does appear to have an issue with the low-pass x-over... it doesn't appear to do anything (4ohm load on sub chan, 8ohm load on stereo chan). Good little amp so far, clean sound at moderate levels, no humming, no noise.. Had to return item due to distortion at higher level, and primarily due to crossover not working as intended (or really not filtering anything audible at all with a 4ohm load sub hooked up) Great replacement amp for your Logitech speakers that died all of a sudden. Just cut the sub-open, and clip off the RCA ends and you are back in business... way more power than the 20w logitechs needed... But, not powerful enough for a 65w RMS load speaker.

Lo pondria como ultima opcion de compra, el envio y la entrega muy bien, pero el producto en si deja mucho que desear no es lo que esperaba no tiene la potencia que dice tener y los bajos no son buenos, pero a razon de precio/calidad creo esta bien

とてもパワフルで満足です。ローパスフィルターで１００Khz以下の音をこのアンプで増幅して、振動デフューザーをつないでいます。 オルガンの音を自分で弾きながら楽しんでいます。ベースが青いランプを点滅させて地響きを立てています。

It's ouput power doesn't feel like 40W. I am totally disappointed.....

Reviewer background: I'm a relatively intermediate audiophile with many purchases of amplifiers and speakers creating a variety of systems for varying applications so I'd like to think this review has some credit. Having random drivers laying around left over from previous projects, I decided to make myself a soundbar for the bedroom which houses 4@2" full ranges (2 per side) sandwiching supporting 1" tweeters crossed at 3.5 khz and a 4" ported sub in the center; used '" maple GIS mdf core for enclosure. Now, enough of that, just describing intended use in case it helps. Discovering this amp a few months ago on Parts Express, it was my default choice (not too many options in 2 channel/sub amp combos with built in variable crossover) with small footprint, efficiency and just the perfect amount of RMS power; also love the LP-2020A+ which I've had for about 2 years and use for many driver testing applications due to its extreme portability. (using a 6amp power supply provides more power output and broader oundstage) Now Sound and power ratings. Reading a whack of reviews, people are brutal hard on this guy; just in case they forget.... It is an under $50ca -4/3 channel amp (two bridged for sub out) with free shipping.... Not a $700 mid ranged Denon/Onkyo/HK... so keep the biases at that level. It must have an updated power supply as well for some reviewers were talking about a 1.5 amp whereas mine came with a 3 amp which is quite sufficient, (may upgrade to 5a later to maximize though). I just received last night and haven't used all 3 channels combined yet but using a pair of high end bookshelves, hooked up the 2 channel full range channels then the sub out to one bookshelf and am extremely impressed. More power than some of the reviewers complaints estimating 8 RMS main and 20 sub @ 8ohms). Doesn't sound like much, but that is RMS, Dynamic will be way higher. The soundstage is clean, fully covering the 20hz-20khz spectrum, not a high current solid sound but still great for price point and my intended application. Also against other reviewers, the built in variable (50-200) crossover worked fine cutting out frequencies probably at about a 12db/octave curve above the set limit; perfect for smaller sub. Would suggest not using a sub driver above a 6" though due to the power limitations versus loss in QMS/QES resistance; larger sub will never reach close to SPL potential or Xmax either (maybe a cheap 8"). The sub channel and mains do have independent volume controls but once set, the source input should be your volume control anyway and this is a great option for sources with weaker/stonger low end signal or just adjusting to audio preferences (bass head versus the classical listener). The only con thus far is a ridiculous bright blue LED representing use of the sub channel, which would be fine if it stayed a constant but for some reason the designer installed a chip in the output circuit that flashes the LED in response to the bass frequency!?!? Why? Oh, and unless you speak Chinese, toss the manual immediately! Anybody who know enough to find/order this amp, will have enough basic audio knowledge to install/operate this unit however. Overall, impressed with performance, ease of use and aesthetics. As I stated before, will update with actual performance stats when free time becomes available. In the meantime, if this amp is a nominee in completing an audio work of art, don't bother over analyzing it's worth... it's a worthy purchase; equal cost to three jugs of beer and will keep a smile on the face longer... and more than one use. Any further questions/inquiries just post in comments below. Edit July/2104: Unit going strong, feels great hitting that power toggle knowing performance soon follows. However I switched its task from soundbar to outside music provider; I was wrong about sub size restrictions, using a relatively efficient single VC 10" subwoofer (4ohms) and 6.5" coaxials in custom boxes (all fits in big Rubbermaid tote) and my yard has the possibility of hosting a block party. Amazing output above neighborly limits, clear and potent. 10" sub actually hits descent mechanical extension with provided crossover at 80 hert cut off. This fantastic product for price amp should be all one needs for anything except Home theatre use, and even then if no need for 5.1 then this 2.1 would be sufficient.

ＬＥＰＹ ＬＰ－Ｖ３Ｓ から乗り換え サブウーハーを「繋がない状態」で試聴、低音はＬＰ－Ｖ３の方が出ていた 純粋に聞いた感じだとメインは高音設定に振ってある様子（サブウーハー出力あるから当たり前？） せっかくのＢＡＳＳコントロールがいまいち発揮されない ただサブウーハーを「繋いだ状態」だと五月蠅い位ブンブン鳴る、クロスオーバーが付いている点も良い こちらの方が出力がでかいのでちょっとのボリュームででかい音が鳴る！！素敵です ウーハー出力側は当たり前だがＢＡＳＳコントロール別駆動なのでなのでつまみ位置に依存せずなので前に書いた通りメインにもっと低音が欲しい感じでもったいない 全体のバランスはいいんじゃないかな 高音も綺麗に出ている感じがあるし、低音もＬＰ－Ｖ３に比べるとＢＡＳＳコンに頼らずブンブン鳴る感じも良好（ＳＵＢありきだが） コスパは相変わらず良いと思う パソコンのスピーカーから等システムＵＰしたい方にはオススメです 家もＰＣで音楽を聴く方なので重宝していますよ、余ったＬＰ－Ｖ３はサラウンド用にでも回します 評価はメインでＢＡＳＳコントロールがいまいちだったので☆１個マイナスにしました