Just reporting back that I have had my amps running continuously for several days now and they sound great! I hooked up my Benchmark DAC1 to test the XLR inputs and the 68 ohm impedance of the DAC1 is a great match. Oodles of gain. I'm playing through the famous $50 a pair Insignia speakers and you would never know these are such cheap speakers. I'm very please with this project's outcome. The beautiful Ghent Audio cases look beautiful.
-CB
-CB
Great!
Sorry for the misunderstanding about the capacitor pins.
Ghent does make really nice cases. In this case (no pun intended!) I do wish they were a few inches shorter though. I could put all the amps in my entertainment center. They're too long as is though.
I've been using the original amps as well for past week and they are also doing great. I have no reason to switch back, and can sell my pricey amps to pay for the next project.
Best,
Erik
Sorry for the misunderstanding about the capacitor pins.
Ghent does make really nice cases. In this case (no pun intended!) I do wish they were a few inches shorter though. I could put all the amps in my entertainment center. They're too long as is though.
I've been using the original amps as well for past week and they are also doing great. I have no reason to switch back, and can sell my pricey amps to pay for the next project.
Best,
Erik
Just curious if you ended up using any heat sink grease to attach the amp modules to the cases? I didn't have any when they arrived, but just got a tube. Next time I am in there I'll add a sparing amount to be sure I get good heat transfer. Not sure it is ever needed in my home, but I'm a big believer in keeping electronics cool.
Heatskink grease is not something I even considered. My modules have a coating of foam on the bottom of the heatsink. I don't know if I made an error in not stripping this off?
Frankly though, I've been running them 24/7 and these amps run very cool. The Benchmark DAC1 I am using as input runs far hotter! I just don't think heat is an issue with these amps in the Ghent Audio cases.
I am open to being educated if there is contrary information to my experience so far.
-CB
Half of mine had the foam, half did not. I think the idea for the original buyer was to put them in some cabinet.
I stripped all the foam off to get direct metal to metal contact for heat dissipation.
They do run VERY cool, and in a home may never need anything. I did read the specs and it said that in free-air the maximum continuous wattage was limited to 90 watts, but that could be improved with heat sinks and fans.
The question is, do you EVER run 90 watts continuous?
I'm going to add a touch of grease to them and then forget about them.
Best,
Erik
I stripped all the foam off to get direct metal to metal contact for heat dissipation.
They do run VERY cool, and in a home may never need anything. I did read the specs and it said that in free-air the maximum continuous wattage was limited to 90 watts, but that could be improved with heat sinks and fans.
The question is, do you EVER run 90 watts continuous?
I'm going to add a touch of grease to them and then forget about them.
Best,
Erik
I'm going to leave everything alone at this point unless a problem develops.
Btw, I have now switched in some Kef LS50's now that I know the amps are not speaker killers. I am getting some silly loud nearfield levels (85-90db) at about 10 o'clock on the benchmark and there is plenty of headroom to go!
-CB
Btw, I have now switched in some Kef LS50's now that I know the amps are not speaker killers. I am getting some silly loud nearfield levels (85-90db) at about 10 o'clock on the benchmark and there is plenty of headroom to go!
-CB
Attachments
Today, I set about my other Icepower project which was to upgrade the 200asc modules in my PSAudio Trio-A100 amp to to newer and 50% more power 300asc modules. This was insanely easy and required exactly two de-solder/solder points for chassis ground wires in the middle of the Icepower modules. I've got them hooked up to my LS50s and they sound just as good as my Ghent Icepower project. I think this is a high value upgrade to my existing Trio A-100 amp.
The attached picture shows the upgrade amp on the left with one of the original 200asc modules on the right.
-CB
The attached picture shows the upgrade amp on the left with one of the original 200asc modules on the right.
-CB
Attachments
Read the datasheet
All the ASP-modules have 27 dB nominal gain (which is fairly standard)./U.
Read the datasheet
/U.
I think I was possibly referring to a review of a Jeff Rowland unit that used them. JR uses a custom input buffer of some sort so the gain is not stock. << shrug>>
It's all good.
Erik
Nice PSaudio A100 upgrade!
See this post:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/class-d/281583-cullen-modified-psaudio-trio-c-100-amplifier-overview-part1.html#post4701672
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