Hypex Ncore

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Yetis, I would refer you to look at Figure 2 on page 12 of the NC400 data sheet. The preferred connection is for NAMPON (and XLR pin 1) to be tied to chassis ground. On my NC400's I wired NAMPON directly to XLR pin 1 as I don't have mine in chassis yet and they worked flawlessly. Good luck.

earflappin,
Your posts helped me decide to order...many thanks. I ordered one SMPS600 per amp, three channels in pure analog Trinaural System.

My geographic area (N. Utah) has extremely little RFI issues, gated single-story-above-grade pure residential, no commercial nearby. Built 2007, dedicated circuit, dead quiet, two concrete boundaries in 3000cf dedicated symmetrical room.

I'm screwing Ncore to a chunk of wood and selecting chassis after I A-B longer IC/shorter speaker cable vs. the opposite.

Questions:

We have three cats not overly concerned with my audio gear, but I must temporarily cover the Ncore amp and PS. I plan to neatly secure cardboard around the wood platform and Ncore components. Comments about minimum clearance or holes/slits to vent heat?

Items related to heat: Remember there's three channels, not two. I listen to rock and large orchestra at live levels.

James Bongiorno Trinaural Processor in front of multi-channel analog preamp has 2nd order @ 80 Hz active high-pass crossover. Subwoofer system is five piece 1kW distributed array, 4th order @ 70 Hz. Main speakers: two stand mount monitors per channel in proprietary ambiance/mode cancelling array. True sensitivity about 88 dB. Main speaker load: minimum impedance @ 200 Hz, flat nominal >600 Hz. User selects main speaker impedance by wiring the two monitors either series or parallel: 16 Ohms nominal/10.8 Ohms minimum...or 4 Ohms nominal/2.7 Ohms minimum.

16 Ohms is difficult voltage but easy current and more musical distortion components. 4 Ohms is easy voltage but difficult current and less musical distortion components.

YBA 120W and Naksa 100W preferred 16 Ohms, Linn Majik Chakra 50W preferred 4 Ohms (as expected).

Which load do you predict Ncore will prefer? Tossup?

RFI:

I want to audition Ncore in other locations with worse RFI issues, such as San Francisco Bay Area with its Sutro Tower, etc. Any comments re. full metal shield in such venue? Purely for aesthetics I still consider a wood chassis (bamboo in particular), which lacks RFI shielding unless I add metal foil.
 
Comments about minimum clearance or holes/slits to vent heat?

Which load do you predict Ncore will prefer? Tossup?

loose cardboard box cover won't care, but certainly will help keep the cats off. Perhaps a nice banana box top, they are quite nice. Or maybe cantaloupe.
heat is pretty minimal so just about anything will work.

the amp is rated and the graphs show very good performance at 2 ohms, much in keeping with the rest of the load range. Your load being above 2 ohms at minimum should perform well. This has the potentially useful direct coupling between the amp and each speaker instead of in series, making better use of the high damping factor.

Of course, this is DIY, so try both.

Alan
 
Nice speakers, but maggies with 85db sensitivity aks for more.
Considering to bridge Ncore's.
Do you or anyone else have experience with that?

I don't think anyone has said they have run out of headroom with a single amp yet with any speaker. Different configurations such as bi amping and such have other factors that are being addressed than headroom.

Would love to have people try it with their difficult load speakers and report back. Seriously that's a lot of power, which holds up till it clips. I don't expect current clipping with almost any speaker. There are a few that have horrible load lines, but that's just criminal.

I think that perhaps the maggies would clip before the amp would anyway. They don't play all that loud without clipping.

Do a measurement of your current amp with the max loudness, see what the actual peak level you are listening to is. Then you can judge the power level that you may want. You will need a true peak reading meter with hold, such as the Fluke 189, 289 or equivalent.

As the load is well within current specs we don't expect clipping there, so we would be comparing the voltage capabilities. The power supply is nominally +/-65V. If your peaks are over that you may want more power, remember you are trading off current drive for voltage drive when bridging amps.

All the systems I have tried my pair in have gotten to REALLY LOUD without any clipping being apparent. Louder than I would want to listen at, and I do like an occasional rock and roll experience. Room volume will be more of a factor than anything else.

Alan
 
I put mine up for sale this weekend.
Finally got my new speakers, and 80% of my music sounded like ****.

The flaws are revealed way too easy and it's impossible to avoid paying attention to hard compression, limiting and musical/studio flaws.

They sound awesome on extremely good recordings though.

Guess I can't make the compromise to clean up my music collection. :)
 
Thanks for your thoughts.
It's not all about clipping, but how the amp controles the speaker.
More specific about the control on the lower bass. ICE amps/class D in comparison with class A/B seems to be good at it.
Magnepan itsself allways uses high current amps(1000 watts or more).
The low distorsion of Ncore is a plus.

Jerry
 
Thanks for your thoughts.
It's not all about clipping, but how the amp controles the speaker.
More specific about the control on the lower bass. ICE amps/class D in comparison with class A/B seems to be good at it.
Magnepan itsself allways uses high current amps(1000 watts or more).
The low distorsion of Ncore is a plus.

Jerry

the Ncore is unlike any other amp I have heard or seen measurements on, when I talk about clipping, I am doing that because it doesn't loose control or change tonal texture before then. That is amazing. I have not heard that on any other amp. I have been in professional audio since 1980 in both broadcast and music industry support for the last 18 years or so. I have heard many great amps and many (untruthful) gorgeous amps. This is the most honest amp I have heard.

Right now I am using them on my alnico Tannoy HPD12s. not a truthful system, but very fun. I'll switch back to my "hirez" speakers when I put my room back together.

If you are using 1kW amps for maggies, I guessing that you are looking for voltage gain, so a measurement would be in order.

Alan
 
I don't think anyone has said they have run out of headroom with a single amp yet with any speaker. Different configurations such as bi amping and such have other factors that are being addressed than headroom.

Would love to have people try it with their difficult load speakers and report back. Seriously that's a lot of power, which holds up till it clips. I don't expect current clipping with almost any speaker. There are a few that have horrible load lines, but that's just criminal.

I think that perhaps the maggies would clip before the amp would anyway. They don't play all that loud without clipping.

Do a measurement of your current amp with the max loudness, see what the actual peak level you are listening to is. Then you can judge the power level that you may want. You will need a true peak reading meter with hold, such as the Fluke 189, 289 or equivalent.

As the load is well within current specs we don't expect clipping there, so we would be comparing the voltage capabilities. The power supply is nominally +/-65V. If your peaks are over that you may want more power, remember you are trading off current drive for voltage drive when bridging amps.

All the systems I have tried my pair in have gotten to REALLY LOUD without any clipping being apparent. Louder than I would want to listen at, and I do like an occasional rock and roll experience. Room volume will be more of a factor than anything else.

Alan

You play rock and Roll but have you not tried with some really dynamic material ? Like John Leif Saga Symfoni ?
 
I put mine up for sale this weekend.
Finally got my new speakers, and 80% of my music sounded like ****.

The flaws are revealed way too easy and it's impossible to avoid paying attention to hard compression, limiting and musical/studio flaws.

They sound awesome on extremely good recordings though.

Guess I can't make the compromise to clean up my music collection. :)
How do your speakers measure in your listening position?
Just wondering if what you're experiencing is more related to frequency response, ETC, waterfall etc. rather then the Ncore being too revealing.
 
the Ncore is unlike any other amp I have heard or seen measurements on, when I talk about clipping, I am doing that because it doesn't loose control or change tonal texture before then. That is amazing. I have not heard that on any other amp. I have been in professional audio since 1980 in both broadcast and music industry support for the last 18 years or so. I have heard many great amps and many (untruthful) gorgeous amps. This is the most honest amp I have heard.

Right now I am using them on my alnico Tannoy HPD12s. not a truthful system, but very fun. I'll switch back to my "hirez" speakers when I put my room back together.

If you are using 1kW amps for maggies, I guessing that you are looking for voltage gain, so a measurement would be in order.

Alan


Thanks for the reply Alan,

What's bothering me is that Hypex(Bruno and Jan-Peter) brings out their own amp based on the Ncore1200(Mola-Mola).
This modules are not for sale (only for selected firms) but have the extra power.

Jerry
 
Why are you bothered? I think Bruno and JP are in perfect position to do just what they want, don't you?

The 1200 has never been aimed for the DIY marked. Just read this thread from the beginning.

If you need the power - I'm sure that the Mola-Mola are for sale.

So - no need to bother ;)
 
Thanks for the reply Alan,

What's bothering me is that Hypex(Bruno and Jan-Peter) brings out their own amp based on the Ncore1200(Mola-Mola).
This modules are not for sale (only for selected firms) but have the extra power.

Jerry

My guess? Marketing.

99.5% of users will never need more than the rating of the NC400, and most not even close to that. But some want even (ever?) more.

They are a company that wants to make a profit and compete well, therefore the DIY product needs to be "less" than the retail product.
Even though the sound within its limits should be the same. (see graphs)

Alan
 
My guess? Marketing.

99.5% of users will never need more than the rating of the NC400, and most not even close to that. But some want even (ever?) more.

They are a company that wants to make a profit and compete well, therefore the DIY product needs to be "less" than the retail product.
Even though the sound within its limits should be the same. (see graphs)

Alan

+1 Agree.
 
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