| Hey, guys, new modules! - Click HERE for Original Thread |
| Pierre |
I have eventually found a new webpage (seems to be still under construction). It is a company named "ColdAmp" and seems that they will sell Class-D amplifier modules and even SMPSs
They have a list of features and particullarly neat mechanics drawings of the modules they are going to sell. I think that their features are more than interesting, let's hope they have good prices.
I will check the page very often, they seem to be updating it very quickly.
(just in case it helps somebody)
Cheers |
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| Pierre |
Well, yesterday I wrote to them.
They told me that they will publish all the specifications and data in a datasheet as soon as they finish the last reliability tests and optimizations, hopefully in 2-3 weeks.
They also told me that the modules would be available in 6-8 weeks.
The only info they gave me about pricing is that they will cost between 85-100 euros.
I think they look promising, if all the features they claim are really there, and the mechanics look neat, very easy to assembly and quite self-contained. One of the weak points of all the other modules (RFI level) seems to have been taken care of. And if the prices are good...
Cheers. |
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| IVX |
Hi Pierre!
Why you assume that "One of the weak points of all the other modules (RFI level) seems to have been taken care of." As far as i know the UcD, at least, have better then enough EMI performance, and about SOUND of the UcD enough wrote too. We are waiting amazing sound of the any new class D project, because it performs >90% efficiency? I don't think so..Please note- noone ask about UcD efficiency anymore. Actually i think (i'm sure) that class amplifiers, i.e. A;AB;D, isn't matter, but real matter is designer class, were we? And let's hear it first.. ok, without specs even!;) |
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| Pierre |
Of course specs and, above all, sound, are the decisive words. I agree with you in that the only pre-assumed advantage of Class-D is efficiency, and that all the rest (the most important thing: sound quality) has to be demonstrated, like in any other amplifier type.
In fact, I was only saying that it could be interesting to see other alternatives out there so I, at least, will be very pendient on Coldamp site updates, specially the specifications when they put them in the page. Perhaps it can be an alternative to LCAudio, CADAudio or UcD.
I want to make clear that I don't encourage or have nothing to do with them.
Cheers,
Pierre |
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| IVX |
I want to make clear that I don't encourage or have nothing to do with Hypex too.;-) To be honest, (IMHO) coldamp it's a feedback before filter design, there is reason to decide that it have no so good damping factor, which will fall with frequency growing, and load depended also. Our requirement is still U source? Probably it's a conventional PWM design, 1.5 years ago ssanmor diyAudio Member made such, BTW, thx for Charles. What is new in coldamp concept?
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| classd4sure |
Hi Ivan,
I was just wondering how you made out with your UcD /Mueta experiments I saw you working on before?
Thanks |
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| Pierre |
Ivan,
How did you know that details about Coldamp amplifiers, did they give you any specifications yet? If so, could you share them with us? It's only that your impresions can't be extracted from the info they give in their webpage, so I supposed that you managed to get a response from them.
Pierre |
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| IVX |
Hi Chris,
check this out and forget :( http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/show...9311#post409311
Pierre,
just IMHO, nothing more, which based on: "High current - toroidal coil output filter with RF post-filter that allows much less ripple at the output than most modules out there."+"Fully synchronous design", i think that if they would take feedback after both filters(i.e. 4 order) it would be called as "advanced features", because i can't assume that such "advanced features" like "Almost pure SMD design" or "Al[l]uminium chassis" is much more exclusive. I don't know..maybe it will be clear after 6-8 week.
ps: what you think about "Designed to use ColdAmp modules from 240V AC mains, avoiding the big size and heavy weight of conventional 50Hz toroidal transformers. Efficiency and size-weight reduction are now taken to the maximum expression."
:bigeyes: |
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| Pierre |
Well, IVX, for a moment I thought you had reliable info on Coldamp modules ;-)
You are right, all will be clear in 6-8 weeks when they release their datasheet, so no sense to discuss about what nobody (but them) know about these amps.
Cheers!
BTW: What exactly do you want us to read in the forum thread you point to? |
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| km |
hi.
you could take a look here ; www.cadaudio.dk too.
best rgds - karsten madsen - cadaudio.dk |
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| classd4sure |
Hi karsten madsen,
You must be hungry. You've several posts here refering people to your products/company's web site, while having said nothing else. Based on that, it would appear you're no help to anyone here, other than yourself.
Also, would I be correct in saying you hold no interest in small quantity sales, such as most here would bring you? Seems to me you've said as much in previous posts, something to the effect of having no interest in dealing with anyone other than OEMs. Are they just not going for it and so you've changed your stance? It would at least be a good source for people to get IcePower amps, as we still know very little, if not nothing of your own.
I'm sure you're knowledgeable? So why don't you try participating, and save face from having to spam your URL, you can include it in your signature and people will go to it on their own without the need for prompting. It would be alot more professional!
_____________
Pierre, hi, the link, IVX was just replying to a question I'd asked. I agree with IVX regarding this coldamp module also, I wouldn't expect anything ground breaking from them based on the points they've tried to sell it on so far, but yeah, we could still be surprised yet. Keep us updated with whatever you find out on it :)
Regards,
Chris |
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| Pierre |
Yes, Karsten. You could tell us a bit about your designs instead of making just advertisement just every time you can ;-) (don't get hungry, please, I am only joking)
Thanks, classd4sure. I agree, let's wait until Coldamp post some figures. Provided that it first has to sound good (of course that's the most important condition), all the rest (features and mechanics) seems neat, you have to be with me, aren't you?
Cheers! |
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| classd4sure |
Hi :)
The mechanics look sound, for whatever that's worth!
Features mentioned mostly seem common place other than maybe their volume pot after the input, not sure if that's a good thing. "Fully synchronous" hmm
Just cant' tell. It's nice to see another possible option out there though, certainly one for car audio.
I'd really like to know more about how it works though, if it uses a clock it's going to lose points in a big way! Do you think they'll publish that sort of information? (type of oscillation/pwm/feedback scheme) I would think if they intended to it would have been done already, as certainly none of that will be changing with their final testing.
At this point though for all we know they got their hands on a batch of Mueta IC's and... ??
Regards |
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| km |
hi.
classd4sure/chris, i do have something to say here but im afraid you just missed the point.
i do know these amps quite well as i was involved in developing them (if you bother to look at our website you should be able to see some similarities...)
"Also, would I be correct in saying you hold no interest in small quantity sales?" - no you would not be correct ;)
sorry if i repeat myself but a quick glance at the website would tell you and might give you a bit of info too......
about the amps in question , what do you want to know about them?
rgds - karsten madsen - www.cadaudio.dk |
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| kuribo |
If you are really willing to share info instead of pimping your web site/products, please let us know the following:
1. specs on your own amps
2. specs on the cold amps
3. cold amp topology-i.e., pre or post filter feedback, etc.
4. do you sell switch mode supplies separately from your amps
5. do your icepower amps include the B&O switchmode supply?
Looking forward to your reply... |
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| km |
hi.
kuribo , somehow i get the feeling you didnt see our website ;)
you can find quite a bit of information about the class-d amplifiers we sell including specs and other tech info.
may i suggest that you read this first and ask questions after , in my mind it makes a bit more sense.
as for the coldamp i suggest we let him/them answer your questions first as this would seem more fair , ok?
"do you sell switch mode supplies separately from your amps?"
no not for the time being but with several other amps than ours.
"do your icepower amps include the B&O switchmode supply?"
no for the time being we dont sell the asp modules , but see above ;)
best rgds - karsten maden - www.cadaudio.dk |
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| kuribo |
Thank you for your reply.
I did view your web site, or I wouldn't have known that you sell the ice modules and SMPS.
I saw very little in the way of specs on your site, only simple, one point distortion figures. How about info on par with what Mueta and UcD provide?
You claimed to be familiar with the coldamps, and asked what was of interest, thus I assumed you would answer. Guess we will continue to wait. |
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| classd4sure |
| quote: | Originally posted by km
hi.
classd4sure/chris, i do have something to say here but im afraid you just missed the point.
i do know these amps quite well as i was involved in developing them (if you bother to look at our website you should be able to see some similarities...)
"Also, would I be correct in saying you hold no interest in small quantity sales?" - no you would not be correct ;)
sorry if i repeat myself but a quick glance at the website would tell you and might give you a bit of info too......
about the amps in question , what do you want to know about them?
rgds - karsten madsen - www.cadaudio.dk |
Hi,
What point did I miss? I'm able to read between lines but I'm afraid there was only the one.
You're correct, I do see similarities, too many in fact, we'll be wanting to know how they differ from yours, if at all? I do realize we'll have to wait for them to release more information before we can know the answer to that, but we'll require more information from you as well.
I now see you take your feedback post filter, this wasn't known to me before so that's one question down.
What type of modulation do you use? What sets your modules apart from the competitions, technically.
In the past people have asked you for graphs, yes, I know, graphs = not a listening test, but there seems to be agreement here proper graphs can give us an idea on how it might perform, and since this is a web based forum, I'm sure you understand, we don't have the luxury of a listening test, but we can read graphs.
You've also stated you supply such information to the OEMs, for which, at the time, seemed was your only interest in dealings. Since that has obviously changed, perhaps you'd privy us to that same information?
Furthermore, you can't just keep refering questions regarding your products to your website, people have obviously read it. It isn't so informative, but it does do its job of leaving us with more questions :)
I'll give you an example of what I mean:
Advantages and features of CAD Audio Class-d/pwm amplifiers:
...
* feedback after output filter (vastly improvement of audio quality)
...
While in the same section just a few lines down:
T0103S & T0104S modules are internally sync'ed togethe for the 2 channels , they are designed for and based on Tripath driver chips.
One issue here if those are Tripath based I'd consider putting them in a different section than your own designs.
That aside, since when does Tripath take feedback post filter?
You see the problem? It would be better if each of your own modules had its own section of features, type of modulation/feedback, graphs, etc. Then we wouldn't be asking any questions as there'd be non left, other than maybe "what are the best types of caps for my new..."
We can dig up all kinds of information on your competition, they've been very forthright and accommodating, I believe this has served them very well, and could for you as well.
You've been holding out, as it stands they're kind of the mystery amp behind door number 3. Please provide us with enough information, clearly layed out, so that we're able to make an educated decision about them.
Thanks for your reply and best regards,
chris |
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| Jocko Homo |
He only has two..............
One is to direct us to his site.............
When he isn't doing that, he tells us how much better his **** is than everyone else's ****. Sans details. He doesn't have that point yet.
I have heard enough of the first 2 that I am not interested in waiting on #3.
Jocko |
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| km |
hi.
classd4sure you do have a point in making separate info sheets and webpages for the different modules we have , and yes you are right there are technical differences between the boards and modules we sell, meaning ours are different from the icepower modules, from the intersil modules and from the tripath boards.
i believe we have the broadest selection of pwm/class-d/digital power amplifiers in the business , but we will update the page frequently and will add more info in this process.
kuribo, several of the questions you ask are answered on the website that why i wondered if you had been there, a bit of news for you however is that we are thinking about selling switch mode supplies separately from our amps as we have had very many requests for these, another reason is we have invested in our own smd line which should give us an edge regarding time and pricing.
the reason why i cant tell you many details abut the coldamp boards is because i got an email requesting not to do so.
but as you have seen they are very close to a couple of our boards and i can give you details about these if you want it (you can ask here on in email as you prefer, i dont come here every day as some may have noticed....)
jocko homo , thanks for pointing out again that ignoring you is probably the best answer to you....
rgds - karsten madsen - www.cadaudio.dk |
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| Sheriff |
KM,
Good to have you back - i had just about run out of 'smoke and mirrors.........' could do with a bit of re-stocking.
Sheriff |
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| classd4sure |
Hi KM,
I'm glad you appreciated my simple observation, here's a few more:
You still seem unwilling to answer any questions regarding your amp modules, now is the time to start divulging the goods, or save face and fade away. It's of no use to anyone to keep saying "if you have any questions just ask" when nothing gets answered. You seem to be taking everyone here for complete fools.
I agree that you do have an extremely broad selection of amp modules, some, if I'm not mistaken, are straight off a data sheet. This tells me a few things about your modules, and coupled with your unwillingness to divulge any noteworthy information on them, just doesn't say much of anything good for them.
Hmmmm, what could you be hiding?? Your modules are either reaaaally bad and so you've so little faith in them that you're having to resort to selling everyone elses brand, including those amps straight off a reference design on a manufacturers data sheet, or it's decent to good but violates too many patents to shake a stick at.
That's some strong speculation is it not? Much like good story telling, when you give too little detail, you leave the people to create their own. Is that really how you want to market your products?
I think I've more than made my point. I doubt I'll be seeing any serious responses to any questions.
Speaking of points, I have to disagree with you Jocko, he seems to have three.
:Pinoc: |
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| Jennice |
| quote: | Originally posted by km
....i believe we have the broadest selection of pwm/class-d/digital power amplifiers in the business , but we will update the page frequently and will add more info in this process.
...
rgds - karsten madsen - www.cadaudio.dk
... |
:whazzat: There goes his commercial gene again... :(
I've had enough of this guy. Too bad that an interesting thread lost it's read-worthyness. I'm outta' here. |
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| km |
hi.
classd4sure, could you send me a list of questions and i shall do my best to answer them.
if doing so please specify what boards or group of boards you are referring to, ok?
rgds - karsten madsen - cadaudio.dk
ps. my doubt goes more like if i will be seing any serious questions :)
ps. bye jennice, having read the postings from jocko homo and sheriff i certainly follow you :) , btw. have i ever seen any usable input from you?? |
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| classd4sure |
Hi,
Questions? Believe it or not, you've answered them all!
Just give me a few hundred of whatever you feel like,
here's my credit card #: 5309 6806 8560 1278
10/09
If you have any questions regarding my order, just give me a call.
Regards
Chris |
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| km |
hi.
classd4sure , thats cool , when i get back to you and ask you to be a bit more specific thats your reply, well.....
rgds - karsten madsen - cadaudio.dk |
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| km |
hi.
classd4sure , you didnt have many specific questions after all , did you?
you said earlier that some of our modules " if I'm not mistaken, are straight off a data sheet."
i believe you talk about the tripath boards and you are right to some degree, basically as i think you know all control and drive functions are integrated into the driver chip so most amps based on these chips will be "off the data sheet" , there are some tweaks possible in the feedback path and in the output filter and we have made some of these, also external components have an influence on the sound quality, i would think you know this.
you have made your point about having more specs and graphs on-line, i cant really say much else than "point taken , it will come...."
rgds - karsten madsen - cadaudio.dk |
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| classd4sure |
Sigh,
I know I shouldn't respond to this at all, but I almost believe you're sincere lol, call me a sucker..
You've been asked the questions already, there's no need to repeat them a twentieth time, not only by myself but others as well.
1. Topology
A. Method of oscillation
B. Method of feedback
C. Method of synchronization
D. Anything else that's unique to the competition, or even perhaps in common with them.
2. Graphs
A. Meaningfull graphs which would allow direct comparison to those of your competitiors
B. Here's your chance to show any graphs which might highlight something your modules do better than your competitions.
C. Go one step further and provide 2A and 2B for both synchronized and unsynchronized circumstances.
3. Provide the above (#2) for all your amp modules which differ in any way from the other, as per question #1, so that we may know what exactly it is which you are offering, as you've thus far not given enough information to peak interest in any module whatsoever.
EDIT:
I just deleted the rest of this message having read your most recent post.
The above are the questions I believe are on everyones mind.
We want to know more about them, or they simply won't be of interest to us.
I wasn't so much as referring to the Tripath modules, for as you say, there's not many options you have with them, as I was to the HARRIS/INTERSIL HCA 250.
Since you mentioned it though, You could also mention what those tweaks/improvements are to your tripath modules as well.
I'm glad you got my point, it is to your own benifit more so than my own :)
Looking forward to seeing something soon.
Best regards,
Chris |
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| km |
hi.
thanks for your reply , i am sincere and you seem too :)
you got my points about the tripath boards, i believe you can call them data-sheet designs with a couple of tweaks.
the intersil hca 250 i think you mistake for the original harris eval2 board, i have one of them too and thats about when i got into class-d in the first place.
the eval2-board was released in 1994 and was a quick update of the previous eval(1) board which i havent seen.....
the hca250 is much newer and updated quite a bit, as you may know its part of the coolaudio program and a reference design from there.
both specs and sound quality is way better compared to the old one.
btw. i have a couple of the hca600 boards too , they are quite different again as they use a proprietary control chip in a +/- 120 v half bridge topology, with quite good sound quality too.
i shall try to provide the information you ask for.
best rgds - karsten madsen - cadaudio.dk |
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| classd4sure |
Hi,
You're correct, I did have the old eval boards in mind when I saw that. I've heard of the coolaudio stuff but never looked into it at all. Soon as I hear proprietary you'll never get your hands on it without alot of money or friends in high places my mind goes blank and I move on :)
That's of course good information, perhaps I'll do some searching on it.
Regards,
Chris |
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| dgm |
I would like to build a compact 4 channel class D amplifier to biamp my speakers and serve as 4 of the 6 channels I will need for my next 3 way active speaker project. I have read the forums widely and can see much on UCD and Icepower actual performance - both clearly good performers. However I am most interested in SMPS designs as I am looking for a compact, low heat multichannel solution.
ICEPOWER modules would be fine if they could be bought. I dont feel like buying 4 EAR monoblocks and pulling the modules out. UCD dont have an SMPS and Im not sure if a solution with 2 or 4 modules sharing the PSU would be a good one .
This leaves the many other options out there about which I have not been able to find any user feedback. Some are at the right price also. Can anyone give feedback (SQ, reliability, work first time etc) on:
CAD Audio D1000 ASW or other CAD audio modules. http://www.cadaudio.dk
Coldamp 4078 plus SPS80power supply http://www.coldamp.com
a UCD + SMPS combination
Alab-pro modules http://www.alab-pro.com
Anaview modules http://anaview.com
also any knowledge if ICEpower modules can be bought separately
Any feedback from people who have actual experience with any of the above wold be great. |
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| classd4sure |
As far as CAD audio it's impossible to say, never really was much actual information released on it.
You let me know if their website has improved :)
ColdAmp could be worth looking into, they're also releasing a SMPS shortly which just may be compatible with the UCD as well.
Wouldn't bother with Anaview, they have a patent and went with the UCD, 'nuff said there.
Don't even consider alab-pro, they're well known rip offs, and they're products aren't recommended.
For ease of use, robustness, reliability, great sound, etc... you're still looking at UCD modules.
Cheers |
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| richie00boy |
| Don't forget about LC Audio ZAPpulse modules ;) Their performance is good and mine worked great first time. |
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| classd4sure |
| quote: | Originally posted by richie00boy
Don't forget about LC Audio ZAPpulse modules ;) Their performance is good and mine worked great first time. |
Hmmm, I didn't forget them, but they've been having problems since Lars left and I didn't feel comfortable giving them a recommendation. |
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| richie00boy |
| I must admit I have an inkling of that feeling too, but with the 2.3SE already well established there shouldn't really be any problems with them really, and I think on here we may only be seeing a small part of the bigger picture. |
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