Hypex Ncore

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If so, it's not because of more power. I rarely exceed 1W peak output from my amps.

ok i asked because i am not familiar with your speakers.

 

[63781]

Those speaker are planar-magnetics, with an impedance virtually resistive (flat) at 6 ohms. Its a very very easy load to drive.

 

[Bruno Putzeys]

Zaph Audio tested a few B&G units and considers them the only good ribbons (seriously good at that).

 

[Julf]

When you use solid wire, silvered wire

I am looking at wiring up my units - are there any other reasons than mechanical to go for solid rather than stranded?

Red LED district: Being (reluctantly) Belgian I'm not so much used to seeing red light districts as garishly lit private houses sprinkled along the main roads between cities. They come in any conceivable colour so long as it's fully saturated.

When was the last time you were in suburban America around this time of the year? 🙂

 

[atoluma]

Input as in "supply" or in "audio signal"?

Input as supply (excuse me, I forget the other possibility)

 

[Bruno Putzeys]

I am looking at wiring up my units - are there any other reasons than mechanical to go for solid rather than stranded?

None that I can think of.

When was the last time you were in suburban America around this time of the year? 🙂

2 months ago (Long Island), but that was during daytime.

 

[Bruno Putzeys]

Input as supply (excuse me, I forget the other possibility)

Rated output is given at 230V mains and 120V mains. The supply isn't regulated so maximum undistorted output power scales proportional to the square of the mains voltage i.e. 400W*(Vmains/230)^2 or 400W(Vmains/120)^2.

 

[Julf]

2 months ago (Long Island), but that was during daytime.

Ah. Christmas lights do start early in the US, but 2 months before Christmas is (fortunately) considered early even by US standards. My wife is from NJ, so I take sunglasses with me when we go over for the holidays. Anyways, she is not entirely happy with me right now, I should be doing Christmas preparations instead of fiddling around with my nCores that arrived yesterday...

 

[63781]

Rated output is given at 230V mains and 120V mains. The supply isn't regulated so maximum undistorted output power scales proportional to the square of the mains voltage i.e. 400W*(Vmains/230)^2 or 400W(Vmains/120)^2.

Am I right if I say that the SMPS180 is regulated, while the rest is not ?

 

[atoluma]

Excuse me bruno but i talked about the Ncore himself. It can work from +/-35v to +/- 74v and I wonder how can I calaculate the ncore power ouput based on the HV suply voltage.

 

[tiki]

OK Bruno,
foolish question, I could have known before, that you checked the noise by yourself. 😉
Thanks again for sharing some background with us. I'm so curious!
I suppose, some of the LEDs are connected in series? Then the noise voltage should not increase as much as the voltage fortunately, unlike the most of the voltage references with different output voltages.

Cheers, Timo

 

[greierasul]

Can we see a step response of a Ncore1200 ? Can we see that on a reactive load which imitation a real loudspeaker ?

 

[Bruno Putzeys]

@Julf, Like all things American, the Christmas lights craze is picking up here as well. Luminous reindeer, the lot.

@StigErik: Correct. The SMPS180 design didn't scale well. Regulation isn't needed for sonic reasons but it does help make power ratings consistent.

@atoluma: Ideally, unclipped output power is (HV^2)/(2*R). On the grounds of minimum duty cycle the NC400 reaches clip (arbitrarily defined as the point where THD shoots past 1%) at around 93% of rail voltage so the more realistic formula is 0.87*(HV^2)/(2*R). So the 400W figure is obtained at a loaded supply voltage of around 60.5V. The range above 60.5V is headroom needed for the worst-case conditions of no load and mains overvoltage. Of course, if you design your supply for local mains conditions only you could easily get well past 400W.

@greierasul
I've now got some other work on the table but I might add a square wave plot to the data sheet at some point. Not that I think square wave responses mean anything. The frequency response tells you everything you need to predict the square wave response. Which is to say, most of it will just stay rock solid regardless of the load impedance, and some loads will cause a smallish bit of ringing around 60kHz.

 

[tiki]

Hello,

Zaph Audio tested a few B&G units and considers them the only good ribbons (seriously good at that).

only the Neo3 PDR if I'm right. Erik uses the '75, as well as I did. This little guy behaves "different".
My BGs do not like this spectrum (momentary "shot" as PDF). Try these:
http://www.ibtk.de/project/speaker/music/Connected/titel_9_2-00bis2-10_60db.wav
http://www.ibtk.de/project/speaker/music/Connected/titel_9_2-00bis2-10_70db.wav

But Eriks BGs seem to be much better, as he told me. 😕

The Alcons seem to perform much better. Michael Makarski measured the SLS magnetostats and told me, that these seem to be the best. I believe that, after having some Emails with Igor Levitsky, the developer two years ago. 😉 Unfortunately Alcons and SLS do sell to OEMs only and I couldn't become one.

Cheers, Timo

 

[63781]

One tech question: Where is the best place to connect the nAMPON wire? At the PSU ground?

Have I made a fool of myself connecting this to the signal ground at my XLR input connector?

 

[Bruno Putzeys]

I take it you've connected nAMPON to pin 1 of your XLR. That is fine.

The module has neither signal ground nor power ground. All pins actually marked as GND go straight into the copper plane. Any of those will do.

 

[SimonInd]

Apologies if this has been covered before but I have a couple of UCD400 based monoblocs with +/- 65V linear supplies, can I drop in the N-Core modules or do I need a low voltage supply for the driver (op-amp) stage(s)?

Thanks
Simon

 

[Bruno Putzeys]

You do indeed need the small signal supply, unregulated, 15V and up.

 

[63781]

I take it you've connected nAMPON to pin 1 of your XLR. That is fine.

Yes.

And the shield of the signal cable is connected to pin 1 as well.

 

[Julf]

@Julf, Like all things American, the Christmas lights craze is picking up here as well. Luminous reindeer, the lot.

Unfortunately I am noticing some of it too. I can tell you that a luminous reindeer and sledge on the balcony of an Amsterdam canal house looks somewhat out of place...

The range above 60.5V is headroom needed for the worst-case conditions of no load and mains overvoltage. Of course, if you design your supply for local mains conditions only you could easily get well past 400W.

So here in Amsterdam I should scale the supply voltage down to 50V or so 🙂 (I am forever changing light bulbs, as the old supply network from the 50's is less than stable but nothing gets replaced until it blows up)