Active UcD, Adire & Usher design.

[ben_scammell]

Active UcD, Adire & Usher design.

I hope this is not completely posted in the wrong section(s)!

I am looking to build a pair of 2-way active speakers starting in the new year. These will be the learning ground for 5 active MTM's using the same drivers.

I have so far copied Adire on driver choice (Adire Audio Extremis 6.8 and Usher 9950), and have some rough ideas on enclosure type and size.

I intend to "actively" power these using Hypex UcD modules.

I am thinking about two UcD180 modules driven from one PSU.

Now I fall firmly into the category of "just enough knowledge to be a danger to myself" when it some to all of this so I am looking for advice. I am competent electrically (I have made bad active crossovers on protoboard which worked) and practically (I can make the cabinets and understand the cooling requirements) but I am certainly not knowleable.

Should I go for the uprated op-amps? Do I need the HG psu, or will the ST psu be ok? Or infact how would I correctly work out the power requirements of each amp and therefore the total requirement?

How am I going to do the active crossover, or rather who am I going to pay to design it for me, and then make it! Hypex/Bruno?

Does anybody have any advice regarding using these modules in this sort of setup that I should note!

Thanks in advance.

Ben Scammell
ben@scammell.com

 

[SSassen]

Ben,

One word: overkill! You'd be perfectly happy with two LM3886's, a passive correction network at the speaker terminals (Zobel and RLC) and a properly designed active crossover. If you positively need more power in the low end you could always add a subwoofer, that will work better with a UcD180 due to the higher power requirements, or just pick up a Hypex subwoofer plate-amp

Best regards,

Sander Sassen
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com

 

[ghemink]

Ben,

One word: overkill! You'd be perfectly happy with two LM3886's, a passive correction network at the speaker terminals (Zobel and RLC) and a properly designed active crossover. If you positively need more power in the low end you could always add a subwoofer, that will work better with a UcD180 due to the higher power requirements, or just pick up a Hypex subwoofer plate-amp

Best regards,

Sander Sassen
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com

Hi Sander, Ben,

It maybe overkill from a required amount of power point of view (I agree) but if the sonic performance is considered, likely UcD180 outperforms an LM3886 chip, although I have never listened to the LM3886. Actually my system is an active 3-way using UcD amps for each driver, sounds great and yes, far too much power available for the tweeter but it does not hurt. Will be expensive though if you need to build 5 speakers.

I would use the hypex supplies the HG ones if cost is no point, many people report that the HG supply sounds good. For an active filter there are several solutions on the market already, so no need to have one designed from the ground up. I would expect that Hypex would come out with a total solution as well at some stage (2 or 3 amps on one board with active filters on board) for use in active speakers.

Best regards

Gertjan

 

[ben_scammell]

Any more help / comments out there?

 

[Leeuwarden]

Go for the AD version. It is a lot better than the ST version.