You know mate actually all top notch active monitors I know have Class D MOSFET, for example the ATC 150 monitors(which sounds super precise) ... which costs like a little housecould you please tell me why they are using this type of amp ?? I am really confused.
ATC uses class AB amps which are heavily biased so that they run in class A until they exceed 2/3 of rated output.
All the tripath hiss ?
Not all of them hiss, but most do. Most amps in general hiss and it is common. My Tripath amp is quiet after upgrading to a regulated SMPS specially designed for audio, with its own enclosure. The SMPS cost more than the amp.
Hypex UcD amps are as quiet as you would get for the price. However, they are over your budget. So are the Ncores. And those amps are not as brutal sounding as Tripath amps, Hypex amps are warmer and the treble is more polite.
barefoot monitors are great , never worked with them but i heard they r great monitors but expensive
most of the good amps are as flat and honest as you expect but again if you ask me its mostly up to speakers ! I don think the most expensive studio monitors have a more than a 1000 dollars amp or maybe 2000$ !!! the rest of price goes for drivers and mostlyyy for designing the monitors !
you didnt mention that what kind of monitor you use ,i mean 2 ways 3 ways or it s a full range and do you want bi amping or not , anyway here are some links i found during my searches :
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/173462-studio-reference-amplifier.html (there s a 50w and a 200w version)
Toshiba 2sc5200 mosfet amplifier 2sk1058 2sk2221 irfp9240 2sa970 2n5401 bd139 LM3886
Class A Power Amplifier PCB w/parts,ref Pass Alpha 5 /M-10
Bal Class A Power amplifier PCB w/parts, ref M Levinson No 20.5 80W/ch /A-700
Power Amplifier Ref Musical Stereo Power Amplifier Kit Ref Musical Fidelity X-A50,50W*2
NAP 140C Amplifier Clone Kit Board Ref NAIM,2SA3854/2SC3858 - HifiWow
ExtremA, a reference class-A DIY amplifier. - Introduction (it s cost around 900$! but if i had the money it would be my first choice)
Power Amplifier PCB w/parts,ref Jeff Rowland 9 /M-9
and the list goes on and on ...
keep in mind that if you wanna go clean you need a soft start circuit and a speaker protection circuit ,and you need a very good psu as well
that s not bad but it s not a huge high-end thing ! nothing special about that , you can not compare it to any of those links that i sent ...
if you choose your drivers right and and design a good enclosure for that and do a good job on amps and other stuffs with less than a 1000$ you can build a monitor that will sound better that most of the monitors that costs you more than a couple thousands dollars ...
and one last thing I think you may need a balanced to unbalanced converter and a good preamp but first choose your amp and then ask about that from guys
Yups nearfield monitoring, 15 Watts RMS is plenty loud , best mixing engineering is done at whisper levels
This chaos is beautiful and fun, reflects exactly like the market wants it to be. haha! Fortunately, many companies have not been able to put the class D "state of the art" in the driver, then use ab class on drivers. yet they all say they have the super class D amplifier in a home.
state of the art but with smps standard, as if it was not important. people reading some post, I think long ago laughter!
all is good .. hehe np.
you asked a 15w rms amp to remember.
Not a class D amp but something to look at is the Behringer A500. It's cheap quite sturdy (besides from it's XLR connectors) and sounds good, with powercube measurements to back it up. A owned a pair for years and one is still powering my sub for me..
Behringer: REFERENCE AMPLIFIER A500
You should take those RMS power numbers with a grain of salt tough
Behringer: REFERENCE AMPLIFIER A500
You should take those RMS power numbers with a grain of salt tough
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There are no stupid questions!
I think all amps should be noise free and silent, maybe in PA systems a bit less is acceptable (high gain)?
with a tight budget I don think it s worth it to build a low watt reference class diy amp for a mono channel , you gonna need to spend a few hundred dollars just on a good psu , and if the budget is tight it s not gonna sound as good as your barefoot monitors , unless the speaker itself is a very highend and accurate driver .
Is not a problem of gain, if we refer to a power amp.
the problem is, if the power is bandswitch in terms of 40-80kHz, everything is simple and a good nfb fix everything.
If you want a high power bandswitch, everything is complicated, we start from the difficulties of semiconductor chosen, and end up with professional power supply section. the whole project becomes complex. but it is precisely this that gives value to the amplifier.
Maybe some people think, which is cheaper and easier to say. "this amplifier is professional .."
the problem is, if the power is bandswitch in terms of 40-80kHz, everything is simple and a good nfb fix everything.
If you want a high power bandswitch, everything is complicated, we start from the difficulties of semiconductor chosen, and end up with professional power supply section. the whole project becomes complex. but it is precisely this that gives value to the amplifier.
Maybe some people think, which is cheaper and easier to say. "this amplifier is professional .."
The amp ATC uses in the SCM200 model and up costs £5000 (US$ 8000) per channel so you'll need 2 for stereo. It weighs 40kg or 90lb.
Quested Audio uses 2 re-badged MC2 Audio amps costing $3500 and $5500 respectively. They also use XTA based digital crossovers costing around £2000.
PMC uses standard Bryston amps for their larger monitors. The smaller ones use a Bryston amp pack or class D (previously Flying Mole, nowadays Hypex from what I heard).
A user said the the Hypex sound polite in the high frequencies, is it true ? :O
Do you know what amp is used in the ATC 150 ?? please ?
A user said the the Hypex sound polite in the high frequencies, is it true ? :O
Do you know what amp is used in the ATC 150 ?? please ?
I never used Hypex amps, my 4way active home speakers use 3 MC2 Audio amps (MC750, MC450, T500) and one Omniphonics for the supertweeter.
I bought all these s/h for between £25 and £350 each.
The ATC 150 uses a version of their P6 like this:
Multi Channel Power Amps Atc P6 | hifix.co.uk
But obviously without the rather expensive machined cabinet.
$8k for a single channel amp?´16k for a stereo unit? huh? I 'd be really interested in seeing that amp's bill of material. Must include something like huge heatsinks of pure silver or the like?!
thanks for correct infos
I never thought they use these stuffs for a near field monitors , maybe for mid field wall monitors ,and one thing else from what i saw in most of mid class monitors (around 1000-1500$) the lm3886t is very common and in most of them the cost of amps is about 200 to 300$ , and the most expensive monitor from Quested Audio is around 6000$ so I don think they put a 3500$ amp and a 2000$ crossover in a 6000$ monitor or they have more expensive line that i don know about .
atc 150 is around 17000$ u sure they use a 15000 euro amp in it ?!
The SCM200 and 300 are 3way actives with twin woofers so the amp for one channel contains 4 individual amplifiers: 2x 275W for bass, one 200W for mids and one 100W for the tweeter plus the crossover and whatever they do to time align the drivers.
As I said before: To the best of my knowledge they are Class AB jobs, biased that they run in Class A until they exceed two thirds of the rated output.
thanks for correct infos
and one thing else from what i saw in most of mid class monitors (around 1000-1500$) the lm3886t is very common and in most of them the cost of amps is about 200 to 300$ , and the most expensive monitor from Quested Audio is around 6000$ so I don think they put a 3500$ amp and a 2000$ crossover in a 6000$ monitor or they have more expensive line that i don know about .
atc 150 is around 17000$ u sure they use a 15000 euro amp in it ?!
I thought we were talking monitors in general. The things I'm on about are main monitors ie a bit on the large side.;-)
I don't think the most expensive Quested Audio monitor is quite as cheap as you think:
Quested HM415 - Active - Single - Vintage King Audio
Notice that the price is for a single speaker!
But it does include 3 stereo power amps and the crossover.
As for the ATC $15000 amp: The amp is stereo (six individual amps), each SCM150 contains half of that and without the machined aluminium enclosure which I suspect is very expensive by itself.
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If I needed a 15-30w class amp for myself, I'd build up a class A design... Even an old JLH in class A will be quite excellent.
Speed is a relative thing. Since most audio is bandwidth limited @~20kHz the fact is that most amps are faster than the highest slope audio signal that they will see. (good thing, that)
I am not convinced (although I am open to my mind being changed) that Class D is *yet* as good as the better linear amplifiers. It is certainly small, lightweight and very useful when those are factors.
But in fact it might make sense to build or acquire a standard tube amp for that matter... the power being low.
It all depends on whether you are buying or building and what resources you have.
Also, the sensation of "harshness" is going to depend a whole lot on what your signal chain before the amp is doing, and again what the speaker is doing. Both are sources of distortions that can confound what you hear WRT what you think the amp is doing or not doing.
But quite frankly, unless you build it, at your price point it will be very difficult to get a truly great performing amp, even at low power...
_-_-bear
Speed is a relative thing. Since most audio is bandwidth limited @~20kHz the fact is that most amps are faster than the highest slope audio signal that they will see. (good thing, that)
I am not convinced (although I am open to my mind being changed) that Class D is *yet* as good as the better linear amplifiers. It is certainly small, lightweight and very useful when those are factors.
But in fact it might make sense to build or acquire a standard tube amp for that matter... the power being low.
It all depends on whether you are buying or building and what resources you have.
Also, the sensation of "harshness" is going to depend a whole lot on what your signal chain before the amp is doing, and again what the speaker is doing. Both are sources of distortions that can confound what you hear WRT what you think the amp is doing or not doing.
But quite frankly, unless you build it, at your price point it will be very difficult to get a truly great performing amp, even at low power...
_-_-bear
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