I'm trying to build a very high quality sub for music mostly . Oddly, it seems to me anyway, the plate amps seems to about $200. People spend $1000's on good amps, Is $200 enough to get high quality bass? What am I missing?
A plate amp with extras could also cut the bass to your mains. It could cross to your woofer. It could equalise your box to change the effective size. (From each of the threads you are currently exploring.)
I have not seen a plate amp that can do this. Some now have DSP's built in. Do you think they can do this while attached to back of bass box??
Class AB or D. I know of many for sale 100-150$. I researched them to build my own. Don't buy Dayton.
If I did not build , I'd buy an APEX JR. KRK 250W unit .
If I did not build , I'd buy an APEX JR. KRK 250W unit .
are you saying a $100 sub amp is good enough for very high quality bass??? Whats wrong with Dayton?
In one word, poof.
While not anywhere near as bad as those dreaded Polk sub amps, they are a close second. They put out a reasonable real power, but still aren’t reliable long term.
It’s not hard or expensive to make “quality bass” - in terms of SQ. But you get what you pay for in terms of real watts (loudness) and reliability.
Troels uses Hypex plate amps in his most complex builds.
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Ellipticor-A50-mkII.htm
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/TL-2_FA501.htm
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Ellipticor-A50-mkII.htm
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/TL-2_FA501.htm
Even Dayton make powerful expensive plate amps with dsp...
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...800W-2-Channel-with-DSP-and-Bluetooth-300-798
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...W-Subwoofer-Plate-Amplifier-with-DSP-300-8012
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...800W-2-Channel-with-DSP-and-Bluetooth-300-798
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...W-Subwoofer-Plate-Amplifier-with-DSP-300-8012
Depending in Watts needed, plate amps start about $5 here, and can go up to about $60, without the power supply. That uses 80N80 Mosfets, the expensive one.
Higher output integrated amps are available as well.
I think you can use an old car amp.
It can be done, but you have not mentioned the intended driver, so it is a little difficult to give a response, except in general terms.
Also, if you run them at high levels, heat build up can be an issue, so you can think of an external housing with ventilation, OR huge heat sinks outside the cabinet OR an entirely separate unit.
Please bear this in mind, amps do need to dissipate the heat.
Higher output integrated amps are available as well.
I think you can use an old car amp.
It can be done, but you have not mentioned the intended driver, so it is a little difficult to give a response, except in general terms.
Also, if you run them at high levels, heat build up can be an issue, so you can think of an external housing with ventilation, OR huge heat sinks outside the cabinet OR an entirely separate unit.
Please bear this in mind, amps do need to dissipate the heat.
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Raw power is cheap and a power PCB plus a power supply are "simple" and "generic", which increases competition (many can manufacture them) which lowers costs.
Now if you add trinkets, advertising, "mojo", fancy cabinets, polished hardwood enclosures, etc. , prices can go through the roof .... while actually not increasing sound quality.
Gainclones proved impressive amps could be built around "humble" chipamps, sporting quality specs 60-70s Designers would have murdered for.
Enough RMS power, less than 1% distortion and 20Hz to 20kHz bandwidth are good enough parameters and easy to meet.
Many amps are very overpriced, but a 100€/$ amp is not the best (technically) arround, certainly not on plate amps. The best plate amps i know are Hypex Fusion amps that use NCore amp systems, thos are relative old designs, but only surpassed by other amps of the same designer (Purifi) or based on that design (Hypex NCore X), both systems that don't exist in plate amp form. If you want colourartion, you may need other types of amps that cost a little bit more, but those are not better, just different (and subjective maybe better).
But plate amps in general suffer from being in a box that gives a lot of vibrations (due to the bass sound) and so hardly live long. That's why i prefer not to use them and keep the amps outboard.
But plate amps in general suffer from being in a box that gives a lot of vibrations (due to the bass sound) and so hardly live long. That's why i prefer not to use them and keep the amps outboard.
There is very little nuance or finesse in the lower frequencies. 'Quality' is fairly low in the pecking order. Plate amps are required to be robust and reliable with good overhead. Listen to a sub on its own - no amount of money will make those growls and rumbles sound pretty.
Plate amps should be indestructible and soldier on when an over-extended driver downs tools and offers only a 2ohm resistance.
Plate amps should be indestructible and soldier on when an over-extended driver downs tools and offers only a 2ohm resistance.
Plate amps are not reliable due to a combination of cheap build and rugged environment. I have a pair of AV123 Rocket Onyx 10" subs. Three of the original plate amps failed and two Dayton SPA250 replacements also failed. For several years I've used a Crown stereo amp with outboard crossover. No more trouble and better sound, especially with my current miniDSP, which has far more sophisticated DSP for room and system corrections.
I assembled it on a piece of aluminum section
Too loud for use as a TV monitor, driving a single 4 inch speaker near the sofa.
Like above, I think it is about 2W per channel at 12V.
Very common in FM radios here, they use only one channel, as most have only one speaker.
Now I am going to add RCA inputs, a volume control, power indicator, and wire it for stereo.
A populated board with a single 2030 class chip is about $1.25 here, and the most expensive ones are about $ 60 here, as posted earlier in Post #11.
OP has not provided details of speaker or project yet, we are at a loss for words...
Too loud for use as a TV monitor, driving a single 4 inch speaker near the sofa.
Like above, I think it is about 2W per channel at 12V.
Very common in FM radios here, they use only one channel, as most have only one speaker.
Now I am going to add RCA inputs, a volume control, power indicator, and wire it for stereo.
A populated board with a single 2030 class chip is about $1.25 here, and the most expensive ones are about $ 60 here, as posted earlier in Post #11.
OP has not provided details of speaker or project yet, we are at a loss for words...
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