nAMPON, pin 3 of J9. You don't need to disconnect the amp from power, just need to disconnect nAMPON from ground to turn the amps off.
Hi guys. I'm thinking of ordering a pair of NC400 modules and I'm struggling with some decisions...
- Should I go for the Hypex switch mode power supply or save some import duty money and build / buy something locally in Canada?
- Should I go for Monoblocks or just a stereo amp?
A pair of monoblocks would cost me around $1200 CDN + import duties + other stuff IE Chassis and I'm not sure I want to shell out that much for amps, when I've never heard meaningful differences between good amps.
I don't want to mess up as I've never done a DIY amp before, but I reallly want to go Ncore
- Should I go for the Hypex switch mode power supply or save some import duty money and build / buy something locally in Canada?
- Should I go for Monoblocks or just a stereo amp?
A pair of monoblocks would cost me around $1200 CDN + import duties + other stuff IE Chassis and I'm not sure I want to shell out that much for amps, when I've never heard meaningful differences between good amps.
I don't want to mess up as I've never done a DIY amp before, but I reallly want to go Ncore
Hi guys. I'm thinking of ordering a pair of NC400 modules and I'm struggling with some decisions...
- Should I go for the Hypex switch mode power supply or save some import duty money and build / buy something locally in Canada?
- Should I go for Monoblocks or just a stereo amp?
A pair of monoblocks would cost me around CDN + import duties + other stuff IE Chassis and I'm not sure I want to shell out that much for amps, when I've never heard meaningful differences between good amps.
I don't want to mess up as I've never done a DIY amp before, but I reallly want to go Ncore
Considering that the major cost is the modules themselves a single SMPS isn't that much to add, why not go with safety first and buy their SMPS? And it obviously works great with the modules so you don't have to worry about compatibility =)
This is a generic NCore thread so I will post my question here:
I have a bi-amped UcD system with a "servo" controller on the low side. I don't "just" want to replace the UcD's with NCores I want to make a leap forward and not an incremental step.
So my question (finally) is:
1. Will Hypex make an NCore 50 or 100 (for tweeter only) for DIY use?
2. What would the chances of getting a DSP board powerful enough to do 3 way XO, digital servo simulation AND room correction in "mono" boards to put in active speakers?
**edit:**
3. Will they make an SMPS that can power two NCores and a DSP?
And I LOVE my UcD's so a leap forward like this would really be something.
I have a bi-amped UcD system with a "servo" controller on the low side. I don't "just" want to replace the UcD's with NCores I want to make a leap forward and not an incremental step.
So my question (finally) is:
1. Will Hypex make an NCore 50 or 100 (for tweeter only) for DIY use?
2. What would the chances of getting a DSP board powerful enough to do 3 way XO, digital servo simulation AND room correction in "mono" boards to put in active speakers?
**edit:**
3. Will they make an SMPS that can power two NCores and a DSP?
And I LOVE my UcD's so a leap forward like this would really be something.
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RockLeeEV: The Hypex SMPS seems to work well enough that Hypex hasn't developed a linear supply (Bruno says he can't hear a difference). There have been some failed attempts on this forum to use other PSUs with the nCores. Check what the Canada Customs duty is on the SMPS and I think you will find that it is very small. What is you time worth? I think it will be much easier to just buy the complete kit from Hypex, which is really easy to assemble, than it will be to carve your own path.
It's been discussed at some length earlier in this thread and there aren't really any heat issues by using an enclosed case. Read the notes in the data sheet. If you want to add some ventilation then feel free, but there's no need to and there's no problem if you don't
The power supply is powered up all the time the SMPS standby line is open circuit. You need to provide your own control circuit(s) if you want to take the amp or smps in/out of standby at any time. The smps doesn't know anything about the input signal to the amp so wouldn't know when to to take the amp in or out of standby.
nampon doen't actually turn the amps off - it mutes/disables them; they're still consuming power
Maybe my expectations of the heat created by a Class-D amplifier were wrong. They get as hot and even hotter than my Lehmann Linear Headphone Amp which I am using as a preamp right now. And the Lehmann is running in pure Class A which is supposed to be hotter than A/B of course. My Musical Fidelity X-150 integrated amp albeit its small size never created nearly as much heat as the Ncores.
I am considering using a power switch because taking out the power line out of the rear sockets all the time is kind of annoying. I think that leaving them powered up 24 hours a day will probably diminish the life expectancy of some of the electronic parts inside...
As stated, the best way to do that is to either use the SMPS standby line to switch the power supply to standby, or nAMPON to put the amp(s) into standby.
What is gained by using standby (either p. supply or NC400) in stead of using a power switch (taking into consideration that I use valve pre that needs som warmup time before delivering the goods)?
Regards
Kjartan
Pretty much just avoiding the rather brutal switch-on/switch-off transient, plus the fact that you can use a low-voltage, low-current switch, giving you more choice.
Power on transient does not exist since there is delay before the amps turn on. Power off transient does not seem to exist either. I have never heard any kind of sound from the speakers during powering off my nCores. This is with smps600+nc400. However, i have heard those power on/off transients with some other amps.
This leaves me wondering what kind of brutal transients we are talking about
?Is a single SMPS600 enough for a pair of NC400s? I guess I just don't want compromised dynamics, especially since my speakers are only around 84db/w/m hanging around 4 ohm.
Aren't those actually around ~79db/w @ 2.5 ohm or 84db/2.83v whereas my Philharmonic 2s are 84db/w @ 4 ohm or 87db/2.83v
Your speakers are way more difficult to drive than mine, which sound pretty good even with my 100wpc Marantz amp. I'm guessing the single SMPS600 might be enough but I don't want to get upgraditis either. I just want some opinions
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Power on transient does not exist since there is delay before the amps turn on. Power off transient does not seem to exist either. I have never heard any kind of sound from the speakers during powering off my nCores. This is with smps600+nc400. However, i have heard those power on/off transients with some other amps.
This leaves me wondering what kind of brutal transients we are talking about
The ones hitting the SMPS if it's power feed is switched on/off. The fact that the SMPS does a soft start/shutdown protects the amp(s) and speakers, but the SMPS itself still gets a brutal dose of electrons without any warning
The SMPS is probably so well designed that switching the primary power feed on/off repeatedly won't harm it, but I just feel it is unnecessary to subject it to that brutal treatment when there is a dedicated standby control available....
Who would turn their amp on and off continuously like playing with a light switch? And if someone would actually dumb enough to do it, what would it take to make the person to understand to put the amp into standby mode before flipping the switch to "off" position?
I think better solution is to put a proper on/off switch to back of the amp, so the "retarded" can't reach it
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