They may do the same thing Hypex did with the NC1200, and make the amp builders charge a minimum price for completed amps. Even though the cost to build a stereo amp with them is likely only $100 more, I wouldn’t be surprised if amp builders charge at least $1000 more for an amp using them than the 400’s.
Likely the reason we have seen a rise in mediocre GaN based amp modules being used in so many amps. When the Purifi’s are far superior. Hard to compete with someone making amps in their grammas basement with no overhead when you have a real company with employees to run. So amp manufacturers are taking the route of exploiting the ignorance of audiophiles by telling them GaN is the new holy grail instead. Because measured results tell us nothing of course.
Why a class D should have more issues driving low Ohm loads more than a class A, B or AB (other than the necessary tuning of it’s output LP filter)?
George
There are many markets where sound quality has hardly any real meaning. Because this music, amplified over PA systems, traditionally has no real low end and distortion is a normal part of it. If low end is requested, it has to be "Ump, ump" and loud.
What I want to say, the market for highest quality is very limited.
We audiophile, technical "freaks" discuss amps, but the real world does not care about them. "Normal" consumer just buys a brand. A JBL sub can have any junk amp inside, Jim and Joe buy it, as long as it is heavy enough.
The PA sector is right now renewing the heavy, inefficient amp generation, but not really because of sound issues.
There may come a time, very soon, where amp modules, sold overpriced to DIYS may become more interesting for specialists like Purifi.
If they sell an amp to the industry, they have their profit dictated by the industry, as these sharks know exactly how much the production costs are.
The same part sold in bulk for 30 $ a piece, will net 200$ or more from end users, this means any $ over 30 bucks is pure profit. Other way round, you have to sell a box full of amps to the industry, to get the profit of just one DIYS module sold to an idiot like me and you.
As long as bulk sales run well, you can be arrogant. If the market gets saturated, a little here and there leaking out may be the way to pay the rent and keep the door open.
What I want to say, the market for highest quality is very limited.
We audiophile, technical "freaks" discuss amps, but the real world does not care about them. "Normal" consumer just buys a brand. A JBL sub can have any junk amp inside, Jim and Joe buy it, as long as it is heavy enough.
The PA sector is right now renewing the heavy, inefficient amp generation, but not really because of sound issues.
There may come a time, very soon, where amp modules, sold overpriced to DIYS may become more interesting for specialists like Purifi.
If they sell an amp to the industry, they have their profit dictated by the industry, as these sharks know exactly how much the production costs are.
The same part sold in bulk for 30 $ a piece, will net 200$ or more from end users, this means any $ over 30 bucks is pure profit. Other way round, you have to sell a box full of amps to the industry, to get the profit of just one DIYS module sold to an idiot like me and you.
As long as bulk sales run well, you can be arrogant. If the market gets saturated, a little here and there leaking out may be the way to pay the rent and keep the door open.
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Is this how "marketing" or branding is done?
from VTV page (bolded by me)
"As important, the sound is outstanding, with lots of headroom on peaks, wide and transparent soundstage and solid well-defined bass, improved over the 1ET400A.
Working closely with Sparkos Labs, we developed our VTV Purifi Pure Sound buffer to power the new Purifi module. You can use all of our available discrete OPAMPS in our buffer to tailor the sound. "
from VTV page (bolded by me)
"As important, the sound is outstanding, with lots of headroom on peaks, wide and transparent soundstage and solid well-defined bass, improved over the 1ET400A.
Working closely with Sparkos Labs, we developed our VTV Purifi Pure Sound buffer to power the new Purifi module. You can use all of our available discrete OPAMPS in our buffer to tailor the sound. "
From what I've seen/witnessed on the test bench, better continuous current delivery into low impedances.
The "better" big complimentary "bi-polar output" linear amps (A-A/B) you mention, never have too much trouble driving speakers like the Wilson Alexia that can dip to below 1ohm (EPDR), and they can usually give a good try at doubling wattage down to those sorts of impedances.
Also if you have 1-2ohm loads up in the hf, D class have faster rising distortion, and many turn off into things like ML ESL's.
To me class-D's like to see a steady 3-6ohm loading. The Belcanto Ref 600 monoblocks (NC500) loved the Raahl ribbon 2 way when I heard them, nice even 3-4ohm load, that's what made me make a pair with NC500 modules, but with large linear supplies, and no buffer board, as my discrete R2R has 8v 10ohm balanced output fine for going direct into the NC500's
Cheers George
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All class D amps can deliver into any load. Even 1/4 ohm. You just can’t exceed the rated current limit. Otherwise the current limiter will kick in and politely cut out the amp module. For the 1ET400A, this current limiter is set at 25A, for the new module it’s set at 40A. As long as you don’t draw enough current to trigger the limiter with the 400, it’s the better module for your application. You’ll know if this happens because the amp will cut out.
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Believe what you want, to me they can't deliver continuous current without limit or sagging into low impedance loads, like say amps like Gryphon, Krell, D'Agostino etc etc etc
But this new Purifi 1ET7040SA from Bruno "seems" to buck that trend with almost doubling from 8ohm to 4ohm to 2ohm wattages, "if" you can believe the specs.
Cheers George
But this new Purifi 1ET7040SA from Bruno "seems" to buck that trend with almost doubling from 8ohm to 4ohm to 2ohm wattages, "if" you can believe the specs.
Cheers George
You’re confusing modern class D amps with old class A and AB amps from yesteryear. This amp is designed this way because it’s designed for parallel 4 ohm active sub duty. There’s absolutely no sagging into any load before the current limiter is triggered with these amps. Bruno Putzeys and Lars Risbo would tell you the exact same thing.
The Hypex NC1200 is a 38A class D module. But it’s 4 ohm power rating is 700w, rather than than 500w for the 40a 1ET7040SA. They tuned it that way because the intention for the amp was to power typical passive speakers. But the intention for this module is to power parallel 4 ohm subs. Which is why they designed it this way instead.
The Hypex NC1200 is a 38A class D module. But it’s 4 ohm power rating is 700w, rather than than 500w for the 40a 1ET7040SA. They tuned it that way because the intention for the amp was to power typical passive speakers. But the intention for this module is to power parallel 4 ohm subs. Which is why they designed it this way instead.
I know your happy with this amp. But it measures worse than the 400 module. Because of that the only reason to choose the more powerful one over the 400 would be if you would hit the current limiter with the 400’s and your speakers. But unless you have extremely inefficient speakers, or it’s a pro sound application where very high SPL’s are required, the 400 is the better choice.
The higher you go up in power, the worse the mosfets perform.
The higher you go up in power, the worse the mosfets perform.
You mentioned “shelving off and running out of steam” which isn’t something that happens with any of these amps. Then the video you shared is riddled with misinformation. Claiming the THD+N is 5dB better than the 400. When in reality it’s 8dB worse at 1, 10 and 100w with a 4ohm load @1khz. THD+N drops even further to only -95dB with a 2 ohm load at 1w.
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The module is great for its intended purpose. Powering subs. Other than that they make a great module for midbasses, mids and tweeters. The 400. But I’m assuming the next module we will see is a 100w tweeter amp. And perhaps their upcoming supply will have a hanger off of it to power one of them.
doubtful. it just appears to be their style. their IET400 amps have not tested well considering on ASR and the dual mono build tested there made a real mess of these clean amps.
the amp modules are so good the overall measurement is still very good, but not because they did a good job; it could/should have been better given the parts they threw at it and there are issues that are clearly caused by bad layout. It does not appear to be their strong point. funnily enough the version they do with a single PSU is a cleaner layout and cheaper than the dual mono.
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