Another NXV-500 r2!

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I've been gathering the parts for over six months (buying things as budget allows). I finally had everything I wanted but the case. I wanted to put the heatsinks inside the case, so I had Parmetal make me a custom sized case. It turned out looking a lot bigger in real life than in paper...:eek:

I debated whether to build the amp or rent the case as a small apartment to a graduate student.

But I finally got the case late this week. Work has gotten very busy so this will be a slow build. But here's the photos of the case and the parts.
 

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Hi Anthony! Better late than never... :rolleyes:

Having the Volt One and the extra transformer did make layout a bit harder. I probably should have gone for two Volt Ones as you suggested just for ease of laying things out.

I will keep posting photos of the build.

Thanks for a the great support!
 
I have a layout question!

I'm planning on placing the power supply boards (and volt one) over the toroids, using a diyaudio store amplifier chassis bottom (the thick metal ones). The metal sheet is magnetic (steel, not aluminum). See the photo below.

Is the metal base enough shield to protect the ps boards from being so close to the top of the toroid (where the stray fields would be strongest I think)?

I could place the metal sheet perpendicular to the position in the photo so I can slide the ps boards away from the toroids and only the rectifier portion of the ps boards would be above the toroids. Would this be a better arrangement?

Or the boards are shielded by the metal sheet?

Or is using the steel sheet a bad idea (use aluminum instead)?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 

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Some more progress...

The cnc shop drilled the xlr connectors crooked... I tried fixing the holes but didn't get them completely square, but it lools better. I know it doesn't affect the sound, but I just wanted them to look a bit better.

Put the feet and trafos. Ended adding one more foot to the chassis in the between the three trafos, it's a lot of weight.

Put in the AC controlling boards.

Added the "second floor" for ps boards.
 

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More progress...

I fixed the AC control parts. Had a problem with the HPA-Power-One, so for testing I'm leaving it out of the wiring.

Drilled the "second floor" metal plate and ran trafo wires through the holes.

Fixed the metal base and heatsinks with amp boards, started wiring the power supplies to the amp boards.

Forgot to mention I tested the power supplies and all tested ok (no load output) and I set the Volt-One output to 80v, no load. Will readjust, per Anthony's instructions, after the amp boards are connected.
 

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Amp running...

After completing it and realizing how big it ended up being, if you have the money, it might be easier to build two mono amps. However, the extra cost of going dual mono is not trivial.

In terms of power and its ability to drive my Acoustat 2+2 electrostatic speakers I have no complaints. The amp drives them very well! I drive the speakers to high volume levels without making the amp sound stressed. The bass is solid and well defined, the midrange clear, good presence and very smooth highs. The amp has excellent detail. But my favorite improvement bought about by the amp to my system is in imaging. The sound stage didn't get much wider than it was before, but it has gained depth and most importantly, all the instruments are clearly delineated and have space around them, things just float in space very nicely. Listening to some hires music really brings out the imaging capabilities of the amp (specially at night when all is quiet). Percussive elements (bells, cymbals, etc.) sometimes really do sound like they are in the room. Vocals have also benefited from the added detail. All in all, I'm very happy with the amp.

I used SumR toroids for all three transformers the amp has and I'm very happy with them. They were not cheap but not overly expensive either. They are dead quiet and very well built. I would highly recommend them. The amp itself is also dead quiet. Startup and shut off produce no thumps or noise of any kind. I have not tried using the amp's balanced input, all the listening has been done using the single ended inputs.

Now the caveats... my previous amp was a PS Audio 200c, over 25 years old, and a 250 watt class D amp (with a linear power supply). So I have not compared the amp to anything high end and modern in my system. I will be loaning it out to friends when I travel next year so I'll post their impressions when they give me feed back. However, my system now sounds good enough I don't have the desire to build another amp for a while. The nxv500 sounds great and I just want to enjoy my music for now!

It does need a couple of weeks of burning in. When I first played it I was a bit disappointed, the imaging and sound improvements were there, but not like what they are now. All aspects of the sound have improved as length of usage increases. Of course, it could all in my mind that after a few weeks of listening to the amp I have grown to like more the way it sounds...

Highly recommended!

Thanks Anthony!
 

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Nice review! I agree with most things :D Coming from Hypex UCD400AD amps the improvement was there from the beginning. It only got al little bit better after a while. The soundstage is indeed the big improvement.

A question about your amps. I do not use the NXVolt to feed the front end separate. For the rest I use more or les the same set up as you do: dual mono in one chassis. Did you run the amps without the NXVolt first? How did that sound? Also, why did you not go dual mono for the NXVolt?

I am still very much in doubt about using the NXVolt. When going dual mono the two extra transformers and two NXVolt's just take up a lot of space. I'm not 100% sure all will fit in my chassis. Not to mention the money involved.
 
The soundstage is indeed the big improvement.
Yes, that is the thing I am enjoying the most, specially with hires source material.

Did you run the amps without the NXVolt first?
No, regrettably I have not. But, I'll try it in the future, after I listen long enough to it configured like this and I'll report.

Also, why did you not go dual mono for the NXVolt?
Cost! But I made the box extra big so that in the future I might consider it. But I need to answer your question above first, "is it worth having the NXVolt at all" in my system? I guess if it proves one doesn't improve much it will not be worth the expense of getting two, but if one does improve the sound then two should be better? :)

When going dual mono the two extra transformers and two NXVolt's just take up a lot of space. I'm not 100% sure all will fit in my chassis. Not to mention the money involved.
My feelings exactly. I think my chassis would fit the extra boards, I might have to move the trafos "upstairs" and put all the ps boards below, but I could probably make it work. But as you said, I need to determine if it is worth the extra expense.

BTW, I forgot to mention in the review that Anthony's support is very good. He answers questions quickly and thoroughly and doesn't seem to get tired of customers constantly asking silly questions... :eek:
 
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