Amplifiers based on Hypex/Purifi and maybe Pascal

[Valhalla]

Hello guys,
Actually I'm submitting this thread to use the wisdom of the crowd and hear the ideas about designing and building amplifiers based on Hypex/Purifi and possibly Pascal modules. For now, we are focusing on Hypex NC252MP to see how it will turn out. Afterwards we will work on nc1200 and NC502MP and NC500. It's been about seven or eight year we are OEM customer of Hypex, and we have built a dozen models based on Hypex for our domestic market but we many consider building some models for overseas markets as our currency value against USD has dropped significantly, so it will be worthwhile for a manufacturer to sell the product and receive USD and the buyer will also pay less because of lower manufacturing cost. We tend to build the chassis out of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy billet. Here are some models we have built so far, although they might not be perfect and that's why I'm looking for opinions here to revise the designs for a better product.

Spoiler: NC500 amp

this is the model based on NC500OEM (and DLCP and DAC/preamp):

Spoiler: NC1200 amp

This is the monobloc model we have build based on Hypex NC1200:

We usually hard-anodize aluminum after machining, and it will be anti-scratch, although it will decrease thermal conductivity a little.
We thought we may be able to build a stereo amplifier based on Hypex NC252MP with single piece aluminum body for less than 500 bucks and then try other models like nc1200 and nc500 and Purifi afterwards. This is the concept for now. It's a 200mm x 200mm x 58mm. We try to keep the appearance simple and minimalist. Modules will be mount up-side-down on the top of the chassis so whole the aluminum body will act as a big heat sink:


There will be some ventilation slots on the bottom door so the air will get through it and the hot air will exit out of another slot on the rear wall:


For now, we want to make sure that the ventilation is adequate. Any idea for a better product is much appreciated. Hopefully we can offer the product for about 500USD (NC252MP) after the final samples are manufactured. I think this would be an unbeatable price tag considering the serious machining and material we are putting in this. This is possible because of low labor wage/energy cost/tax we have here in Iran and probably this couldn't be done elsewhere (well except China).

 

[Valhalla]

I found some very old pictures of one of the earliest models of power amplifiers we built based on NC500. I can't exactly remember the date, but it should be sometime around 2012-2013. This was some serious +20hours aluminum machining shaving~35 kg billet to a 17-18 kg final chassis. The appearance was inspired by some kinda dinosaur!

it was just crazy.

 

[Valhalla]

I doubt I've created the thread in the proper section.

 

[Gorgonzola]

Congrats. Using machined aluminum billets as amplifier cases can certainly produce a gorgeous result and probably a very effective one with regards to heat dissipation and EMI isolation. OTOH, maybe it's costly over-kill. Nice that you can make them cheaper in Iran.

 

[bogart]

I doubt I've created the thread in the proper section.

Arash, it probably should be in Desperate Dealers (@AdamG247 can probably help move it?). You did do it yourself, but it does seem to be commercially oriented.

For curiosity, do you have barriers to commerce with the US? The favorable currency does help you, but I wonder about import issues.

I agree with @Gorganzola that the cases end up being quite striking from using machined billet. Are you able to recapture and recycle the removed material? As lovely as the results are, I would hesitate to order one due to guilty feelings about the material used. Particularly since these modules run fairly cool, total-unit heatsinks are a pretty big material investment. I'd love to see a compromise design where you produce a cool sculpted faceplate, or a partial chassis that'd reduce shipping weight AND increase material efficiency. Still take advantage of the cool CNC capabilities, but not the full unit.

 

[AdamG]

I doubt I've created the thread in the proper section.

Hi Arash,

When you first asked where to post this, I thought this was a DIY project. If you are just building these for yourself and don’t intend to sell them, this is the correct sub-forum. However, if your ultimate goal is to build these Amps to sell, then this is not the correct section? Please advise.

If you want to sell the amp builds here. You need to read this section that applies to Dealers/Builders/Manufacturers:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...es-for-audio-dealers-and-manufacturers.18155/

Please don’t forget to send @amirm a PM with the appropriate information as outlined in the above link. Thank you.

 

[Valhalla]

Congrats. Using machined aluminum billets as amplifier cases can certainly produce a gorgeous result and probably a very effective one with regards to heat dissipation and EMI isolation. OTOH, maybe it's costly over-kill. Nice that you can make them cheaper in Iran.

Thanks for your kind words.

 

[Valhalla]

Arash, it probably should be in Desperate Dealers (@AdamG247 can probably help move it?). You did do it yourself, but it does seem to be commercially oriented.

For curiosity, do you have barriers to commerce with the US? The favorable currency does help you, but I wonder about import issues.

I agree with @Gorganzola that the cases end up being quite striking from using machined billet. Are you able to recapture and recycle the removed material? As lovely as the results are, I would hesitate to order one due to guilty feelings about the material used. Particularly since these modules run fairly cool, total-unit heatsinks are a pretty big material investment. I'd love to see a compromise design where you produce a cool sculpted faceplate, or a partial chassis that'd reduce shipping weight AND increase material efficiency. Still take advantage of the cool CNC capabilities, but not the full unit.

Thanks for the explanation. I think I will keep the thread in DIY section for now till the final product is ready and then go for commercial dealers area.
Actually we can build such solid bodies even cheaper using 1000 series aluminum alloy, but that grade lacks the uniformity and has porosity so that's why we use 6061-T6 grade. The chips and shavings will be recycled, and we sell them for 1/5 of the alloy price.
There are countless manufacturers worldwide using chassis using aluminum sheets (not billet) so there is no point for us to manufacture such products.

 

[Valhalla]

Hi Arash,

When you first asked where to post this, I thought this was a DIY project. If you are just building these for yourself and don’t intend to sell them, this is the correct sub-forum. However, if your ultimate goal is to build these Amps to sell, then this is not the correct section? Please advise.

If you want to sell the amp builds here. You need to read this section that applies to Dealers/Builders/Manufacturers:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...es-for-audio-dealers-and-manufacturers.18155/

Please don’t forget to send @amirm a PM with the appropriate information as outlined in the above link. Thank you.

Thank you. I think for now I'll keep the thread here and when the final product is ready I'll go for the commercial section.

 

[Bsinger]

Send a unit to Amir

 

[Astrozombie]

Interesting, looks like the components are sectioned off to avoid interference? Just made me realize most manufacturers don't bother even doing that...........they just plop it down in the box. Even a certain Colorado company that can charge $15,000 for an amplifier

 

[JSmith]

when the final product is ready

Any news? Interested...



JSmith

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Arash. I would like to see you do a Purifi design, preferable one using multiple 1ET400A's together with Neurochrome buffers. I'd like to see 3, 4, and 5 channel amplifiers with speakon outputs wired so as to be bridgeable and hypex and possibly conventional power suppies.

Things like milling a solid billet of aluminum will only add cost, and not performance. However, if milling a custom order out of a solid billet of platinum will ensure your operation is well capitalized, consider doing an email to Mr Bezos.

 

[Valhalla]

Send a unit to Amir

Sure why not! It would be a one-way trip from Iran to US but that would be no problem. I'll talk to Amir about it in due time.

 

[kevinh]

Beautiful Work.

 

[Valhalla]

Interesting, looks like the components are sectioned off to avoid interference? Just made me realize most manufacturers don't bother even doing that...........they just plop it down in the box. Even a certain Colorado company that can charge $15,000 for an amplifier

That much of isolation probably will be advantageous from noise interference point of view. When we are machining a single piece billet, so why not keep some of the material that might have some benefits.

 

[Valhalla]

Any news? Interested...
JSmith

Actually, we have been working on it. We decided to use Hypex NC252MP for the first batch. We will have a ventilation slot at the rear side of the chassis and there will be another slot on the front side of the bottom plate, so the fresh air will flow from bottom/front to rear/top. Hopefully this will do the job. This is the final CAD design:



Aluminum billets were cut to the length. Of course some centimeters bigger than final model so we will shave all sides of the cube and there won't be any raw and dirty surface at the end. First we machined one side of the billets to have a reference surface and drilled four M10 holes to use them to tighten the block to the fixture. All these four holes will be gone when machining the inside of the chassis:



all blocks ready:


We milled the fixture from steel with the same holes through it:


and outer of the chassis was also milled:


Before and after:


Then the inside:


and then the rear panel:


That's it for now. We have to sand and polish the chassis and then go for final finish which will be color anodizing/hard anodizing or mate or glossy furnace colors.

 

[JSmith]

That's it for now.

This is good... thanks for posting.



JSmith

 

[Valhalla]

Arash. I would like to see you do a Purifi design, preferable one using multiple 1ET400A's together with Neurochrome buffers. I'd like to see 3, 4, and 5 channel amplifiers with speakon outputs wired so as to be bridgeable and hypex and possibly conventional power suppies.

Things like milling a solid billet of aluminum will only add cost, and not performance. However, if milling a custom order out of a solid billet of platinum will ensure your operation is well capitalized, consider doing an email to Mr Bezos.

There won't be a problem doing what you explained, but I have no idea about Neurochrome buffers. I'll google it.

Edit:
this is it, right?
https://neurochrome.com/collections/buffers-preamps/products/purifi-1et400a-hypex-nc500-input-buffer
129USD, a lot of money in the hellhole we are living (IRAN). We probably can make our own buffer board much cheaper but have never done it, and we don't have an Audio Precision, but we have Audiomatica Clio that might come handy designing something like this.
What makes this Neurochrome special? There are many other buffers other manufacturers are using, some are discrete.

 

[Valhalla]

After some sanding this is the final result with black mate finish. We prevented the coating where the module is going to be attached to the chassis for better thermal conductivity.



That's it for now. I'll post more pictures of the assembled sample in due time. Thanks for watching.