This is a tear down of the recently reviewed Apollon NC2K monoblock amplifier. Both the owner and the company gave kind permission to do this.
As you all know, the heart of these amplifiers are power supply and amp modules provided by Hypex to its OEMs. There are some optional parts however such as the input buffer (amplifier), 12 volt trigger, etc. Beyond electronics, we also need to pay attention to quality of assembly as there are a number of DIY people getting into this business without the requisite knowledge of safety and proper signal routing. So let's start with our overall layout and shot of the amplifier:
One word came to mind when I opened this unit: wow! This is one clean assembly. The layout is clean. Everything is properly routed and super tidy. This is the best I have seen in these amplifiers.
Drilling in, the 2000 watt of power is generated by that tinny Hypex NC2K single channel amplifier. It is incredible how much efficiency in power and size we get in class D amplifiers. I did not look underneath but I am assuming the output power transistors are mounted to the chassis which I might add, is quite heavy and substantial for a class D amplifier.
Despite their high efficiency, you need a more powerful power supply to feed that amplifier to account for its own losses and that of the amplifier. This is provided by the Hypex SMPS 3K series switching power supply. As the name indicates, it is rated to produce 3000 watts. Consumption though seems to be around 3.8 Killowatts:
While we are on this picture, the capacitors are made by Aishi which sounds Japanese but is the largest electrolytic capacitor company in China, producing 12 billion capacitors a year! Based on my quick look, their market is mostly light fixtures. The quality is apparently OK but I can't say I have run into them before.
The rest of the boards are provided by Apollon. While the black silk screen makes it impossible to see the traces and hence reverse engineer them , they do look nice and serious. As noted in the review, this sample came with Sparkos discrete op-amp modules. I was impressed by the nice gold sockets they are mounted in:
As an aside, and as noted on the picture, all the cable tie downs are screwed to the chassis and not some double stick tape that comes off by the time you get the amplifier let alone longer time.
The next board is a linear regulator. It too seems to be using discrete modules rather than dirt cheap ICs:
Can't read the brand name on the caps. Maybe one of you can identify them.
Electrical safety is paramount with a product with mains input and here, I was impressed with the best treatment for earth safety ground:
Nicely crimped green/yellow wire and screwed to a surface that doesn't have black anodization. This eliminates the need for sanding off underneath the cable which some manufacturers forget to do (or don't know that they should). This also helps with heatsinking of the power transistors.
And boy, are these hypex amp modules are made to travel given how they have glued everything and anything down:
Usually only heavy capacitors are glued down as they can literally pull themselves out of their PCB holes (seen and repaired some already).
The choice of amplifier capacitors from Hypex as usual is second or third tier:
Conclusions
I am always apprehensive when I open these Hypex based amplifiers worrying about amateur hour assembly. The exact opposite happened with the Apollon NC2K: this is a beautifully assembled amplifier matching and exceeding any requirement I have in such implementations. It is so clean you could take a picture of it and put it up on a wall as a poster! Very well done.
This strengthens my previous strong recommendation for Apollon NC2K amplifier.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Had a somber development earlier this morning. No amount of money is going to remedy that so not going to ask you for any donations with this review.
As you all know, the heart of these amplifiers are power supply and amp modules provided by Hypex to its OEMs. There are some optional parts however such as the input buffer (amplifier), 12 volt trigger, etc. Beyond electronics, we also need to pay attention to quality of assembly as there are a number of DIY people getting into this business without the requisite knowledge of safety and proper signal routing. So let's start with our overall layout and shot of the amplifier:
One word came to mind when I opened this unit: wow! This is one clean assembly. The layout is clean. Everything is properly routed and super tidy. This is the best I have seen in these amplifiers.
Drilling in, the 2000 watt of power is generated by that tinny Hypex NC2K single channel amplifier. It is incredible how much efficiency in power and size we get in class D amplifiers. I did not look underneath but I am assuming the output power transistors are mounted to the chassis which I might add, is quite heavy and substantial for a class D amplifier.
Despite their high efficiency, you need a more powerful power supply to feed that amplifier to account for its own losses and that of the amplifier. This is provided by the Hypex SMPS 3K series switching power supply. As the name indicates, it is rated to produce 3000 watts. Consumption though seems to be around 3.8 Killowatts:
While we are on this picture, the capacitors are made by Aishi which sounds Japanese but is the largest electrolytic capacitor company in China, producing 12 billion capacitors a year! Based on my quick look, their market is mostly light fixtures. The quality is apparently OK but I can't say I have run into them before.
The rest of the boards are provided by Apollon. While the black silk screen makes it impossible to see the traces and hence reverse engineer them , they do look nice and serious. As noted in the review, this sample came with Sparkos discrete op-amp modules. I was impressed by the nice gold sockets they are mounted in:
As an aside, and as noted on the picture, all the cable tie downs are screwed to the chassis and not some double stick tape that comes off by the time you get the amplifier let alone longer time.
The next board is a linear regulator. It too seems to be using discrete modules rather than dirt cheap ICs:
Can't read the brand name on the caps. Maybe one of you can identify them.
Electrical safety is paramount with a product with mains input and here, I was impressed with the best treatment for earth safety ground:
Nicely crimped green/yellow wire and screwed to a surface that doesn't have black anodization. This eliminates the need for sanding off underneath the cable which some manufacturers forget to do (or don't know that they should). This also helps with heatsinking of the power transistors.
And boy, are these hypex amp modules are made to travel given how they have glued everything and anything down:
Usually only heavy capacitors are glued down as they can literally pull themselves out of their PCB holes (seen and repaired some already).
The choice of amplifier capacitors from Hypex as usual is second or third tier:
Conclusions
I am always apprehensive when I open these Hypex based amplifiers worrying about amateur hour assembly. The exact opposite happened with the Apollon NC2K: this is a beautifully assembled amplifier matching and exceeding any requirement I have in such implementations. It is so clean you could take a picture of it and put it up on a wall as a poster! Very well done.
This strengthens my previous strong recommendation for Apollon NC2K amplifier.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Had a somber development earlier this morning. No amount of money is going to remedy that so not going to ask you for any donations with this review.