Apollon Hypex NC2K Monoblock Amplifier Review

[Matias]

Appolon largely advertised that such op amp shapes the sound....no idea about its impact on THD

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-opamp-review-sonic-imagery-vs-sparkos.10325/

 

[jomark911]

Nah, manufacturers often spec them in the high-80s or low-90s, but the reality is that the typical range tends to be about 84-87dB (with two-way standmounts tending to be at the lower end of that range).

Well , some JBL's floorstanders are on the 90-92db's.
Focals , the same.
Not to mention some CORAL's from the past , that used to go on the 94-96db area.
Never the less I don't concur with your point. But bare in mind there's a 3db gain for every speaker from the room . Well most of the time.

 

[PeteL]

It's a lot of power. About five thousand dollars in US currency. For stereo. Not chump change. Given it's external fit 'n finish I'd be hesitant. Two year warranty seems below the industry average which is probably three years. With this sort of power, I'd want to know more about protection circuitry. I went to their site and I didn't find anything about that. I presume it is fully protected against electrical mishaps.

Normally Hypex modules has it's own protection sensor and circuits, and at the very least We shold expect Appolon to put a fuse in the chain, but having said that, I might have been unlucky, chitapen as chinese say, but i personally had a nc500 Hypex module die on me in less than a year of use I was lacking time for full diagnostic, so I replaced it.

 

[ririt]

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-opamp-review-sonic-imagery-vs-sparkos.10325/

Thanks Matias for this information. However it seems to me that « regular » op amp like OP LM4562 delivered much better THD values. Can anyone confirm?

 

[andreasmaaan]

Well , some JBL's floorstanders are on the 90-92db's.
Focals , the same.
Not to mention some CORAL's from the past , that used to go on the 94-96db area.
Never the less I don't concur with your point.

Well, that's the thing about an average. There can be outliers.

Here's the sensitivity of every speaker measured by ASR (c/o @MZKM):

The average for all speaker types is 86dB.

Most of the speakers (if not all) that measured above 86dB are floorstanders or two-woofer centre channels. I haven't taken the average for standmounts only, but it's clearly lower than 86dB.

But bare in mind there's a 3db gain for every speaker from the room . Well most of the time.

But this is irrelevant to the question of a loudspeaker's sensitivity, which is measured anechoically.

 

[BDWoody]

Don't laugh but I've been known to use a toaster for a load when servicing high power amplifiers.

How about using one of the old school car battery testers... Also fondly known as toasters...

 

[jomark911]

Well, that's the thing about an average. There can be outliers.

Here's the sensitivity of every speaker measured by ASR (c/o @MZKM):

View attachment 88695

The average for all speaker types is 86dB.

Most of the speakers (if not all) that measured above 86dB are floorstanders or two-woofer centre channels. I haven't taken the average for standmounts only, but it's clearly lower than 86dB.



But this is irrelevant to the question of a loudspeaker's sensitivity, which is measured anechoically.

You simply can not rely on an average based on the speakers tested. It's not a good idea.
By doing this you simply put every speaker in the same bucket .There is no averaging on sensitivity.
No .
And apart from this , you can not judge all the speakers buy those tested by ASR.
This is way wrong.

 

[CDMC]

Well, that's the thing about an average. There can be outliers.

Here's the sensitivity of every speaker measured by ASR (c/o @MZKM):

View attachment 88695

The average for all speaker types is 86dB.

Most of the speakers (if not all) that measured above 86dB are floorstanders or two-woofer centre channels. I haven't taken the average for standmounts only, but it's clearly lower than 86dB.



But this is irrelevant to the question of a loudspeaker's sensitivity, which is measured anechoically.

I am only surprised by how much Klipsch overstates their efficiency (Paul Klipsch is probably rolling in his grave). Hoffman’s iron law has never changed, there is a tradeoff between efficiency, enclosure size, and bass extension. Woofers are the least efficient part of a speaker and dictate the ultimate efficiency of a speaker. The market wants smaller speakers with good bass extension, so efficiency is low, but power cheap.

 

[tomtoo]

You simply can not rely on an average based on the speakers tested. It's not a good idea.
By doing this you simply put every speaker in the same bucket .There is no averaging on sensitivity.
No .
And apart from this , you can not judge all the speakers buy those tested by ASR.
This is way wrong.

So we have a average measured on ASR. What is your average, where is it measured?
Edit says: Iam sure if you measure the average in PA speakers its higher.

 

[jomark911]

No I'm not talking of PA speakers.
I'm talking of hifi speakers that do present an output of 90-92-94db .
There are plenty of em.

 

[andreasmaaan]

I believe normial hifi speakers are way more sensitive than 84db.
Actually around 88-90db, most of them.

the reality is that the typical range tends to be about 84-87dB

You simply can not rely on an average based on the speakers tested. It's not a good idea.
By doing this you simply put every speaker in the same bucket .There is no averaging on sensitivity.
No .

Care to explain then what you meant by “normal” and “most”?

And apart from this , you can not judge all the speakers buy those tested by ASR.
This is way wrong.

Check Stereophile’s average, which is derived from the thousands of speakers they’ve measured over the decades. 86.3dB/2.83V/1m, IIRC.

 

[tomtoo]

No I'm not talking of PA speakers.
I'm talking of hifi speakers that do present an output of 90-92-94db .
There are plenty of em.

Yes but we talk about average, and 94db for a hifi speaker is a lot. There is a user in here with some nice big Horns that are specified at 109db, but hell thats not average.

 

[Soniclife]

Check Stereophile’s average, which is derived from the thousands of speakers they’ve measured over the decades. 86.3dB/2.83V/1m, IIRC.

I bet the average per year has been getting worse from the beginning as well, watts are cheap now.

 

[Jake71]

The Hypex data sheet shows the same HF rolloff, around 0.5dB at 20KHz for the module unbuffered. 0.5dB down at 20KHz for a small signal test is not exactly state of the art, but it seems all the Hypex modules have a similar response. The LF rolloff is no doubt just the AC coupling of the APX, not the Hypex module.

View attachment 88657

That is impressive performance, though you'd have to question why they'd not roll it off a little later, but I guess they must have some kind of feedback loop from after the LC output filter going back to the gain stage.

 

[JohnBooty]

Focal Grand Utopia suggests using a 1500W amplifier...

https://www.focal.com/sites/www.foc...ande_utopia_em_evo_specification_sheet_gb.pdf

I'm only sending 1000W to each of them, but that's because I have four of them suspended from the ceiling in my living room as Atmos height speakers, and the nuclear power plant in my basement is already operating at full capacity.

Suggestions for rear surrounds?

 

[PeteL]

That is impressive performance, though you'd have to question why they'd not roll it off a little later, but I guess they must have some kind of feedback loop from after the LC output filter going back to the gain stage.

I believe this is the main measurable difference of purifi vs hypex, among other smaller stuff, rolled off higher up the spectrum... but honestly, half a dB at 20k... non issue for me.

 

[tomtoo]

I'm only sending 1000W to each of them, but that's because I have four of them suspended from the ceiling in my living room as Atmos height speakers, and the nuclear power plant in my basement is already operating at full capacity.

Suggestions for rear surrounds?

Could i first ask what you use as subbis??

 

[JohnBooty]

Could i ask what you use as subbis??

I use the Earth itself as a subwoofer. Several volcanoes in the Pacific rim function as "ports!"

You can track when I'm watching a movie here:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?extent=12.85465,-136.14258&extent=57.32652,-53.83301

 

[Labjr]

How about using one of the old school car battery testers... Also fondly known as toasters...

View attachment 88698

Well...toasters are convenient, and inexpensive! I can get one at Walmart. Most two slice toasters are around 15-20 ohms resistive load. A four slice toaster is even lower. And easy to wire them in parallel.

 

[Jake71]

I believe this is the main measurable difference of purifi vs hypex, among other smaller stuff, rolled off higher up the spectrum... but honestly, half a dB at 20k... non issue for me.

I don't disagree, it's more a technical chasing perfection kinda thing, which is really ridiculous since most of us can't hear the difference and our speakers probably have more non-linearity at the high frequencies than that. and ultimately none of us would be able to hear the difference between 0.1% distortion and 0.001% distortion.