Are the TPA3255 Class D PBTL's Suitable Amp for driving Vintage M&K S5000 Front Three? Questions about Wattage.

[scumpup]

I can't seem to find a lot of information about these M&K S5000 THX speakers I plan to pick up on facebook and I'm very new to "hifi audio". I'm an EE by day but this is all new to me. I see that these speakers have a peak rating of 400W and a range of 50-400W per speaker. I bought a Denon x3900h that was originally just to run some klipsch RP speakers I found for cheap, but realized that I probably need external amplification to avoid clipping these speakers. I'm not looking to spend a lot of money, and I'm wary on dropping ~500 on three of those Fosi Audio V3 amps due to them just being metal bricks with no active cooling, and I want to be pushing the 240W limit pretty often and heard stories of the devices breaking. Are there ones with better cooling? I see the Fosi's dominate discussion on the SINAD and I'm not sure if the other offerings like Aiyima, Douk, 3e Audio offer a better performance to dollar ratio (primary constraint being power delivery so I don't damage the speakers). The Aiyima A20 Mono has some cooling I believe and I'm interested in that design, but also am wondering if I can just run the L and R from a BTL config (2 channel) and the center in the PBTL config, or if I should get three PBTLs.

Do they make pre made switchable dual TPA3255 4ch amps with double PSU output (or able to accept higher amperage power supply to get the properly rated Wattage)? Am I able to run one amp in mono while the other is in stereo? What's the value play here.

Not trying to drive a home theatre just a basement from like 12 feet away.

Side question, it came with some M&K SB12's should I save up to upgrade the subwoofer? my back channels (running 5.1) are Klipsch RP 160m

 

[Keith Flanker]

For a basement at 12 feet you’re overshooting with continuous 240W — the S5000s are roughly 90dB sensitive, so even 50–100W is far beyond what you’ll actually use before it’s too loud; the 400W peak figure is thermal headroom, not a daily requirement. Mixing configs is fine and normal: run L/R from a stereo TPA3255 in BTL and the center from a separate PBTL mono — the modules are independent, and the center needs less power anyway. On reliability, the chip (TPA3255) is the same across Fosi/Aiyima/Douk/3e Audio; what varies is PSU quality and cooling, so buy the one with a proper 48V supply and stop worrying about the brick — at real levels none of these will be pushed hard. Just make sure the Denon pre-out gain isn’t clipping before the amps, and you’re done. I’d keep the SB12s — they’re not your bottleneck here.

 

[scumpup]

For a basement at 12 feet you’re overshooting with continuous 240W — the S5000s are roughly 90dB sensitive, so even 50–100W is far beyond what you’ll actually use before it’s too loud; the 400W peak figure is thermal headroom, not a daily requirement. Mixing configs is fine and normal: run L/R from a stereo TPA3255 in BTL and the center from a separate PBTL mono — the modules are independent, and the center needs less power anyway. On reliability, the chip (TPA3255) is the same across Fosi/Aiyima/Douk/3e Audio; what varies is PSU quality and cooling, so buy the one with a proper 48V supply and stop worrying about the brick — at real levels none of these will be pushed hard. Just make sure the Denon pre-out gain isn’t clipping before the amps, and you’re done. I’d keep the SB12s — they’re not your bottleneck here.

Cool Thanks Keith! I ask because I was concerned about the Cooling and power sorry if that wasn't clear. Obviously these solid state amps perform very similarly to each other it's just about the thermal/power design. is there a preferred brand or do I just pick what I think looks neat for cheap. I don't really care that much about the measurements. thermal efficiency and longevity are the only thing that matters to me here.

 

[Ruediger]

Cool Thanks Keith! I ask because I was concerned about the Cooling and power sorry if that wasn't clear. Obviously these solid state amps perform very similarly to each other it's just about the thermal/power design. is there a preferred brand or do I just pick what I think looks neat for cheap. I don't really care that much about the measurements. thermal efficiency and longevity are the only thing that matters to me here.

You could just use the Denon's amps. With speakers of 90db sensitivity it's very questionable that you would run out of power before your ears are bleeding and neighbors kicked down the door.

Actually external poweramps enable better cooling as the Denon can become pretty warm when it's not in pre-amp mode. Besides that poweramps give you more power per channel, if they actually are sized bigger.

I recommend the 3e audio A7 stereo and mono together with the GaN psu that 3e bundles. 10a for a stereo and 5a for a mono. They have a rather open case design that works with air convection. You can stack them on top of each other and put f.e. 1.5-2.0cm feet on the case. That will give you very good cooling performance even when under load or during a hot summer. They are also OK as they come when nothing is on top of them.

 

[scumpup]

You could just use the Denon's amps. With speakers of 90db sensitivity it's very questionable that you would run out of power before your ears are bleeding and neighbors kicked down the door.

Actually external poweramps enable better cooling as the Denon can become pretty warm when it's not in pre-amp mode. Besides that poweramps give you more power per channel, if they actually are sized bigger.

I recommend the 3e audio A7 stereo and mono together with the GaN psu that 3e bundles. 10a for a stereo and 5a for a mono. They have a rather open case design that works with air convection. You can stack them on top of each other and put f.e. 1.5-2.0cm feet on the case. That will give you very good cooling performance even when under load or during a hot summer. They are also OK as they come when nothing is on top of them.

regarding the denon x3900h heat, I know that AVRs have a habit of nuking themselves, is there a way i can install extra fans/heatsinks/maybe even a custom water cooler block to make the AVR last longer? I really dont want to worry about running it 6-10 hours at a time.

 

[Ruediger]

regarding the denon x3900h heat, I know that AVRs have a habit of nuking themselves, is there a way i can install extra fans/heatsinks/maybe even a custom water cooler block to make the AVR last longer? I really dont want to worry about running it 6-10 hours at a time.

There are specialized products and you can do something as simple as put a big, low rpm PC fan on top with a usb cable.

But with external poweramps there is no need. A night and day difference.