Buckeye Amps: Hypex NCx500 Official Thread

[Rick Sykora]

Good luck with trying that one on. Warranties cannot be voided for something as simple as a blob of RTV on a bright LED to dim it. I'm not talking about slathering silicone all over the PCB and making a mess. Anyway, have a good look at Hypex boards if you want to see excess silicone/rtv...

Did you ask Hypex about warranty or is this just your opinion? I asked about mods and they clearly stated they would void warranty.

Hypex use of RTV to reduce shock and vibration issues is by design. So would be part of the testing they do. While acknowledging your suggestion to test first, not everyone has a good thermal camera. A pair of scissors is much more accessible.

But in any case, any warranty with Hypex is completely irrelevant to the purchaser of an assembled amplifier. Their contract and associated warranty is with the assembler/reseller. Too much attempted buck passing in this world if you ask me.

I have had these discussions with Hypex and it would be relevant. It could also be relevant to the manufacturer as the modules are warrantied by Hypex to them. I considered becoming an authorized Hypex repairer and my understanding is Hypex would honor their warranty regardless. No buck passing as you allude.

Bottom line, the LEDs on the modules shouldn't be lighting up the interior and highlighting the poor fit of the top panel to the base - it looks terrible. But then again, some gamer dudes might think it's some how cool.

One camera angle on one case design is hardly a major problem. I have other cases and the LED brightness is not a major concern. Am sure Buckeye or his customers are smart enough to employ simple mitigations if needed.

 

[restorer-john]

Did you ask Hypex about warranty or is this just your opinion? I asked about mods and they clearly stated they would void warranty.

Not my opinion. They can state what they like, write what they like, but they cannot extinguish our consumer rights in this country. We have specific laws that are ironclad when it comes to consumer remedies, warranties etc, under our Australian Consumer Law. In the US, you have similar laws too, some better, some hard to enforce, but the principles are much the same.

But Hypex as an OEM of parts to an assembler seems to skirt a bunch of consumer laws as the contract/warranty is with the retailer/builder/assembler and not consumer and Hypex. Their contract for remedies, warranties, returns, NDAs, etc is spelled out with someone like yourself if you accept those terms at the time you sign up. They put someone like yourself in the middle. That and taxes are why they stay out of actually building anything complete that a consumer can buy. But, EU law is catching up to this, and soon enough spare parts, schematics and documentation will be forced upon them.

Any factory fault resultant failed Hypex equipment is a problem for the assembler and Hypex- not the buyer and Hypex. The consumer is completely insulated from that. No consumer in this country can be directed to an importer or manufacturer by the retailer without breaking ACL. The fines are large and many firms have been hit with multi million dollar fines for attempting to mislead consumers as to their rights to remedy.

Bottom (hypothetical) line is you, or a reseller/assembler/builder could not refuse to honour a warranty, be it express or implied and fail to offer a remedy to a consumer for something like a tiny blob of silicone on an epoxy LED envelope/lens to dim the light where a failure of a completely different, unrelated issue occurred in an amplifier or module you built or assembled. You'd be up for sanction and a likely fine if that consumer took it up with our regulatory bodies. That consumer is well within their ownership rights to open up a device, inspect and test whatever they want and warranties cannot be voided.

 

[Rick Sykora]

Not my opinion. We have specific laws that are ironclad when it comes to consumer remedies, warranties etc, under our Australian Consumer Law. In the US, you have similar laws too, some better, some hard to enforce, but the principles are much the same.

Hypex as an OEM of parts to an assembler skirt a bunch of consumer laws as the contract/warranty is with the retailer/builder/assembler and not consumer and Hypex. Their contract for remedies, warranties, returns, NDAs, etc is spelled out with someone like yourself if you accept those terms at the time you sign up.

Any factory result failed Hypex equipment is a problem for the assembler and Hypex- not the buyer and Hypex. The consumer is completely insulated from that. No consumer in this country can be directed to an importer or manufacturer by the retailer without breaking ACL. The fines are large and many firms have been hit with multi million dollar fines for attempting to mislead consumers as to their rights to remedy.

Bottom (hypothetical) line is you, or a reseller/assembler/builder could not refuse to honour a warranty, be it express or implied and fail to offer a remedy to a consumer for something like a tiny blob of silicon on an LED to dim the light where a failure of a completely different, unrelated issue occurred in an amplifier or module you built or assembled. You'd be up for sanction and a likely fine if that consumer took it up with our regulatory bodies. That consumer is well within their ownership rights to open up a device, inspect and test whatever they want and warranties cannot be voided.

Thanks for the regional perspective. Yes, even when there are laws, they are different by region and can be difficult to enforce. Notably so here in the US…

Hypex is not perfect but my experience has been they are fairly generous when it comes to warranty support. They have also been easy to work with. Becoming an OEM did not require any major agreement and the rules are few. As shipping can be a major part of the cost of repair, local repair can help offset it. Hypex supports the use of established electronic repair facilities. So, in the end, I decided to forgo becoming authorized.

 

[Sokel]

Thanks for the regional perspective. Yes, even when there are laws, they are different by region and can be difficult to enforce. Notably so here in the US…

Hypex is not perfect but my experience has been they are fairly generous when it comes to warranty support. They have also been easy to work with. Becoming an OEM did not require any major agreement and the rules are few. As shipping can be a major part of the cost of repair, local repair can help offset it. Hypex supports the use of established electronic repair facilities. So, in the end, I decided to forgo becoming authorized.

So,they are repairable after all.
Cause the trend opinion here is just swap modules and go.

 

[Rick Sykora]

So,they are repairable after all.
Cause the trend opinion here is just swap modules and go.

Yes they are repairable and Hypex has supported repair as well. However, given the low cost of some modules, admittedly there can be cost decisions around repairing vs swapping. Am in favor of more environmentally aware practices but cost plays a role in how you work with Hypex. What the OEM does for end customers may be different.

 

[tesseractASR]

Just got them installed and we're off to the races. Will circle back after I've had some time with them.



View attachment 291415View attachment 291414

Nice system!

I almost pulled the trigger on the ESL X and C, then had an unexpected amount of work fall into my lap and ended up with Classic 9s and Focus C18. They have been sitting NIB for a month now, can't wait to hear them.

I'm looking real hard at the 3 channel NCx and Purifi 3 channel jobs, leaning toward NCx. I'm sure the Purifi has plenty of power, but am drawn to the NCx for its massive 2 ohm capabilities.

 

[MusicMan77]

Nice system!

I almost pulled the trigger on the ESL X and C, then had an unexpected amount of work fall into my lap and ended up with Classic 9s and Focus C18. They have been sitting NIB for a month now, can't wait to hear them.

I'm looking real hard at the 3 channel NCx and Purifi 3 channel jobs, leaning toward NCx. I'm sure the Purifi has plenty of power, but am drawn to the NCx for its massive 2 ohm capabilities.

Thanks. Been a long time coming, but slowly building up my dream system. I liked the NCx for it's 2ohm capability as well. The ESLs can dip to 1.6ohm so this amp was about as good as it can get. Super happy w/ the NCx - tons of super clean power.

 

[tesseractASR]

Thanks. Been a long time coming, but slowly building up my dream system. I liked the NCx for it's 2ohm capability as well. The ESLs can dip to 1.6ohm so this amp was about as good as it can get. Super happy w/ the NCx - tons of super clean power.

Yeah, I am looking at 0.8 ohms. That's pushing me toward the NCx, for sure.

I see you also have dual SB3000s. I have two but am only using one at the moment. Excellent sub for the money, you want more, just add more. I'm thinking of adding one or two more, as I have an AVR that has four sub outs.

 

[Descartes]

Yeah, I am looking at 0.8 ohms. That's pushing me toward the NCx, for sure.

I see you also have dual SB3000s. I have two but am only using one at the moment. Excellent sub for the money, you want more, just add more. I'm thinking of adding one or two more, as I have an AVR that has four sub outs.

What is the rating of your circuit breaker 15amp?

 

[MusicMan77]

Yeah, I am looking at 0.8 ohms. That's pushing me toward the NCx, for sure.

I see you also have dual SB3000s. I have two but am only using one at the moment. Excellent sub for the money, you want more, just add more. I'm thinking of adding one or two more, as I have an AVR that has four sub outs.

Love my subs but can't imagine having more than two of them. I looked a the Classic 9's but thought a passive tower + subs would be the best of all worlds for various music genre's (classical, bossa nova, electronic, rock) and then LFE for the subs for movies. Just noticed the new Denon A1H has balanced inputs. Seriously hope that trend catches on so we can use desktop DACs. Haven't read about an AVP or AVR that can touch that level of quality yet.

 

[Julf]

Yeah, I am looking at 0.8 ohms. That's pushing me toward the NCx, for sure.

I see you also have dual SB3000s. I have two but am only using one at the moment. Excellent sub for the money, you want more, just add more. I'm thinking of adding one or two more, as I have an AVR that has four sub outs.

What do you think the benefit of more than 2 subs would be?

 

[sneffets]

I want to say a HUGE thank you to Dylan @Buckeye Amps! He built me a custom chassis 4 channel Hypex NCx500 (Qty 2 - NCx500's and power supplies in the same chassis - two amps one chassis)...I paired it with some Martin Logan Motion XT F200’s - bi-amp’d, running an AudioControl Maestro X9S pre-amp, using Roon/Tidal (the AudioControl does full MQA unfolding and is Roon Ready, so 100% compatible)...AMAZING! He built me 14 channels of the NC502's (qty 2 - 4 channel and a 6 channel) so I was using one of the 4 channels NC502's while I was waiting, but the newer NCx502's with his selectable buffer stages, allowed me to dial things in. Thanks again my friend!

 

[Julf]

the AudioControl does full MQA unfolding

Hasn't the whole MQA scam unfolded by now?

 

[sneffets]

Hasn't the whole MQA scam unfolded by now?

Hello Julf,
I knew someone would have to bring "it" up LOL...not really a scam, it is simply another high-res streaming protocol...and I get it, it costs money for licensing, pay-to-play, is it better or not than FLAC or WAV, etc...I have read more than most I can guarantee it. I have Tidal and ROON subscriptions and they support it, so I use it. I personally think I can hear the difference between most MQA and FLAC, at least on this setup, not on most of the other combinations that I have tested (I am a dealer so I get to test a lot of different setups)...and don't get me wrong...it isn't like "oh this must be MQA or FLAC". I would never tell a customer they need to drop their FLAC/WAV and go with MQA, etc...it is more about making people aware of the various technologies, and seeing what they prefer.

 

[MusicMan77]

Hasn't the whole MQA scam unfolded by now?

Interested to see what Spotify "Supremium" looks like later this year and what Tidal's FLAC stream looks like too.

 

[sneffets]

Interested to see what Spotify "Supremium" looks like later this year and what Tidal's FLAC stream looks like too.

Indeed, I saw that announcement the other day..."competition" is good, as it typically keeps pricing down with multiple "equal" options.

 

[Julf]

Hello Julf,
I knew someone would have to bring "it" up LOL...not really a scam, it is simply another high-res streaming protocol...and I get it, it costs money for licensing, pay-to-play, is it better or not than FLAC or WAV, etc...I have read more than most I can guarantee it. I have Tidal and ROON subscriptions and they support it, so I use it. I personally think I can hear the difference between most MQA and FLAC, at least on this setup, not on most of the other combinations that I have tested (I am a dealer so I get to test a lot of different setups)...and don't get me wrong...it isn't like "oh this must be MQA or FLAC". I would never tell a customer they need to drop their FLAC/WAV and go with MQA, etc...it is more about making people aware of the various technologies, and seeing what they prefer.

The claims made about MQA were a scam. And if you hear a difference between FLAC and MQA, it is a sign that MQA distorts/colors/changes the signal in some way, as the FLAC version *is* the original wave.

 

[sneffets]

The claims made about MQA were a scam. And if you hear a difference between FLAC and MQA, it is a sign that MQA distorts/colors/changes the signal in some way, as the FLAC version *is* the original wave.

Thanks again for your opinion...but again, that is all it is...your opinion.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

Don't ever want to stifle conversation but maybe a new thread or PM is best for continued discussion on MQA et al?

Thanks!

 

[Julf]

Thanks again for your opinion...but again, that is all it is...your opinion.

Don't want to continue polluting this thread, and there is really very little I care to say to the "evidence-based science is just an opinion" crowd.