Buckeye Amps: New US based Hypex multichannel amplifier builder, line-up announcement!

[Buckeye Amps]

One thing to keep in mind: older (Rev 3 and below) NC502MPs were more prone to loud/concerning pops.

Since Rev 4, the issue has been addressed (by Hypex) where under most conditions any pop is not an issue/not going to cause damage to speakers.

All of my NC502MP builds since day 1 are Rev4, so no need in asking me about it/possible upgrading.

 

[Livewire]

One thing to keep in mind: older (Rev 3 and below) NC502MPs were more prone to loud/concerning pops.

Since Rev 4, the issue has been addressed (by Hypex) where under most conditions any pop is not an issue/not going to cause damage to speakers.

All of my NC502MP builds since day 1 are Rev4, so no need in asking me about it/possible upgrading.

Is this also true for nc252mp?

 

[Buckeye Amps]

Is this also true for nc252mp?

That I am not sure about as the NC252MP was well into it's current revision when I stepped into the DIY world/began thinking of starting the business

 

[Too Many Notes]

Newbie question… is there an accepted best practice for properly powering/protecting an amp? Direct to wall connection? Surge protector with minimum rating? Line filter? Praying this does not open a can of worms.

 

[DonH56]

Direct to wall. These class-D amps include their own regulated power supply that supplies very high isolation from the wall supply and does not require additional filtering.

 

[Too Many Notes]

Direct to wall. These class-D amps include their own regulated power supply that supplies very high isolation from the wall supply and does not require additional filtering.

Thanks, Don. No need for surge protection though?

 

[ryanosaur]

Thanks, Don. No need for surge protection though?

If you can get a whole-home surge protector installed... Yes, that would be a good idea.

At the outlet? It's of questionable effect.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

There is a nice rabbit hole to go down regarding per outlet surge protection.

In short: it costs a good amount of money to get real surge protection for an outlet and even then, there is no guarantee it will prevent the most violent of events like a lightning strike.

For true protection, whole home is the only sure fire way.

 

[AdamG]

Thanks, Don. No need for surge protection though?

Check with your Power Company. Here we can get whole hose surge shield protection. They install a surge protection kit between hose and the incoming power meter. It comes with a monthly fee and it includes $10K insurance if anything gets zapped. Here is a link for example purposes.

Surge Protection

www.fplhome.com

 

[Buckeye Amps]

IF one really wants good (but again, not guaranteed) surge protection at an outlet, I highly recommend SurgeX components. They have published specs (not just general "x joules protection"), along with true under/over volt specs.

But, can be expensive. Though you can usually find very good used deals on eBay.

 

[Too Many Notes]

Thanks everyone, you’re all so helpful. Seeing that I rent an apartment, I will immediately demand that the landlord install whole-property protection for my needs. If I encounter any resistance, I’ll tell ‘em you guys insist.

 

[DonH56]

Thanks everyone, you’re all so helpful. Seeing that I rent an apartment, I will immediately demand that the landlord install whole-property protection for my needs. If I encounter any resistance, I’ll tell ‘em you guys insist.

Snarky but apt. Note we had no way of knowing your housing situation. You might check with the landlord, however, as they may already have such protection installed.

Unless the apartment is subject to frequent power outages or near lightning strikes I would pass on the surge protector. If you really need one, then you need a good one, and those are quite expensive. The inexpensive ones tend to use MOVs, devices that "clamp" when voltage is exceeded, and they usually die quietly with 1-3 strikes then offer no protection after that. Also, some of the inexpensive noise filters limit current and are not recommended for power amps.

My area does have frequent power outages as well as lightning so I have whole-house lightning and surge protection (two different devices) as well as a few UPS' to keep computers and other lower-power electronics alive enough to ride out a short glitch or give me time to shut everything down nicely if it lasts longer. My power amps all plug directly into the wall, however.

 

[Too Many Notes]

Snarky but apt. Note we had no way of knowing your housing situation. You might check with the landlord, however, as they may already have such protection installed.

Unless the apartment is subject to frequent power outages or near lightning strikes I would pass on the surge protector. If you really need one, then you need a good one, and those are quite expensive. The inexpensive ones tend to use MOVs, devices that "clamp" when voltage is exceeded, and they usually die quietly with 1-3 strikes then offer no protection after that. Also, some of the inexpensive noise filters limit current and are not recommended for power amps.

My area does have frequent power outages as well as lightning so I have whole-house lightning and surge protection (two different devices) as well as a few UPS' to keep computers and other lower-power electronics alive enough to ride out a short glitch or give me time to shut everything down nicely if it lasts longer. My power amps all plug directly into the wall, however.

Thanks for all that, seriously informative. And I meant no snark, just trying to be funny. Apologies if it came across that way. Another stupid question - does having several electronics including my amp sharing an (apparently useless) power strip with surge protection limit the power the amp can draw? In other words, could the other electronics steal some of the “juice”? If the amp needs its own dedicated socket, I’ll need to talk to my landlord about installing more outlets.

 

[DonH56]

Thanks for all that, seriously informative. And I meant no snark, just trying to be funny. Apologies if it came across that way. Another stupid question - does having several electronics including my amp sharing an (apparently useless) power strip with surge protection limit the power the amp can draw? In other words, could the other electronics steal some of the “juice”? If the amp needs its own dedicated socket, I’ll need to talk to my landlord about installing more outlets.

Everything plugged into the same circuit adds to the total load the breaker sees. It depends upon how much power everything draws, but the amplifier itself will likely be drawing very little most of the time. Chances are you are only sending a few watts to the speakers at average listening levels. I have but rarely, and I strongly suspect most of us are the same, had a dedicated outlet. I would not worry about that, but you should add up the power from the labels on the back of the equipment plugged into the outlet and make sure it is under the limit. In the USA, a standard wall outlet is rated for 15 A or about 1800 W (15 A * 120 V), with a nominal working load of 1500 W (depending upon the electrical code in your area). The amp itself pulls power depending upon what the speakers need as determined by their impedance and your volume level. I'd probably just use around 50 W as a guess (for a class D amp like these) and add that to everything else.

Note that most outlets in a room are on the same circuit, and in some cases other things like lights or other rooms might be on the same circuit and all going to the same breaker (in our area outlets and lights are on separate circuits for safety reasons -- if an outlet breaker trips, you still have light).

Bottom line is that, unless you have really gone crazy plugging things into the power strip, you'll be fine. One caution: electric wall heaters (or hair dryers) draw a lot of power, so I would not plug one of those into the same outlet as the stereo system.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

For an example, I had my Funk sub (4200w peak), an 8ch NC252, 4ch NC502, 85” TV, pre/pro, Xbox, and ceiling lights all on a single 15A circuit. No issues

 

[Rottmannash]

I am very interested in the new MCU controlled soft start, and how the LED indicator works.
it would be good to have a video demo.

It works as advertised on my 3 ch Purifi. No pops during start up or shut down. It starts up within 2-3 seconds of input and turns off a couple minutes after the signal stops. The LED remains blue when everything is normal then will turn or flash orange when clipping and red when in a fault state, which I managed to elicit one evening-we won't speak of that though...

Details below.

 

[Rottmannash]

you guys prefer to use auto sense or 12v trigger?

auto sense. one gets a small 2-3 delay but once up and running flawless and turns off as expected when one stops sending a signal.

 

[xaxxon]

Ordering the amp bridged has always been available. I just usually steer customers to doing their own external bridging with an XLR splitter that way they don't need to open the amp to rewire it if they ever want to unbridge it.

you don't have to run a wire between the other binding posts or anything, right? Just the special xlr splitter cable?

And then... how do you do it with speakon? Just make a single-wire to each speakon connector?

Also if I don't know what the impedance of the plugs are on my sub, can I damage the amp? Say it was a 2 ohm load... would it just protect or could I damage it? 502mp. If you tell me it matters I guess I can multimeter it. Apparently you just kinda "round up" whatever reading you get off the speaker, at least from what I'm reading.

My amps are coming friday and I'm super excited

 

[Buckeye Amps]

you don't have to run a wire between the other binding posts or anything, right? Just the special xlr splitter cable?

And then... how do you do it with speakon? Just make a single-wire to each speakon connector?

Also if I don't know what the impedance of the plugs are on my sub, can I damage the amp? Say it was a 2 ohm load... would it just protect or could I damage it? 502mp. If you tell me it matters I guess I can multimeter it. Apparently you just kinda "round up" whatever reading you get off the speaker, at least from what I'm reading.

My amps are coming friday and I'm super excited

Correct on the binding post part and only one wire per speakON part.

Regarding impedance: it is very important you know the impedance before bridging the amp channels. A 4ohm load is the minimum impedance that can be driven by a bridged module. Especially if bridging for subwoofer duty.

 

[dscottj]

Is this also true for nc252mp?

My 252MP does pop once when it turns on. It's not loud and shouldn't damage anything. Because of a quirk of my system (powered subwoofers in the mains) I don't usually hear it. The signal simply turns the amps in the subs on, so instead of a sound I get a very faint click. The only way I do hear it is if I power cycle everything quickly. Even then it's not much. Reminds me of my original rig in fact (~ 1981), which always produced a bass thump every time it turned on.