Deciding Between NCX500, Purifi Eigentakt and Nilai

[aitsu]

Your home theater must kick ass!

It will when it’s done and it should be done tomorrow. It’s been work in progress for the last few months, not including the 18 it took to build the house it’s part of.
The last 2 things I was waiting on are this amp and my AT screen.

 

[CleanSound]

I also ordered an NCx500 amp from Apollon around December 26th (Dec 29th).
It arrived today and goes into my rack tomorrow.

Did you have to pay any import charges?

 

[aitsu]

Did you have to pay any import charges?

Yes, around $45.

 

[CleanSound]

Yes, around $45.

Ok, same here. Wanted to double check if I should have been charged or not.

 

[CleanSound]

It will when it’s done and it should be done tomorrow. It’s been work in progress for the last few months, not including the 18 it took to build the house it’s part of.
The last 2 things I was waiting on are this amp and my AT screen.

Is the room treated?

 

[Vhond]

I own a self assembled Hypex NC400, it is an awesome amp, very clean.

After that experience, I decided to get another Dutch or Danish class D for my main system. I ended up deciding the NCx500 over Purifi and the Nilai due to the combination of power output and low distortion. This time, I ordered it all assembled from Apollon, I ordered the dual mono version, it's taking forever, I ordered it on Dec 26th and it should come in next week, at least I hope.

With Apollon, you do pay a premium, but they have by far the best looking casework, very premium in my opinion, and they put a lot more detail into the assembly.

If you get the LUX model, per Apollon's website: "The chassis is custom machined from solid aluminium. 10mm thick walls and 5mm thick lid and bottom. For improved aesthetics we have designed the chassis in such a way that there are no screws visible when you look at the amplifier as they are only on the bottom plate."

So you ordered the NON lux version?
What is your experience? Do you coincidentally have pictures of the internals (on the Apollon website I can only find pictures from the inside of a LUX version).

 

[CleanSound]

So you ordered the NON lux version?
What is your experience? Do you coincidentally have pictures of the internals (on the Apollon website I can only find pictures from the inside of a LUX version).

It's coming in hopefully Monday. It took forever, I ordered it the day after Christmas.

 

[aitsu]

Is the room treated?

Yes.

I used Cinematech to design and treat the entire room.
The room is wrapped in acoustically transparent fabric.
Behind the fabric is a mix of absorption and diffusion at locations they specified via simulation.
Behind the treatments is a layer of quiet rock sheetrock.
Behind that is a double layer of rockwool sound batt insulation, and the outside wall is another layer of quiet rock sheetrock.

The door to the room is a solid exterior door and it's treated on the inside of the room the same way as everything else.

 

[ahard]

It's coming in hopefully Monday. It took forever, I ordered it the day after Christmas.

Did your amp arrive? I'm curious bc I ordered a Premium NCx500 from Apollon on Jan 24 and Tibor mentioned that it'd be ready between 12-14 Mar. I emailed them last Friday and I haven't heard anything.

 

[CleanSound]

Did your amp arrive? I'm curious bc I ordered a Premium NCx500 from Apollon on Jan 24 and Tibor mentioned that it'd be ready between 12-14 Mar. I emailed them last Friday and I haven't heard anything.

Yes, it did arrive. See here:

Apollon NCx500ST Stereo Amplifier Review

is there much db difference between single vs balanced inputs ? thanks

audiosciencereview.com

It takes a while. Apollon has "2 weeks" ETA listed on their website, they really need to update that to two months.

Let me share a bit more detail, my understanding is that Tibor has to send cases out to anodized, I'm not sure if they CNC the case in house or not, but the process takes a while. At one point about 4 weeks in, I followed up and he told me soon, then 2 weeks later, I followed up again and he said soon, at that point, I thought I was going to get swindled. I had to call my credit card company and ask them how much time I have from the moment I charged on the CC before I can file a fraud claim, they told me I had 4 months. So I said to myself, if I don't get it in 3 months, I will file a claim. But it came in exactly 2 months from the date I placed my order.

Also, I had paid for a full AP report, I'm still waiting on it. I just followed up again last Friday, will have to follow up again next week if I don't get the AP report.

Yes, they are slooooowwww, but the product is great. You can read the above link.

 

[ahard]

Yes, it did arrive. See here:

Apollon NCx500ST Stereo Amplifier Review

is there much db difference between single vs balanced inputs ? thanks

audiosciencereview.com

It takes a while. Apollon has "2 weeks" ETA listed on their website, they really need to update that to two months.

Let me share a bit more detail, my understanding is that Tibor has to send cases out to anodized, I'm not sure if they CNC the case in house or not, but the process takes a while. At one point about 4 weeks in, I followed up and he told me soon, then 2 weeks later, I followed up again and he said soon, at that point, I thought I was going to get swindled. I had to call my credit card company and ask them how much time I have from the moment I charged on the CC before I can file a fraud claim, they told me I had 4 months. So I said to myself, if I don't get it in 3 months, I will file a claim. But it came in exactly 2 months from the date I placed my order.

Also, I had paid for a full AP report, I'm still waiting on it. I just followed up again last Friday, will have to follow up again next week if I don't get the AP report.

Yes, they are slooooowwww, but the product is great. You can read the above link.

Ahh I see. So on their site it said that the lead time is 2 weeks, but it took Apollon 2 months for the amp you purchased? OMG! Now you have me concerned. When I contacted him in Feb he said that my amp case was in the process of being painted. I hope that he was truthful about completion by 12-14 of Mar bc that would be slightly past the 30 working days lead time listed on the Apollon site for premium amps.

I saw where Tibor posted on AVS in 2021 or 2022 that Apollon does their CNC in-house.

What is a AP report?

 

[aitsu]

Ahh I see. So on their site it said that the lead time is 2 weeks, but it took Apollon 2 months for the amp you purchased? OMG! Now you have me concerned. When I contacted him in Feb he said that my amp case was in the process of being painted. I hope that he was truthful about completion by 12-14 of Mar bc that would be slightly past the 30 working days lead time listed on the Apollon site for premium amps.

I saw where Tibor posted on AVS in 2021 or 2022 that Apollon does their CNC in-house.

What is a AP report?

I would consider the Lux a premium amp even if it isn't listed as one on their site.

That said, my amp took almost exactly 30 working days to ship and there was a holiday in the middle (new years).

 

[CleanSound]

Ahh I see. So on their site it said that the lead time is 2 weeks, but it took Apollon 2 months for the amp you purchased? OMG! Now you have me concerned. When I contacted him in Feb he said that my amp case was in the process of being painted. I hope that he was truthful about completion by 12-14 of Mar bc that would be slightly past the 30 working days lead time listed on the Apollon site for premium amps.

I saw where Tibor posted on AVS in 2021 or 2022 that Apollon does their CNC in-house.

What is a AP report?

Also, I ordered my during the holidays, so maybe it took even longer because of that. But confirm with Tibor.

The AP report is the measurement that Amir does, I asked Tibor as an one off if I can pay extra for him to run an AP report on my specific unit.

 

[ahard]

I would consider the Lux a premium amp even if it isn't listed as one on their site.

That said, my amp took almost exactly 30 working days to ship and there was a holiday in the middle (new years).

Once it shipped, how much time did it spend in customs?

 

[CleanSound]

Once it shipped, how much time did it spend in customs?

I don't remember, but I think it took like maybe 1-2 weeks to get to my house?

I know it takes a while, but be patient, you don't want to rush it. Quality craftsmanship takes time.

 

[ahard]

I don't remember, but I think it took like maybe 1-2 weeks to get to my house?

I know it takes a while, but be patient, you don't want to rush it. Quality craftsmanship takes time.

Totally agree. But if Apollon states on their website how long it takes to complete a build and a specific date is provided in correspondence with the purchaser, I'd hope that they would follow thru. Now I understand that things happen to create delays. But if that's the case, say so when the client contacts you on the date the item is supposed to be ready, I haven't sent Tibor very many emails, but I hope that he responds to email in which I requested a status update.

 

[aitsu]

Once it shipped, how much time did it spend in customs?

I still have the shipping details so.. here we go:

Left Slovenia: 2/16/2024
Arrived in Kentucky: 2/18/2024
Cleared customs: 2/19/2024
Import fees paid: 2/19/2024
Delivered to me in Chicago: 2/20/2024

That's 33 total workdays from order to delivery in the US minus 4 holidays that happen in-between. That said, I have no idea how many holidays there were in Slovenia in that period.

 

[CleanSound]

Totally agree. But if Apollon states on their website how long it takes to complete a build and a specific date is provided in correspondence with the purchaser, I'd hope that they would follow thru. Now I understand that things happen to create delays. But if that's the case, say so when the client contacts you on the date the item is supposed to be ready, I haven't sent Tibor very many emails, but I hope that he responds to email in which I requested a status update.

Yeah, I don't know how many emails Tibor gets, but he is not very good returning emails in a timely fashion. Maybe business is really good and he needs to hire more help?

But be a bit more patient, you will get it like I did and the product is indeed a masterpiece.

 

[ahard]

I still have the shipping details so.. here we go:

Left Slovenia: 2/16/2024
Arrived in Kentucky: 2/18/2024
Cleared customs: 2/19/2024
Import fees paid: 2/19/2024
Delivered to me in Chicago: 2/20/2024

That's 33 total workdays from order to delivery in the US minus 4 holidays that happen in-between. That said, I have no idea how many holidays there were in Slovenia in that period.

Thanks. This helps

 

[ahard]

Well I finally heard from Tibor. According to him it'll be another 10 working days (April 1 instead of Mar 12-14) before my amp is finished. Which would end up being 48 working days (Jan 25 to April 1) instead of 30 days for a premium build. Apparently, there was some sort of delay in the paint shop. I'm a little disappointed at this moment. Apollon's communication is not the best. I wish that they would have reached out to me and let me know that there will be a delay. You shouldn't have to chase them down just to get a response. I hope that the amp is very good bc I'm starting to regret going this route.