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Multichannel Amp with +1 performance

1HzCosine

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May 26, 2023
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Hi everyone.

I'm using an active set of speakers at the moment (2way)
Its powered by a minidsp flex HTx going into an old rotel RMB1095

I do like the sound of the rmb1095 and there is nothing wrong with it.
But I am tempted to switch it out with something newer, a "state of the art" amplifier.
For the next amplifier setup i think ill have to demand at least 6 channels instead of 5, as I'm planning on going active 3way in the future.
I am also okay with going with 3 stereo amps or 6 mono amps, as long as the price don't start to skyrocket.

I've been looking at some of the new purifi and hypex amplifiers, but I'm at a loss as to what i should choose and what i need.
I would appreciate if someone with more knowledge and experience could help and guide me towards the right products for my needs.

One concern i have from the reviews is that a lot of the newer amps are heavily frequency depended?
Currently the 200W@8Ohm have served me well and i don't think ill need any more power as i rarely go up past -20db.
3 sets of Topping LA90's do look interesting, but I'm not familiar with new smart amplifiers like it.
And i don't know how to judge it power handling and capacity compared to my 40kg old school Rotel.

In general the budget is a bit fluid, but around 2000USD if possible, and I'm located in the EU
And it has to have balanced inputs, ruling out something like a nad m25



Any help, suggestions, wise words or thoughts on the matter is greatly appreciated.

Thank in advance
 
Will you built it yourself?
If that so I would suggest you an icepower built with the best of both worlds,exceptional performance down low and the same for mid highs.
for 6 channels you'll need 2 x 1200as2 and 2 x 300 or 400a2.
That's 8 channels but you can mix and match them as stereo,monos (all),BTL (300 and 400a2) ,etc .

You just hook each of the small ones to each 1200as2 and you're done.
 
The icepower modules do look interesting, and I'm definitively open to build it myself.
But the modules themselves don't look to be the best performing in any regards at all actually.
And i do by no means need 1200w or anything like that 200w have been more than sufficient for my use.
 
The icepower modules do look interesting, and I'm definitively open to build it myself.
But the modules themselves don't look to be the best performing in any regards at all actually.
And i do by no means need 1200w or anything like that 200w have been more than sufficient for my use.
The new generation of them should be out soon.
But even the old 300a2 (mind the naming,don't confuse them with the asx series even if those were updated and measure really nice now) has a 100+dB SINAD,they are rock solid,etc.

Don't fall for the naming,1200 W is for mono burst power,they are really closer to 2 x 600 W (as tested here) and that depends (as with all amps) on cooling,etc.
Amir tested the module and it did great down low,despite the "audiophile" buffer included at the amp he tested.

My suggestion about it is about ease (just hook them together and go! ),features (they include every control and indicator you would ever need) and they are certified,reliable with good protections (some of them were tested hard here) .etc.
 
Last edited:
How about this one:


In budget, but it's 150W into 8R, so it's only a little bit below what you have now.
 
One concern i have from the reviews is that a lot of the newer amps are heavily frequency depended?
For many years now, there have been power amplifier modules from Hypex and Purifi which are NOT "frequency depended" as you describe. To give you some background - loudspeakers are not a fixed resistance (e.g. 4, 6 or 8 Ohms) but the resistance can vary down to 2 and up to 50 Ohms at different frequencies (and also sometimes the voltage is out of phase with the current - but don't worry about that). If your power amplifier has a very low resistance (impedance) output of say 0.01 Ohms across the entire frequency range (with lots of current and volts on tap), and you use low resistance speaker cables then the speaker will not bother it at all and the frequency response into the speaker terminals from a sweep across the entire frequency range will be ruler flat. Some amplifiers have high output impedance which means the speaker "bothers" the setup and you get a wavy response. Early discrete class D had insufficient feedback at high frequencies and did not include the output inductor in the feedback loop, so these had rising or falling output depending on the speaker. Some chip amp Class D designs don't include the output inductor in the feedback loop either, so these also had rising or falling output depending on the speaker. All Purifi and all recent NCore amplifiers have sufficient feedback and have the inductor in the loop so are essentially flat for all reasonable speaker loads. The latest chip-based class D have PFFB which includes the inductor in the loop and so are also largely insensitive to speaker load.

Summary - all Purifi and modern NCore and PFFB-based chip amps will be fine!
 

They have pretty wide selection so can choose your configuration in various price ranges and could be easier to ship to EU from the UK. If you go for some good performing D class pls post your impressions (objectively :rolleyes: ).

I am periodically tempted to replace my 5 ageing 1070 Rotels, but then again, love the beasts despite 80dB-ish SINAD and they just keep going and going strong. Even Amir was merciful to 1070 in the review and recommended it (link below). Could not find the review for 1095, but it is kind of same age/batch so might be similar.

Trying to be rational and telling myself that I would anyway not notice the difference against D class 110dB or more SINAD, and don't really need more than 120-ish W it can do into 8 ohm.

 
For me moving to Buckeye's was for weight (I am 70 and don't want heavy amps any more) but they sounded considerably better than the ATI 150x series amps they were replacing. Probably lost 80% of the weight.
 
One concern i have from the reviews is that a lot of the newer amps are heavily frequency depended?
What? Most amplifiers are flat across the audio range, and if they can't put-out full-power at 20kHz, you don't need full power at 20kHz anyway.

Currently the 200W@8Ohm have served me well and i don't think ill need any more power as i rarely go up past -20db.
-20dB is 1% of the power (10% of the voltage) so relative to 200W, that's 2W.

And i don't know how to judge it power handling and capacity compared to my 40kg old school Rotel.
Measurements are measurments, but specs are often dishonest.
 
How about this one:


In budget, but it's 150W into 8R, so it's only a little bit below what you have now.

This do be looking quite promising actually
thank you for the recommendation!

For many years now, there have been power amplifier modules from Hypex and Purifi which are NOT "frequency depended" as you describe. To give you some background - loudspeakers are not a fixed resistance (e.g. 4, 6 or 8 Ohms) but the resistance can vary down to 2 and up to 50 Ohms at different frequencies (and also sometimes the voltage is out of phase with the current - but don't worry about that). If your power amplifier has a very low resistance (impedance) output of say 0.01 Ohms across the entire frequency range (with lots of current and volts on tap), and you use low resistance speaker cables then the speaker will not bother it at all and the frequency response into the speaker terminals from a sweep across the entire frequency range will be ruler flat. Some amplifiers have high output impedance which means the speaker "bothers" the setup and you get a wavy response. Early discrete class D had insufficient feedback at high frequencies and did not include the output inductor in the feedback loop, so these had rising or falling output depending on the speaker. Some chip amp Class D designs don't include the output inductor in the feedback loop either, so these also had rising or falling output depending on the speaker. All Purifi and all recent NCore amplifiers have sufficient feedback and have the inductor in the loop so are essentially flat for all reasonable speaker loads. The latest chip-based class D have PFFB which includes the inductor in the loop and so are also largely insensitive to speaker load.

Summary - all Purifi and modern NCore and PFFB-based chip amps will be fine!

This is what im referring to, sorry if i worded it in a confusing way.
As you can see the distortion is raised quite a lot when going up in frequency.
1728659473654.png



They have pretty wide selection so can choose your configuration in various price ranges and could be easier to ship to EU from the UK. If you go for some good performing D class pls post your impressions (objectively :rolleyes: ).

I am periodically tempted to replace my 5 ageing 1070 Rotels, but then again, love the beasts despite 80dB-ish SINAD and they just keep going and going strong. Even Amir was merciful to 1070 in the review and recommended it (link below). Could not find the review for 1095, but it is kind of same age/batch so might be similar.

Trying to be rational and telling myself that I would anyway not notice the difference against D class 110dB or more SINAD, and don't really need more than 120-ish W it can do into 8 ohm.

I will promise to report back about my findings sir.

i do indeed think the 1070 is build the same way as mine, and it does sound wonderful indeed.


What? Most amplifiers are flat across the audio range, and if they can't put-out full-power at 20kHz, you don't need full power at 20kHz anyway.


-20dB is 1% of the power (10% of the voltage) so relative to 200W, that's 2W.


Measurements are measurments, but specs are often dishonest.
1) see the answer i gave to Maxwell, i might have misspoken.
2) that is why i find the newer la90 / b200 interesting, because they can probably cover my power needs without any difficulties.
3) yes i agree, that's why I've come to seek the knowledge from people smarter than me :)
 
As you can see the distortion is raised quite a lot when going up in frequency.
You need to look at the numbers! You are probably unable to hear distortion below -50dB even at the frequencies you are sensitive to (3 to 6 kHz). This shows -80dB at 200W (which you probably never get near (more like 5 to 10W) for 15kHz where the real music is 40 odd dB lower than 1kHz and where the 1st harmonic is 30kHz which no human ever born can hear. No one will ever be able to detect distortion from this device.
 
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