Burning Sounds
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Since building my Linkwitz LX521s several years ago I've been trying to find a good quality but inexpensive multichannel amp to drive them. As these speakers cost me about £1500 to build I needed something commensurate pricewise and as they are a 4-way that's 8 channels of amplification.
They are not a difficult speaker to drive other than the bass drivers present a 2 ohm load at about 100hz if connected in parallel. The amps that can drive that load are generally out of my price range (ie Bryston etc). The alternative is to use 10 channels of amplification, assigning a separate amp channel to each bass driver.
About 3 years ago I purchased a pair of Nakamichi AVP1 7 channel amps to do just that. At £499 each they were a bargain and I've been very happy with their build quality and reliability. They are built in the same Chinese Winner factory as the earlier Emotiva amps. In fact the AVP1 is very similar to the now discontinued Emotiva UPA-7 - see Audioholics review) but with the addition of balanced inputs. The importer no longer licenses the Nakamich name for the UK and the amp is now called the Iota AVXP1 and costs more than double what I paid. Still not a bad price, but not the bargain it once was.
With more OEM Hypex-based amps at reasonable prices coming on to the market I began to look at other options that might offer a potential improvement in sound quality as well as a smaller form factor. Hypex's specs for these modules are pretty impressive and they are able to drive a 2ohm load.
After considering several brands I settled on the Apollon Audio NCMP8350 as their amps appeared to have a tidy build and a good price. (I initially ordered the NC8200, but there was an issue with the Hypex NC252MP modules, so Apollon offered me a very good deal on the larger NCMP5308 which uses the NC502MP modules.
I've now been listening to this for a couple of weeks and I'm very impressed . The considerable turn-on surge from those 4 modules has been handled well using what appears to be a pair of start up sequencers. These are right at the front of the amp and do not appear in the images of the NCMP5308 on Apollon's website. The case is an unpretentious, but perfectly adequate pressed steel affair with a nice aluminium front panel. Apollon appear to be one of the few amp companies to offer Speakon connectors instead of banana sockets. I went with the ETI banana sockets, although I am now thinking the Speakons might have been a better option. My LX521s have speakons on the bass units, but banana's on the upper baffle.
The amp runs warmer than I expected (I was probably pre-conditioned by the oft quoted notion that class D amps are cool running). The amp reaches about 35 degrees centigrade at the air vents on the top panel, so well within its operating range, so nothing to worry about there. What is interesting is that all the modules seem to run at the same temperature considering the upper mid drivers and tweeters will only be using a few watts. Only the bass and lower mid channels ever got warm on the Nakamichis. The Apollon is physically absolutely silent. With the deal Apollon gave me mine came in not much above ASR's $500 amp (per stereo pair) price.
They are not a difficult speaker to drive other than the bass drivers present a 2 ohm load at about 100hz if connected in parallel. The amps that can drive that load are generally out of my price range (ie Bryston etc). The alternative is to use 10 channels of amplification, assigning a separate amp channel to each bass driver.
About 3 years ago I purchased a pair of Nakamichi AVP1 7 channel amps to do just that. At £499 each they were a bargain and I've been very happy with their build quality and reliability. They are built in the same Chinese Winner factory as the earlier Emotiva amps. In fact the AVP1 is very similar to the now discontinued Emotiva UPA-7 - see Audioholics review) but with the addition of balanced inputs. The importer no longer licenses the Nakamich name for the UK and the amp is now called the Iota AVXP1 and costs more than double what I paid. Still not a bad price, but not the bargain it once was.
With more OEM Hypex-based amps at reasonable prices coming on to the market I began to look at other options that might offer a potential improvement in sound quality as well as a smaller form factor. Hypex's specs for these modules are pretty impressive and they are able to drive a 2ohm load.
After considering several brands I settled on the Apollon Audio NCMP8350 as their amps appeared to have a tidy build and a good price. (I initially ordered the NC8200, but there was an issue with the Hypex NC252MP modules, so Apollon offered me a very good deal on the larger NCMP5308 which uses the NC502MP modules.
I've now been listening to this for a couple of weeks and I'm very impressed . The considerable turn-on surge from those 4 modules has been handled well using what appears to be a pair of start up sequencers. These are right at the front of the amp and do not appear in the images of the NCMP5308 on Apollon's website. The case is an unpretentious, but perfectly adequate pressed steel affair with a nice aluminium front panel. Apollon appear to be one of the few amp companies to offer Speakon connectors instead of banana sockets. I went with the ETI banana sockets, although I am now thinking the Speakons might have been a better option. My LX521s have speakons on the bass units, but banana's on the upper baffle.
The amp runs warmer than I expected (I was probably pre-conditioned by the oft quoted notion that class D amps are cool running). The amp reaches about 35 degrees centigrade at the air vents on the top panel, so well within its operating range, so nothing to worry about there. What is interesting is that all the modules seem to run at the same temperature considering the upper mid drivers and tweeters will only be using a few watts. Only the bass and lower mid channels ever got warm on the Nakamichis. The Apollon is physically absolutely silent. With the deal Apollon gave me mine came in not much above ASR's $500 amp (per stereo pair) price.