Opinions on Hypex Plate (FusionAMP) Amplifiers?

[abdo123]

They seem to offer the biggest bang for the buck i have seen in my entire life.

DAC? check
DSP and active crossover? check
Amp? check
excellent measurements / scores? check

Anyone here used ones in their recent builds? Any experiences?

 

[boXem]

Just keep in mind that you need one fusion amp per channel. And you have to do the integration in a box yourself.

 

[YSDR]

Hi!

I have been using these (two FA253) for 2 years now and have nothing to complain about (knocking on wood). They are rich in features and sounds really good. The software (HFD) may be a little weird for beginners, but it can be learned quickly. Feel free to ask if you are curious about something.

They are now used by some manufacturers to powering even high-end speakers. For example:
Lyravox loudspeakers

 

[abdo123]

Hi!

I have been using these (two FA253) for 2 years now and have nothing to complain about (knocking on wood). They are rich in features and sounds really good. The software (HFD) may be a little weird for beginners, but it can be learned quickly. Feel free to ask if you are curious about something.

They are now used by some manufacturers to powering even high-end speakers. For example:
Lyravox loudspeakers

How flexible is HFD? Can you learn to build any crossover filter with it?

Also i noticed you have the 100W extra tweeter amp version, do they match the gain of that extra unit with the two 250W amps? I’m thinking of using FA123 too.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Great value for money, great performance. The ADC/DACs have not been measured, but Hypex specs them at >100dB THD/SNR, and their specs are generally reliable.

Given all that, and the many different digital and analogue input options, I can't see how you could go wrong.

 

[abdo123]

Great value for money, great performance. The ADC/DACs have not been measured, but Hypex specs them at >100dB THD/SNR, and their specs are generally reliable.

Given all that, and the many different digital and analogue input options, I can't see how you could go wrong.

It’s really strange Amir didn’t review one of these, they’re honestly industry breaking. They’re (allegedly) fully transparent for any commercial user and allow 4 units to be daisy chained for one heck of an actively crossovered system.

 

[andreasmaaan]

It’s really strange Amir didn’t review one of these, they’re honestly industry breaking. They’re (allegedly) fully transparent for any commercial user and allow 4 units to be daisy chained for one heck of an actively crossovered system.

Yeh, they're very nice! I presume he hasn't reviewed one because nobody has sent him one to review

 

[abdo123]

Yeh, they're very nice! I presume he hasn't reviewed one because nobody has sent him one to review

Does Amir review DIY gear that is not working out of the box?

You need to activate a DSP filter and connect them properly before they can output any signal.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Does Amir review DIY gear that is not working out of the box?

You need to activate a DSP filter and connect them properly before they can output any signal.

I'm sure he would, but I guess you could ask him

 

[YSDR]

How flexible is HFD? Can you learn to build any crossover filter with it?

Also i noticed you have the 100W extra tweeter amp version, do they match the gain of that extra unit with the two 250W amps? I’m thinking of using FA123 too.

Yes, in HFD you can create every type or custom crossover slopes in an empirical way.
I don't know how relates the added tweeter channel gain to the big ones but I didn't have any problem with it, you can set channel gain to -96dB too.
Btw, I use a CD+horn tweeter with 109dB/2.83V/1m sensitivity, the amp emits very little noise, no passive attenuation is needed for me (to reduce the noisefloor etc.).

 

[YSDR]

Does Amir review DIY gear that is not working out of the box?

You need to activate a DSP filter and connect them properly before they can output any signal.

Yeah, you need to upload a unity filter to engage the amps, this is a fully flat filter, amp specs defined with that filter at 0dB gain settings.

 

[Jas0_0]

Is it possible to use the on-board DSP to create PEQ filters for room correction?

 

[abdo123]

Is it possible to use the on-board DSP to create PEQ filters for room correction?

Yeah ofcourse.

 

[Jas0_0]

Great, how many bands are possible per channel? Also is there any means to correct for in-room phase issues, as is possible with eg RePhase and software convolution?

 

[YSDR]

Great, how many bands are possible per channel? Also is there any means to correct for in-room phase issues, as is possible with eg RePhase and software convolution?

There are 15 biquads per channel for crossover, and 9 for global EQ. There are no phase correction, convolution (yet?). But FIR filtering/crossover is in development I think.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Great, how many bands are possible per channel? Also is there any means to correct for in-room phase issues, as is possible with eg RePhase and software convolution?

There's a 9 band EQ. It's not per channel, it's applied to the input before it's sent to the individual channels. There's no phase feature. We use these amps for our subwoofers and they are very capable amplifiers.

 

[andreasmaaan]

There are 15 biquads per channel for crossover, and 9 for global EQ. There are no phase correction, convolution (yet?). But FIR filtering/crossover is in development I think.

Unfortunately, though, FIR capability will not be available for this generation of Hypex plate amps (not even with a firmware update).

 

[YSDR]

Unfortunately, though, FIR capability will not be available for this generation of Hypex plate amps (not even with a firmware update).

The latest FW/SW changelog says: "HFD is now ready for FusionAmps with FIR filters (FA with FIR is in development)".
So this means, there will be new Fusionamps (or DSP module) in the near future with FIR capability?

 

[617]

The latest FW/SW changelog says: "HFD is now ready for FusionAmps with FIR filters (FA with FIR is in development)".
So this means, there will be new Fusionamps (or DSP module) in the near future with FIR capability?

My understanding is that FIR filters requite drastically greater processing power, so existing products with conventional filters cannot simply be upgraded to do that. I wouldn't let that stop you; with good acoustic design, you can make a state of the art speaker just using normal biquads/PEQ. Your results will be entirely dependent on how well you do your polar measurements.

 

[andreasmaaan]

The latest FW/SW changelog says: "HFD is now ready for FusionAmps with FIR filters (FA with FIR is in development)".
So this means, there will be new Fusionamps (or DSP module) in the near future with FIR capability?

I was told by a contact at Hypex that this generation would not be FIR capable, that new hardwire was required (and in development). That was a long time ago though, so I'm not sure if it's still the case. It is conceivable that they've managed to do it with the existing hardware, perhaps with fewer taps per sampling rate. Would be great if so.