Thank you for your feedback! I will clarify it and then report it. do you know why my wiring could be a problem? is it due to the unbalanced source?
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Review and Measurements of Hypex NC400 DIY Amp
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
No, nAMPON enables the amplifier by being grounded
If you have a basic volt meter then you can do a quick check to make sure the binding posts aren't inadvertently shorting to ground. Same for making sure the pins on the XLR connectors are correct. When I built my NC400 monoblocks I recall that everything plugged together so the chances of having something reversed was really small. Also wondering if the red leds are all lighting up as they should.
If you live in a country with mains @ 220 V, take a multimeter and check all supply rails referenced to chassis (carefully).
Else (mains @ 110 V) install the jumper on J3.
Hi guys!
This is my first post here...
I am going to build stereo amplifier: 2 x nc400 + 2 x SMPS600N400.
When the amplifier is not in use, I want to have minimal power consumption. Therefore, I am going to add a small, high-efficiency, 5V power supply, to control the "Standby" lines in the power supplies.
I have a two questions about this:
1. To switch SMPS into standby mode, I need to apply external voltage to the "Standby" pin. Since there are two power supplies, I have a doubt - may I have one common +5V signal for each of them? This means, that I will have to connect pin J1.1 (Standby) in first SMPS with J1.1 in the second one. Same with J1.5 (GND). May i do that? Will I not damage the SMPS in this way?
2. When switching between SMPS modes: Standby-> active and active-> standby, will I generate popping sound in the speakers? I would like to avoid this. I have read many pages of this thread and still don't know under what circumstances this popping sound is heard. Can someone explain / check it?
Regards!
Robert
This is my first post here...
I am going to build stereo amplifier: 2 x nc400 + 2 x SMPS600N400.
When the amplifier is not in use, I want to have minimal power consumption. Therefore, I am going to add a small, high-efficiency, 5V power supply, to control the "Standby" lines in the power supplies.
I have a two questions about this:
1. To switch SMPS into standby mode, I need to apply external voltage to the "Standby" pin. Since there are two power supplies, I have a doubt - may I have one common +5V signal for each of them? This means, that I will have to connect pin J1.1 (Standby) in first SMPS with J1.1 in the second one. Same with J1.5 (GND). May i do that? Will I not damage the SMPS in this way?
2. When switching between SMPS modes: Standby-> active and active-> standby, will I generate popping sound in the speakers? I would like to avoid this. I have read many pages of this thread and still don't know under what circumstances this popping sound is heard. Can someone explain / check it?
Regards!
Robert
Hello,
Would argue that ultrasonic "garbage" would be limited a lot by the inductance/capacitance of the speaker cables, crossover network and finally the inductance of the voice coils. Really doubt any anything would come out as something you could hear from the speakers.
Congrats on getting the project done. I hope you enjoy them. I think they're terrific sounding amps in that they are just transparent. Not adding or subtracting from the upstream sources. The measured performance is just spectacular.
Is there still overheating/failure rates on these nc400 modules. Or is it just the power supply.
it’s just that the n500 don’t seem to have such high rates of overheating/failure and measure much better closer to the purifi modules.
trying to find a uk vendor who will build it for me.
it’s just that the n500 don’t seem to have such high rates of overheating/failure and measure much better closer to the purifi modules.
trying to find a uk vendor who will build it for me.
6speed
Active Member
The NC400 modules stay cool. The SMPS600 run hot because they are inadequately heatsinked, and I doubled its load by building stereo modules. However, I have active speakers and my power requirements per channel are low. If you want a more reliable PS, use the SMPS1200A400.
The other thing I did was to add a 120mm fan to my rack. At just 3.3V it is silent, but still moves enough are to make a dramatic difference in the temperature of my 8 channels of Hypex amplification.
The other thing I did was to add a 120mm fan to my rack. At just 3.3V it is silent, but still moves enough are to make a dramatic difference in the temperature of my 8 channels of Hypex amplification.
In what way does the nc500 measure better than the nc400?
Yes my mistake.
I meant the nc400 is closer to the purifi.
but is there a problem with longevity with the nc400.
Zoomer
Senior Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2019
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They were introduced in 2014. If there was a longevity problem you would have found out by googling.
I suppose you are addressing longevity doubts regarding the SMPS and not the NC400 amp module itself btw.
Hello All,
NC400 has not had any heat problems that I am aware of and I have looked. Using the small SMPS to power two NC400 modules could very well cause problems as it is not rated to power two modules at once. Seems to do fine except when the modules are driven hard. I have the two NC400 modules in a larger case so there is more room between then and quite a bit of space between them and the SMPS1200A400 power supply as well and there is no problem with cooling at all. Trying to cram everything into the smallest possible case with an underrated power supply is far less than ideal. Nobody would suggest using an underrated linear power supply for a power amp, so why they are using an underrated SMPS is a mystery to me. Seems to work fairly well, but then expecting premium results is nuts. IMHO.
Depends on your definition of "underrated". The Hypex datasheet shows the SMPS600 is perfectly fine powering two NC400's.
Yes, barely. And the testing on this site shows increased distortion when driving them both of them hard which does not show up when they are driven individually. You want the best, don't use a marginal power supply.
Again, what is marginal? The performance would be even better with an even more powerful supply - where do you draw the line?
I built the NC400 monoblocks from Hypex's DIY store. I haven't found them to get unusually warm. I also haven't read anything about longevity problems. Just the concern that Amir pointed out about the heatsink over top of the electrolytic caps. At the time I went with the NC400's over the Purifi because Hypex offered the complete kit. It's comforting to me to have a company support the entire build. The measurements are so close on those two amps that I can't imagine there to be an audible difference in my system.
Well, marginal to me is limiting the performance from what a design could do by going with a cheaper power supply. You don't want to get the best that a device is capable of, that is your option. As long as you are happy with that, no problem.
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