Rockville RPA16 Review (Pro Amplifier)

[DonR]

That should qualify them for a spot on the High End registry, Fibbers Extraordinare! LOL

A veritable feather in their cap but they really shouldn't put out hard numbers. Always keep it fuzzy so no one can prove you are lying.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

With that much power just short circuit it and use it as an arc welder.

 

[DanielT]

You're going to want that Piezo sizzle to balance out any muddiness. A resistor and a capacitor for the crossover. 3/8 inch plywood is good, or go all out and use half inch. Once you build these cabinets and speakers, you'll have the perfect setup for listening while the table saw is cutting something during the next build.

OT:
Ramp of Piezos, suitable with resistance, to fix the sensitivity together with bass drivers .Some fat PA bass drivers, .. plywood ... saw, glue, screws ... passive crossover.

Beer cans can be placed on the speakers. The party can begin.

 

[prerich]

I'm actually using its Class D light weight (physical) brother - the D14 as an amp for my subs. I believe that's what these amps are made for, subs and live PA. I bought it for $249 back in October when my Behringer NU 4-6000 started the intermittent red ring of death. When running Audyssey MultEQ-X I had to put the gains at 5db to balance in the green.....which is nothing....it's barely turned up. It runs my Acoustic Elegance AV15H/18 (15 sub/twin 18 passive bass radiators per enclosure) just fine. It runs at load around 117 degrees fahrenheit, and I can't audibly hear the fan from my listening position. If I ever decide to run it as a mono amp and get another one - running both bridged (one to each sub), I'll drop ship the new one to you for a test.

 

[raindance]

What powerplug has this think? I read 250v/25A on the backside fuse ???

Thats to much for a household outlet in Germany. Its 16A max.

You have 230 volts so the current consumption for the same power output would be about half as much as it is here where Amir has 120 volts.

 

[tomtoo]

You have 230 volts so the current consumption for the same power output would be about half as much as it is here where Amir has 120 volts.

I can only read whats at the fuse, it says 250v/25A. Thats 6.25kW. And thats much to much for a typical outlet in germany. So to make it easy the device fuse would be useless, couse the installed fuse would do its job. Whats against safety rules. Whats not importend as long it not get sold in Germay with a plug for a typical outlet that are just ratet for 16A. Get it?

Or in other words, thats why i asked for the power plug of this device?

 

[DonR]

I can only read whats at the fuse, it says 250v/25A. Thats 6.25kW. And thats much to much for a typical outlet in germany. So to make it easy the device fuse would be useless, couse the installed fuse would do its job. Whats against safety rules. Whats not importend as long it not get sold in Germay with a plug for a typical outlet that are just ratet for 16A. Get it?

Or in other words, thats why i asked for the power plug of this device?

Its an either/or number. Either MAX 250V or MAX 24A but not necessarily both at the same time.

At any rate, the internals show 63V filter caps so I doubt if it will ever draw anything near that. The unit is basically one giant toroidal transformer.

https://www.avsforum.com/attachments/20200731_195238-jpg.3024133/

 

[tomtoo]

Its an either/or number. Either MAX 250V or MAX 24A but not necessarily both at the same time.

At any rate, the internals show 63V filter caps so I doubt if it will ever draw anything near that. The unit is basically one giant toroidal transformer.

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/3000-wattts-for-300-rockville-rpa16.3164409/

Yes, buts a 25A fuse thats to much for a regular household fuse in germany. Thats why i like to know with what plug it comes. Are regular household plugs in US alowed for 25A? Or is it a speacial plug? Thats my question, with what plug it comes? Very easy.

 

[Doodski]

@DonR

At the tested 4 Ohm 721W RMS output the rails would be @ +/- 75.9 VDC @ 19A/ch.
At the tested 8 Ohm 554W RMS output the rails would be @ +/- 94.1 VDC @ 11.8A/ch.

So going off that the caps must be in series for the higher rail voltage requirements?

 

[DonR]

@DonR

At the tested 4 Ohm 721W RMS output the rails would be @ +/- 75.9 VDC @ 19A/ch.
At the tested 8 Ohm 554W RMS output the rails would be @ +/- 94.1 VDC @ 11.8A/ch.

So going off that the caps must be in series for the higher rail voltage requirements?

In series that would give 7,500 uF filter capacitance per rail which is way too little but might explain the crappy performance in part.

 

[DonR]

Yes, buts a 25A fuse thats to much for a regular household fuse in germany. Thats why i like to know with what plug it comes. Are regular household plugs in US alowed for 25A? Or is it a speacial plug? Thats my question, with what plug it comes? Very easy.

Looking at the picture it appears to be a standard 15A plug for North America. Nothing Rockville claims about this amp is remotely true.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

I'd love to see a photo of the interior of that thing. Its amazing they are getting so much power out of a supposedly linear design in such a small chassis. I would bet that it can't keep up much of that power for more than a few minutes unless they've perfected superconducting devices attached to black hole heatsinks.

 

[DonR]

I'd love to see a photo of the interior of that thing. Its amazing they are getting so much power out of a supposedly linear design in such a small chassis. I would bet that it can't keep up much of that power for more than a few minutes unless they've perfected superconducting devices attached to black hole heatsinks.

I posted it above. Full thread here: https://www.avsforum.com/threads/3000-wattts-for-300-rockville-rpa16.3164409/

 

[Doodski]

I'd love to see a photo of the interior of that thing. Its amazing they are getting so much power out of a supposedly linear design in such a small chassis. I would bet that it can't keep up much of that power for more than a few minutes unless they've perfected superconducting devices attached to black hole heatsinks.

LOL @ black hole heatsinks... Something is definitely amiss.

 

[tomtoo]

Looking at the picture it appears to be a standard 15A plug for North America. Nothing Rockville claims about this amp is remotely true.

Thx! So we have a regular 15A plug, followed by a 25A device fuse?

@amirm
Call me a pedant, but that stinks, at least from a german safety rules point of view.

 

[DonR]

Thx! So we have a regular 15A plug, followed by a 25A device fuse?

@amirm
Call me a pedant, but that stinks, at least from a german safety rules point of view.

The more I look into this amp, the more it stinks.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

I posted it above. Full thread here: https://www.avsforum.com/threads/3000-wattts-for-300-rockville-rpa16.3164409/

Very interesting to look at. The SAE 2HP has similar power and is also a linear amplifier, but if you compare the pictures of the internals, you might notice a wee bit of difference in build over the Rockville. Just a bit...... Which one do you think could sustain full power longer? And yes, I'm aware there's a vast price difference.

 

[Doodski]

Very interesting to look at. The SAE 2HP has similar power and is also a linear amplifier, but if you compare the pictures of the internals, you might notice a wee bit of difference in build over the Rockville. Just a bit...... Which one do you think could sustain full power longer?

... and it requires 2 power cords.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

... and it requires 2 power cords.

Sorry, the 2HP doesn't come with a superconducing power cord like the Rockville.

 

[Larry B. Larabee]

At the tested 4 Ohm 721W RMS output the rails would be @ +/- 75.9 VDC @ 19A/ch.
At the tested 8 Ohm 554W RMS output the rails would be @ +/- 94.1 VDC @ 11.8A/ch.

That's all there is to it? This is a correct and accurate calculation of the output capability of the amp, simple ohm's law?