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Topping B100 Amplifier Review

Rate this amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 28 6.8%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 24 5.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 79 19.1%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 283 68.4%

  • Total voters
    414
Probably because of the measuring equipment that one may connect to speakers,not all are differential.

As far as I know we don't connect microphones to speaker terminals. :p

"acoustic" as opposed to "electrical" :)
 
I bought a B100 amp for my center-channel Phase Tech PC3.1 speaker. Unfortunately, it enters protection mode during bass-heavy sections of movie soundtracks. I accept responsibility for not confirming whether my speaker's impedance and efficiency were a suitable match for the amp, especially considering Amir's comments about the protection mode in the main review. This is something to keep in mind for those thinking about purchasing this amp.
 
I bought a B100 amp for my center-channel Phase Tech PC3.1 speaker. Unfortunately, it enters protection mode during bass-heavy sections of movie soundtracks. I accept responsibility for not confirming whether my speaker's impedance and efficiency were a suitable match for the amp, especially considering Amir's comments about the protection mode in the main review. This is something to keep in mind for those thinking about purchasing this amp.
Are you able to apply a high-pass filter to the audio that's going into the B100? Perhaps in your AVR settings?

That could get you some more headroom.
 
As far as I know we don't connect microphones to speaker terminals. :p

"acoustic" as opposed to "electrical" :)
If it's only acoustic you're of course right!
I saw "REW measurements tests" that's why I thought it may involve impedance,etc.
Specially when a mono amp is needed,I can't think he will measure a room with it,my thinking was maybe building speakers.
 
REW can measure acoustically but also has a procedure for impedance measurement as @Sokel said.

Personally, based on the comments about low power and inadequate protection circuits, I would choose another amp either way. You do not need outstanding amplifier performance for speaker characterization (acoustic or electrical), but you do need an amplifier that can handle a wide range of impedances, and tolerate occasional slips by the tester without blowing up the amp. I would also choose a conventional single-ended amplifier and not BTL in case I want to slap an oscilloscope or distortion analyzer across the terminals and not worry about shorting an active output to ground. I'd probably just get an inexpensive Crown or other "pro" amp that can handle the abuse it is likely to see (intentional or not).
 
:facepalm: Let's see...

"Snell Acoustics, a manufacturer of loudspeakers for more than 30 years, has announced that audio designer Joseph D'Appolito, Ph.D, whose name is synonymous with the paired-vertical array, is now exclusively Snell's full-time chief engineer. In his newly designated position, Dr. D'Appolito will work closely with David Logvin, Snell's Senior Design Engineer, to direct new product development.

Additional Resources
• Read more floorstanding speaker news from HomeTheaterReview.com.
• See more stories like this in our Industry Trade News section.

An authority in acoustics, speaker design and measurement techniques, Dr. D'Appolito has been Snell's chief engineer since joining the company in 2003 and has spearheaded the design of many of the company's products, including Snell's new Illusion Reference Tower. He has also been directly responsible for the Snell Series 7 models, including the complementary in-wall and in-cabinet speakers. Now, with Dr. D'Appolito's exclusive commitment to Snell, he and the company will be able to concentrate on the obvious synergies between his engineering pedigree and Snell's expertise in the design and manufacturing of loudspeakers.

Designer of the "D'Appolito Array"

Dr. D'Appolito is best known for designing the popular loudspeaker geometry commonly known as the "D'Appolito Array," which is now incorporated into the designs of many speakers designed and manufactured in Europe, Asia and the U.S. The technique, when properly executed, sandwiches a tweeter between two midrange drivers - so that the tweeter's output is directed primarily at listeners in the horizontal plane, minimizing reflections with the floor and ceiling.

In addition to designing the D'Appolito Array, Dr. D'Appolito has been at the forefront of commercial loudspeaker design for over twenty years. Prior to joining Snell, he was instrumental in the design of more than 80 loudspeaker systems and related audio engineering projects.

Read more about Dr. D'Appolito's impressive record on Page 2.
SnellLogo_HomeTheaterReview.gif

Dr. D'Appolito is the author of an
authoritative book on loudspeaker testing, Testing Loudspeakers (Audio
Amateur Press). In addition, he has contributed to both the technical
and popular literature on loudspeaker and crossover design. He has
served as Contributing Technical Editor for books on home and auto
loudspeaker construction published by Master Publishing, and has
authored more than 30 journal and conference papers covering
applications of modern estimation and control theory, statistical
signal processing, stochastic systems identification and modeling, and
a broad range of navigation, guidance, communications and signal
processing issues.

Snell's New Illusion Tower

Dr. D'Appolito's most recent
accomplishment at Snell has been directing the design and creation of
the Snell Illusion Reference Tower loudspeaker, a product with no
limitations set on acoustical design, materials or creative design. A
uniquely designed pair of tapering towers, Illusion houses a full
spectrum of transducers, integrated with a custom crossover network.

Dr. D'Appolito holds BEE, SMEE,
EE and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Rensselear
Polytechnic Institute, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and
the University of Massachusetts."

But since you've never heard of him, and you've built several speakers, you know more than he does about speaker testing.
:rolleyes:
I probably know more about D'Appolito arrangement than you, sir. What you posted is a piece of marketing material for any company. But 2-channel measurements in building speakers is quite essential knowledge and if his book doesn't have any mention about it, then it's loudspeaker "marketing bible" before measurement guide book.
 
Can you explain why that would be?
In short 2 channel measurements, that can be done with just 2 channel soundcard, but there can be situations where you'd prefer to have amp channels.
 
I probably know more about D'Appolito arrangement than you, sir. What you posted is a piece of marketing material for any company. But 2-channel measurements in building speakers is quite essential knowledge and if his book doesn't have any mention about it, then it's loudspeaker "marketing bible" before measurement guide book.
You have no idea what I know about building speakers, and now you're on my ignore list.
 
I saw "REW measurements tests" that's why I thought it may involve impedance,etc.

I confess to not having considered impedance measurements.


However, I'd also not be doing electrical measurements without balanced input into the measurement device. No point trying to measure gear if you are going to allow common mode noise in your measurement system into the measurements.


Specially when a mono amp is needed,I can't think he will measure a room with it,my thinking was maybe building speakers.
I was assuming near field measurements of (eg) frequency response, distortion etc.
 
Whilst CMRR can be an issue for measuring some electronics gear, I'd argue four-point ("Kelvin" and similar) measurement systems are more important than common-mode noise rejection for speaker electrical measurements. Signal levels can be high and impedance very low. I wrote a tutorial presentation a while back delineating the methodology for using a VNA to measure sub-ohm impedances for power-plane measurements, where you need milliohm accuracy and resolution over DC to 1 GHz or more, same scheme I used in the primordial past for speaker impedance measurements.
 
In short 2 channel measurements, that can be done with just 2 channel soundcard, but there can be situations where you'd prefer to have amp channels.
You didn't actually answer the question. Why would you need to do 2 channels to have "meaningful" measurements?
 
You didn't actually answer the question. Why would you need to do 2 channels to have "meaningful" measurements?
I can think of a two way active design but other than that not much.
 
I can think of a two way active design but other than that not much.
But an active design would have its own amps anyway...
 
Just to pick nits — you can't meaningfully measure it without amps.
No, but if you are doing an active design, wouldn't it make sense to measure with the amps you intend to use in the design?

Anyway, could you please explain why you think you need 2 channels to have "meaningful" measurements?
 
This might be some misunderstanding. For example in this dual channel measurement setup from the ARTA manual, only one power amplifier is needed.
Source: https://artalabs.hr/download/ARTA-user-manual.pdf
1737973494514.png
 
Usage of the B100 in this setup is limited. The soundcard input has to be balanced and two l-pads are needed (for each positive and negative output), because the negative output of BTL amplifier cannot be connected to the signal ground.
 
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