Peavey IPR2 7500 Review (Very Long)

ArthurG wrote: U.Viktor wrote: Sorry but I did not want to be harsh, I just wanted to share some info what I think important. There is a very sad trajectory on the audio market, I see more and more poor quality, badly designed however cheap devices now not only from the far east but from "used to be famous" manufacturers. ^^This U.Viktor is perfectly right. These IPR/inuke stuff is low grade class D tech with for example freq curve dependent of impedance and weak power supplies.  It's not even compliant to euro standard without active PFC. Everything screams cheaaaap and too much compromises have been made to reach a certain price point. U.Viktor wrote: Unfortunately most of the folks do not have any idea how these things really working and the marketing machine of these companies ruthlessly misleading the not-so-expert public about real technical values. I just wanted to warn you that may these things will not work so good as expected. For example It is not only about this Peavey IPR but most of similar devices designed around the class-D self-oscillating amplifier solution of International Rectifier: http://www.irf.com/product/Gate-Driver-ICs-and-Controllers-Class-D-Audio-Solutions-Class-D-Audio-ICs/_/N~1nje2e#tab-tab1 If you check the technical specifications of these drivers you will see that all of them has made for: *Home theater systems *Mini component stereo systems *Powered speaker systems *General purpose audio power amplifiers There is zero word about professional audio, because these have not made for it. The widely variable frequency operation, lack of real output feedback, lack of such important protection features like current source mode or elevated output levels due undamped LC resonance with certain type of loads.. make this thing unusable as a real professional audio amplifier. Again, Viktor is right. The use of integrated IR class D IC shows that price was the only factor when these amps were designed. These ICs are used outside their intended purpose and many tricks must be used to avoid their limitation... And it's even more disappointing that people seems to find this situation fine, as long as they have their cheap stuff. <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Sad time for pro audio tech lovers </span>

All of this does not matter to the end user. The only thing that matters to the end user is if the amplifier dies the manufacture will stand by their product and fix it.
The longer the manufacture offers a warranty the more faith the manufacture has in their products.

There is another thing that is overlooked, user experience with a particular brand.

If a user can call a manufacture and ask questions in regards to a nearly 40-year old amplifier 30 years later, in which the manufacture can answer, the service the company provided leaves a lasting impression on the user. If a person used various products sporting a company’s logo throughout the decades, which have never failed, that user will buy products from that manufacture.

Everyone loves to pick fun at Peavey however, in the States Peavey’s service is impeccable. And with a 5-year warranty I need not worry about a thing.

Best Regards,

How many amperes have BREAKER of this amp?

Edited by DjLeco - 15 October 2014 at 9:11pm

Where is this thread does anyone make such statements that you are challenging?

toastyghost wrote: I too work shows with a 10 second solid full output sustained bass note. Actually, I really do on occasion, and not dubstep either – but 'lesser' amps such as Powersoft haven't failed to deliver the goods yet.

What about the impedance of the loudspeaker at the given frequencies you are feeding it in the enclosure? No matter how you look at it, we drive loudspeakers on our amplifiers. Loudspeaker impedance will vary per frequency.

Also loudspeakers are rated under a nominal load. For those who do not know what a nominal value is, the link below will give you a brief explanation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_versus_nominal_value

All loudspeaker manufactures rate their speakers using a nominal value. Unless you literally measure the impedance load of the loudspeaker in the enclosure you have no idea what is the real impedance curve.

Best Regards,

The Re of a loudspeaker is measured in Free Air. Once the loudspeaker is housed in an enclosure the Re will change because it is no longer operating in free air. The graph below shows what happens to an 8-ohm nominal 18-inch driver with a Re of 6.5 once it is placed in an enclosure.



As I don’t use horn-loaded bass cabinets this is the only cabinet I have. However, we can still calculate an outcome using basic divison.


If we loaded four cabinets using the same driver in the same enclosure shown in graph above on a single channel of an amplifier, we would assume we are operating the amplifier on a 2-ohm load from 20 Hz – 100 Hz. But the reality is the amplifier would not see a load no lower than a 5-ohm from 20 Hz – 100 Hz.

As many members on Speakersplans (Excluding myself) use some means of a horn-loaded scheme to propagate bass, this is the reason many are content with Class D Amplifiers. What it loses in current, it makes up in voltage. As we know you can either have high voltage and low current or high current and low voltage.

It is always better to have high voltage for resistive loads like the loudspeaker/enclosure impedance plot shown in photo above. For the end result will always be more output.

I could not understand why many were claiming there was a huge difference moving from high current low voltage amplifiers to high voltage low current amplifiers driving their Bass Bins. It was only when I connected a light bulb to the output of the Peavey IPR2 7500 to verify the 124 output voltage statement written on the back of the amplifier that it all made sense.    





Lets look at the graph again.







What would be the best method to drive a folded horn offering such high impedance loads in the graph listed above if maximum SPL is the objective? A high current low voltage amplifier or a low current high voltage amplifier?


If I had the equipment to bench test the Peavey IPR2 7500, I would definitely do it. I am not going to get rid of my old Class A/B and Class H amplifiers for they excel when high current requirements are needed. However, Class D amplifiers do a better job when high voltage requirements are needed.

Best Regards,


Edited by Elliot Thompson - 16 October 2014 at 2:15pm