POWER AMPS! |
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RENSAAB
Registered User Joined: 21 July 2005 Status: Offline Points: 402 |
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Posted: 05 May 2006 at 4:17pm |
Hi all, as a lover of roots/dub music i have been listening to sound systems for well over thity years now. What i find interesting is how the technology surounding sound systems has evolved, power amplifiers in particular. The early sounds prided themselves on owning custom built amps as every soundman likes to be different! Today power is available in abundance (and cheap!) over the counter and so is the different classes of amps. Sound systems today seem to be much louder but very few can actually harness all that power and turn it into pleasurable listening! What class of amp do you think is best for running bass, mids or tops? assuming we're using scoops (i think differing designs of amps have a characteristic sound which some may favour eg:Crest:class H, Crown:grounded bridge or even Barracuda:class D). Which amps do you think are better for a particular application and why? What amps do you use? I have my own opinion on this subject by i am interested to hear other peoples opinions. |
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Tom Umney
Registered User Joined: 26 February 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4954 |
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My opinion it has to be valve amps[KT88 valves mostly]. Jah Observer uses all valves and Jah Shaka uses some valves and sounds much better[crisper] and much warmer than transistor amps. Personally I've only ever used Class A, Class AB and Class H,Class D. Class A amps I used ran hot but sounded sweet mostly were hifi amps though. The PA amps I've used/use are either Class AB or Class H. Class AB and Class H seems to sound very simular. My m8 has a JTS Jah Tubbys amp which is I think class D cos it runs pretty cool and gives wicked very powerfull bass.
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mskeete
Registered User Joined: 10 June 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 920 |
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ar as know, Tubby's hasn't made a class D amplifier. Most tubby's and barracuda amps that have a fan on them run pretty cool. The fan makes quite a big difference as I found out when I added fans to two 300w amps that I have. They went from running hot by the end of a dance to staying a room tempreture all night long Now that I know a bit more about class H, that would not be my first choice for tops. One of the best things I heard on tops is the bk-elec modules Mids, not bothered as long as it works dance after dance and sounds clean Bass. I like the effecientcy of class d and I think that class D amps can sound just as good as anything else if it's been built right. |
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Tom Umney
Registered User Joined: 26 February 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 4954 |
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Yeah switch mode amps compaired to normal torridal transformer amps; the switch mode amps sound nice on tops though like the QSC PLX2402 which is Class H. So not always that rule follows.
Edited by ToXiC - 06 May 2006 at 5:36pm |
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mskeete
Registered User Joined: 10 June 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 920 |
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switched mode (class d) and class H are not the same thing Class H amps are 'normal' class AB amps that use at least two supply voltages one higher than the other (say +50 and +100, ignoring the negative rails for a second). The amp runs on the lower voltage until the output reaches a certain threshold and then the higher voltage is used. Although you can say that the amp switches between two supply voltages, this is not most people call a switching amplifier There are many variations of Class D but the basic principle is two switch the OUTPUT (not the supply voltages) of the amp between two voltages (say +50 and -50) very fast (say 250Khz). The ratio of the two output voltages is modulated by the audio signal (PWM pulse width modulation). A filter on the output gets rid of (most of) the high frequency carrier (250Khz) and you are left with an signal that is an amplified version of the audio signal The use of a SMPS (Switched mode power supply) or not doesn't change the class of the amplifier unless you want to start talking about class G |
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gingerbiscuit69
Registered User Joined: 23 September 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 2540 |
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am i the only one here seriously confused?!? I get some of this but, meh, tis a lot to take in!
maybe if i read it a couple more times.... |
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mskeete
Registered User Joined: 10 June 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 920 |
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Yep, it's just you.... (only kidding) Which bit didn't you get? |
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