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POWER AMPS!

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RENSAAB View Drop Down
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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 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tom Umney Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 May 2006 at 4:41pm

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 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mskeete Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 May 2006 at 11:02am

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.

If you're trying to squeeze every last bit of juice from a 13 amp socket then I think class D/G/H is the way to go

There are so many variations of class D with and without SMPS that you can't really say a simple yes or no to it.

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Tom Umney View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tom Umney Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 May 2006 at 5:35pm
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 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mskeete Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 May 2006 at 7:37am

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 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote gingerbiscuit69 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 May 2006 at 11:39am
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 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mskeete Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 May 2006 at 4:06pm

Yep, it's just you....   (only kidding)

Sorry, that was an attempt to try and explain the differences between class d and H and SMPS without getting too technical

Which bit didn't you get?

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