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PKN XE6000 or Void inf8 mk2?

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`Matt View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote `Matt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: PKN XE6000 or Void inf8 mk2?
    Posted: 30 June 2011 at 11:18am
I will be running four fane 1500's, two a side at 4ohms. Loaded in those invader bins nineleaves designed. To start with i thought a PKN would give too much power for the fanes however after abit of reading and searching the fourm i read that the RMS value of the PKN is more like 2800w a side @ 4ohms, and not the 3650w stated in its specification as thats only brust.

So im wondering would a PKN be sutiable to use and would the fane's cope ok? Or should i use a void inf8 mk2?

Cheers Matt


Edited by `Matt - 30 June 2011 at 11:25am
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kevinmcdonough View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote kevinmcdonough Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 June 2011 at 11:36am
hey

First of all, in general terms, most people's first reaction is to get an amp smaller than the RMS value of the speakers, thinking that by doing this they won't risk blowing the speaker.

Although it may seem slightly counter-intuitive at first, this is wrong. All that happens is you end up pushing the amp hard to get the volume you need out of it, and you end up clipping the amp and causing distortion in the signal. This distortion will build up heat in your speaker at an alarming rate and burn out the voice coils, even at the same or less power than it is rated at.

And so the general advice for amplifiers is that you select an amp that is 1.5 to 2 times more powerful than the RMS power handling of your drivers.  The idea is that you are running the amps with lots of headroom and feeding very clean power/signal to the speaker.

When dealing with music in the real world, and not sine waves and measurement test tones in the lab, speakers can actually take noticeably more power than they're rated for, as long as it's clean and un-distorted.  it's the clipping and distortion that kills them! Smile

(as an example, my normal amps were unavailable and I recently ran a small system from two Vortex 6's.  Two 1.1k subs bridged from one amp and four 300w tops run from the other. Neither was clipping but both were run with plenty of flashing signal lights on the front so the subs were getting as much as 3k each in some peaks, and the tops maybe 800 or 900w each in some peaks. RMS was probably twice what they're supposed to be rated at. They all survived and all sounded great (actually noticeably better than the normal amps i use! LOL))


Ok, now for your actual situation. In terms of your amps, while it is true that most (all) switchmode/class-D amps are 'peak' rated and with sustained bass notes you will get some power drop after the peak, the PKNs are particularly good in this respect and unless you are playing serious long synthesized bass notes then you would mostly be getting the full power of the PKN. But as said above this extra power shouldn't be a problem at all for your drivers as long as it's nice and clean.

However that said, the Voids are particularly good amps and have been show in various amp tests to match or in many cases beat switchmode amps that are supposed have much higher power output. Although i'll be going against what I said above in that a Void at 4 ohms is rated at less than the RMS of your speakers, they are such capable amps that they would also be great for your speakers, it's doubtful you'll ever have to push them to clipping and if you do, then to be honest you're probably doing a gig thats too big for just two subs a side.  But with the Inf 8 you also have the option of adding up to two more a side and going down to 2 ohms no problem, where as with the PKN's dual bridged design its not so easy (its rumoured that you can, but other than a little workshop test don't think anyone's actually fired one up at two ohms in anger).

In terms of sound quality, most reports say that the PKN's are very good but quite powersoft sounding, very clean and perhaps a touch clinical, where as you will maybe get a touch more warmth from an Inf 8. 

Overall I think you'd be extremely happy with either. If you don't mind the weight you'll get better bang per buck and the option of running more subs in the future from the Inf 8, or for a little extra you'll get the lightweight benefits and the ease of transport of the PKN.


kevin


Edited by kevinmcdonough - 30 June 2011 at 12:16pm
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`Matt View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote `Matt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 June 2011 at 12:07pm
Cheers for your giving a very good reply its helped alot Smile. I thought both the PKN and void would both work, its just the bit about burst and RMS ratings that confussed me abit on the PKN. I should be giving them a very clean singal 99% of the time aswell so thats not an issue. I just wanted to double check with someone other than myself before i go spend acouple of grand of kit that it was ok.

Matt
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Heathrow_B_line Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 June 2011 at 7:37pm
inf 8 if you can find the gigs to spank it full whack
 
pkn 6000 if your a one man band who hasnt got a sound crew
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Speaker Sol Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 June 2011 at 9:45pm
Both great amps, I run PKN XE6000 on my Stasys X. I find they deliver more than enough power for all my gigs, if I really start to push the XE6000 the Stasys X start getting pretty warm, I would think this amp has enough power to melt the cones without it ever reaching clip, but that said, with it's many displays,

Average and Peak Voltage, Average Current and the many lights on the front make

, it very easy to run it with-in safe limits. 


I have only heard good things about the Inf 8 also, but personaly I could not deal with that sort of weight. No matter how good your crew there will be a time when you need to move it by yourself. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AM55 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 June 2011 at 10:03pm
A factor that might affect your decision is the Infinite 8 will do 2 ohms, the PKN won't, I think. Maybe a used can clear this up?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote `Matt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 June 2011 at 10:12pm
Originally posted by Speaker Sol Speaker Sol wrote:

I have only heard good things about the Inf 8 also, but personaly I could not deal with that sort of weight. No matter how good your crew there will be a time when you need to move it by yourself. 


The weight shouldnt be too much of an issue as there will be 2 crew minimum at anything we do, else we wont even be able to get our invaders out of the van!

Originally posted by AM55 AM55 wrote:

A factor that might affect your decision is the Infinite 8 will do 2 ohms, the PKN won't, I think. Maybe a used can clear this up?


I highly doubt i would stick a infinite 8 in 2ohms anyway, even if it can go there. However i could see where that could be useful if something went abit tits up in the amp department. Overall i think im swaying towards getting inf 8 mk2's over pkn's unless someone says something different.

Once again thanks for the replys guys


Edited by `Matt - 30 June 2011 at 10:12pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MessyM2k8 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 June 2011 at 10:33pm
If you'd like to demo a PKN XE6000 let me know.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jbinks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 July 2011 at 12:51pm
I took my two Inf 8s out of service this year and have replaced them with PKN.

Was definitely the right thing to do! The space and weight saving is great, but I'm also finding that I can get a lot more power out of the speakers (lots of 1850s!) because the PKNs handle poor mains power much much better than the inf8s. I can run LOUD and only pull 5 amps where I would have needed 13 from the inf8 (ie: the limit of the supply usually!).

The monitoring and limiting is really handy too. I have a wifi access point and a 3g dongle in the rack so I can monitor from anywhere in the world to make sure they are happy.

They will do 2ohms. But I would strongly suggest you don't do this regularly. It's OK for a one-off when something else dies etc. I tested an amp over an extended period at 2ohms, slowly increasing the gain and watching the temp and current flow levels. When you start to push it, it gets hot - but if you just want sensible levels then it seemed fine.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Heathrow_B_line Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 July 2011 at 6:12pm
has the inf 8 got pfc?
Produce a killer sound. Take no prisoners.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cravings Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 July 2011 at 11:19am
i'm pretty sure the pkns will run at 2 ohms, they just won't put any more power into a 2 ohm load than a 4 ohm load. indeed i ran an xd4000 at 2 ohms on one side for a festival last year because i had to.. no issues.

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