My Biggest Audio Improvement in 8 years.........................

[Cut-Throat]

8 Years ago I replaced the Midrange Horns of my Khorns with the Altec 1005B horns and 288-16K Drivers. That was the Biggest Improvement in audio that I made since getting the Klipschorns.

Last month I got a pair of Hypex PSC2.400 Plate Amps and went down the path of Bi-amping. With about 600 watts of Class D Amps per channel on the Bass Bins and my Flea Watt 45 amps on the Midrange and Tweeter, I now have all the headroom I want. The amps have a Crossover designer built into it that you simply hook up to your PC and design a Filter and attenuate the Bass to your liking.

I'll probably never go back to single ampling again. About $800 for the upgrade....Cheap in the high-end Audio World. Got them at Madisonsound. I made some Paduak Wood Cases for these Plate Amps. A full 1 inch thick and 6 inches Deep for stability.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Cut-Throat

[The Dude]

Nice thanks for the post.

[SuBXeRo]

do the hypex amps bench well? I never really view them for non-sub usage

[JBryan]

So, are you running the top horns w/the 45 amps wide open or are they patched through the Hypex's xovers? I tried quite a few amps on the bass bins, including plate amps w/xovers but couldn't find ones that sounded 'right' with the 45's running through them and found that my setup sounded cleaner, flatter and more solid if the top horn and bass bins both utilized a cutoff point. I ended up with a separate xover and Gainclone amps on the bass bins but I keep thinking I could use more power down there.

[Cut-Throat]

So, are you running the top horns w/the 45 amps wide open or are they patched through the Hypex's xovers? I tried quite a few amps on the bass bins, including plate amps w/xovers but couldn't find ones that sounded 'right' with the 45's running through them and found that my setup sounded cleaner, flatter and more solid if the top horn and bass bins both utilized a cutoff point. I ended up with a separate xover and Gainclone amps on the bass bins but I keep thinking I could use more power down there.

The 45 amps are still running through the passive portion of the modified Type 'A's that I have. Not wide open, as I have a volume control on them. The hypex has it's own volume control for the Bass. These are the very amps that Bert from Oris reccommended He uses them for his Orphean System as well. Passive on the Mids/tweeters and the Hypex between the Bass and Midrange.

SubXeRo ----- Not sure what you mean by 'Bench'. They are not Subwoofer amps.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Cut-Throat

[ClaudeJ1]

Go to MadiSOUND, speaker parts, menu.

I'm just curious as to why you got two stereo amps and why you didn't get the smaller one? They are two channel, so you could have saved 1/2 the money and got just one and more wire.

Who needs 400 Watts on a Khorn bass bin, holy crap. When I got out of college, I got Khorns and I built Dynaco kits. I designed my own peak power meter with LED's and a ladder network to measure. At ear splitting level, was hitting 10 Watt PEAKS.

I know you didn't spend that much relative to "audiophile" in$anity, but come on! I'm running unmodified Lepai chip amps that do 10W peaks on my bass bins and they crank.

I do like the digital filter feature in your amps, however.

Edited December 13, 2013 by ClaudeJ1

[Cut-Throat]

Go to MadiSOUND, speaker parts, menu.

I'm just curious as to why you got two stereo amps and why you didn't get the smaller one? They are two channel, so you could have saved 1/2 the money and got just one and more wire.

Who needs 400 Watts on a Khorn bass bin, holy crap. When I got out of college, I got Khorns and I built Dynaco kits. I designed my own peak power meter with LED's and a ladder network to measure. At ear splitting level, was hitting 10 Watt PEAKS.

I know you didn't spend that much relative to "audiophile" in$anity, but come on! I'm running unmodified Lepai chip amps that do 10W peaks on my bass bins and they crank.

I do like the digital filter feature in your amps, however.

Here is the reason....The amplifers only have 1 input, so you need two, one for each channel.

I did not think this up all by myself. I have also ordered a pair of Oris Horns and Drivers from the Netherlands. The designer of Oris horns reccomends that you run these amps on the Bass Bins. These amps are also from the Netherlands. He does not like Class 'T' amps. You are familar with Oris Horns?

Since, I am buying his speakers, I am not going to try and re-invent what he's already done. I went with the flow...

Edited December 13, 2013 by Cut-Throat

[ClaudeJ1]

Go to MadiSOUND, speaker parts, menu.

I'm just curious as to why you got two stereo amps and why you didn't get the smaller one? They are two channel, so you could have saved 1/2 the money and got just one and more wire.

Who needs 400 Watts on a Khorn bass bin, holy crap. When I got out of college, I got Khorns and I built Dynaco kits. I designed my own peak power meter with LED's and a ladder network to measure. At ear splitting level, was hitting 10 Watt PEAKS.

I know you didn't spend that much relative to "audiophile" in$anity, but come on! I'm running unmodified Lepai chip amps that do 10W peaks on my bass bins and they crank.

I do like the digital filter feature in your amps, however.

Here is the reason....The amplifers only have 1 input, so you need two, one for each channel.

I did not think this up all by myself. I have also ordered a pair of Oris Horns and Drivers from the Netherlands. The designer of Oris horns reccomends that you run these amps on the Bass Bins. These amps are also from the Netherlands. He does not like Class 'T' amps. You are familar with Oris Horns?

Since, I am buying his speakers, I am not going to try and re-invent what he's already done. I went with the flow...

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. Makes more sense now.

[djk]

I have a pair of the smallest Hypex bi-amp with the analog crossovers, they're OK.

[Cut-Throat]

I have a pair of the smallest Hypex bi-amp with the analog crossovers, they're OK.

Yeah, I think they're OK too, for the Bass. I wouldn't hook them up to the Top End though.

The biggest improvement did not come from the Hypex directly. It came from off loading the Bass from my SET amps.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Cut-Throat

[The Dude]

You know your making me want to give my 2 way Klipschorns a try again. My last active crossover attempt worked out better then my last.

Edited December 14, 2013 by duder1982

[JBryan]

I have a pr of Gainclone amps that Bert used to offer with his Oris bass modules and they have worked quite well over the years. While I'd prefer an SET amp on the bottom, the ones I tried either didn't offer enough 'thump' or were noisy (a Cary 845 amp - 25w/ch) and I can't abide any noise in the system. With no output transformers, the chip itself determines the frequency range and the GC's is much lower than the bass bins are capable of and they are the fastest amps I've used with the bass horns and that really makes the horns stand out. The most important feature of digital amps seems to be the power supply - a beefy one with lots of capacitance really makes a big difference soundwise. Another benefit if the GC and class-D amps in general is that they are very efficient and can be left on 24/7. With tube and other SS amps, it would take a minimum of an hour for tube amps and more than 3 hours for SS to warm up and put out tight bass. Leaving the digital amps on 24/7 gives me nice tight bass immediately and the GC uses about the same energy as a flashlight bulb at idle so its very low-cost.

I've considered using a +100 watt digital amp on the bass but I didn't hear any improvement when I used a 300w SS amp so I'm not in any hurry to replace the GC's. I've also have Bert's passive xover installed in the Oris stands that also hold the GC amps but found I could achieve flatter response using an active xover. I do think in a perfect world, a passive xover would work best with these horns but I don't know enough to tweak them properly.

Edited December 15, 2013 by JBryan

[Tarheel]

While I'd prefer an SET amp on the bottom, the ones I tried either didn't offer enough 'thump' or were noisy (a Cary 845 amp - 25w/ch) and I can't abide any noise in the system.

Almost the exact words Mike Sanders with Quicksilver Audio said answering a question about why he built the QS Horn Monos. He built the horn monos for friends listening with horns who objected to the noise of high gain amps.The horn monos are dead quiet.

I just re read the interview Sam Tellig did with Sanders. Did a google search "stereophile/Quicksilver Horn Monos".

Yes I own a pair.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Tarheel

[A1UC]

Hypex Plate Amps " Good Stuff "