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OK, so last month I finally decided to quit reading all the hype about Hypex and to put my money where my ears are. I sent off $1,500 and change yonder to the netherlands via Paypal and waited patientyly.

After owning every classic, refurbished amp out there, all big names, kits, tubes, class AB, First Watt Class A space heater and current sound champ, chip amps, blah blah blah hearing my friend's Audio Research $10,000 Stereo Class D power amp (too rich for my blood), I decided to take the plunge with Hypex, since I can't afford to play in the sandbox with the high end crowd.

 

The kits arrived today in a 14 lb. box. Hard to believe these NC400 modules put out 400 super clean watts with super high efficiency. No soldering gun was required and the kit was assembled in 2 hours with just a few tools. The instructions are basically pictures on 1 sheet both sides and you only need a few tools to do it.

 

When I plugged these into my MEH horns, they were dead quiet. Yes, I know we only need a few watts with horns, but having BOTH the First Watt Quality AND huge headroom not attainable with other class amplifiers makes things very interesting indeed.

 

Holy Crap!!!       Depth, Micro Detail, Jump out of your chair TRANSIENTS, killer bass detail for tracking every note, the Air on Cymbals, the vocal clarity it's all there in spades.

 

I going through all my standard test recordings and just shaking my head. More later...................I'm enjoying the music as never before.

 

Sell all the amplifiers you have a get a pair of these. I don't care which Klipsch speakers you own, you will thank me for this.

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Some implementations using Class D are first rate.  A lot of people discount it but other than my Emotiva XPA-2 (which sits in a box most of the time), I've gone exclusively to Class D.

If I didn't reside in hot states, perhaps tubes would return but for now (probably for ever because I'm not moving north) power amps with tubes will be a memory unless I can get them cheap enough to not care about only 10% use.

 

I am running all IcePower which some prefer, some don't.  I would like to get myself a nice NCore amp one of these days, maybe the NAD.  I worry too much about Customs to send my money out of the country.

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2 hours ago, pzannucci said:

Some implementations using Class D are first rate.  A lot of people discount it but other than my Emotiva XPA-2 (which sits in a box most of the time), I've gone exclusively to Class D.

If I didn't reside in hot states, perhaps tubes would return but for now (probably for ever because I'm not moving north) power amps with tubes will be a memory unless I can get them cheap enough to not care about only 10% use.

 

I am running all IcePower which some prefer, some don't.  I would like to get myself a nice NCore amp one of these days, maybe the NAD.  I worry too much about Customs to send my money out of the country.

I totally get the "cross fingers and worry" part. I placed the order on May 14 and received yesterday, June 2. So, it takes about 2 1/2 weeks, which I assume includes time for government import/export shenanigans on both sides of the Atlantic. The kit come in a white box complete with all the parts and lots of spare screws, and a tiny hex wrench for the front panel mount. The instructions are pictorial and not step by step, so one has to figure out which screws go where. The wiring and module orientation for the power supply and the amp is straight forward. It's a very clean layout with ample air space in the box and the picture for the wiring is extremely easy to follow. The design, package, packaging, etc. is all first class QUALITY throughout. The CNC;s Black Aluminum case is laser cut and machined. One could say the case is larger than it needs to be, but it's size suggests it can be used for other modules that Hypex makes, IDK. That I thought was pretty cool is the power on white LED module has the switch on the bottom for hi/lo/off and can be seen thought a tiny plastic lens pre-mounted in the front panel, which is the last thing you put on.

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6 minutes ago, Seadog said:

Interesting.  What are you using for a preamp with these?

Yamaha CSA 5000. I only use 2.2 or 6.2 even though there are 11 channels. I got it new at half price since newer verions doe Atmos, which I don't need.

 

The key thing about the Yamaha is YPAO room correction, which is, arguably, as good as Audyssey, but the very BEST part is the ESS Sabre 32-bit DAC, which, is the best chipset in the industry, according to many opinions, including mine for 2 channel or Surround listening, depending on movies/concerts or CD/digital 2 channel listening.

 

I find many older concert DVD's sound best in 2 channel, although more recent Blue Rays are amazing in surround. It only takes a few button pushes to select.

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4 hours ago, Coytee said:

Claude is photographically challenged...

 

:ph34r:

Yes I am. The plumber's pipes leak and the PPA Certified pro photographer and magazine Tech. Editor has no photos in his wallet. LOL.

You would think that a guy who was the first digital photographer in Michigan having owned over 40 digital printers, almost 90 cameras, helped develop a few in Slicon Valley would have pictures to show....................But NO (in my best John Belushi voice).

 

If you follow Wdecho's links you will have videos and pictures. I will scan the instruction sheet so you can see what I had to work with. It was certainly an efficient way to convey the directions while leave lots of little things to deductively figure out.

 

So better than a picture of my 2 resultant black boxes, here's the instruction sheet in PDF form:

HypexNC400kit.pdf

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2 hours ago, Schu said:

been enjoying betterend class d for years

now it's Tubes, but I do still use D for 5.1...

Don't want to pay the A/C bill for KT-88s anymore and the REF-1000s have quite a bit of tubiness.  Not perfect but nothing to complain about either.

 

I probably need to sell one of my sets of mono-blocks or my Emotiva to justify a set of these new amps.

 

Almost asked if these were the monoblock versions.  See the update is already done for forum reference.  Claude, I guess they are staying huh?

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On 6/3/2017 at 0:53 PM, pzannucci said:

Almost asked if these were the monoblock versions.  See the update is already done for forum reference.  Claude, I guess they are staying huh?

Yep. They sound great at low volume, or with 125 db peaks for drums. Clarity top to bottom, air with cymbals. Incredible DYNAMICS from all the same test recordings I have used in the past. Simply amazing.

 

They are Mono Blocs, so I will be getting another pair soon after I sell off all my class AB, although I may keep the First Watt Aleph J class A, along with Yamaha M series class A/AB.

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3 hours ago, Schu said:

they rule in dampening factor. I think that is where a lot of the magic happens.

The issue of damping factor has come up many times on here.  My experiences with it over the years match the impressions given by George Augspurger in part 1, and John Murphy in part 2 (I've posted the following article quite a number of times):

 

http://www.butleraudio.com/damping1.php

 

As an example, I've found that speakers like the LSs do just fine with very low df amps.  To my ears in fact, they sound better with low df SETs than higher df SEPs (as a result of using negative fb) or any SS amp.  Each system must be evaluated on its own merits as no blanket statement can be made.

 

Maynard

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I think I agree in general terms... my class d's sound much better with my cornwalls than they did with my la scalas. As a matter of fact, I would say they are a perfect match for the direct radiating LF section of the cornwall. I had significant issues implementing them with my la scalas, which lead me down the tube path... thankfully.

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Could it be the horn loading of the LS bass bin provides its own physical damping and using SS amps with high damping values only exaggerate the effect? Whereas the "looser" bass loading of the CW react better with an outside source providing its damping. I've owned a variety of amp configurations along with every Heritage model and I do think your on the right track, Shu. There are noticeable differences in amps/speakers and how they interact. System synergy is certainly key and particularly with these large format horns.

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7 hours ago, richieb said:

Could it be the horn loading of the LS bass bin provides its own physical damping and using SS amps with high damping values only exaggerate the effect? Whereas the "looser" bass loading of the CW react better with an outside source providing its damping. I've owned a variety of amp configurations along with every Heritage model and I do think your on the right track, Shu. There are noticeable differences in amps/speakers and how they interact. System synergy is certainly key and particularly with these large format horns.

I have had similar experiences.  Sometimes the tighter loaded woofers will sound better with looser bass drive.  It makes them sound like they actually have better bass.  Big boxes with port loading usually need the high damping control.

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