Need to power my new speakers

[Acoustat]

Take this from a person and about twenty others that have heard that exact same Threshold and a Crown XLS DriveCore 2000: Save your money and get the DriveCore.

How important is the damping factor at stabilising the speakers movement?

 

[RichB]

I'd put this out there as a fair alternative to the XPA-100:
Model 2200 Monoblock Power Amplifier
The two amp combo runs $679 shipped. Each is rated to deliver 300W into 4 ohms, 20Hz-20kHz with <0.05% THD. While the XPA-100 is rated for 400W (which amounts to an additional 1.2dB of output), the rating is a bit more liberal at <1% THD and mum is the word on frequency (probably a 1kHz sweep).

I have driven the M2200's pretty hard and I felt they got harsh. Perhaps it is the Class-G mode. For the same money, I would go with the XPA-100's.

- Rich

 

[jinjuku]

How important is the damping factor at stabilising the speakers movement?

Damping factor is ONLY applicable IF the amp isn't connected to a passive crossover network (which is 99.9% of all consumer speakers).

An amp can only damp a directly connected speaker.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

If only they had a reasonable 4 channel amp.

at $340 each you could just get a pair

Amazon.com: Crown NXLS1500-0-US Power Amplifier: Musical Instruments

 

[jcparks]

Well I wasn't a big fan of the aesthetics, but it looks like I am going to go for the Crown XLS1500 do to A: Price, B: Ease of ordering through Amazon.
all ordered.. should be here by Friday.
It was tuff... I really did have my heart set on the Emotiva, but if this one doesn't work out, I can just return it .

 

[jcparks]

Oh and thanks for all of the help and direction guys.. start my vacation on Friday and leaving for the weekend, but I will have all day on Monday to tinker and let you know what I think.

 

[Acoustat]

Well I wasn't a big fan of the aesthetics...

No heat generation, you could put it in a cabinet if you had to I'm sure.
That's one lightweight beast of an amp. Congrats, I'm sure you'll love it.
Is that 525w RMS or peak?

 

[GranteedEV]

I wont argue the class A/B to be better than the D because I honesty don't know.
Reading of the increased circuitry in class D's is to me personally a reason to avoid, out of ignorance
and suspicion (frequent switching within).

It's increased circuitry, but it's actually LESS discrete circuitry on the drivecores. They are IC-based amps with all the benefits of that approach.

 

[jinjuku]

Well I wasn't a big fan of the aesthetics, but it looks like I am going to go for the Crown XLS1500 do to A: Price, B: Ease of ordering through Amazon.
all ordered.. should be here by Friday.
It was tuff... I really did have my heart set on the Emotiva, but if this one doesn't work out, I can just return it .

One thing to keep in mind on the Crown: They need a balanced input and you may or may not have issues with single ended (RCA) inputs. You will find out soon enough.

What is your pre-amp?

 

[jcparks]

I am running a marantz nr1504 pre... it does not have balanced outs. should I cancel the order?

 

[walter duque]

Take this from a person and about twenty others that have heard that exact same Threshold and a Crown XLS DriveCore 2000: Save your money and get the DriveCore.

I don't even think that 20 others have ever even heard a Threshold.

 

[jinjuku]

I am running a marantz nr1504 pre... it does not have balanced outs. should I cancel the order?

I would call Marantz and find out if it can output 1.4v RMS / 4v peak to peak. Some pre's will and some won't.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Amazon has easy returns - no need to panic just yet

 

[walter duque]

Take this from a person and about twenty others that have heard that exact same Threshold and a Crown XLS DriveCore 2000: Save your money and get the DriveCore.

That Crown amp seems like a very good deal. BTW all my amps are pro amps. Since I have a connection amps from this company http://www.powermodules.com/ are next on my list. I like the discontinued 500 watt mono blocks which I know I can get a great deal on. I had a Belles in that past and it was an amazing amp. A pair of these http://www.powermodules.com/mb-500.html I just have to get for my mains.

 

[jinjuku]

I don't even think that 20 others have ever even heard a Threshold.

I was there in the room Walter. There is no way I would pay $2K for a re-capped Threshold over a new DriveCore. That doesn't make a lick of sense.

 

[walter duque]

I was there in the room Walter. There is no way I would pay $2K for a re-capped Threshold over a new DriveCore. That doesn't make a lick of sense.

I wasn't revering to that particular amp on e-bay, just something like that one. Besides 2k is way to much for that amp. Like I stated the Drive Core looks like a very good deal. I'd take that Threshold for $900.00.

 

[slipperybidness]

How important is the damping factor at stabilising the speakers movement?

Aside from what Jin said (I am not sure that I agree with his assessment yet, it will take some more reading on my part), damping factor is a moot point on any modern amp. It might be a different story on tube amps, however.

Damping factor is simply the ratio of the load impedance (speaker) to the amp output impedence.

Modern, SS amps have such a low output impedence that the damping factor is not really anything to be concerned about when selecting an amp and when looking at amp specs.

The critical parameters for a SS amp are %THD + N, rated output power, and S/N. DF is simply not a parameter of concern for a well-designed SS amp.

This info is coming from G Randy Sloan, I have read a couple of his books on Amp construction and audiophile circuit projects. If you really want me to, I can go dig up his exact wording.

More reading
Damping factor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[jinjuku]

Aside from what Jin said (I am not sure that I agree with his assessment yet, it will take some more reading on my part),

Google: damping factor and passive crossovers

 

[slipperybidness]

Google: damping factor and passive crossovers

I didn't say that you were wrong, I just haven't read anything about it yet. I like to fact check for myself, and I just haven't had time to look into it.

But, we did both give the same answer of "don't worry about DF", we just had 2 different reasons to come to that same conclusion. So, 2 different pieces of evidence suggest that DF is not a parameter to be concerned with at all (at least on SS amps)! That's good enough for me.

 

[jcparks]

Got everything set up today.. Bass response is a ton better, I have to dial in everything else a bit to get the sound I want but overall, with minimal tinkering I am very satisfied. I think the output on my preamp may be low though. I have to turn the gain on the Crown all the way up before the speakers get a decent response, and then I get a audible feedback from the speakers when there is no music on. This doesn't seem right to me.
Is that normal?? Or should I return it and try the Emotiva?
Here is pictures of the set up for now

oh also got the speakers spiked