My new Monoprice/ATI Monolith 5 - Impressions

[KEW]

First impression was moving it - this thing weighs a $hit-ton (78 lbs if you want to get precise)!
No apparent damage from it's trip back across the pond! I imagine an amp this heavy, if dropped on a corner, would distort the entire chassis!
As adept as professional handlers are at dropping boxes flat on a side (so no shipping damage is apparent), I was also very pleased that all channels fired up and the amp works perfectly!

As a test platform, I replaced a Yamaha AS-700 and rotated among the channels for two days of solid playtime to give each channel at least 12 hours post shipping "burn-in".
Driving a pair of MartinLogan Vantage speakers, the Monolith sounded excellent (as did the AS-700 before it). Yet the Monolith just "felt" better!

This is a purely intellectual phenomenon. The Martin Logans are not really a difficult load, but they are not an easy load either, I would be reluctant to drive them with my Marantz SR-1605 (50 WPC slim-line 7 channel AVR) which I used as the preamp with the Monolith. I knew that the AS-700 was staying inside it's limits and doing a great job, but while I might push the volume up to 60-70% of the AS-700's capacity, I figured the Monolith was casually loping along well below 40%. Of course, these percentages are pure guesses, but they help quantify my subjective impression of the Monolith having an easy time of it.

The one complaint I have about the Monolith is transformer noise. I know torroidal transformers are more efficient, but I have been spoiled by the quiet EI transformers used in most of my AVR/amp units.
The noise is not loud, if the HVAC is on or music is playing I would never notice it, but if all else is quiet the noise is definitely present!

Overall, it is what I expected; I am now "loaded for bear" - I don't foresee ever owning speakers that will exceed the capability of this amp and I expect the amp to follow along as I replace AVR's over the next decades.

 

[Pogre]

That's awesome Kurt. I'm glad you're first impression is a good one! I really like mine too.

As to the noise, it could be my corrupted hearing, but I never noticed it. When I get ready to shut down tonight I'm gonna get close and see if I hear anything. This could be one time where some hearing loss is actually advantageous.

 

[lovinthehd]

So you didn't hear the horrible distortion andrein did?

 

[Andrein]

I heard distortion with a860, not monolith. Monolith and my current mca 525 sound great. I fact a860 with ext amp also sounded excellent. I am starting regret that i replaced a860 with a1070 having issues with it now.

 

[KEW]

That's awesome Kurt. I'm glad you're first impression is a good one! I really like mine too.

As to the noise, it could be my corrupted hearing, but I never noticed it. When I get ready to shut down tonight I'm gonna get close and see if I hear anything. This could be one time where some hearing loss is actually advantageous.

Going back to the review, I found this:

If you have dimmers in your house or the issue known as DC offset then the Monolith’s massive transformers may start to hum. They did in my case when the lights on my microwave were on and set to low. To be clear, this isn’t a design problem with the Monolith. To fix the humming, I plugged the Monolith into Emotiva’s CM2 AC line restoration and common mode filter system. This two-outlet receptacle is specially designed to eliminate DC offset issues without limiting current or dynamics.

Nothing immediately comes to mind, but I guess I need to see if I have something in my house that might cause this.

 

[Andrein]

It was humming in my case as well. But I have dimmers in each and every room. Also I read some other reviews and quite a lot of people mentioned this hum actually.

 

[Steve81]

The one complaint I have about the Monolith is transformer noise. I know torroidal transformers are more efficient, but I have been spoiled by the quiet EI transformers used in most of my AVR/amp units.

That's the primary reason I dumped my old Outlaw 7120 (also built by ATI with a massive toroidal transformer). Even after getting service (for that and other problems), the hum free period lasted maybe a week before I noticed it again. IME, a fan helps to mask hum as long as you can tolerate the increase in overall noise floor. Obviously in the end, I went a different route.

 

[TheWarrior]

http://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products/APC-AV-C-Type-2-Outlet-Wall-Mount-Power-Filter-120V/P-C2

I think I paid about $60 for mine elsewhere...

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The one complaint I have about the Monolith is transformer noise.

I realize that transformer noise is most likely always present, but some may experience higher levels than others due to whatever reasons.

I never experienced this transformer noise in any of my ATI amps or Denon AVP-A1 or AVR-5308.

As PENG pointed out before, I think I would probably hear this noise if my ear were pressed against the Amp.

 

[Pogre]

Going back to the review, I found this:

Nothing immediately comes to mind, but I guess I need to see if I have something in my house that might cause this.

I appear to be one of the lucky ones. I stuck my head inside my entertainment stand and it's silent. I don't have any dimmers at all in my house either tho.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

It was humming in my case as well. But I have dimmers in each and every room. Also I read some other reviews and quite a lot of people mentioned this hum actually.

It seems to me a lot of people experience hum noise with almost every brand of Amp.

I experienced hum noise with every single amp I owned when I was living in my previous house.

But no more hum noise in my new house.

 

[Pogre]

I heard distortion with a860, not monolith. Monolith and my current mca 525 sound great. I fact a860 with ext amp also sounded excellent. I am starting regret that i replaced a860 with a1070 having issues with it now.

So why did you sell the Monolith then?

 

[Hetfield]

I had hum even I hooked up my Parasound amp to my Yamaha amp. Cheater plug fixed it.

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[Pogre]

I had hum even I hooked up my Parasound amp to my Yamaha amp. Cheater plug fixed it.

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Man, I've read not to use a cheater plug. I'd be afraid of cataclysmic failure.

I did have a hum also, but it was a ground loop and the hum was coming from my speakers. Unplugging the HDMI (and later replacing with a shielded cable) from my DTV box fixed it.

 

[Andrein]

So why did you sell the Monolith then?

Because Monolith supports only 110v/50hz. Monoprize did not bother to warn me. I saw this when I started plugging my speakers))) They demanded me to send the amp back with 450£ carrier option without guarantee they will refund. Then I bought 220v/50hz ac -> 48v dc and 48v dc -> 110v/60hz ac inverters. Those were themselves too noisy I bought transformer enclosure to move this outside the house))) Then I started buying cables and diff pieces and bits. Then I realized I would need to drill 2 walls to connect all this and I gave up))) To much work for this. But while I had inverters in my conservatory and power cable going through 2 rooms to the amp everything was working fine. Maybe even better than MCA 525.

 

[Hetfield]

I had hum even I hooked up my Parasound amp to my Yamaha amp. Cheater plug fixed it.

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That should read Parasound amp to Yamaha receiver, sorry. Cheater plug fixed it nice, easy and cheaply.

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[Hetfield]

Man, I've read not to use a cheater plug. I'd be afraid of cataclysmic failure.

I did have a hum also, but it was a ground loop and the hum was coming from my speakers. Unplugging the HDMI (and later replacing with a shielded cable) from my DTV box fixed it.

Yeah I was very worried in the beginning too but I had some very experienced people in this tell me it's not a big deal. Those dam hums are such a pain in the butt. You'd think this day an age it wouldn't be a problem or at least be a very easy, safe solution.

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[Swerd]

I had hum even I hooked up my Parasound amp to my Yamaha amp. Cheater plug fixed it.

If you heard hum, and a cheater plug fixed it, it was likely caused by a ground loop. You probably heard the 60 Hz cycle of the AC power. Did you hear that hum through your loudspeakers, or directly from the amplifier?

 

[KEW]

http://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products/APC-AV-C-Type-2-Outlet-Wall-Mount-Power-Filter-120V/P-C2

I think I paid about $60 for mine elsewhere...

It yours somewhere where you can unplug it and bring it over for a quick test?
I just connected it to my Belkin Pure AV.
https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-PureAV-Theater-Console-Black/dp/B001541R5W

I paid $120 for this and bought it for a glorified power strip with programmable outlets (delay/sequencing). Never paid attention to the filter side, but really thought it would do the job - alas, my expectations/the placebo effect just wasn't strong enough to carry the day on this one!

 

[Hetfield]

Loudspeakers yup. All of them too, all 5 speakers.

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