Need a 5 channel amp.

[Verdinut]

Monolith is great, though its transformers are not as quiet as in some other amps.

No serious reviews reported that fact. Where did you get that info? Would you elaborate?

 

[Andrein]

No serious reviews reported that fact. Where did you get that info? Would you elaborate?

Used to have one. Many people mentioned this, includding Pogre, KEW and others. Even Gene. Though he said emotiva power conditioner helped him.

 

[Verdinut]

Used to have one. Many people mentioned this, includding Pogre, KEW and others.

You used to have one. Same model? Those amps have excellent specs and represent a good Watt/$ ratio. It would depend on the distance you are from them but I'm sure that this does not affect the audio performance, since those amps have an excellent SNR.

 

[Andrein]

You used to have one. Same model? Those amps have excellent specs and represent a good Watt/$ ratio. It would depend on the distance you are from them but I'm sure that this does not affect the audio performance, since those amps have an excellent SNR.

Yes, Monolith 5. Distance was about 10ft in a very quiet room. Though with dimmers everywhere in the house.

 

[PENG]

One difference I see is that ATI builds generally have the filter caps on the individual channel boards. The Anthem appears to have a single large bank next to the toroids.

View attachment 25882 vs View attachment 25883

That may explain the difference in channel separation/crosstalk specs. Anthem have the 5 channels share the two transformer so they probably share the 82,000 uF caps too. The Anthem likely have a little better IHF dynamic output even if their transformers are a little smaller.

 

[lovinthehd]

I don't remember @Pogre complaining about Monolith transformer noise....or @KEW or @gene but would love to hear from each.

 

[KEW]

I don't remember @Pogre complaining about Monolith transformer noise....or @KEW or @gene but would love to hear from each.

Yes, I complained. I believe Pogre said his was quiet, and Gene claimed that the filter he got from Emotiva took care of his hum (which was caused by stuff like dimmers on the circuit, IIRC).
However, Andrein and my instance only count as one data-point as I bought mine from him.

Among amps I have bought, those with torroidal transformers have had hum maybe 2 out of 3 instances! Of those with EI transformers, none have had hum, so I am a bit of an EI fan.

 

[Steve81]

Among amps I have bought, those with torroidal transformers have had hum maybe 2 out of 3 instances! Of those with EIN transformers, none have had hum, so I am a bit of an EIN fan.

I was in a similar boat with my old Outlaw amp (also built by ATI), though that was not its only issue. I don't have any problems with my current amp which utilizes an E-I transformer, nor did I have any issues with my old Emotiva amp that had a much smaller toroid (was a 2 ch amp vs 7 ch for the Outlaw).

 

[snakeeyes]

Yes, I complained. I believe Pogre said his was quiet, and Gene claimed that the filter he got from Emotiva took care of his hum (which was caused by stuff like dimmers on the circuit, IIRC).
However, Andrein and my instance only count as one data-point as I bought mine from him.

Among amps I have bought, those with torroidal transformers have had hum maybe 2 out of 3 instances! Of those with EIN transformers, none have had hum, so I am a bit of an EIN fan.

Which amps have EI transformers?

 

[Dmantis10]

I think a proper calibration might do the trick here. I think that amp has plenty of power unless your room is huge.
Set all speakers to small 80hz. Then set both subs to 80hz or even 100 hz.
If you really want a more powerful amp and you like the sound of the McIntosh then I would save up and get the MC205 or 207 if you plan surround back or Atmos 5.2.2 in the future.
Rotel makes really good amps and if the 1585 is within your budget I can't see any reason not to go with it. I use to own the older model RMB1095 which was a beast of an amp and seem to have limitless power. I was driving Dynaudio Audience series speaker in the 82's as my mains, 122C center and 42W wall mounted surrounds.

 

[PENG]

This massive toroidal beast is proudly badged, and on some of the circuit boards it says Paradigm electronics, which is also crafted in Canada.

Their products are good, I owned one myself, but I wouldn't pay attention to their marketing hypes such as their reference to the "massive" toroidal transformers. They also call the filter capacitors "massive", but the pictures show they have only 16,400 uF (100 V) per channel, even my $299 Outlaw monoblock has 20,000 uF (80 V ). Once upon the time, one of their website photos shows the nameplate of a toridal, with a 530 VA rating (not 100% clear though iirc). I email them about it twice, the "engineer" at the time email back finally and said would call me, never did. If he did, I was to ask him about the VA rating, as 500 VA isn't very good for that particular amp would have been quite small. I believe they have since increase the VA a little. Their professional series, and even the STR series to some extent, are really impressive though in every way I can think of.

 

[PENG]

Which amps have EI transformers?

Quite a few "hi end" amps have those. There are pros and cons for both types, you can't say one is always better, not without caveats. One big advantage of toroidal is, all else being equal, they are typically lighter, though not by much but every oz counts, for me anyway, aside from lower shipping cost.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

Funny thing about toroidals. I had an Acurus and an Aragon, they were both dead quiet. I had two different Parasound amps, they were both so noisy I had to get rid of them both. Then I had my Classe, absolutely dead quiet.

 

[PENG]

Funny thing about toroidals. I had an Acurus and an Aragon, they were both dead quiet. I had two different Parasound amps, they were both so noisy I had to get rid of them both. Then I had my Classe, absolutely dead quiet.

Yeah, it has not much to do with quietness regarding EI Vs Toroidal. All my Denon AVRs have EI core and they are virtually silent, much quieter than the toroidals in my Bryston and Halo amps.

I have also heard some older Anthem P series audibly humming from even a foot away. How loud they hum also depends on how clean the power supply is. My Halo amp's hum would be audible from 10 feet if I have a particular portable humidifier running, but only at one particular speed, so that tell me it was due to some harmonics injected by the cheap variable speed drives for that specific humidifier. If it is power supply dirt related, proper filtering can potentially fix it.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

Yeah, it has not much to do with quietness regarding EI Vs Toroidal. All my Denon AVRs have EI core and they are virtually silent, much quieter than the toroidals in my Bryston and Halo amps.

I have also heard some older Anthem P series audibly humming from even a foot away. How loud they hum also depends on how clean the power supply is. My Halo amp's hum would be audible from 10 feet if I have a particular portable humidifier running, but only at one particular speed, so that tell me it was due to some harmonics injected by the cheap variable speed drives for that specific humidifier. If it is power supply dirt related, proper filtering can potentially fix it.

I read it has to do with the windings in the toroidal, how well they’re wound. There’s definitely a difference in quality with those transformers.

I will admit though my biggest pet-peeve is hiss. I can’t stand hissing in the speakers at idle.

 

[PENG]

Which amps have EI transformers?

Hey snake, sorry I missed that you asked for example, I guess.

Here's one that is by no means high end, probably cost between $9,000 and $10,000 for 120 WX2.
http://www.luxman.com/product/detail.php?id=26

You can clearly see the 600 VA E-I core transformer and the 8 X 10,000 uF caps.

They opted for E-I core even for their power amps such as the one below that is rated 150 WX2 8 ohms.

This one has a 1250 VA transformer and the amp weights over 100 lbs
http://www.luxman.com/product/detail.php?id=19

Luxman is not the only one, I have seen others. I believe some McIntosh amps (older models I think..) have E-I core transformers base PS too.

 

[Andrein]

Their products are good, I owned one myself, but I wouldn't pay attention to their marketing hypes such as their reference to the "massive" toroidal transformers. They also call the filter capacitors "massive", but the pictures show they have only 16,400 uF (100 V) per channel, even my $299 Outlaw monoblock has 20,000 uF (80 V ). Once upon the time, one of their website photos shows the nameplate of a toridal, with a 530 VA rating (not 100% clear though iirc). I email them about it twice, the "engineer" at the time email back finally and said would call me, never did. If he did, I was to ask him about the VA rating, as 500 VA isn't very good for that particular amp would have been quite small. I believe they have since increase the VA a little. Their professional series, and even the STR series to some extent, are really impressive though in every way I can think of.

Hi, does label "LK 1535 C" on each of mca 525 transformers mean anything that can help identify VA ratings? Can it be 1535VA?))) Can be some thermal paper markings also i think.

 

[PENG]

Hi, does label "LK 1535 C" on each of mca 525 transformers mean anything that can help identify VA ratings? Can it be 1535VA?)))

Definitely not, though 1,500 VA total (say 750 each) happened to be my educated guess based on other corroborating info in their published specs, such as power consumption, weight, cap size and the specs for the older MCA 50.

Put it this way, if it is 1535 VA each, the total would be 3070 VA. The rated current would then be 3070/120, then even a dedicated 20 A circuit will not cut it. It wouldn't trip a 15 A breaker but it would be against code.

 

[PENG]

I read it has to do with the windings in the toroidal, how well they’re wound. There’s definitely a difference in quality with those transformers.

I will admit though my biggest pet-peeve is hiss. I can’t stand hissing in the speakers at idle.

Yes, you named one of the critical piece of the puzzle, but not the only piece...

 

[PENG]

Talk about quietness, I can tell you my quietest amp is the one I built recently. Mr. Pass's 5 W class A amp. The transformer is completely silent even if you glue both ears to the chassis, you know why??

Regardless, this little thing has no hiss either, but I have to do something to deal with the turn on/off noise that is expected for the particular design (the price to pay for simplicity I guess..).