1600W @ 7lbs?

[JerryLove]

http://www.peavey.com/products/browse.cfm/action/detail/cat/490/item/116949/number/03001260/IPR™1600.cfm

Even in class D, this seems fishy to me. Anyone familiar with this amp?

Even converted over to 8ohm it's 300Wx2; basically no heat-sink.

 

[Warpdrv]

The IPR series has been discussed in depth on AVS

Heres the guts of that one...

Everyone is waiting on some Amp testing of that one...

We are also waiting on some tests of the Behringer EPX 3000, which is also in the same realm of the Peavey unit, it has RCA's for those interested, which is a nice new feature IMO. Although it lands at 22lbs.... Likely a steel body case instead of aluminum...

I'd love to see Audioholics test some of these pro amps myself.... what do you say Gene...?

 

[swspiers]

Weird, isn't it?

The wholke world of pro-audio seems so different that home audio. But it is what it is.

No- I have not used that particular amp. But I know a handful of bass players that use it along with a pre-amp or even a Tech 21 Sansamp pedal.

And yes- it really is 1500 watts. Pretty high distortion at that level though.

I'm looking at a Carvin bass amp- the BX1500 that is also dual channel, and when bridged really does put out 1500 watts @ 8 ohms. Which is silly, in a way. Better to have 2 separate channels driving a bass cab each. More total air displaced, which in my experience is more important than watts.

Anyway- as far as Peavey goes, I've had experience with the brand itself for 33 years. Damn good equipment: reasonable price, solid build quality and reliability. Ampeg and Mesa Boogie fans might hate Peavey, but certainly not because they actually suck. It's a solid-state vs. tube thing for the most part, IMHO.

I also considered Class D for my home system before I bought my Marantz. This amp was on the list, but at the end it wouldn't work for me because of lack of RCA outs and the fan noise is reported to be fairly high. (and yes, I know about XLR to RCA converters- it's an aesthetic thing)

+1 on having Audioholics test some of these class D's. There's a lot of them out there

 

[GranteedEV]

Is this fan-cooled?

Anyways that's 800w x 2 at 1khz, into lower frequencies and especially higher frequencies the manual says there'll be more THD. Their more typical rating has it at

20hz-1.5khz @ .1% THD / 600w
20khz up to .25% THD at 500w

..which already brings us down to 500w x 2 as the more typical rating. But yeah, it's still rather impressive. IIRC though they don't recommend bridging this one.

 

[highfigh]

The power shown at the input is 120VAC, 60 Hz 400W. The output is shown as 40V into a 2 Ohm minimum load.

I think the Department of Energy will want to talk with them.

FWIW, the Peavey amps I have dealt with came with a data sheet from being tested and they all exceeded the rated output and distortion. OTOH, they used a lot more than 400W to do it.

 

[Stereodude]

The power shown at the input is 120VAC, 60 Hz 400W. The output is shown as 40V into a 2 Ohm minimum load.

Here we go again.

The power consumption listed on the back of any component is not the maximum power draw. It's not for receivers, it's not for pro amp. Trying to use it to determine how powerful an amplifier is, is pointless.

 

[timmay8612]

Wouldn't you have to have your rack outside your listening room with that since its fan cooled?

 

[jinjuku]

Is this fan-cooled?

Anyways that's 800w x 2 at 1khz, into lower frequencies and especially higher frequencies the manual says there'll be more THD. Their more typical rating has it at

20hz-1.5khz @ .1% THD / 600w
20khz up to .25% THD at 500w

..which already brings us down to 500w x 2 as the more typical rating. But yeah, it's still rather impressive. IIRC though they don't recommend bridging this one.

Yes it has a fan that is temp controlled. They also have a version with built in DSP. The IPR is based on a custom super capacitor. The rating is real and rated the same way they rate all their other amps. They have been at it for 3 decades and it wouldn't fly if they started playing games with the ratings. There will be a higher end version of these amps from Crest also.

For home use you could probably get away with disconnecting the fan. But from all counts under moderate to mid load it doesn't come on all that much.

 

[JerryLove]

The rating is real and rated the same way they rate all their other amps. They have been at it for 3 decades and it wouldn't fly if they started playing games with the ratings.

Which is not neccessairily the way a different company rates it's own amps. I refer you, for example, to the entire car-amp market.

For example: if you were to run a sine-wave at 2ohm near top wattage: the breaker would shut-down the amp.

There will be a higher end version of these amps from Crest also.

Please let them get rid of those painful blue lights. Given the low heat output: some heatsinks might make this a decent consumer amp.

For home use you could probably get away with disconnecting the fan. But from all counts under moderate to mid load it doesn't come on all that much.

For now, I think I'll keep my Yammy P-series as my only pro amps. I'm not sold on class-D yet, and have trouble trusting sometihng 7lbs.

 

[jinjuku]

Which is not neccessairily the way a different company rates it's own amps. I refer you, for example, to the entire car-amp market.

Peavey/Crest has a reputation to protect

For example: if you were to run a sine-wave at 2ohm near top wattage: the breaker would shut-down the amp.

And what does this have to do with the IPR 1600?

Please let them get rid of those painful blue lights. Given the low heat output: some heatsinks might make this a decent consumer amp.

Agreed. Maybe the Crest version will be a passive design. You can always pop on over to AVS Forum and let sickandneedhelp know about those two wish list items since he is the engineer responsible for the IPR design. You aren't the only one complaining about the LED's and the volume knob

For now, I think I'll keep my Yammy P-series as my only pro amps. I'm not sold on class-D yet, and have trouble trusting sometihng 7lbs.

We will have to wait and see about the road abilities of their IPR series. Everyone is making a light weight class D commercial amp so you will most likely have to get used to class D.

 

[jamie2112]

I use these amps live and would love to have one in my house.They weigh 22lbs and put out amazing power.They have amps that do 8000 a side into 2ohms and they weigh 22lbs.They are not cheap but the best power I have ever used for the money.Granted this is a totally live situation and we are talking home use here but they are worth checking out.....
http://www.labgruppen.com/index.php/products/fp_series/c/fp_6400

 

[JerryLove]

Peavey/Crest has a reputation to protect

Ok. I'm not sure how that interacts with my statement that different companies use different methods of rating wattage on their amps.

Peavy, for example, uses a 1/3 average load to rate. This is apparently rather common, but some use 1/6 load, and some use full-sine-wave.

And what does this have to do with the IPR 1600?

It is a description of the behavior of the IPR 1600 according to its designer.

Agreed. Maybe the Crest version will be a passive design. You can always pop on over to AVS Forum and let sickandneedhelp know about those two wish list items since he is the engineer responsible for the IPR design. You aren't the only one complaining about the LED's and the volume knob

Yes. Reading the thread on AVR is why I became relatively quiet on this one. Most of my questions were answered.

We will have to wait and see about the road abilities of their IPR series. Everyone is making a light weight class D commercial amp so you will most likely have to get used to class D.

Not being on the road: my options remain very open. If the SQ and power are there: economy will force me to accept that other choices are wasted money (why spend $12k on a Krell or even $2k on Emotiva when I can get the same for $299?) then so be it. I must admit that part of me doesn't *want* this garish piece of plastic to be the right road because... well, I like the look and feel of so much other gear.

Still: I suppose it would be pretty simply to pull this board out and put it in another case. I can even attach a heat-pipe system with a little work and rid myself of the fan. I wonder if there's a market for this amp put in a wife-friendly case.

 

[highfigh]

Here we go again.

The power consumption listed on the back of any component is not the maximum power draw. It's not for receivers, it's not for pro amp. Trying to use it to determine how powerful an amplifier is, is pointless.

No kidding. OTOH, it can't be 100% efficient, either.

 

[Stereodude]

No kidding. OTOH, it can't be 100% efficient, either.

Well of course not, but since the power draw listed on the back isn't measured while playing sine waves from every channel at maximum volume exactly what relevance does it have to maximum power output during an All Channels Driven test?