Legacy new 7CH and 8CH Amplifiers Most Powerful Mult-CH Amps Ever?

gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
One thing Legacy Audio has been known for is their high dynamic range loudspeakers with gut wrenching bass. OK, that's two things, but they do go hand in hand with each other. In order to make their speakers sing, they need a solid power foundation; wimpy AV receivers need not apply. Legacy used to offer some solid linear amplifiers back in the day and once they were discontinued, we wondered what would be their next move. Enter the PowerBloc series of amplifiers. Legacy Audio decided to go BIG while going green. This time, they switched from linear amplifier technology to the latest in Class D and their Powerbloc2 2CH and Powerbloc4 4CH amplifiers were born. When I visited Legacy back in 2017, I planted a seed in Bill Dudleston's ear that they would do well to produce a 7 or 8CH amplifier to address the need for high efficient, high power amplification for Dolby Atmos. Bill took my request to heart and here we are announcing these exciting new 7CH and 8CH Legacy amplifiers.

Rated to deliver 600wpc x 7CH and x8CH with all channels driven, these amps are serious business. But how are they getting that much POWER?

iv7 Amp Front Top.jpg


Read: Legacy iV7 Amplifier Preview
 
H

Hetfield

Audioholic Samurai
600 watts per channel! Are you trying to go deaf or are you filling s stadium with sound? I don't know why you would really need so much power. That's insane.
 
WaynePflughaupt

WaynePflughaupt

Audioholic Samurai
The first thing that crossed my mind was, “How can anyone maintain a quiet noise floor with so many channels in a single chassis?” Sure enough, there it is. Gene noted in the “Preview” link (emphasis added):

A quick peer through the data sheet confirms this very impressive design is stable down to low impedance, has a high damping factor (indication of low output impedance assuring a linear load invariant frequency response) and low noise floor ( >97dB at 1 watt, A-wt).
A S/N figure of 97 dB A-weighted is nothing to write home about. Rane’s Audio Specifications page notes the following in the section covering signal to noise ratio (emphasis added):

Pro audio equipment often lists an A-weighted noise spec -- not because it correlates well with our hearing -- but because it can "hide" nasty hum components that make for bad noise specs. Always wonder if a manufacturer is hiding something when you see A-weighting specs. While noise filters are entirely appropriate and even desired when measuring other types of noise, it is an abuse to use them to disguise equipment hum problems. A-weighting rolls off the low-end, thus reducing the most annoying 2nd and 3rd line harmonics by about 20 dB and 12 dB respectively. Sometimes A-weighting can "improve" a noise spec by 10 dB.

It’s possible folks with high-efficiency speakers will get audible noise with this amplifier. Fortunately, those people don’t need high-powered amplifiers!

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
The first thing that crossed my mind was, “How can anyone maintain a quiet noise floor with so many channels in a single chassis?” Sure enough, there it is. Gene noted in the “Preview” link (emphasis added):



A S/N figure of 97 dB A-weighted is nothing to write home about. Rane’s Audio Specifications page notes the following in the section covering signal to noise ratio (emphasis added):

Pro audio equipment often lists an A-weighted noise spec -- not because it correlates well with our hearing -- but because it can "hide" nasty hum components that make for bad noise specs. Always wonder if a manufacturer is hiding something when you see A-weighting specs. While noise filters are entirely appropriate and even desired when measuring other types of noise, it is an abuse to use them to disguise equipment hum problems. A-weighting rolls off the low-end, thus reducing the most annoying 2nd and 3rd line harmonics by about 20 dB and 12 dB respectively. Sometimes A-weighting can "improve" a noise spec by 10 dB.

It’s possible folks with high-efficiency speakers will get audible noise with this amplifier. Fortunately, those people don’t need high-powered amplifiers!

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
97dB (a-wt) at 1 watt, NOT full rated power. That is something to write home about, especially for a Class D design. There will be no hiss. Typically good amps I've measured are >90dB at 1 watt and are dead quiet.
 
G

Gmoney

Audioholic Ninja
Gene, try as they may, some still try to challenge. It's amazing how even those with technical knowledge can even take out of context. Gene, thank you for posting up and remaining steadfast with the truth in audio.
97dB (a-wt) at 1 watt, NOT full rated power. That is something to write home about, especially for a Class D design. There will be no hiss. Typically good amps I've measured are >90dB at 1 watt and are dead quiet.
 
WaynePflughaupt

WaynePflughaupt

Audioholic Samurai
97dB (a-wt) at 1 watt, NOT full rated power. That is something to write home about, especially for a Class D design. There will be no hiss. Typically good amps I've measured are >90dB at 1 watt and are dead quiet.
Ah - didn’t notice the 1-watt qualifier, thanks for clarifying.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I was hoping Legacy would also offer 200 Watts 2Ch, 5Ch, 7Ch amps and keep the MSRP more competitive to the other 200W amps.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
97dB (a-wt) at 1 watt, NOT full rated power. That is something to write home about, especially for a Class D design. There will be no hiss. Typically good amps I've measured are >90dB at 1 watt and are dead quiet.
Gene, they listed the Dynamic Range as 127dBA.

Do you know what the A-weighed SNR at full power is?
 
R

rsc3

Audiophyte
The question I have is: Depending on how much power is actually used, how would a 15 or 20 amp circuit handle the load?
 
Y

yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
600 watts per channel! Are you trying to go deaf or are you filling s stadium with sound? I don't know why you would really need so much power. That's insane.
A better question is what consumer speakers can handle a full 600w rms?

Sent from my moto e5 play using Tapatalk
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
A better question is what consumer speakers can handle a full 600w rms?
Good point. :D

The Legacy Expression tower is rated for up to 250W, Legacy HD and Signature towers up to 300W, so better get the Legacy Focus towers (750W) or higher up. :D

$10K Revel F228Be is rated for up to 350W.

$22K B&W 802D3 is rated for up to 500W.

$26K Dynaudio Confidence 50 is rated for up to 400W.

The $32K KEF Blade is rated for up to 400W.

$34K Focal Scala Utopia is rated for up to 500W.

Gene’s $50K RBH 8T is rated for up to 1000W.

I think most people feel comfortable with 200 and 300 watts.
 
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Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
One of those should work on a regular 15 amp circuit, right? :p
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
One of those should work on a regular 15 amp circuit, right? :p
To perform at their full potential, the 8 channel unit would need at least 2 dedicated 20 amp circuits. I presume that it comes with two 120V power cords or with a single 240V cord.
 
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Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
One of those should work on a regular 15 amp circuit, right? :p
If what you mean by "work" is that it will function normally within the power constraints of a 15 amp circuit in a typical room (e.g. less than 5000 cubic feet),I would bet the answer is almost certainly yes. On the other hand, if you're using some of the channels to power multiple sealed subwoofers equalized to flat response to 20Hz in a huge room, while watching action movies at high volumes, maybe not.
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
I was hoping Legacy would also offer 200 Watts 2Ch, 5Ch, 7Ch amps and keep the MSRP more competitive to the other 200W amps.
If you mean you were hoping Legacy would price their amps in-line with other amps from Bryston, Krell, Classe, etc. I suspect they did!

If you mean you were hoping Legacy would price their amps in-line with other amps from Yamaha, Marantz, Emotiva, ATI/Outlaw/Monolith, I think we need to remind you that you are still stuck in the same dimension/reality as last week ... and the decade before!
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
If you mean you were hoping Legacy would price their amps in-line with other amps from Yamaha, Marantz, Emotiva, ATI/Outlaw/Monolith, I think we need to remind you that you are still stuck in the same dimension/reality as last week ... and the decade before!
:D Yeah, I was hoping the price (for a Legacy 200x7 amp) would be less than ATI, which has a 220W x 7Ch Solid State amp that retails $4K.

The reason is because I consider ATI amps higher-end than any ICE amps from any company. :D

I think they are good quality, but does anyone consider ICE amps higher quality? :D
 
Pedro Alvarado

Pedro Alvarado

Full Audioholic
cool design

it looks like something from the movie dune
 
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