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Post by bricor on Mar 9, 2006 8:56:51 GMT -7
I'm doing an IB for a guy and am going to give the A500 a try. The price and lack of fans is very appealing, just hoping it does the job. It will be powering 4 AE IB15's of the 4 ohm variety, probably wire a pair in series for an 8 ohm load per channel.
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Post by ThomasW on Mar 9, 2006 9:23:03 GMT -7
Let us know the results. The price is certainly attractive. Tests show it doesn't quite meet the rated power, but for IB use that may not be an issue.
But it maybe down on power given the very stiff suspension of the AE IB15"s.
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Post by jagman on Jul 25, 2006 11:52:00 GMT -7
Did you end up getting this amp? How is it working out?
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Post by norpus on Aug 30, 2006 19:16:41 GMT -7
I am using the A500 to power 2x18" avalanches, dual voice coils at 4ohms on an infloor IB I really like the idea that I can't blow my speakers with too much power when a unknown LF scene pops up on a new movie and I'm not prepared for it. I also love watching the led s bounce - if they get into the orange I know to turn it down a tad (as the neighbours will soon be complaining hehe)
At 230wpc, am I being conservative? Thomas, what did this amp test to in power output?
I have only heard them bottom once on a relatively constant note in a piece of music at high spls.
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Post by ThomasW on Aug 30, 2006 20:09:20 GMT -7
I really like the idea that I can't blow my speakers with too much power when a unknown LF scene pops up on a new movie and I'm not prepared for it. Well I hate to bust your bubble but an underpowered amp driven too hard can severely clip and dump DC into the speakers. That kills speakers quickly. I don't remember the Pmax for those drivers, but it certainly is much higher than 230 watts My guess is that was clipping not bottoming. The LEDs aren't fast acting enough to be a true indicator of clipping
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Post by norpus on Aug 31, 2006 6:53:31 GMT -7
I really like the idea that I can't blow my speakers with too much power when a unknown LF scene pops up on a new movie and I'm not prepared for it. Well I hate to bust your bubble but an underpowered amp driven too hard can severely clip and dump DC into the speakers. That kills speakers quickly. I don't remember the Pmax for those drivers, but it certainly is much higher than 230 watts My guess is that was clipping not bottoming. The LEDs aren't fast acting enough to be a true indicator of clipping Thanks for the reply By Pmax do you mean max rated power handling? I have lost the specs myself (link is dead) but believe that was 1000watts which I understood was for a non IB situation. Am I in error there? From your comments, it appears you believe my a500 is underpowered for the duty. I must admit it cannot get much more than 1/2" movement on the cones when almost bouncing into the orange. Should I be giving it more juice? With a driver with an ability to dissapate 1000w, what would you recommend per channel as an IB amp. Would an EP1500 or EP2500 be more suited? I appreciate your thoughtful advice Thomas
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Post by ThomasW on Aug 31, 2006 9:32:13 GMT -7
By definition Pmax is max power handling.
If it plays loud enough without running into clipping then it's probably fine for your needs.
Most people are running larger amps and keeping them throttled back. Doing that guarantees there are no problems with clipping.
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Post by norpus on Aug 31, 2006 17:45:35 GMT -7
Thanks for the advice Thomas. Please excuse my lack of knowledge in this area, but hey thats what I'm here to absorb. To clarify, by 'throttling back' do you mean running the amp gain control pots below max? or something else I do this on the A500 (set at 12 o'clock) but that does not stop it hitting the orange/red if the LF signal is very strong. Does setting gain control at 12o'clock throttle it back or not? Thanks
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Post by ThomasW on Aug 31, 2006 18:59:46 GMT -7
The gain controls are really input level controls not something that limits gain. But yes that's what I was referring to...
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Post by norpus on Aug 31, 2006 21:40:22 GMT -7
Thanks Thomas. I found some Ava18 specs on another site today: The now discontinued Ascendant Audio Avalanche 18 was Specs: Fs 16 Hz Qms 6.0 Qes .429 Qts .40 Vas 550 Liters Re 3.2 ohms Znom 4 ohms Sd 1210 Xmax (27mm one-way)
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Post by norpus on Oct 2, 2006 15:42:13 GMT -7
I really like the idea that I can't blow my speakers with too much power when a unknown LF scene pops up on a new movie and I'm not prepared for it. Well I hate to bust your bubble but an underpowered amp driven too hard can severely clip and dump DC into the speakers. That kills speakers quickly. I don't remember the Pmax for those drivers, but it certainly is much higher than 230 watts My guess is that was clipping not bottoming. The LEDs aren't fast acting enough to be a true indicator of clipping I tried a 500watt A/B mono sub amp last week - driving the 2 Avas at 2ohm in parallel. Seemed to drive them marginally easier than the A500 but not worth the $1000 price upgrade. I might get an EP2500 to drive these and use the A500 at the back IB when that is built
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Post by woozyone on Oct 5, 2006 9:53:18 GMT -7
Not to hijack the thread but...I'm interested in the A500 for my setup. I currently have two PE IB15's powered by a Rythmik A-350 and I'm wanting to add two more IB15's. Going off of PE's specs for the subs, the A500 should have enough power to drive all 4. I was planning on running each pair in parallel to each channel for a 4ohm load. How underrated is the A500? Should I spend a little more and get a bigger amp or should this power the IB15's sufficiently? Oh yeah...anyone wanna buy a Rythmik plate amp?
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Post by norpus on Oct 22, 2006 23:11:40 GMT -7
I really like the idea that I can't blow my speakers with too much power when a unknown LF scene pops up on a new movie and I'm not prepared for it. Well I hate to bust your bubble but an underpowered amp driven too hard can severely clip and dump DC into the speakers. That kills speakers quickly. I don't remember the Pmax for those drivers, but it certainly is much higher than 230 watts My guess is that was clipping not bottoming. The LEDs aren't fast acting enough to be a true indicator of clipping Well the A500 will be discarded soon when my 500w AB plate amps are delivered. The A500 tended to clip fairly easily - Thomas you were dead right on all 3 counts The bigger amps have more authority and plenty in reserves for multiple detonations etc Thanks
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Post by woozyone on Oct 23, 2006 8:03:56 GMT -7
Looks like I should spend a little more and get a 'real' amp then Thanks for the info norpus.
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