I bought this amplifier from a guy who said it had been sitting in his cuboard for the last 5 years since his upgrade and it seems to be very gutless for a 200rms amplifier-do you think it just needs to run for a while or is there anything I should do to it due to it sitting for so long-Im just supprised how little power it has given its size. The kenwood power amp it replaced was only 150rms and its half the weight!
Given that most listeners rarely need/exceed a few watts I suspect what you are describing is something other than being 'underpowered'.
Perhaps this amp sounds a little thin and uninvolving to listen to...
Underpowered would really mean you are running up to its maximum output and the sound is distorting/clipping and I would doubt that very much tbh.
Given a suitable dummy load and oscilloscope it's very easy to confirm or otherwise that the amp meets it's specifications for output.
Perhaps this amp sounds a little thin and uninvolving to listen to...
Underpowered would really mean you are running up to its maximum output and the sound is distorting/clipping and I would doubt that very much tbh.
Given a suitable dummy load and oscilloscope it's very easy to confirm or otherwise that the amp meets it's specifications for output.
There is hardly any difference between a 150W and 200W. The same amp could easily be specced as either depending on measurement conditions.
Otoh, the Stereophile review mentions this particular amp of sounding gutless at low power. Running it in may improve it to a degree but i would not expect wonders.
If there is any reason to expect a technical malfunction, the first place to look at are the PS caps. After 5 years of inactivity it is irresponsible to power the amp up without first reforming them, but what is done is done.
unfortunately im a bit of a noob to these things and im a bit scared of big caps lol i recon those could zap me pretty hard if i got it wrong!😛
I also bought this amp second hand, it worked but sound bad, like a crappy cheap amp. The bass was thin and the high end was tin sounding with an early roll off, it sounded dull. I did a bit of modding to improve the issues, the amp is completely different. Everything improved. The very low bass response was not very well controlled though, I have to work this one out.
Anyhow, relating to your issue on low volume, I noticed this too, it turns out that the feedback loop attenuation into the differential stage is set a bit high and requires a 1.4V RMS (1.985V peak) signal to get 200W RMS into 8 ohm. Yeah, so you need to boost the input signal to get the watts you want.
Anyhow, relating to your issue on low volume, I noticed this too, it turns out that the feedback loop attenuation into the differential stage is set a bit high and requires a 1.4V RMS (1.985V peak) signal to get 200W RMS into 8 ohm. Yeah, so you need to boost the input signal to get the watts you want.
Working much better now
thanks for that i ran mine in for a few hours it sounds a lot better now when I crank it it really goes well-just what I need to drive a set of Acoustat electrostatics they are quite a nasty load but once it was used for a few hours it sounded much better to my relief I do need to crank it to get it to get good volume out the electrostatics though
thanks for that i ran mine in for a few hours it sounds a lot better now when I crank it it really goes well-just what I need to drive a set of Acoustat electrostatics they are quite a nasty load but once it was used for a few hours it sounded much better to my relief I do need to crank it to get it to get good volume out the electrostatics though
i would first check if it is giving correct output voltage on max power.
Apply 1VRMS then check output on a scope for full power.
Could be the amp is just not being driven hard enough.
Apply 1VRMS then check output on a scope for full power.
Could be the amp is just not being driven hard enough.