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Mono Blocks on a Budget, is it possible?

I’m really struggling with the direction to take my system. I have the following:

Legacy Classics speakers
Aurender N100H media player
Schiit Freya tube pre-amp
Schiit Yggdrasil DAC
Schiit Vidar x2 (in mono block mode)

I will be replacing speakers at some point but the rest of the system I love... except the Vidars. Before them, I had NAD 356BEE that was used for the amp. Very clean and I loved it, except it was only 80 Watts. I decided to upgrade to the Vidars. They cost twice as much From a good manufacturer like Schiit so they must be better right? Not really. They are more noisy than the NAD amp and I’m finding myself less in love with them that I though I would be. I was planning the Vidar purchase for about a year and now that I got them I don’t know which direction to take in replacing them. I want to get cleaner mono amps but don’t want to spend more than $3k MAX for both. The Vidars are 400 Watts into 8ohm, are there any options out there for me that are close to the Vidar specs? I’m open to used but mostly I want the amps to sound almost completely clean with practically no distortion. 
xerotrace
ostensible_constituency's avatar
ostensible_constituency
76 posts
 

You could get the Nord Acoustics Hypex nCore monoblocks for just a little over $2,000, they’ll do 400 watts into 8 ohms.


I see no reason to get "mono-blocks" if you're doing class D as literally the only difference is two power cords vs. one. I suppose that's another opportunity to waste $300-$1000 x 2 on expensive "directional" power cables, but it'd be a total waste. 

So-called dual-mono is the way to go with Class D - probably Class A and Class AB as well providing your power cable is sufficient to convey enough electrons and your power supplies are each capable of running and fitting in the same box with the two discrete L-R amplifiers. 


erik_squires
16,235 posts
 
I see no reason to get "mono-blocks" if you're doing class D as literally the only difference is two power cords vs. one. I suppose that's another opportunity to waste $300-$1000 x 2 on expensive "directional" power cables, but it'd be a total waste.

Depends on the amplifier. To be a true dual mono, requires splitting of the power supplies at the incoming AC power. If you share a power supply there is increased capacity for crosstalk, which is readily visible in crosstalk measurements (which I guess Stereophile no longer will do). Lots of the ICEpower modules for instance com in powered (AS) and non powered (A) so you can create whatever kind of amplifier you wish. 

Not all Class-D have dual power supplies, so therefore, yes, there is some difference possible. 

Can you hear it? I don't know. :) 

But it's more than just about power cords. 

Best,


E
skiroe's avatar
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skiroe
131 posts
 
As a poster mentioned earlier---  Emotiva's are not half bad.   I have a pair of XPA 100's  of which I think are out of production.  The pair cost me 600 if I recall brand new.    For perspective -- I also run at times a Pass XA30.5 among others .   They are very quiet and I actually bought them awhile back to pump up the   watts a bit because Roger Sanders insisted I needed more oomph for my Martin Logans of which I am not using at this time.  Matter of fact since I moved  3 weeks ago I have yet to set up a system and have been listening to FM over the internet via  a Grace internet radio.  yikes.    This public confession will hopefully help me get it together.   
ostensible_constituency's avatar
ostensible_constituency
76 posts
 
I definitely think that in the linear power supply "world" this has more merit than in the switch mode power supply "world" as is typical of class d amps such as ICE and Hypex. 

If you share a power supply there is increased capacity for crosstalk..

The bigger problem with the switch mode power supplies (hence the moniker SMPSXXXX for Hypex versions) is the switching itself which introduces a different kind of distortion - or has the potential to anyway - to the audio signal. 

In any case, I also read that Stereophile was no longer doing test bench measurements - how lame is that - I'd be interested in other opinions on so-called cross talk in a configuration such as a Hypex SMPS 3Ka400/700 with three channels of switch mode power delivered on a single "board" - you'd think that they've thought about the crosstalk potential and engineered it out - as there is only one AC  mains input (set of faston tabs).  But on linear circuits we're in agreement. 
lwal22's avatar
lwal22
76 posts
 
+1 for Odyssey. Haven’t heard anything in that price range that can match ‘em. The quality and care that goes into them is equal to some very expensive gear.
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