What Class D amps will drive a 2 ohm load

I don't know what a Class D amp sounds like when clipping.

That depends very much on how the amp is designed. Some soft clip and some don't- some 'snap' when they clip. You really don't want to do that with a powerful amp- the tweeters are at risk!

Rather than saying from an earlier post, I'll just paste it in again (from the spec sheet):

Overload Protection - In case of high-amplitude continuous low frequency signals in loads lower than 4 ohms the power supply may not be able to deliver the required amount of power to the amplifier and the supply voltage will drop. The overload protection circuit will then lower the threshold of the input soft clipping circuit until the output power has been reduced to an acceptable level. As a result the amplifier will not shut down because of under voltage and the music will still be playing but with a softly shaped audio signal.

Pretty much what I expected. Your experience is basically the same as my except I was using the IcePower 1200AS/2 modules (2.7 ohm rated) with Wilson Watt/Puppy's. I believe you were using the 1200ASP modules (2 ohm rated). Not just the bass, but I noticed it in the midrange as well. It became very sterile to the point I couldn't listen anymore. Stereophile also uses the word 'Anemic' to describe this behavior when an amp is under powered for a given pair of speakers - which I think is a good descriptive. I tried using subwoofers to 'fill-in' more musicality, but it really didn't help that much either. 

One thing you can say about the B&O Icepower modules, and I give them credit, they really do try hard to keep things going even in Overload Protection (no blown fuse). 

joysjane
At lower levels the music seemed to have lost weight/slam/punch. This loss was in the lower frequencies.
As the volume went up the bottom seemed to increase but, the Kappa 9’s sounded anemic.
After 2 minutes I get some very loud snaps coming out of my EMIT K & SEMIT K drivers on the left channel speaker.

I rest my case.

At 625W!! into 8 ohms, and 1225W!! into 4ohms and "said to be stable into 2ohms". They didn’t wattage clip, they have no drive into 2ohms.

It wouldn’t have mattered if these Kappas had the 3000w Behringer on them, same thing would have happened "no current, no 2ohm drive, no music".

They didn’t wattage clip or soft clip as atmasphere would have you believe, they just can’t handle the load and current that they were asked to give, and it’s what I’ve been saying all along.

Even a $199 1980’s NAD 3020 integrated "is stable into 2ohms", there’s more than just that, it needs to "almost double" or "greatly increase" it’s clipped" 4ohm wattage into 2ohms also (not just from 8ohms to 4ohms), and that why that spec need to be independently tested "if" ever given.

This is why a pair of old Mark Levinson ML2 monoblocks which are only 25w!!!! into 8ohms!! would have been able to drive these Kappa’s beautifully full range to a certain volume level, as they are only 25w, but they can close to double all the way down to 1ohm it’s said.
8ohm 25w
4ohm 50w
2ohm 100w
1ohm 200w

https://img.canuckaudiomart.com/uploads/large/2229206-mark-levinson-ml2.jpg


Cheers George

golfnutz
Pretty much what I expected. Your experience is basically the same as my except I was using the IcePower 1200AS/2 modules (2.7 ohm rated) with Wilson Watt/Puppy’s. I believe you were using the 1200ASP modules (2 ohm rated). Not just the bass, but I noticed it in the midrange as well. It became very sterile to the point I couldn’t listen anymore. Stereophile also uses the word ’Anemic’

And the Wilson’s are over 92db efficient, but also have a nasty amplifier loading. Same happened to you as I posted above to the Kappa’s. And your 1200AS2 Class-D modules are said to be even better🤦‍♂️

Stereophile also uses the word ’Anemic’ to describe this behavior when an amp is under powered for a given pair of speakers - which I think is a good descriptive. I tried using subwoofers to ’fill-in’ more musicality, but it really didn’t help that much either.

This is classically what happens to "some" Class-D owners "with hard to drive speakers", that is to get a sub to give some more bass weight and to flesh out the lower/mids and mids more, but it doesn’t cure the problem fully


Cheers George

     Buy a pair of pre-owned Merrill Veritas for $5K, they're stable down to 1 ohm.  If you're unsure, just call Merrill and ask him if they'll drive the Kappa 9s. 

Tim