I'm under the impression that when making a switch as you described above one should always power off first.
switching between two amplifiers; issues of power
Hello and thanks for your insight.
I am ordering a second amp, an inexpensive class D amp, fueled by two Icepower modules, the 300AS1, I believe, which outputs 150 watts into 8ohms and 300 into 4 ohms. It can handle a load as low as 2.7 ohms.
This is a Swiss-assembled amp that I've ordered because my almost utterly amazing Nuforce STA200, also a $500 amp, runs hot when I play it a little into the loud.
My question: when the new amp arrives and I want to swap the speakers to the new XTZ amp, can I leave the Nuforce plugged in and "on," while there are no speaker cables affixed, and visa-versa with the other amp. I would like to compare the two amps and I don't want to damage an amp for lack of speaker load.
Thank you and best regards,
I am ordering a second amp, an inexpensive class D amp, fueled by two Icepower modules, the 300AS1, I believe, which outputs 150 watts into 8ohms and 300 into 4 ohms. It can handle a load as low as 2.7 ohms.
This is a Swiss-assembled amp that I've ordered because my almost utterly amazing Nuforce STA200, also a $500 amp, runs hot when I play it a little into the loud.
My question: when the new amp arrives and I want to swap the speakers to the new XTZ amp, can I leave the Nuforce plugged in and "on," while there are no speaker cables affixed, and visa-versa with the other amp. I would like to compare the two amps and I don't want to damage an amp for lack of speaker load.
Thank you and best regards,
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- 18 posts total
As indicated on pages 15 and 24 of the ICEpower300AS1 datasheet its + and - output terminals both have 27.25 volts of DC on them. (A number of other older ICEpower modules are like that). So **if** the physical arrangement of the connectors on the amp makes it possible for either conductor of the speaker cable, when being connected or disconnected while the amp is turned on, to briefly but simultaneously come in contact with the output terminal and either the ground sleeve of a nearby RCA connector, or the metal release tab of an XLR connector, or the chassis of the amp, or the shell of the plug on a connected interconnect cable, damage would be very possible. Regards, -- Al |
Always power off when making connections like this. Then it will be okay to leave on with nothing connected. The amp btw was fine. For every watt of power you get about a watt of heat. Touch a 300 watt light bulb for reference. That's how much heat the amp has to dissipate, one way or another. If you run one 300 watt amp so hard it gets hot then guess what? Next one will too. Maybe not where you put your hand, but that same heat does have to go somewhere. |
@millercarbon So, the first amp is the lovely STA200, outputting 80wpc, and I've got it pushing a 4ohm nominal, down to 3.1 load. The amp does fine at modest volumes. I've been posting about this, from a variety of angles, for the past several weeks. It's a struggle because the amp's sonics are about as good as I would expect to do, for under maybe $3000.00 I could be mistaken and I'm eager to hear some suggestions, but I can't go the direction of tubes in this very hot climate, so we are talking ss or class D suggestions. Back to the Nuforce: it is not recommended to run this amp on 4ohm speakers, but when I bought my Tekton's I was told the speakers run so easily it shouldn't be a problem. I am understanding that class D 300 wpc will run quite a bit differently, owing to crazy high efficiency, compared to SS in the Nuforce. 1 watt into an 80% efficient amp would seem to yield 1/5 watt in heat? |
- 18 posts total