I'm buying a new pre and I'm looking for a class D amp to go with it. The only ones I'm finding right now are from Rotel. I'm sure they're good but I was looking to see if there were any alternatives around.
Anyone have any ideas of good vendors who sell digital amps?
I'm interested as well, anything besides the ones listed? Hypex makes the creme de la creme but they're about $12K/pair (used by Merrill and Mark Levinson). Nuforce uses their own controllers on the mass market amps I think. The integrated stereo won product of the year from T.A.S. but not sure how good the HT amps are as they appear to be setup differently.
These would definitely seem to be the answer for Atmos as they could easily squeeze 11 channels into a normal sized chassis.
Easy enough to build your own, using the NC400 DIY modules and designed for the purpose Al chassis. Total outlay ~$1,500 for two monoblocks. + a couple of hours labor.
Its my understanding that Hypex makes the current state-of-the-art in Class D...but they are unwilling to license this to any manufacturer for use in large scale production. Is this because Hypex is a small operation and can't keep up? Or are they concerned that quality control issues might tarnish their name?
C'mon Hypex...Democracy for all! (why not Class D for all?)
...and the not-insignificant fact that they retail for 50% of the NCore units. WOW! So this is how D-Sonic is building those 500X7 amps...as the 500W units are stereo, I wonder if you cracked open a D-Sonic if you'd find one channel unused/disconnected?
Thanks everyone for your input. I'm probably going to settle on the ROTEL 1565. Most of the class d amps seem to be stupidly expensive. If only Emotiva would make them. The 1565 is 5 channel, but I only need to have 5 channels amplified. It retails for $1200. Given the low resale of stereo equipment, I can get it used for 5-600. That's my plan right now. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.
I did have one other question. Rotel has some digital amps that take toslink in. Is there any reason why you would feed an amp a digital signal? That's usually handled in the Pre with analog going to the amp. Is there even a pre that does this and why would you do it? It seems rather complicated.
Thanks everyone for your input. I'm probably going to settle on the ROTEL 1565. Most of the class d amps seem to be stupidly expensive. If only Emotiva would make them. The 1565 is 5 channel, but I only need to have 5 channels amplified. It retails for $1200. Given the low resale of stereo equipment, I can get it used for 5-600. That's my plan right now. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.
I did have one other question. Rotel has some digital amps that take toslink in. Is there any reason why you would feed an amp a digital signal? That's usually handled in the Pre with analog going to the amp. Is there even a pre that does this and why would you do it? It seems rather complicated.
I've been looking and think you're right, Class D amps have just come into their own and, for what you get, they are darn expensive unless you go DIY (inconsistent results?). If you can get Rotel's best effort for $600 bucks, I say go for it! That's about what a DYI monoblock would cost you...for one channel.
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