MiniDSP PWR-DSP amps - Page 3

I have an account with Pascal. I have dealt with them for almost a year.

Things could be pulled around and setup if you guys are interested.

But there are some caveats.

These are power modules. No plate no heat sink.

It would have to be supplied as a kit. With a plate and a heat sink.

Front panel express can do the plates.

And I have a very cheap source for heatsinks that are raw aluminum.

The magic of black paint helps!

Mark

Which model are these?

I'm going to replace my JBL 3678 with 3xEAW CB523M.

So I need 3-way active amp/DSP and I can't find many others than MiniDSP and DigiModa that can do that in one unit. Other alternatives is several 2 channel amps like Crown XTI, Behringer iNuke and Hypex but I don't know what too choose.

The MiniDSP PWR-DSP3 seems to me like the best alternative even though I don't need that kind of power, but then again it's also the double the price of i.e. Behrigner iNuke.

So I would really like to find some user reviews before I buy them since I haven't found anyone that have used them on other than subs.

Personaly, I use the Crown DSi amps for my setup. but either the XTi or CDi will also work. They are are pretty much the same except for the input/outputs. For ease of use, the XTi is your best bet. You will need to get 5 amps in order to amplify 3 Eaw speakers. The XTi 2000`s (which has ample power for the EAW`s) can usually be had for around $400 or less used.

If you don`t like the idea of having a pile of amps, check with Mark Kravchenko about the Pascal units. They are one of the best amp modules out there. Camco uses them and has an excellent reputation with their amps.

A friend of mine is useing Crown DSI/XTI with his "similiar" JBL cinema speakers and he is having some problem with noise. It's not easy running active x-over with speakers haveing sensitivity of 110-120dB/1w. Also MiniDSP DSP/XO is said to have similar problems but don't know if this is also with their plateamps.

I've tried getting in contact with MiniDSP support but they are REAL slow answering questions

Have you actually heard them in a similar size room to yours? They are very tall and you're going to be a long way off axis to the HF driver.


I would not choose a class D amp for the HF anyway - their HF noise and distortion is usually much worse than class AB. I've got some Hypex modules and they are the best I've found, but I still use AB myself.

Why look for a completely integrated solution as these will not be designed to consider the issues around efficiency and noise?

A MiniDSP balanced x 2 an EP2k/4k for the LF and a pair of quiet stereo amps for the MF/HF (early AM OTTOMH suggestion, 2 x A500). You will need to pay a lot of attention to gain structure and levels in each part of the system to keep SNR high and ideally have the volume control after the DSP, but there are no off the shelf systems that I can think of. I had to design my own.

I have both system at home but haven't tried the EAW yet. They are tall, but not that tall... and the HF/MF can be pointed downwards so I hope it won't be a problem but I'm aware that it could.


I do prefer a completely integrated solution like MiniDSP mainly because of the simplicity but as I wrote i.e. Behringer iNuke or Crown XTI could also be an alternative.

I thought the combination of Pascal modules and MiniDSP should be an good combination. The Pascal amps have SNR of 120dB so if noise is a problem it's because of the MiniDSP.

By A500, do you mean Behringer?? Are they any good? I imagine that class A amps would be the best solution for MF and HF but it's heard to find affordable 6 channel class A amps

What are Pacscal modules? Got a link?


Yes, and yes.
The A500 is not class A, and I see no reason for A in most circumstances.

Pascal is an OEM manufactur and makes the amp used in MiniDSP PWR-DSP.

I know A500 is not class A but many people thinks class A is a very good solution combined with horn speakers.

The most affordable solution for me is to buy 3xMiniDSP in a box and a ATI 6012 but not sure if the ATI amp have enough power for woofer duty since it's not bridgeable.

Cheers.


People believe in astrology but that doesn't make it true either.


A better solution would be to open up the LF modules of the EAW and wire each 15 to it's own terminals and drive each with a single channel of that ATI.

Received 3xPWR-DSP3 this weekend

Really looking forward to try them, but unfortunatley I haven't received the nesecary SW from MiniDSP yet so haven't been able to try them. Still waiting for answer from MiniDSP and hopefully they will answer me shortly, but until then, do anyone have the PWR-DSP SW so I could get a copy?

PM me with your mail adress for the PWR-DSP...

I've finally got my amps up and running but have huge problem with noise/hiss!

My current speakers (JBL 2447 and 2x2226) are quite efficent but I've never had anything like this noise/hiss before. The PWR-DSP3 replaces an MiniDSP in a box and NAD208 and that combination was much less noisy even though the NAD amp doesn't have a gain control. Before the NAD I was useing QSC DCA amps and when the gain reduced it was more or less noisefree.

The PWR-DSP3 is supposed to have a SN of 114dB and should therefore be almost noisefree even on hornspeakers so I really don't get this... I really hope there is an solution for this, either FW update, some hidden jumper settings (to reduce gain on the amp modules) or something else. The noise is there even when no source is connected, and the only was to get it to go away is by pressing "audio off" in the software. For me this indicates that the noise is created by the DSP module and probably would be reduced a lot by an gain control between DSP and amp module.

Is there anyone else with PWR-DSP that have tried them on high efficent speakers?

taskvig, please let us know if you find a solution to reduce the noise from your PWR-DSP's. I was considering using these with a 3 way of a pair of TD10X's and a BMS 4594 coaxial CD.

No good news yet, still in the hope that MiniDSP have a solution for me but nothing yet

As a last way out I've put some resistors in front of my JBL driver that reduce the output of aprox 10dB and it's much better, but still not noisefree I really don't think this should be necessary of a "highend" product like this with a SN of 114dB, but for now it seems like the only solution. Hopefully there is a way of lower the gain into the amp modules from the DSP module but I'm beging too doubt...

Is there any other users of these amps? If so... do you have any idea of how to reset them or maybe have latest firmware files available?

Have you tried posting over on Minidsp's forum? It seems slow over there, but it may help. They also have a forum over at diyaudio under the manufacturers section.

I almost bought one of these amps recently, but opted for a SpeakerPower amp instead since its made here in the states. Figured service would be better...but the cost was higher.

Yes I had put the same question on the MiniDSP forum but no answer there either....

BUT!! Now I've finally gotten in contact with a very helpful guy at MiniDSP and things are looking very much better. I did get the nececarry firmware file, reinstalled the FW and the "defect"amp is now OK again

Regarding the noise we are going to modify the IO card and put some resistors to reduce the fixed gain hopefully that will help a lot! I'll get the nececcary info from the engineer next week and I'm really looking forward to try this, I'll keep you posted how it goes!

I'm glad to hear that. I sure hope the resistors take care of the noise. Other than the noise they look like very promising amps!

Looking forward to see how this turns out. Good luck!

Looking forward to see how this turns out. Good luck!

Bummer to hear about the noise issues. It is due to excessive gain on the amp. The Hypex PSC400.2 had similar issues in the early iterations so they installed a jumper which allowed the user to reduce gain by 10db on high efficiency speakers. MiniDSP will probably have to do something similar. The issue is that it might require a change to the plugin software too.

What output are you using to feed the PWR-DSP module? Make sure it is outputting as much clean voltage as it can produce or whatever limit the PWR-DSP has.