2. amps-preamps
  3. 1200450675

ICE amps need cooling?

I've been looking for an amp to power my Maggies and was doing some research on these ICE modules from B&O. While reading the data sheet I saw that the model 1000 that puts out 525 watts into 8 Ohms and 1,000 watts into 4 Ohms it gave a specification of Power(FTC) of 80 watts continuous. Now I remember back in the 70's during the receiver wars the FTC mandated that power ratings be standardized to something like "100 wpc continuous into 8 Ohms with no more than X% distortion" This was to stop all the unrealistic power claims of huge power output for a brief time under tremendous distortion. It made the playing field level so consumers could at least get what they were expecting. So I see that the ICE module has a power rating of only 80 watts continuous! Now that is a far cry from the 500 watts they are bragging about. Have all amplifier specs abandoned the FTC ruling, or is the ICE module just blowing smoke? The B&O site also stated that with heat sinks or fan cooling the power rating could go up. Most ICE amps I see on the market don't have any heat sinks or even ventilation for that matter. So are we all buying ICE amps that can deliver their stated output power for only brief times, and actually put out only a fraction of the power for any sustained period of time? I'm no expert and I just saw this today so I am asking the the members with lots of knowledge in this area to respond and please clear this up. Thanks.
koestner

Showing 7 responses by eldartford

eldartford
4,262 posts
 
My Channel Island D200 amps (which uses Hypex) are rated per FTC rule. Early serial numbers had a problem, noted in the Stereophile review, which limited output, but this was fixed as reported in a followup review. My Carver ZR1600 amps are Tripath based, and they are also spec'd per FTC rule. It has a fan: the CID200 does not. Neither amp gets even warm when playing loud into 4 ohm MG1.6s.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Muralman1...My CI D200 amps have a "hefty" linear power supply, but I doubt that this sort of power supply is essential to a good power amplifier. Performance of the power supply is what matters; not how it is mechanized. Perhaps your experience with switching power supplies is limited to poorly designed ones that are sometimes used to reduce costs. A well designed regulated switching power supply does not need the huge capacitors that seem to turn you on. In fact, adding capacitance will often degrade such a power supply, as I once discovered. It turned into an oscillator!

In my field of work we need a 30 volt DC supply to power our equipment. When I began this work, decades ago, we used a slightly-modified welding supply which stood on the floor and weighed well over 100 pounds. You would have loved it! Although we later used smaller "bench" type power supplies, they were also brute force unregulated supplies because the chief engineer, although a genius in some regards, was in the dark ages about power supplies. He retired. Now we use a thoroughly modern supply which is 2-high rack mount in size. It performs better, and costs a lot less, which you, as a taxpayer, should appreciate.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Muralman1...Your "analog" power supply also switches power on and off. On when the incomming AC voltage waveform is greater than the voltage the capacitors are at, so that the diode conducts. Off most of the time. Because this switching is at low frequency the resulting ripple requires a filter with large (expensive) capacitors and/or inductors. And a big heavy (expensive again) transformer.

An analog power supply can certainly perform very well, as I am sure is the case with your favorite amp. But it is a "brute force" approach, and hardly appropriate technology in context of a modern digital amplifier.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Kijanki...Don't kick him when he's down!!
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Ah yes. Then there are batteries. Arguments, anyone?
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Muralman1...Nice that Mr Ho's preamp is "Class A". By the way, how do you make a preamp that is anything else? Can you name one?
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
The little Sonic Impact "T_Amp" uses 12-14 volts, so a single car battery would be sufficient. Since music requires only a few watts, and the amp is something like 80 percent efficient it would play for a long time before the battery would need recharge.
More to discover