HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?

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andyr

Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #20 on: 23 Feb 2017, 01:22 am »
Andy,

Many AC voltmeters don't have flat response to 20khz.  Many don't have response above approximately 400Hz.
You can check yours as Speedskater suggested by attaching directly to your signal source to verify it.

Dave.

Aah, OK, dave.  That is disturbing (and shows that my measurement process may well have been suss!!)   :(

What if I measure the voltage at the ribbon terminals with my CRO?

Shirley that should be flat to beyond 30Khz?


Andy



Davey

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Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #21 on: 23 Feb 2017, 01:31 am »
Yes, your scope should work okay.
BUT, be VERY careful with grounding since your scope is AC powered and probably not floating like your voltmeter.
I would recommend using your voltmeter to be on the safe side......but (obviously) only if it has response to 20khz.  (You need to characterize it for future usage anyway.)

Dave.

andyr

Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #22 on: 23 Feb 2017, 01:34 am »
Yes, your scope should work okay.
BUT, be VERY careful with grounding since your scope is AC powered and probably not floating like your voltmeter.
I would recommend using your voltmeter to be on the safe side......but (obviously) only if it has response to 20khz.  (You need to characterize it for future usage anyway.)

Dave.

Thanks, Dave.

Will re-measure at the w/e.

Andy

andyr

Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #23 on: 24 Feb 2017, 11:31 am »
Yes, your scope should work okay.
BUT, be VERY careful with grounding since your scope is AC powered and probably not floating like your voltmeter.

Dave.

Thank you Dave for your suggestion that the multimeter was not reading true.   :thumb:

Did the same measurements with the CRO this evening - and got an identical voltage reading from 6khz to 30khz.  So that is a relief - it would seem my amp does not 'have a problem' with 2 ohms ... it can pump out the same signal voltage from 6Khz to 30Khz.

So this leads on to ... if the amp is not at fault ... why does REW show a steep drop-off at 16Khz when:
* the mic is a calibrated mic (so has a calibration file which is fed into REW)
* the amp is delivering flat to 30Khz?

Andy


Speedskater

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  • Kevin
Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #24 on: 24 Feb 2017, 01:01 pm »
What is your CRO?
Cathode Ray Oscilloscope?

JohnR

Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #25 on: 24 Feb 2017, 01:42 pm »
* the mic is a calibrated mic (so has a calibration file which is fed into REW)

I am totally confused. You have not mentioned anything about a microphone before in this thread?

JRace

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Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #26 on: 24 Feb 2017, 04:10 pm »
What tweeters?

Davey

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Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #27 on: 24 Feb 2017, 05:15 pm »
Thank you Dave for your suggestion that the multimeter was not reading true.   :thumb:

Did the same measurements with the CRO this evening - and got an identical voltage reading from 6khz to 30khz.  So that is a relief - it would seem my amp does not 'have a problem' with 2 ohms ... it can pump out the same signal voltage from 6Khz to 30Khz.

So this leads on to ... if the amp is not at fault ... why does REW show a steep drop-off at 16Khz when:
* the mic is a calibrated mic (so has a calibration file which is fed into REW)
* the amp is delivering flat to 30Khz?

Andy

Dunno.  :)
Either your speakers are indeed rolling off above 16khz and/or it's something in your measuring setup/scheme.

Dave.


*Scotty*

Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #28 on: 24 Feb 2017, 05:30 pm »
andyr, where is your mic located when the measurement is taken? It is common to see a roll off in high frequencies at the listening position due to the rooms absorption characteristics. If the mic is maybe 3 inches away from the tweeter on axis and time gated eliminate the sound from the other drivers then you have a problem. You haven't quantified the magnitude of the HF roll off. How many dB down is it at 20kHz.?
Scotty

Speedskater

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Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #29 on: 24 Feb 2017, 09:18 pm »
A microphone measuring system is a poor choice for testing amplifiers.

andyr

Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #30 on: 24 Feb 2017, 09:40 pm »
A microphone measuring system is a poor choice for testing amplifiers.

I believe that you can't use REW without using a mic?

andyr, where is your mic located when the measurement is taken? It is common to see a roll off in high frequencies at the listening position due to the rooms absorption characteristics. If the mic is maybe 3 inches away from the tweeter on axis and time gated eliminate the sound from the other drivers then you have a problem. You haven't quantified the magnitude of the HF roll off. How many dB down is it at 20kHz.?
Scotty

Aaah, that is a very interesting piece of information, Scotty.   :thumb:

My mike was at the listening position, pointing to the middle between the Maggies - so I will try re-measuring just the ribbon, with the mic 3" away from the ribbon, on axis.

But if a room typically absorbs HFs, why do speaker designers (AIUI) aim for slightly downwards-tilted FR (downwards towards the HFs) ... if the room itself is absorbing HFs?  Surely they would aim for 'flat', knowing the room will provide the absorption which makes the speaker sound pleasant to the ear?

The REW curve shows a flat response from about 6Khz to 16Khz, then a sharp roll-off.  The graph is 4.5dB down at 20Khz.

Dunno.  :)
Either your speakers are indeed rolling off above 16khz and/or it's something in your measuring setup/scheme.

Dave.

Absolutely, Dave.

So apart from doing the measurement I mentioned above, I will be borrowing an ME 75C amp in a couple of weeks time and using that on my ribbons in place of my current amp ... and then doing the same "listening position" measurement.  This amp is known to be able to drive 2 ohm loads with no problem.

If the roll-off starts higher ... then my current amp is inadequate.  If it shows the same 16Khz roll-off point ... then "that's just how it is"!   :D


Regards,
Andy


Speedskater

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Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #31 on: 24 Feb 2017, 11:19 pm »
I believe that you can't use REW without using a mic?
....................................... ........
Regards,
Andy
Then it's the wrong tool for measuring an amplifier.
Only use microphones for measuring rooms and loudspeakers.

andyr

Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #32 on: 25 Feb 2017, 12:00 am »
Then it's the wrong tool for measuring an amplifier.
Only use microphones for measuring rooms and loudspeakers.

Perhaps you should read my thread, Kevin - so as to get the full story?

I'll summarise for you, if you don't 'get it'.

Andy

Speedskater

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Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #33 on: 25 Feb 2017, 01:05 am »
Perhaps you should read my thread, Kevin - so as to get the full story?
I'll summarise for you, if you don't 'get it'.
Andy
A different thread than this one?
In this thread, post #1 you are measuring an amplifier.

poseidonsvoice

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Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #34 on: 25 Feb 2017, 01:54 am »
Now that we know you own Maggies, have you looked at Stereophile's measurements of the MG 3.6R? Might be useful:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/magnepan-magneplanar-mg36r-loudspeaker-measurements#E5xw1jfjkmOsWYVL.97

Here is the 1.6R:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/magnepan-magneplanar-mg16qr-loudspeaker-measurements#chlkD3PakaaMY1ER.97

Here is Sound & Visions for the MMGW:
http://www.soundandvision.com/content/magnepan-mmg-speaker-system-measurements#iIz408mSaUPCezrO.97

My guess is that many of the Magnepan models in the upper midrange and treble measure similarly and they are challenging to measure accurately due to the dipoles nature. And off axis, the HF can take a nose dive. Your listening position (where your current mic measurements are) is very likely to be off axis.

Another thing. If you were measuring at the listening position, and making measurements greater than 300Hz, you will have some erroneous data if measuring both speakers at the same time due to comb filtering. Best to do either measurements outside (groundplane would be best) or have the mic within a few inches of the ribbon (as Scotty suggested) in order to minimize room effects. And measure one speaker at a time.

Regarding your amplifier, I agree with everything Davey stated earlier. And if you are going to make any conclusions about the amplifier, please have it competently measured. Don't derive conclusions based on in room measurements. This can give you undue concern about whether or not the amplifier is misbehaving.

Best,
Anand.

andyr

Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #35 on: 25 Feb 2017, 02:59 am »
A different thread than this one?
In this thread, post #1 you are measuring an amplifier.

My apologies, Kevin.  Going back to post #1, I see I forgot to say why I was measuring my amplifier.   :oops:

The reason was that REW sweeps showed a steep drop at 16Khz - 4.5dB down at 20Khz ... yet the Maggie true-ribbon is specced to 40Khz.  Another person with true-ribbon Maggies that he is driving 3-way actively had found a similar roll-off and when he substituted a different amp for his ribbons, he said the roll-off went away.  So his first amp was unable to deal with the low ribbon resistance - whereas the replacement amp could.

So I was wondering whether my own ribbon amp was causing my roll-off.  Hence my proceeding to measure my amp - unfortunately, with the wrong tool, first up.

Now I know there isn't anything wrong with my amp (and the roll-off might just be caused by room absorption), I will do some more measurements with the mic in front of a ribbon ... and test out a different amp on the ribbons in a couple of weeks time.

Now that we know you own Maggies, have you looked at Stereophile's measurements of the MG 3.6R? Might be useful:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/magnepan-magneplanar-mg36r-loudspeaker-measurements#E5xw1jfjkmOsWYVL.97

Best,
Anand.

That graph is for a complete 3.6 - which consists of a bass panel, a mid panel, a ribbon tweeter plus a 3-way passive XO, each side.  I drive my Maggies 3-way active - so I am just putting sound through - and measuring - the ribbon, by itself.

Another thing. If you were measuring at the listening position, and making measurements greater than 300Hz, you will have some erroneous data if measuring both speakers at the same time due to comb filtering. Best to do either measurements outside (groundplane would be best) or have the mic within a few inches of the ribbon (as Scotty suggested) in order to minimize room effects. And measure one speaker at a time.

Sure, I then went on to do an REW sweep on just one speaker,


Regards,
Andy

Davey

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Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #36 on: 25 Feb 2017, 06:14 am »
Andy,

At this point I'm not sure what your objective is.

You've pretty much confirmed your amplifier is not rolling off drive at high frequencies.  Unless you have some other mystery device between the tweeter and your amplifier, there's nothing left to test.

If both left and right tweeters are measuring the same, then you must assume they're working correctly.  Any measurement anomaly from the expected flat response to 40khz MUST be the result of your measuring scheme and not a problem with the tweeters themselves.
I hope you're not going to apply equalization to the tweeters to boost their outputs.  :)

My recommendation would be to declare victory on this and move on to the next issue.

Dave.

andyr

Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #37 on: 25 Feb 2017, 06:40 am »
Andy,

At this point I'm not sure what your objective is.

You've pretty much confirmed your amplifier is not rolling off drive at high frequencies.  Unless you have some other mystery device between the tweeter and your amplifier, there's nothing left to test.

If both left and right tweeters are measuring the same, then you must assume they're working correctly.  Any measurement anomaly from the expected flat response to 40khz MUST be the result of your measuring scheme and not a problem with the tweeters themselves.
I hope you're not going to apply equalization to the tweeters to boost their outputs.  :)

My recommendation would be to declare victory on this and move on to the next issue.

Dave.

All very true, Dave.   :thumb:

The amp measures flat (when using the CRO to measure).

So it looks very like the roll-off I see on the REW graph is due to room HF-absorption.

So I will re-measure with the mic 3" in front of the ribbon - and see what I get.  Obviously, the lower frequencies on the REW graph will be completely different as the mic is now pointing directly at the ribbon, instead of being at the listening position, pointing at a speaker - but the HFs should now be flat to 20Khz (the limit of REW).

However, given the other guy with Maggies said his roll-off disappeared when he used a different amp, I am going to try a different amp in a couple of weeks time.  (Of course, he may not be telling the truth!  :D )


Andy

PS:  Many thanks to you and others on this thread for pointing me in the right direction.

Davey

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Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #38 on: 26 Feb 2017, 03:55 pm »
He's either not telling the truth or doesn't have a clue what he's doing.  (I'd bank on the latter.)

When "other guys" experience and post about issues like this, I always make the assumption there's much more to the story that they don't understand.
I would certainly not base any of your own premise/investigations on what some "other guy" is doing.  You're most likely guaranteed to run off on some incorrect tangent......like you did here.

If you really want to know what's going on, just post a query to the other forum.  That "other guy" Satie will reply and set you straight.  He's got an answer for everything.  :)

Dave.

andyr

Re: HF delivery with a mosfet amp and a 2 ohm load?
« Reply #39 on: 26 Feb 2017, 07:08 pm »
He's either not telling the truth or doesn't have a clue what he's doing.  (I'd bank on the latter.)

Dave.

Yes, the other guy is a flake and probably knows even less than I do!   :D  He's newly arrived at MUG - although that's not the Forum I was referring to - have a read of some of his posts and see what you think.  I'll email you his moniker.

Trying out another amp will be an educational instance AFAIAC.   :D


If you really want to know what's going on, just post a query to the other forum.  That "other guy" Satie will reply and set you straight.  He's got an answer for everything.  :)

Dave.

No, it's not 'Mr S'!   :)

Regards,
Andy