A second review of the new DVA 225 Monoblock amps

lovelexicon · « **Reply #20 on:** 17 May 2021, 04:21 am »

How well will a pair of DVA225 work with the Magnepan 1.7i, rated at 86db at 4ohm?

avahifi · « **Reply #21 on:** 17 May 2021, 02:13 pm »

A pair of M225 amps will work great with your Magnapans.

Note that I.Greyhound Fan has already tested the prototypes with Maggies in his system with excellent results.

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=172760.0

Frank

I.Greyhound Fan · « **Reply #22 on:** 17 May 2021, 03:22 pm »

Yes the 225's will sound great with the 1.7's. I tested them with the 1.6's which is very similar. In the real world your Maggies will be running on less than 10 wpc the majority of the time. My Pass amp has a meter on it that lets you know when it leaves Class A to AB.
The amp is 15-20 wpc in Class A and 500 wpc total. 95% of the time it never leaves Class A, even at loud volumes.

lovelexicon · « **Reply #23 on:** 18 May 2021, 02:00 am »

Frank and I. Greyhound Fan:

Thanks for the information. Good to know that is the case.

avahifi · « **Reply #24 on:** 20 May 2021, 06:18 pm »

Actual production units, available right now!

Factorz · « **Reply #25 on:** 20 May 2021, 07:01 pm »

Frank,

With this unit only being XLR are you going to start offering preamps with that as well. Thanks.

avahifi · « **Reply #26 on:** 20 May 2021, 07:06 pm »

XLR out balanced preamp coming very soon.

Also a really nice sounding inexpensive little free standing RCA to XLR active converter to use with our mono amps with preamp with RCA connections only.

Frank

drpalomo · « **Reply #27 on:** 31 May 2021, 08:22 pm »

dva 225 monoblock x 4

I have been a customer of Frank for decades. Owned a bunch of his stuff. Still have bridged omegas in my home theater set up.

We are gradually setting a home for the eventual retirement in which space is a premium and wife acceptance factor prevails in all decisions. So 12 in dual 4 ohm woofers sealed in stereo, a pair of custom speakers without crossover (SB Acoustics SB29BAC-C000-4 29mm Beryllium dome tweeter w/grille and Scanspeak Illuminator 15WU/4741T-00 5.5" Woofer, 4 ohm) first vented then sealed. The subs reside in a cabinet and the speakers are on the cabinet. Therefore each of the 4 4ohm voice coils has a mono amplifier as the driver. Subs have a high current multichannel amp. The custom speakers have a dva 225 per voice coil.

The front end is a classe cp 800 with digital inputs from TV and a Mac. Analog is from a VIP hw 19 highly moded feeding a aire balanced phono. The system is completely balanced throughout. There is mini DPs crossover between the classe and the dva 225 for each channel.

In have no ab reference to compare but check this out at my other home ( https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=176494.msg1859492#msg1859492 )

These amps are great. Best imaging I have experienced in any system I own or visited. The power is there. The music is there. As an example Roger Waters Amused to Death is a recording that will test the power and imaging of any system. To put it into words the speakers are at a 60-75 degree angle from my listening position. The sound stage thrown by this system is easily 120 to 130 degrees, like someone is peaking in your ear. There is height in this recording and is easily perceived. By far the best I have heard in a home.

So congratulations Frank, you may be right. This is your best.

avahifi · « **Reply #28 on:** 2 Jun 2021, 09:24 pm »

Our new M225 super amplifiers and Digital preamplifier are posted at our web site today. The Digital preamplifier is posted on our DAC page. All the parts to build the preamp are finally coming together and it will be available very soon. The combination of it and a pair of our brand new M225 balanced amplifiers will provide you with music like you have never heard before except at a live performance.

M225 amplifiers are available right now. New reviews coming very soon in Parttimeaudiophile and Audiophila.

It is time for you to rethink what your audio system should do for you.

Frank

mr_bill · « **Reply #29 on:** 4 Jun 2021, 06:47 pm »

Do you have an estimated price yet for the new digital preamp?

AndrewA · « **Reply #30 on:** 4 Jun 2021, 09:33 pm »

How much gain do the M225's have?

danielgk · « **Reply #31 on:** 4 Jun 2021, 10:11 pm »

The gain of the M225 is around 25. This is differential in to differential out into an 8 ohm load.

It takes around 1.7v rms differential in to run the M225 up to full power into an 8 ohm load. This would be each side of the differential input being around 0.85v rms.

Dan

AndrewA · « **Reply #32 on:** 5 Jun 2021, 03:37 pm »

Thanks.

I was looking for an amp with a little bit lower gain (or adjustable gain) so I could use more of the range of the volume control on my preamp.

whitebird · « **Reply #33 on:** 5 Jun 2021, 05:03 pm »

Two+ questions: (1) when will the outboard stereo RCA to XLR adaptor be available and is it a single unit for both amps or do you need one for each amp; and (2) any definitive date when the digital preamp will be available and the final price?

I.Greyhound Fan · « **Reply #34 on:** 5 Jun 2021, 11:01 pm »

Quote from: whitebird on 5 Jun 2021, 05:03 pm

Two+ questions: (1) when will the outboard stereo RCA to XLR adaptor be available and is it a single unit for both amps or do you need one for each amp; and (2) any definitive date when the digital preamp will be available and the final price?

I believe the XLR to RCA is a single unit. Frank gave me the prototype when I reviewed the DVA 225's.

avahifi · « **Reply #35 on:** 6 Jun 2021, 11:26 am »

We can set the gain of the M225 amps down 6 dB upon request when we build your units.

Only one stereo R2X box needed for a pair of our Mono amps. Price will be about $399.

Digital preamp should be available in about two weeks. All needed circuit boards are now in house and just need final testing. Price will be about $2199.

Frank

AndrewA · « **Reply #36 on:** 15 Jun 2021, 09:09 pm »

Just to add my voice--and endorsement--to what's been said already about the M225's.

Mine arrived after lunch yesterday, and I've been playing them pretty much continuously since.

Miraculous, considering the size and weight. Before these came along, I'd been considering going class D, but now no need.

Major props to AVA.

lovelexicon · « **Reply #37 on:** 21 Jun 2021, 03:47 am »

What is the amount of capacitance and the current rating of this amp?

danielgk · « **Reply #38 on:** 21 Jun 2021, 11:43 am »

Line fuse is 5a slow blow
Internal Vcc fuses are 5a fast blow
Speaker fuses should be no bigger than 8a fast blow for 4 ohm speakers or 5-6 amp fast blow for 8 ohm speakers. Units ship with 5a fast blow speaker fuses.

Capacitance is 6800uf per power supply board, which powers both the (+) and the (-) amplifier boards. This is a more than adequate amount of capacitance, but not an excessive amount. We are finding out that, with a regulated power supply, bigger is not always better when it comes to capacitance. Too much capacitance can increase idle current, which is required to keep the capacitors charged. This can translate into higher hum levels while only reducing ripple on the raw DC voltage, not on the regulated voltage. The turn on current spike is also greatly reduced, this is what causes the lights to flicker when you turn the amp on. Also reduced is the overall voltage drop of the supply when running at high / full power - with less capacitance to charge there is more energy left to do other things, like make more audio power.

Dan

lovelexicon · « **Reply #39 on:** 22 Jun 2021, 03:13 am »

Thank you, Dan.