First Exodus Digital Amp Officially Available

Kevin P · « **on:** 13 May 2004, 10:40 pm »

We have some more pics and details on the web site. I'm holding off on releasing the kit version until we have a few more parts available. In the kit version we are going to use something different than the Cardas wire due to the difficulty of soldering the litz wire. Most people don't have a solder pot and sourcing something that is easier for most people to use is probably the best route to go. For those with the tools & desire to use the Cardas internal wire it can be ordered as an option.

For now:

http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info.php?cPath=105_106&products_id=501

Let me know if you see any typos. I'm working on the integrated version tonight and it should be released for sale in the next couple weeks.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 May 2004, 03:19 am »

Hello Kevin,

zybar · « **Reply #2 on:** 14 May 2004, 03:31 am »

Kevin,

What is the price if you go with multiple modules in a single chasis?

How will the amp handle going below a 4ohm load (such as the VMPS RM 40's)?

George

Kevin P · « **Reply #3 on:** 14 May 2004, 03:50 am »

lonewolfny42: No plans as of yet as I'm supply limited in the short-term. I'm a small operation I'm trying to keep a sane business volume so that I can have some sort of family life.

zybar: Each amplifier module cost about $230 and you need an additional power supply board for the two modules ($78.00). In addition the power supply transformer would need to be about doubled adding around $50 to the cost. The bridged model will also need the clock sync module which has an unyet announced price. I'd guess your going to be looking at an additional $700-$750 but the price is not yet firm.

The standard two module unit is all you need for your RM 40s. Don't waste your money on the extra power as it would never be used.

zybar · « **Reply #4 on:** 14 May 2004, 03:54 am »

Kevin,

What amps have you compared these to?

I currently use the Rowland 201 amps.

Just curious, why do you think the single amp is enough for the 40's? So far my experience is that they love power.

George

Kevin P · « **Reply #5 on:** 14 May 2004, 04:25 am »

zybar: I'm not going to get into doing subjective comparisons with my own product vs. other products. I'd prefer others do that sort of thing. A unit will be reviewed at 6moons which has both the Bel Canto & Acoustic Reality units. Both are digital amps which look like logical competition for this unit.

In terms of the RM-40 the specs say 90db efficient with 500WRMS power rating. They are a nominal 4 Ohm load with a low of about 3.6 Ohms according to their specs. This amp is conservatively rated and with the normal high AC mains voltage (mine are about 120VAC)it will more than likely be right at the limit of what your speakers will handle under maximum RMS limits. You would be pushing volume levels that would give you hearing loss before seriously clipping the amplifier and most of your distortion products are going to be from the loudspeaker rather than the amp. Any power over and above what you need to drive the speaker is wasted power by my way of thinking.

If you want more than you need go for it. I may be wrong... there may be some voodoo subjective reason for having more power than the specs indicate. Much of how an amp sounds has to do with the distortion spectrum that is load & output dependent. I'm just giving you my opinion based upon the specs and nothing else.

zybar · « **Reply #6 on:** 14 May 2004, 04:34 am »

Kevin,

Thanks for the reply.

I wasn't trying to get you into saying your amp was the best or something like that.

Just trying to get a feel for what you view as competition and what you might have listened against when building/designing.

Believe me, I would love if your amp sounds as good or better than the 201's. This would put a nice chunk of change back into my bank account.

Regardless of whether I audition, I wish you the best of luck and much success.

George

ghersh · « **Reply #7 on:** 14 May 2004, 04:50 am »

Hello, Kevin,

will integrated amp be offered at some point? if so, will preamp module be passive? Any more details?

TIA.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #8 on:** 14 May 2004, 05:41 am »

Kevin,

zybar · « **Reply #9 on:** 14 May 2004, 01:42 pm »

Kevin,

Can you expand on "truly balanced"?

George

JoshK · « **Reply #10 on:** 14 May 2004, 02:50 pm »

Kevin,

If you want to compare your amp to two other digital amps, maybe George (zybar) and I could arrange an audition of one of these amps. I own a Spectron Musician II and VMPS RM40s, zybar the Rowland 201s. We live reasonably close to eachother and know eachother. After June 5 my professional exam will be over and I will have a lot more time on my hands. Maybe George and I could get together and have a little three way amp shootout and then write up a review of some sorts.

I know that I would easily sell my Spectron and purchase your digital if it outperforms the spectron. I am always looking for value in high end. Plus I love to build things!

zybar · « **Reply #11 on:** 14 May 2004, 02:57 pm »

Josh,

I am going to call Kevin and discuss getting the amp. I am thinking of trying two for a biamp setup.

I will contact with you after speaking with Kevin.

George

JoshK · « **Reply #12 on:** 14 May 2004, 03:02 pm »

Quote from: zybar

I am thinking of trying two for a biamp setup.

Yeah! This is along the lines of what I was thinking about....

Fully integrated active biamp solution and bipassing all the extra passive components inside the RM40s.

Kevin P · « **Reply #13 on:** 14 May 2004, 03:10 pm »

Quote from: zybar

Kevin,

Can you expand on "truly balanced"?

George

Truely balanced means that the amplifier was designed to take a balanced input. Some equipment just has XLRs on the chassis and then converts them to a single ended input. This has no advantage other than the fact that you can use an XLR terminated cable with the equipment.

Quote from: lonewolfny42

I did not see list of the dimensions of this amp on your web page ??

Yes.... I'm working on that. The chassis is about 3.75" tall (3.25" internal but the feet add a little) x 16.75" wide x 12" deep. The weight is going to vary depending on how you outfit the amplifier but the base weight is about 22lbs for the most basic setup.

Quote from: ghersh

will integrated amp be offered at some point? if so, will preamp module be passive? Any more details?

I'll give you a few details:

http://www.diycable.com/main/images/front-panel.jpg">

http://www.diycable.com/main/images/rear-panel.jpg">

http://www.diycable.com/main/images/remotes.jpg">

Bottom picture is of two different remote boards. The one installed is the Bent Audio unit which will be offered with the DACT volume control. These will be available as soon as we release the integrated version. We are using the integrated in passive mode with a simple DACT attenuator and no gain stage.

Quote from: zybar

I wasn't trying to get you into saying your amp was the best or something like that. Just trying to get a feel for what you view as competition and what you might have listened against when building/designing.

Once again.... just working my way down the post. I'm not the designer... Lars Clausen has done the design work. I'm more like the industrial engineer who put together all the parts to create the package.

In terms of what Lars might have compared it to during the design process the logical guess would be all of his Class A & Class A/B amplifiers which have very good distribution in Europe. Our competition is every amplifier product on the market. Really.... I think these are good enough to give people with a lower budget a reason to stretch and people with a higher budget no reason to spend it. They work well with a wide range of speaker loads and the design is flexible enough to allow us to offer a whole range of products to fit a number of different needs.

Thanks for the good wishes..... in this market we need them.

Kevin P · « **Reply #14 on:** 14 May 2004, 03:24 pm »

Quote from: JoshK

Yeah! This is along the lines of what I was thinking about....

Fully integrated active biamp solution and bipassing all the extra passive components inside the RM40s.

I'd first mention a couple things about using an active design to replace the passive. Consult with Brian first as there is more than just choosing a crossover point and slope to getting the crossover right. Also... on the bass modules you can get away with using the ZP2.2 non-SE version and save yourself some money.

Second, I'd use a couple of the Predator supplies rather than what you have shown. These modules don't need much capacitance on the power supply but what you have shown in that picture is too small for high power applications.... even with these modules. Also..keeping the power supply leads to the modules short is VERY important to getting good performance. The Predator supplies allow placing the supply almost right on top of the amplifier module. You will notice from the pictures on my site that the wires connecting the power supply to the module are less than 1" and we use 15 AWG wire.

Third.... we are going to recommend the sync module with anything over two modules. You can get into some high frequency noise issues with multiple modules. The syncing of the clocks elimanates this problem.

JoshK · « **Reply #15 on:** 14 May 2004, 03:31 pm »

Thanks Kevin,

That picture was from LC audio's site and I posted it just for illustration. I am sure I need to look more into it than just what was posted. I would probably just start out with a simple single amp and then look later to try out the active biamp.

Kevin P · « **Reply #16 on:** 14 May 2004, 03:39 pm »

Since the transformers are not even bolted to the plate I'm sure Lars was using it to show the possibilities rather than an ideal setup for a particular speaker. I think he has been using it with a Scan Speak 2-way which doesn't require much power and using the little caps is a way of illustrating the lack of need for a large array of expensive caps.

There is room in our chassis for mounting four modules and the active crossover board. You could then run two sets of speaker wires for bi-amp applications. I'm just hesitant to recommend it without serious research into the crossover design needed for a particular speaker.

JoshK · « **Reply #17 on:** 14 May 2004, 03:44 pm »

Yeah, I completely understand. Brian is generally forthcoming about the crossover needs for biamping, bass/upper. It just seems like this might help overall presentation by taking off some of the demand off the upper modules so they can perform their best.

BTW, you are a lucky dog to be living in Port Angeles. Absolutely beautiful up there! I've been a few time, sometimes on my way to Victoria, other times to hang out in Port Angeles. Really cool town!

wshuff · « **Reply #18 on:** 14 May 2004, 04:20 pm »

Is the price listed an introductory price, or is it solid? This amp has me intrigued, but I'm probably a long way from upgrading any electronics for awhile. Too many new things on the horizon to focus on hobbies. But eventually I could see myself being tempted by this amp.

Kevin P · « **Reply #19 on:** 14 May 2004, 04:38 pm »

Predicting the future is something I'm not proficient at but the price isn't an introductory price. The price could change based upon a couple factors though. Most of the cost of the amp is the amplifier modules, which come from Denmark so the currency situation can always alter the price. Also, LC Audio could have pricing changes, which alters the price of the product.

On our side if we get more volume on these than we can handle I increase prices to slow things down. I don't like being backlogged for weeks with orders so my preference is to control demand with the price.