[sts9fan]

These are barely DIY.

[Phil]

haven't received my ncores yet, so no listening impressions yet, BUT

I can't understand why folks are getting so worked up.  Audiophiles expressing their opinions with hyperbole.  That never happens     Are we so old that a little unconstrained enthusiasm is a bad thing? 

The Ncore doesn't have to be the best.  If it is nearly competitive with some of truly great amps, at less than $2k, that is something to be curious about and to be expectant about, if you have ordered a pair. 

BTW, on the diyaudio thread Hypex posted that DIY is less than 10% of their market.  Maybe they are truly excited about their product and maybe they intend to make lots of bread, but they aren't doing that with the DIY product we here a buying.

[Russell Dawkins]

There are sum total two Ncore amps: DIY (400W @ 4 Ohms with one SMPS600 PS per channel, no OEM volume discounts, OEM not prohibited/not solicited) and IIRC OEM 600W @ 4 Ohms.  The first and only known OEM Ncore is huge and gorgeous Theta monoblock with analog PS, $6k/ch MSRP.

I think there may be more than two Ncore amps. I think there may be stealth 25 and 50 watt Ncores powering the drivers in the new version of B&W's Zeppelin Air.

Or I'm hallucinating.

I thought I read this about a month ago and posted a query on the DIY thread which generated no replies. No mention from B&W nor Hypex either. Has anyone here heard anything similar? I'm curious, now. 

[TomS]

Where does one buy NCores?  Do they have to be DIY?

Art,

Here is what you get from https://www.hypexshop.com in the boxes for the NCore 400 and SMPS600. Putting them in appropriate cases and adjusting offset takes a couple hours. For mono blocks only 3 of those harnesses are used and mostly all wired up. The one with both connectors on it in the second pic goes between the PS and amp. There is a 2 wire AC connection and the 3 wire input connection to the XLR, which are on the right in the first pic. Others are not used, so not much to it at all. 3 screws for the Ncore, 4 for the SMPS and the case can usually suffice as a heat sink. Mine are not even luke warm.

Tom

[Big Red Machine]

What was the turnaround time on order to delivery and est cost of delivery to the states?

[TomS]

What was the turnaround time on order to delivery and est cost of delivery to the states?

Current orders are being delivered in WW21 as noted on their commerce site under NCore400. Overnight UPS was $32 for my 4 pieces plus a $70 customs charge COD.

[dmatt]

At the risk of being castigated, I'd like to ask two buying questions ...

WK21 (from the website) means 21st week of 2012, correct?  So an order today is forecast to ship the week of May 20th?

And it looks like the buyer's credit card is charged the full amount at purchase?

This thread (and the others it has spawned) has been a fun read.

Thanks.

David

[jtwrace]

WK21 (from the website) means 21st week of 2012, correct?  So an order today is forecast to ship the week of May 20th?

And it looks like the buyer's credit card is charged the full amount at purchase?

Yes

[dmatt]

Thanks for the confirmations!

By the way, that calendar info looks like it came from the same website I went to find out about "week 21":
http://www.epochconverter.com/date-and-time/weeknumbers-by-year.php
(Note:  May 21 is a Monday so May 20 is obviously Sunday.  I guess it depends on what one considers the start of the week)

Cheers,

David

[jtwrace]

Thanks for the confirmations!

By the way, that calendar info looks like it came from the same website I went to find out about "week 21":
http://www.epochconverter.com/date-and-time/weeknumbers-by-year.php
(Note:  May 21 is a Monday so May 20 is obviously Sunday.  I guess it depends on what one considers the start of the week)

Cheers,

David

That's where I got it from.   

[emailtim]

I would like to ask some naive questions.

• Would it help to use some thermal paste between the bottom of the PS and the bottom of the case?
• Would it help to have a metal case with 2 isolated compartments (1 for PS and 1 for amp)?
• Would it help to put chokes on the internal wiring harnesses?
• Would it help to shield the internal harnesses and ground the shields?

Documents from the Hypex site indicate twisting the leads near the power lines so I was wondering if the preceding would be additional help in heat transmission and noise isolation.

Thanks,
Tim

From the NC400 datasheet:

12.1 Cable dressing
The NC400 module has exceedingly low distortion. This makes it very easy for extraneous causes to
add much more distortion and colouration than the amplifier itself. The first major cause of such
distortion is direct magnetic crosstalk from the supply cable into the audio input or the loudspeaker
output. This is minimized in several ways:
• Run the audio and power supply cables away from each other.
• Tie-wrap the supply cable to form a tight bunch.
• Tightly twist all loudspeaker cabling inside the chassis.

[zeke]

Does anyone else think $2000 is very expensive for diy audio ?
I thought switching amps were usually low cost.

I can buy lots of great used/new amps of any type for that money.

I think the jury is still out that the ncore is equal to many amps double or triple their cost.

zeke

[cujobob]

That's the same point I brought up in another thread. These could be great amps, but at $2,000 for a low level DIY kit, that's expensive. They'd HAVE to compete with $4,000+ offerings to provide value at that point.

[wushuliu]

Does anyone else think $2000 is very expensive for diy audio ?
I thought switching amps were usually low cost.

I can buy lots of great used/new amps of any type for that money.

I think the jury is still out that the ncore is equal to many amps double or triple their cost.

zeke

I hear you. Particularly as I rarely see diy efforts bought for $XXXX. So either shell out a lot more to have a really snazzy enclosure made to impress or accept the fact that it will be sold for, uh, not very much. Whoever comes up with $$$ custom enclosures for these amps will probably be busy... a plain black Antek isn't going to cut it for used >$1k amp. However the value will likely hold after buying used. I'll keep an eye on the Trading Forum in a few months. So buy up kids!

[wushuliu]

deleted

[jtwrace]

I would like to ask some naive questions.

• Would it help to use some thermal paste between the bottom of the PS and the bottom of the case?

No

• Would it help to have a metal case with 2 isolated compartments (1 for PS and 1 for amp)?
• Would it help to put chokes on the internal wiring harnesses?
• Would it help to shield the internal harnesses and ground the shields?

Documents from the Hypex site indicate twisting the leads near the power lines so I was wondering if the preceding would be additional help in heat transmission and noise isolation.

Thanks,
Tim

[/quote]
Not according to Bruno the designer

Section 10.1 here goes over the thermal considerations.  http://www.hypex.nl/docs/NC400_datasheet.pdf

[zeke]

I hear you. Particularly as I rarely see diy efforts bought for $XXXX. So either shell out a lot more to have a really snazzy enclosure made to impress or accept the fact that it will be sold for, uh, not very much. Whoever comes up with $$$ custom enclosures for these amps will probably be busy... a plain black Antek isn't going to cut it for used >$1k amp. However the value will likely hold after buying used. I'll keep an eye on the Trading Forum in a few months. So buy up kids!

I don't think a nicer case will bring up the resale price that much -- it is still diy, and many buyers hesitate buying used diy. But this may be different since there is not much diy to the project.

[cab]

Does anyone else think $2000 is very expensive for diy audio ?
I thought switching amps were usually low cost.

I can buy lots of great used/new amps of any type for that money.

I think the jury is still out that the ncore is equal to many amps double or triple their cost.

zeke

Based on the their performance, I would say they are a steal.

Most juries have 12 members. If you do some research, you can easily find at least 12 extremely positive reviews by people that have heard the ncore. In fact, I would challenge you to find one person that hasn't liked them. Nearly everyone I can find that has heard them has bought them...

No one is stopping you from buying all the used amps you want....bon appetite....

[dwk]

Also, it can be done for well under $2k - $2k is for a top-end dual-mono build. A stereo build with a single PS and utilitarian case can be done for $1400, and with efficient speakers where you aren't tapping the power output you shouldn't be giving up anything in sound quality. this is the approach I'm taking.

I guess $1400 is expensive compared to $35 tripath boards or even the class-d-audio boards (which I own and quite like), but considering that in this case 'diy' is 'connecting some wires' I really don't know that there is much in the way of uncertainty or risk. It's not like buying someones F5 where you're at the mercy of their parts selection, soldering skills etc.  Assuming these are as good as people are saying, $1400 for something that is competitive with absolute top-end gear is pretty reasonable.
 As for resale, in the near future I'd guess you can get at least 70% of your investment back selling the raw parts - IMHO this is competitive with buying a new amp and selling it. Of course buying used you recoup more of your investment, but that's not exactly a fair comparison.

[James Romeyn]

I have never in my life seen such a DIY feeding frenzy, especially when considering this is for two amp channels costing about $1400 + chassis + a few ancillary parts, back ordered indefinitely (my unfilled order was originally scheduled to ship a few weeks ago).

I imagine a lot of amp makers other than Hypex reaching for an oxygen tank right about now, or pushing humungous pins into a voodoo doll depicting Bruno.  Do they hear the proverbial "fat lady" singing?