[sresener]

Hey everyone

 Im working on upgrading my my two channel system. I currently am running a  mchk38 bridged only to my kef r-900's (these will be upgraded this summer to the kef reference 5s)

I really like the sound of my mchk38, but almost everyone told me its a very nice sounding amp but its not as powerfull as it should be (this was told directly to me from people from other forums who had the amp).

I discovered this for myself as it was clear that my emotiva xpa2-gen2 in stereo could get my speakers hitting you with impactfull bass way beyond anything the k38 bridged could do. Don't get me wrong both amps go to loud . Also the overal sound qualitly of the k38 is in a whole different league and turned my emotiva into a heavy paper weight.

 But when im in the mood to run my system hot on the bottom end and listen to somthing like Janelle Monáe – Make Me Feel....... Well I wish I could have the sound quality of the k38 (or better) with the impact of the emotiva.

I know the mcx-1 is upgrade from the k38 but Im having a hard time justifing buying them over my k38. And I really don't want to do a bunch of small  upgrades.  Is this a good asumption?

I feel the evo amps would be a decent upgrade in sound quality, but im leary that they may not have enough power, or am I just focusing on specs to much and overlooking somthing.

[rustydoglim]

Power = V X I and usually for switching devices, there is a current limiting factor. I am checking with R&D about this.

[sresener]

I would assume the 400w rms is one channel driven. I have read that amplifiers can loose as much as 50% of there single channel power when all channels driven.  So Is it possible that bridging the amp I am running into some power supply limitations?

And since I am noticing this with songs that are very dynamic in lower frequencies and a lot of low frequencies are mono, so I assume this would work both amps at the same time and this may show power supply limitations?

 I am no engineer but I would assume a mono block would not suffer from this since there is no second channel

[rustydoglim]

I checked with engineering and confirmed that the limitation is not due to the amp board. But the SMPS should also have enough power.
It is possible that K38 produces clean bass so you can continue to play it loud and don't feel it whereas a distorted bass might appear impactful. I am just speculating only.
Perhaps you should check with a sound meter and a test tone?

[sresener]

I checked with engineering and confirmed that the limitation is not due to the amp board. But the SMPS should also have enough power.
It is possible that K38 produces clean bass so you can continue to play it loud and don't feel it whereas a distorted bass might appear impactful. I am just speculating only.
Perhaps you should check with a sound meter and a test tone?

Omg I had a nice long winded reply and it timed out.

now you get the to the point version.

If the k38 is rated by nuprime at 400watts and the evolution is rated at 230watts measured the same way in the same lab. And im borderline happy with the power of the k38 and I plan to get speakers this year that need more power than what I have currently....well its safe to assume I will not be happy with the evolution amplifiers.

[sresener]

and I completely agree that distortion and untreated rooms sound louder. And yes I use my db meter constantly.

[rustydoglim]

Unless we can find out what current your speaker needs, it is hard to say.
200W power = 40V x 5A or 20V x 10A (this is just a concepture example, my point is that you can't look at the W rating and expect two amps with the same power to have the same driving power with speakers.
So K38 being a multi-channel amp can not be compared exactly to a mono amp. They are also different amps.

This is getting too technical for me too. And I think it is a topic worth exploring.  I suggest that you post your speaker spec and question at Nuprime forum here: https://nuoem.com/community/
We setup this forum mainly for custom design, mod, DIY and in-depth technical discussion. 

[sresener]

Unless we can find out what current your speaker needs, it is hard to say.
200W power = 40V x 5A or 20V x 10A (this is just a concepture example, my point is that you can't look at the W rating and expect two amps with the same power to have the same driving power with speakers.
So K38 being a multi-channel amp can not be compared exactly to a mono amp. They are also different amps.

This is getting too technical for me too. And I think it is a topic worth exploring.  I suggest that you post your speaker spec and question at Nuprime forum here: https://nuoem.com/community/
We setup this forum mainly for custom design, mod, DIY and in-depth technical discussion.

That completely makes sense now. Some speakers prefer more amps some prefer more voltage.  The mch-k38's 4ohm spec clearly says its a more voltage design. (which isn't bad) But my mains ohm rating does drop from 8 to well below 4 and from my understanding this would suggest an amplifier with more amps and less voltage would handle the driver better.

So do I go and make the very first post on NUOEM asking exactly what the differences are between the 3 amps?

[rustydoglim]

It is almost certain that you need mono amp base on your description. All speakers have varilable impedance so we can't learn anything when you tell us that your speaker's impedance drop from 8 ohm to 4 ohm.  I think the main issue is current and power supply.
A simple test is to disconnect one of your speaker and just listen to one channel and turn up the volume.