6 channel power amp?

Okay, I think the Belcanto idea has just been shot down. Any other recommendations?

 

There are many multi-channel PWM amps available. You can get them from LC, Tripath, D2Audio, Zetex and others. With regard to the mains question, this will depend on the amplifier used. Some switch as high as 1MHz, which is no problem to filter out, and additionally won't interfere with AM (unlike some which switch directly in the AM band, often at 384kHz). Switch Mode PSUs vary too. Chord seem to have no problems with them...

Clocking depends also on the amplifier chipset. Jitter becomes an issue, and so yes, you can reclock some PWM amps much as you can CD players.

There are other interesting things with switching amps. Output impedance is high relative to a feedback transistor design, which leads to low damping factor. There are things you can do to mitigate this somewhat, but you won't reach the same sort of damping factors that a top class AB amp can.

 

I dont understand why, do you need 360 watts per driver...

 

Markus, are you speakers horrendiously inefficent then ?, can you enlight us as to why you need 8 times 360 rms? might help the suggestions.

 

Antonio, this is not about power at all, I could happily live with 60W/ch. But I do want the amp to sound excellent, and if I need to bridge the Bel Canto to get it to sound excellent rather than merely very good, it gets too expensive on 8 ch.

 

I dont think it will be that big a difference, my brother will use it for 5 channels, so only the center will be bridged, I do need the extra power...

Anyway, the important thing is if you can get better for less money, bridged or not, and you always have the option of bridging later...

 

Antonio,

There sadly is a huge difference, the unbridged BC's sound as exciting as MF to my ears.

I cannot for the like of me see why you need a multichannel amp Markus - why not just get sufficient stereo units. In my case, I use a Crown K1 for bass duties and it's not for the cost saving. This thing excels at providing solid well damped bass that times like a barsteward. It's even got vaiable gain so you can match it to the other units. Stick something nice on the mid/hf like Sim, Sugden, or Accuphase and job done. Surely the choice is far greater going this route than buying a multichannel behemoth?

 

merlin, the Orion is an active design. I need an amp for each of the four drivers per side.

 

Markus, I do appreciate that. I'm only thinking of maybe going for four stereo units if funds permit. Looking at say ATC, they don't appear to use the same amp module for all six drivers in their larger units, and I would suspect that given the EQ applied to the subwoofers(which is in reality what the twin bass units appear to be), I would have imagined that the four 10" drivers would benefit from the increased headroom and control available from a high power design. The mid and treble units however might well respond to a lesser quantity of higher quality watts. Just a thought really, but the Crown is superb for bass reproduction IMHO.