best upgrade ever....and it was free

brettw22

Sorry.....but I have to clarify this...... the RF amp should in no way/shape/form be compared to Krell.........ever.

I'd like to see a picture of this setup........but I'd also warn you that if you blow your speakers by using an amp that is not designed for the purpose in which you're using it, you could very well be blowing your warranty as well as the speakers.

F1nut

My home amp has an output current of 96 amps.

EricT43

brettw22 wrote:

Sorry.....but I have to clarify this...... the RF amp should in no way/shape/form be compared to Krell.........ever.

See? They're already gettin' nervous

audiobliss

Well, I think I'd agree that you can't compare it to Krell, Bryston, Monarchy, Musical Fidelity, Niles, Parasound, Sunfire, etc. But, it sure beats the stuffing out of PA and pro amps, and I certainly wouldn't be surprised if it hangs with or outdoes some Outlaw, NAD, Rotel, and B&K stuff, dependent of course on the specific amps.

Chrisssssssss

Hey there,
I agree. I am thinking on powering some house components with some car stuff. I have a huge collection of both and have large systems in all my cars. I have a abundance of car stuff left over and was thinking on putting them into active duty in the house. One way of powering these things are to use a few car batts wired paralell and then using a large battery charger to keep the current flowing. That way you will have the amperage avail if needed and then the chargers will keep the batts topped off when the current flow is less than being used. A couple of deep cycle batts and a heavy duty batt charger and you're off to the races. That's how places like Best Buy and the like are able to demo car product in the store.

TroyD

Eh, pumps your nads.

There are some amps that, bridged, are stable into low impedances. My Classe gives ratings into 2 ohms bridged.

BDT

Dennis Gardner

Hey, I've thinkin' that with all this extra home stuff I have I could put a killer 2channel BAT tube amp powered, Clearaudio turntable rig in my Ford Festiva. Anyone know of a particular phono preamp (moving coil of course) that would work best under these conditions? This would definatley kick the **** of any stuff the car audio guys could put into their mega buck cd receiver installs since we all know that under all conditions vinyl rules.

WTB: 100 mile extension cord, preferably 12 gauge.:rolleyes:

F1nut

TroyD wrote:

There are some amps that, bridged, are stable into low impedances. My Classe gives ratings into 2 ohms bridged.

BDT

Well, there ya go.....I learned something new today.

dudeinaroom

back in the day all I used in my bed room was car audio amps. There's a few car audio amps that can match some of the better home audio amps. If your going to use a car amp in you home setup, make sure you have a desent capacitor, not only does it give you reserve current, but also helps to kill power supply noise. Rf hade some really good amps int late 80's early 90's but kinda went to the birds around 94, but from what I have been seeing, and hearing they are right back on track. If you wanna try this I would recomend rockford fosgate, soundstream(NOT SOUND STORM), some of the upper modles from hifonics(who has also recently bounced back from the cheapper is better designs) ppi, orion, and dei, stay away from class d amps for any thing but a sub.

audiobliss

Dennis Gardner - Thanks for your contribution.

Dennis Gardner

audiobliss wrote:

Dennis Gardner - Thanks for your contribution.

No problem..............I've actually run CA gear as home stereo stuff years ago and agree that the amps are powerful, and if you get lucky in the noise department, can sound pretty good. CA gear is a more reasonable buy when you compare WPC in low impedance loads.

I think that in this situation, and no disrespect intended, but if you can't afford to properly power the LSi series, or any other higher end (low impedance) design, you should find another speaker choice. They deserve it and anything less is a compromise. I guess my motto would be "Buy the most speaker you can afford to drive". I would love to have those B&W 800Ds that I listened to last month, but I would have to drive them with a walkman and "70s Marantz integrated since I would have to sell all my gear to afford the speakers themselves.

With that said, I fully appreciate anyones budget concerns and respect their choices on how to deal with that concern and applaud their workaround solutions, such as tweaks to DVD/universals, DIY, kits etc.

We all enjoy audio and in the future, when we are looking back on our paths to our current systems, I certainly expect each of us to chuckle at the choices we made to get the best sound out of what we had to work with.

Enjoy!! and keep tweakin'...

DG

audiobliss

Well, thank you for expounding upon your viewpoint. IMO your argument is a lot more effective, now.

sickicw

Chrisssss, I would not use car batteries for this for many reasons. First it can be a fire and toxic hazard. Second you won’t be able to find a battery charger to keep up with the batteries. Just look for a good high current AC to DC converter and hook it to a large capacitor. I use cascade audio for my converter. Take a look at there web site. Also I was talking to circuit city on how they power there car audio stuff and they use a high current converter as well, but a different brand than cascade.

Zen Dragon

sickicw wrote:

I have a used 55amp power supply that i got from ebay. I think i am pushing it close to its max output (i also have a 1 farad capacitor and the voltage reading turns on when it is drawing current) when i turn it up really loud.

At those current ratings you should also be using 8 or preferably 6 gage wire for the connections from the power supply to the amp. (Assuming 55A max) Ultimately this is what makes such a set-up impracticle for most home users. The amp itself may have been cheaper, however the cash then needs to be laid out for a quality power supply unit. A unit that puts out that kind of current with low ripple and good regulation is relatively expensive. You are also near the point where most manufacturers at that current output set the unit up for 220V input to the power supply.
Large power supplys are not very efficient either as can be attested to by the amount of heat they throw off when operated in high current mode. I would be surprised if you are getting 90% efficiency from a used ebay supply. Check the ratings on the unit as to power and or current usage and make sure you are plugged into an outlet that can handle the current draw. Depending on the efficiency of the unit a power supply pushing 55A could be drawing 20A or more of wall current. Make sure your electrical outlet is rated correctly.

sickicw

the converter i am using uses a switching system, UL listed, and is very efficient. i am using 4 gauge wire from the converter and cap through distrubution blocks and then 0/1 gauge wire to the amp. yes, the converter is pretty expensive, but i found a good deal on a used one. I am going to be running new lines from my fuse panel to my living room soon, so i will have more power to play with. When this happends, i might try to demo a krell showcase amp and do a A/B comparision between the two.

Zen Dragon

Kudos on the wire gage. More than sufficient. So the Fosgate amp will accept 0/1 gage wire! That must be a pretty impressive connection block on the amp.
Rock on.

LuSh

This entire thread boggles my mind.

AndyGwis

Enjoy your rigged rig!

francis1967

Just need to subscribe to this as I want to get back to this thread later...

heiney9

I believe someone asked for pictures...where are the GD pictures? I'm thinking this looks like a science experiment gone mad .

H9

P.s. Where are the pics!

sickicw

yea, I guess I could post some pictures this weekend….

Actually, I am still in the experimental stages of the game, but I have been expanding on my car amp system. About a month ago I got another 55 amp power supply and hooked it up in parallel with my other 55 amp power supply. Of course I also have 12 gauge extension cords running from different parts of the house so as not to drain one entire 15 amp circuit. This addition has made the sound even more dynamic (especially with dolby digital or TDS sources). There is almost no current compression at all with my amp. I can tell that my amp is almost never starved for current because my capacitor voltage display only turns on when the cap is discharging. The only time I can ever get it to temporarily discharge is when I am watching battlestar galactica in high definition on universal hd channel. And let me tell you this show sounds awesome when I turn it up loud with my setup. I wish I could experiment on my system with Dolby truehd or DTS-HD Master, but I will have to wait for that. I am under the impression it will give me even more current compression, and might need to add even more power.

So my next steps in my setup are as follows:
1) Hire electrician to install four 20 amp dedicated lines (two for the power supplies, one for the my velodyne HGS-15, and one for everything else), and to replace my 14 gauge rear speaker cables (in wall) with duel 12 gauge cables. This will let me bi- amp the rear lsi speakers.
2) Buy two more 55 amp power supplies and one more Rockford car amp, along with all the stuff to wire them together. Two channels of the new Rockford amp will go to the center channel speaker, and the other two channels will go to each of the “high frequency” input of the lsi rears speakers. The “low frequency“ inputs of the lsi rear speakers will be powered by my onkyo receiver. My outlaw audio amp gets pulled out of the system.
3) Build a nice looking box for the four power supplies and run them all in parallel along with the capacitor. Also will add some switches and stuff to turn on/off each amp.
4) Buy some “Mondo traps” from real traps website to put behind my front and center speakers. Might end up building these traps myself if I have the time.
5) When I decide on a good 1080p TV, I will buy that along with new salamander furniture to put all my stuff in.
6) I am buying a ps3 in November for 1080p source and next generation audio.
7) Then by the end of the year, I hope to buy a new receiver or preamp that can support the next generation audio formats (either PCM and/or encoded DD DTS HD) over hdmi from the blu-ray player. Denon, and Yamaha already have receivers for this, but I am waiting for Onkyo or some nice pre-amp.
8) Buy some beer and camp out in front of my complete home theater system.

ohskigod

audiobliss wrote:

I would always prefer to use a quality HA amp than anything else, but I'd certainly rather run a CA amp than a PA amp.

I dont know dude, there are some pretty good pro audio amps out there.

I think for many speakers out there, home theater amps would be far better, but the LSi is kind of a different animal. we all know the power whores they can be. The LSi just might be one of those speakers that having more power is better than having a lesser powerred amp with better sound quality.

I noticed a substantial difference in the LSI15's performance going from the outlaw monoblocks to my Carver 4.0t (basically going from 300 - 500 watts)

the LSi's love gobs of power, this isnt a secret. If the Rockford car amp is the best way to get the most out of your LSi's, then god bless bud. Most car amps I've seen suck, but I am quite familiar with Rochford Fosgates solid rep as being well built car audio amps.

sickicw

OK, here are some pics.......

Holydoc

That is seriously too much for me. I don't even have a wife, and it would not meet my WAF!

LOL

sickicw

Yea, I plan to have all this done before i get married (see step 3 of my 8 step program above). I think when im all done, it should all be hidden pretty good in my salamander tv stand. Hopefully it will all be worth it.

dudeinaroom

rock on man. brings back memorys of 15 years ago

audiobliss

ohskigod wrote:

I dont know dude, there are some pretty good pro audio amps out there.

Perhaps so. I believe when I first posted that I was a little misinformed as to what a pro audio amp actually is. Anyhoo, from what I've read I'd say your argument abotu LSi's being power hungry is probably pretty accurate. I guess such blanket statements as I made can't ever really be safely made, and that each situation must really be assessed individually, and that by the main listener.

tonyb

The only thing missing is the lightning rod sticking thru the roof!
That would be a nice set-up......in a motor home.

heiney9

I have to give you credit for thinking outside the box (equipment case ). It certainly is nothing I would choose to do, but it seems like you're having fun and have turned it into a DIY project. This is what this hobby is all about.....having fun and trying different things. You have a great attitude about it as well.

H9

del44

Them pics are sick, sickicw. Thumbs up. Definently something I mighta done back in the day. Pretty clean too.