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Author Topic: How important is amplifier efficiency ?.  (Read 6598 times)

Brian Ehlers

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Re: How important is amplifier efficiency ?.
« Reply #10 on: September 19, 2011, 07:26:27 PM »

I haven't taken a sharp pencil to this but a digital console should consume less energy than an analog console (with similar functionality).
I don't know .... which burns more power, a 5+ Watt DSP or the 4 dozen op-amps it replaces?  Besides, isn't the biggest power draw in a console (whether analog or digital) all the little LEDs?  And then there's the flat panel displays.

We shouldn't waste electricity or oil, just like we shouldn't waste water ....
I can appreciate the idea of water conservation in other parts of the country, but here in Michigan it's just not an issue.   8)
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Stu McDoniel

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Re: How important is amplifier efficiency ?.
« Reply #11 on: October 03, 2011, 10:53:24 PM »

OK this is something of a rant.
In my capacity as a serviceperson I look after the amps for several large council sports/general purpose stadiums. When these things were being fitted out, there must have been a particularly efficient Electrovoice salesman around because the amp of choice seems to have been the EV P3000. These things cycle through my workshop reasonably regularly, adding to my hernia and getting their control board capacitors replaced - as they have been cooked. I started asking the people in charge of such matters how often the amps were turned off (like when the facility was not in use, sometimes for weeks) and the answer was inevitably......never.
An idling P3000 pulls around 1.25 amps if correctly biassed (often lots more if it has drifted)
At 230 volts, thats 287 watts, giving 6.9 kWh/day
In NZ, power costs around $0.25/kWh, giving $1.72/amplifier/day
ie $629/amp/year just to slowly cook most of the time.
Most stadia have at least 10 of these amps ie >$6k/year.
When I pointed this out to one person in charge, his reply :
Oh, we also have to run the aircon to keep the equipment room cool.
I'm no greenie but this is just nuts.
M
Designers are getting better at this whole Class D amplfier thing and this is good.   I was looking at a youtube video of Behringers new Inuke class D amplifiers.  I have not heard one of these amps or seen one under a severe load
but 7lbs for weight and the low power consumption is a plus.   Even Crown has dabbled in the Class D amplifier thing.
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John Roberts {JR}

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Re: How important is amplifier efficiency ?.
« Reply #12 on: October 03, 2011, 11:55:57 PM »

Designers are getting better at this whole Class D amplfier thing and this is good.   I was looking at a youtube video of Behringers new Inuke class D amplifiers.  I have not heard one of these amps or seen one under a severe load
but 7lbs for weight and the low power consumption is a plus.   Even Crown has dabbled in the Class D amplifier thing.
Even Crown has dabbled in it... WTF?? ::) ::) If you did a little research you would find patents from Crown's dabbling in it. If it wasn't for companies doing original design work in class D (like Crown and several others), who would the cloners copy?  Class D didn't poop out of the chute at current power levels or ultra light weight. This is the result of decades of hard work developing the technology.

JR
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Tim McCulloch

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Re: How important is amplifier efficiency ?.
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2011, 10:00:08 AM »

Designers are getting better at this whole Class D amplfier thing and this is good.   I was looking at a youtube video of Behringers new Inuke class D amplifiers.  I have not heard one of these amps or seen one under a severe load
but 7lbs for weight and the low power consumption is a plus.   Even Crown has dabbled in the Class D amplifier thing.

Your "idiot light" is glowing very, very brightly.
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"If you're passing on your way, from Palm Springs to L.A., Give a wave to good ol' Dave, Say hello to progress and goodbye to the Moonlight Motor Inn." - Steve Spurgin, Moonlight Motor Inn

Mike Diack

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Re: How important is amplifier efficiency ?.
« Reply #14 on: October 04, 2011, 04:06:22 PM »

Even Crown has dabbled in it... WTF?? ::) ::) If you did a little research you would find patents from Crown's dabbling in it. If it wasn't for companies doing original design work in class D (like Crown and several others), who would the cloners copy?  Class D didn't poop out of the chute at current power levels or ultra light weight. This is the result of decades of hard work developing the technology.

JR

MANY decades :-)
http://nvg.org/sinclair/audio/x-10.htm
(Lets hope Sir Clive does better with his latest venture [a 33YO lapdancer])
M
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Re: How important is amplifier efficiency ?.
« Reply #14 on: October 04, 2011, 04:06:22 PM »


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