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Powersoft Digam K10
Bennett Prescott:
Tom Benson is my area rep for the Dolby Lake Processor, and while I was squeezing one of those out of him he asked if I wanted anything else he reps, which happens to include Powersoft. I allowed as to how I might be convinced to take a pair of Digam K10 amplifiers on the road for a while, and he acquiesced.
If you've read the Wedge Fest Wrapup thread in the LAB, you'll know that we had the K10s there for power. On day one we started out using my normal monitor amps, the 500 watt per channel Crest CPX 2600, an amp that's been a real workhorse for me for the last few years. Sadly, when you're trying to get over 140dB out of a wedge, that amp starts to run out of juice around 130dB with most reasonably efficient wedges.
The Powersoft Digam K10, on the other hand, claims to produce 2,000 watts of power into an 8 ohm load, and an eye opening 12,000 watts into 4 ohms bridged. You've heard it said that you need to get 3dB more power to make a significant difference? Well, the K10 offers a whole 6dB more power over what I'm used to at 8 ohms, enough juice to turn most speakers to steam if you're not careful.
What's more impressive is that this amp is only 1U in height and, while a little deeper than your average amp (just under 18"), weighs less than 27lbs (12Kg). In the same 2RU that you'd previously been getting maybe 6 or 7Kw out of a modern switching amp, you can now pack 24,000 watts at a weight cost of just over 50lbs. Long gone are the days of 3RU 300 watt amps weighing 50+ pounds, indeed!
To accomplish this, they obviously need a ton of power reserve built into the amp and, as you can see from this photo from their website, it looks like a solid bank of capacitors and heatsink.
After using the amps for the two days of Wedge Fest (and, fortunately, only sacrificing the voice coil of one wedge) I brought them home for a little, um, goofing around and photo taking.
The K10 offers Neutrik combo jack inputs (1/4" or XLR), Speakon outputs, RS-485 and (optional) ethernet control and monitoring, and a universal power factor corrected power supply with a funny CPC connector that must be rated for over 30A. I've just got generic 15A blade plugs wired on the end of my cables for power, which might be a little worrying until this next part... the amp's built in LCD interface with (optional) DSP.
My model doesn't have DSP, but the interface that is there lets you set everything from maximum voltage output (to keep from frying voice coils) to maximum current draw (to keep from tripping breakers) to clip limiters, input gates, input sensitivity, and extensive monitoring of current and voltage, both at the power supply and at the speaker outputs. The unit also has fault and temperature logging built in, plus more than the expected level of fault protection and a nice inrush current limiting feature to keep you from tripping breakers if you turn a bunch of these babies on at once. In short this is a lean, mean, power machine with a well thought out feature set and an extremely easy to use interface.
Here's a few exterior shots of the unit set up on my exclusive testing bench:
While it performed brilliantly at Wedge Fest, giving us the closest thing to unlimited power I have ever experienced, I'm getting ready to take these two amps out for a very real world test... powering a whole bunch of EAW SB1000 subwoofers for a three-week-long outdoor fair and festival at the Eastern States Exposition in MA. After beating them up for awhile, I'll take a bunch more photos and get right back to y'all!
[edit: Oops, I almost forgot! Here's a link to the manufacturer's product page which, by the way, renders awfully in Safari: http://pro-audio.powersoft.it/an_series_list.php?use_in=53&a mp;a mp;id_menu=271&obj=12]
Mac Kerr:
Bennett Prescott wrote on Wed, 13 September 2006 18:41
Tom Benson is my area rep for the Dolby Lake Processor, and while I was squeezing one of those out of him he asked if I wanted anything else he reps, which happens to include Powersoft.
...And Optocore, and PRAM. You left a lot on the table there Bennett!
Mac
Phil LaDue:
What kind of power connectors are those?
Mike Butler (media):
Bennett Prescott wrote on Wed, 13 September 2006 18:41
...Well, the K10 offers a whole 6dB more power over what I'm used to at 8 ohms, enough juice to turn most speakers to steam if you're not careful....While it performed brilliantly at Wedge Fest, giving us the closest thing to unlimited power I have ever experienced...
...and the closest thing to stupid loud most of us have experienced! That amp is scary! Oh well, too deep for my rack.
Have fun at the Big E, Bennett, looks like you'll have plenty of power for it, maybe I'll see you up there and retrieve my pimp cane.
Bill Eborn:
I think that is a propriatary Powersoft connector. I've never seen another quite like it. Can anyone confirm or deny?
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