Mario Salazar wrote on Fri, 04 January 2008 23:46 |
I wonder if anyone can post the link on the discussion on why the weight of the PSU makes a difference. I power my subs with 3402 and have thought them to be a bit wimpy (EAW 250RD2s) but I always thought it was the speaker not the amp. THis is interesting, though I don;t want it to be true because my back hates the 77 lbs of the RMX 4050HD |
Bob Leonard wrote on Sat, 05 January 2008 11:39 |
This is a discussion that's been had many times. What you'll get for replies will be varied so the only thing I'll say is that I pulled a 3602 off of my subs and went to the 4050HD. I don't care about the weight and that has never been a part of my criteria when purchasing an amp. What I feel is a big part of amplifier performance is reserve power. In my opinion the use of a seperate power supply for each side of the 4050HD is a huge advantage, the reason for the additional weight, and the reason the 4050 seems to have endless power. I have not seen the 4050 clip since I put it to use and the amp runs cool to the touch all day long. There is a reason for the HD as in 4050HD. It stands for heavy duty, and the 4050 lives up to it's claims, and my subs have never sounded better. As for the PL4.0, if all things are equal I would still buy the 4050 because it's still a production amplifier and warranties do count. Good luck. |
John Roberts {JR} wrote on Sat, 05 January 2008 14:54 | ||
I repeat my caution about trying to impute performance from technology (dual power supplies?) . In fact the 4050 is similar to 1850 in design philosophy where the rail voltages are backed off, to give more thermal capacity but at some reduced peak power. The 1850, uses a 2450 heat sink and device complement, but only puts out 1850 peak. Likewise the 4050 is a 5050 heatsink/power stage, running at cooler rail voltages. This is just good conservative engineering, and more a variance in design details than a different technology. The 4050 trades peak power, for more thermal capability than the very similar 5050 due to a simple spec change of transformer voltage. For hard flogging a 2 ohm load the 4050 won't beat the 5050 for how loud it gets short term, but it will win for how long it plays loud. JR |
Bob Leonard wrote on Sat, 05 January 2008 15:46 |
Fully agreed and well noted John. There are actually three power supplies. In the simplest terms each side of the amp has it's own well to draw water from. It's proven to me that the 4050 works far better than the 3602 under more adverse conditions and it makes more sense to me that I sacrifice some db for longevity. I talked to my speakers just now and they have told me they are happy with the 4050HD also. As a matter of fact my 722s are asking for one as well. It seems a pair of them want more power than a pair of RMX2450s. What's happening is that I have a fairly varied collection of QSC amps and swapping them to compare performance vs speaker type. The losers go to the pile. |
John Roberts {JR} wrote on Sat, 05 January 2008 18:33 | ||
All three sides? Methinks you're talking about the three level class H power supply which is even more efficient than 2 level, which is better than old 1 level class AB. Again the 5050 also has the 3 level PS but won't hang at two ohms like the 4050 because of rail voltage tweak. The 3602 could be a 2 rail amp so that would be a case of a higher technology (switching PS) front end connected to a less efficient technology back end power amp. In the margin the three rail class H will also pull more power from a limited mains distro thanks to that improved efficiency. So the 4050 is pretty high efficiency amplifier, with a conservative heat sink. Probably a good value, with plenty of thump. JR |
Bob Leonard wrote on Sun, 06 January 2008 00:55 |
No, there are 3 power supplies. One for each side and one common to both sides. Not 3 sides silly. |
Bob Lee (QSC) wrote on Mon, 07 January 2008 14:20 |
That is a correct read on the different amp models. The RMX4050HD and RMX5050 do have two (not three) power supplies--a separate one for each channel. That is done primarily for packaging and manufacturing reasons. |
Walter Wright wrote on Sun, 13 January 2008 18:02 |
sure, what the hell, itech 6000s for everybody! what about the original question? |