ravikumar-rotel
Active Member
Can someone explain the difference between a ultra high current/high current amp and a normal amp.
Thanks
Thanks
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ultra high current amp
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ravikumar-rotel
Active Member
The one I have is a Denon 2010ae. I also have a pre/power from Rotel... Denon sounds louder at very low volumes . And Rotel it goes steady from low to high.
It's a marketing gimmick
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Resources: Common Power Amplifier Myths
Myths about Current availability (or reserve), Voltage amplifiers vs. Current amplifiers, and Load sensitivity.
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sandyjhyderabad
Member
High current amplifiers are true and they do exists and has tremendous importance. So whats high current amplifier is its ability to deliver enormous amounts of current demanded by speakers. The results are excellent dynamics in the entire spectrum even to the deepest notes of the bass. They require super large transformers and capacitor bank in lakhs of microfarads to deliver it there are very few amplifiers which can do that. They are like Harley Davidson you have enough reserve to deliver that sort of current into the speaker.
D
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Mayank Shah
Well-Known Member
Should he have mentioned a plane or something?I was with you till you made the reference to the Harley Davidson
Hi Ravi
An easy way to recognize a high current amp is its ability to double its power output at every halving of impedence.
100W at 8 ohms
200W at 4 ohms
400W at 2 ohms
800W at 1 ohm
But these kind of amps are huge as they need massive transformers and capacitors to store and deliver that Kind of power and current
Hi tuff
I could be wrong in my assumptions then. No one' markets a amp as high current amp per se. Except that atmosphere brand
The parasound halo integrated outs out 45A of current and their A21 power amps takes it to 65A. That is enough current to use as welding machine. But both can't double their power with halving impedence. So amps that can double power at halving impedence , I expect should output more current . At last that was my theory...But I could be wrong entirely I understand
The krell KSA 100 series..could pump out 1600W at 0.5 ohms. So I assumed that it should be a high current amp. Please correct me if Iam wrong , as my knowledge is only from reading bits and pieces on the net
I doubt that's the only parameter to assess ultra high current amps ; because my Crown Xls 2502 Power amp fulfills this criteria without any issues. It's a class D and output doubles and its well documented in the Manual.Hi Ravi
An easy way to recognize a high current amp is its ability to double its power output at every halving of impedence.
100W at 8 ohms
200W at 4 ohms
400W at 2 ohms
800W at 1 ohm
But these kind of amps are huge as they need massive transformers and capacitors to store and deliver that Kind of power and current
Ultra high current amps are basically for low impedance speakers, or speakers that drop pretty low. Kef R3 for example, though have Nominal impedance of 8ohm go down all the way to 3.2ohm. So even at lower impedance the capacitance reserve and current reserve is so high that the dynamics won't suffer a bit. Especially very complex pieces of western classical music etc.
Krell KSA series, Mark Levinson, Bryston, Plinius, newer Luxman and Gryphon might fit in the requirements.
Correct me if wrong
sandyjhyderabad
Member
Ultra-High current amplifiers will have huge capacitors very few amplifiers have such capacitors. If you are looking beyond Krell`s energy storage look like the one which uses such super-large capacitors. Now here the catch is that you might not require soo much of current as equivalent to voltage in the load. You need high current to keep the cone movement in extreme control.
The capacitors used in the amp is beyond what you find in high current amplifiers which have about 200000 microfarads at 100V and 110Ampere of bridge rectifier (white in color ) where the worlds top high current amplifier uses about 35Amp bridge rectifier, internal capacitor wiring is 10sqmm. The capacitor can discharge about 8000 Amperes in 2millisecond if required. Example if you get a snare hit in drums it can deliver 8000Amps at the frequencies of 500Hz and above for the initial hit. Do you require more than that insane current levels? I have checked the sound with that amplifier it sounds as tight as if it will break the speaker cone.
The other pic compares with what Class D amplfier uses which are very small in size.
The capacitors used in the amp is beyond what you find in high current amplifiers which have about 200000 microfarads at 100V and 110Ampere of bridge rectifier (white in color ) where the worlds top high current amplifier uses about 35Amp bridge rectifier, internal capacitor wiring is 10sqmm. The capacitor can discharge about 8000 Amperes in 2millisecond if required. Example if you get a snare hit in drums it can deliver 8000Amps at the frequencies of 500Hz and above for the initial hit. Do you require more than that insane current levels? I have checked the sound with that amplifier it sounds as tight as if it will break the speaker cone.
The other pic compares with what Class D amplfier uses which are very small in size.
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surfatwork
Well-Known Member
I am so glad you are here to tell us about these kind of things.
Probably this fits the description, again a Chinese seem to be reigning here. I remember seeing one for sale on HFV classifieds. 55kg is quite huge.
ravikumar-rotel
Active Member
Thanks for those nice replies.
To elaborate more on the topic.,
I have a Denon PMA 2010ae which has a mention of ultra high current on it. It's rated at 80w @ 8 ohms. It has two EI or L (not sure) core transformers with a dual mono design on the power section. And weighs 25kgs.
I also have a Rotel pre/power 1570 pre and 1582 power rated at 200watts @8 ohms, witha single toroid, and has no mention of high current anywhere and weighs less than Denon.
Which among the both amps will drive a speaker with and impedance of 6ohms, sensitivity of 91 db and rated 200 watts
To elaborate more on the topic.,
I have a Denon PMA 2010ae which has a mention of ultra high current on it. It's rated at 80w @ 8 ohms. It has two EI or L (not sure) core transformers with a dual mono design on the power section. And weighs 25kgs.
I also have a Rotel pre/power 1570 pre and 1582 power rated at 200watts @8 ohms, witha single toroid, and has no mention of high current anywhere and weighs less than Denon.
Which among the both amps will drive a speaker with and impedance of 6ohms, sensitivity of 91 db and rated 200 watts
Well, if you have both the Amps, then i think you should try it and let us know which one drives better.
Theoretically, both should be able to drive 6 ohms with ease ! The Denon is likely to have used its two Transformers in this way - one for Pre section and other for Power Section. So the Rotel with high power rating is more likely to move your speakers better.
Please note this is a purely theoretical calculation based on specs given by products. This has no relevance to how the Amp sounds in real.
marsilians
Well-Known Member
High current amps don’t have a precise definition at best. It’s used mostly as an advertising gimmick. The reference to doubling wattage at lower resistance doesn’t take distortion into account.
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sandyjhyderabad
Member
InventionAudio Subwoofer Amplifier SUB2500 can do sustained current of 20Amp at even 10Hz. So your soundstage in low frequency never shrinks.
If you take high fidelity amplifier and have massive transformer and capacitor then it will even sound good in tonality and precision has nothing to do with high current infact when you drive hard in order to hold the precision of localization of instruments the current should be delivered as demanded and in low current capable amplifiers they precision is lost when the power supply unit cannot deliver the demanded current its as simple as that.
Here is another video by Harbeth about how much amplifier power do you really need? Here when you observe the video you will not believe how much power does your speakers demand.
I will clarify a few things here
50V x 10Amp is 500W
25V x 20Amp is 500W
10V x 50Amp is 500W
So even in the above video its the current which is being demanded by the speaker now at situations you need 50Amp of instantaneous current hence you can also see in the above video that its the current demand not the voltage demand.
Voltage will be current multiplied by resistance.
If you take high fidelity amplifier and have massive transformer and capacitor then it will even sound good in tonality and precision has nothing to do with high current infact when you drive hard in order to hold the precision of localization of instruments the current should be delivered as demanded and in low current capable amplifiers they precision is lost when the power supply unit cannot deliver the demanded current its as simple as that.
Here is another video by Harbeth about how much amplifier power do you really need? Here when you observe the video you will not believe how much power does your speakers demand.
I will clarify a few things here
50V x 10Amp is 500W
25V x 20Amp is 500W
10V x 50Amp is 500W
So even in the above video its the current which is being demanded by the speaker now at situations you need 50Amp of instantaneous current hence you can also see in the above video that its the current demand not the voltage demand.
V=IR
Voltage will be current multiplied by resistance.
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