Saturday

The Electronics.

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Here are illustrations of some of the kit in my system.

The Behringer CX2310 active crossover sitting on top of the "infamous" DSP 1124 BFD equaliser. The BFD [Behringer Feedback Destroyer] is used by many home AV enthusiasts worldwide to improve the performance of their subwoofers by adjusting the in-room frequency response. Behringer was so uninterested in this vast customer base that they discontinued it! Then resurrected it again. One popular HT forum is trying to get Behringer to offer a specialist equaliser for the home subwoofer market. Don't hold your breath...

The image was cropped from my own rather poor photograph of the entire rack using flash. The Behringer CX2310 24/dB/octave active crossover is set at around 80Hz to split the analogue stereo signal to the Main/Stereo speaker channels. The High channel goes to the Naim power amp and the main/stereo speakers. The Low channel goes to the EP2500 and the IB subwoofer. It is difficult to tell where 80Hz is exactly on the marked frequency scale. Note the rack mounting ears and the total lack of rubber feet for domestic use. Removing the ears leaves open holes in the case which could expose high voltages to probing children and idiot adults.

A view inside my Naim NAC72 preamp. Though not obvious in this image the sub circuits (or cards) stand up on edge towards the viewer.

The view inside the Naim NAP180 stereo power amplifier which drives my Mission 753 Freedom floor standing loudspeakers. 90 wpc RMS into 4 Ohms is claimed. Neat workmanship with the large smoothing capacitors hidden away under the PCB. I find my Naim amps offer a rather hard sound on massed orchestral strings. Perhaps this is just transparency to the CD63SE source?

Inside the Naim Hicap power supply. It weighs and costs a ton! It replaces the internal power supply offered by some (but not all) of the Naim power amps. Naim claims improved sound quality from driving their pre-amps with plenty of clean power. Most owners seem to agree.

The view inside the rather untidy Behringer EP2500 Europower amplifier. Note that the cooling fan shroud has been reversed to show where the fan is situated inside the backplate. The shroud should form a continuation of the heat sink. [EDIT] As supplied, it pushes cooling air through the tubular heat sink and out through the front panel slots. Many owners prefer to replace the 24Volt fan with a much quieter model. Some like to reverse the airflow to pull it through the heat sink from the front panel. [/EDIT] I have never noticed more than a couple of degrees above ambient temperature whatever the film or musical punishment is thrown at this amp. 110dB(C) continuous for an hour on bassy rock music and car audio "tuning" tracks had little effect on temperature.

The manufacturer claims 650 WPC RMS into 4 Ohms. This inexpensive pro-power amplifier has proved very reliable for IB use provided it isn't given foolishly low impedances to work with. 4 Ohms per channel or 8 Ohms bridged is a sensible load for any amplifier. Not just the Behringers. Competitors against the EP2500 are considerably more expensive for the same power output. The slightly cheaper EP1500 offers lower power for little saving in money except for those on a very tight budget.

My tall rack is always dimly lit as far as natural light is concerned. So has to be photographed with flash. Unless it is photographed at an angle the fascias reflect the flash back to the camera. Making it difficult to capture without distortion. There is a remarkable amount of barrel distortion in the heavily cropped image below.


Click on any image for a larger view. Back click to return to the blog.
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