Kevin's PL400 Upgrade

ksrigg

Chief Journeyman
Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
1,451
Location
Wise, Virginia
Is there a direct corralation between transformer primary voltage and the wattage output in the Phase Linear? ie...can we PREDICT the output wattage of a 400? Are there other variable which contribute to the wattage at clipping for a WHPL? Do largewr capicators have any effect? I guess they would in the peak voltage...but in continuous, I would guess not? I am losing my mind? Did I ever have one to begin with?
 

kevin

Forum Veteran and Hillbilly
Joined
Dec 22, 2011
Messages
1,422
Location
Wise VA
Make YOU proud ????? How do you think i feel...... Ok.. After Sutton left I ran the wife ,dogs and son upstairs and spent about an hour with my new love. WOW !!!!! So much better than the halfer pro 500. So clean and LOUD !!! When the halfer was running the main speakers I could hear the rear channel as well as i could mains.. Now I need more power on the rear... Also I had to turn the sub up... Not done that in years. By the way thats not my sub in the pics... Ive got a 15 in the corner with a 400 watt plate amp on it. That infinity just makes a good lap top desk.... lol. So tomorrow im going to BI-AMP my fronts. Ill put the PL on the 24 drivers and a hundred watt amp on the 12 tweets and the 500 hafler on the rear.... O boy .... aint it morning yet.... Mark, Lee , Joe, Sutton..... Thank you all for For helping bring my stereo back to life.... Like yall said .. this thing is a monster... And if I left anyone out I thank you as well... Im just a happy damn camper !!!!!!
 

kevin

Forum Veteran and Hillbilly
Joined
Dec 22, 2011
Messages
1,422
Location
Wise VA
O... Im working on me an Avatar... Not smart enough to get the pic small enough yet.... lmao... im serious..
 

ksrigg

Chief Journeyman
Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
1,451
Location
Wise, Virginia
Kevin,

After looking at the picture of your system it hit me. There is no symmetry...You need either two or three Phase Linear 400's or you need to put the ONE in the center space. That is really bothering me. As you stay up tonight planning every detail you want to accomplish tomorrow, either keep that in mind or simply tell me to KMA. I knew something was bothering me...plus the fact that one little 600 watt amp is not going to cut it for you. You will not be happy until you acheive ear bleed levels. Know you too well bud..Plus for the folks at home, Kevin's room is about 26' X 30' or something. It is NOT a small listening room...oh, and that is a 60" LCD just to give a little perspective..
 

laatsch55

Administrator,
Staff member
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
Messages
74,948
Location
Gillette, Wyo.
Tagline
Halfbiass...Electron Herder and Backass Woof
HE WILL NOT BE SATISFIED NOW THAT THE 400 HAS INFECTED HIM. HIS NEXT FIX WILL REQUIRE A PLWO 1000, after that?? I'm workin on it.

He has a room my K-Horns dream of.
 

laatsch55

Administrator,
Staff member
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
Messages
74,948
Location
Gillette, Wyo.
Tagline
Halfbiass...Electron Herder and Backass Woof
ksrigg said:
Is there a direct corralation between transformer primary voltage and the wattage output in the Phase Linear? ie...can we PREDICT the output wattage of a 400? Are there other variable which contribute to the wattage at clipping for a WHPL? Do largewr capicators have any effect? I guess they would in the peak voltage...but in continuous, I would guess not? I am losing my mind? Did I ever have one to begin with?

Without bringing up the issue of gain or HFE, all other things being equal, rail voltage determines wattage. Lower rail voltage, less watts, more rail voltage more watts. That was too simple an explanation, but I believe it answers your INTENDED question. Large power supply caps (or lotsa of little ones) smooth the DC voltage from the BR. They also provide a "current resevoir" for those loud transients that tax the power supply, bass excursions, and extremely high freq stuff in particular. The hi freq stuff gets "bootstrapped" and Joe has posted about it and its inadequacies in the PL design, need I say..........he's working on a cure.
 

laatsch55

Administrator,
Staff member
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
Messages
74,948
Location
Gillette, Wyo.
Tagline
Halfbiass...Electron Herder and Backass Woof
kevin said:
Make YOU proud ????? How do you think i feel...... Ok.. After Sutton left I ran the wife ,dogs and son upstairs and spent about an hour with my new love. WOW !!!!! So much better than the halfer pro 500. So clean and LOUD !!! When the halfer was running the main speakers I could hear the rear channel as well as i could mains.. Now I need more power on the rear... Also I had to turn the sub up... Not done that in years. By the way thats not my sub in the pics... Ive got a 15 in the corner with a 400 watt plate amp on it. That infinity just makes a good lap top desk.... lol. So tomorrow im going to BI-AMP my fronts. Ill put the PL on the 24 drivers and a hundred watt amp on the 12 tweets and the 500 hafler on the rear.... O boy .... aint it morning yet.... Mark, Lee , Joe, Sutton..... Thank you all for For helping bring my stereo back to life.... Like yall said .. this thing is a monster... And if I left anyone out I thank you as well... Im just a happy damn camper !!!!!!

What are you using for an electronic crossover??
 

ksrigg

Chief Journeyman
Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
1,451
Location
Wise, Virginia
He is using a passive crossover. When we built the speakers we divided the networks into two separate boards. They are tied together only with the strap on the dual set of speaker binding posts. With the straps removed you can bi-amp the speakers and still maintain the crossover points. Not the best crossover approach, but the least expensive. At the point in time that we built the Linus Array, the Active EQ's from Barrenger and others were controversial and expensive. We also built them kinda in a hurry for competition in the Southeastern United States DIY speaker building competition...They did win First Place in Atlanta, beating even the Linus Array pair entered by the designer, Dr. Griffith....we did a few things differently on our pairs than the Dr.'s plans called for....used really nice film and foil bypass caps, flush mounted the planar tweeters, and had actually broken the speakers in by playing the dog$#!^ out of them..The surrounds were more flexible. I do think it upset the Dr. that we beat his own Linus Array with our build...

Compared to the Altec VOTT A-7 they are not nearly as efficient however. They Altecs have to be about 100 db + while I think the line arrays are still high at about 96 db..
 

kevin

Forum Veteran and Hillbilly
Joined
Dec 22, 2011
Messages
1,422
Location
Wise VA
Well ... I spent about 3 hours on my stereo yesterday... I got the linus array's bi-amped and got the the p-500 on the Paradigm in the rear.... WOW... IT IS LOUD... I did have to back the p-500 of a couple of notches because it would clip before the PL would... So... for the next couple of months im happy with my system.. lol. I think my next move will be speakers... maybe some Klisph corner horns... or ... some altec's like Sutton has.
 

mlucitt

Veteran and General Yakker
Joined
Jun 24, 2011
Messages
3,497
Location
Jacksonville, FL
kevin said:
WOW... IT IS LOUD... I did have to back the p-500 off a couple of notches because it would clip before the PL would...
That is quite an endorsement, a 500 Watt amp clipping before a 400 Watt amp. Hafler aficianados pay attention here. Gold, stocks, bonds? Why? I'm investing in Phase Linears.

Mark
 

laatsch55

Administrator,
Staff member
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
Messages
74,948
Location
Gillette, Wyo.
Tagline
Halfbiass...Electron Herder and Backass Woof
It mayu go cheap. Good luck. I also have 4 left.

Kevin, when i switch out a 400 for a 700 the difference is............................Damn.........like the K-Horns can finally breathe. EVEN if you are using the same wattage as you did with the 400 the 700 is .................WAITING PATIENTLY TO BLOW YOUR SHIT AWAY!!!!!!!!!!
 

laatsch55

Administrator,
Staff member
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
Messages
74,948
Location
Gillette, Wyo.
Tagline
Halfbiass...Electron Herder and Backass Woof
kevin said:
Well ... I spent about 3 hours on my stereo yesterday... I got the linus array's bi-amped and got the the p-500 on the Paradigm in the rear.... WOW... IT IS LOUD... I did have to back the p-500 of a couple of notches because it would clip before the PL would... So... for the next couple of months im happy with my system.. lol. I think my next move will be speakers... maybe some Klisph corner horns... or ... some altec's like Sutton has.

Kevin, I can get Jani to ruin off a copy of the plans for the K-Horns.
 
Top