Mark's Hypex NC400 Build

[wbroshea]

Aug 21, 2014 19:51:23 GMT -5 klinemj said:

I love mine...so yes. Great finesse w/o any signs of stress, and they can pump it out even with my Maggie's. I would buy them again.

Mark

Good to know. I think they are probably at the top of my list. I assume you bought them straight from hypex? I can't find a US seller so I assume they only sell them directly with no third party sellers.

[klinemj]

Yes...straight from Hypex. And they were great w/support and answering my questions.

Mark

[mgbpuff]

Someone is selling a stereo set of boards with ps right now
on Audiogon.

app.audiogon.com/listings/solid-state-hypex-ucd400ad-modules-with-hg-mono-power-supplies-brand-new-never-built-2014-08-21-amplifiers-90620-buena-park-ca

[wbroshea]

Aug 22, 2014 8:10:12 GMT -5 mgbpuff said:

Someone is selling a stereo set of boards with ps right now
on Audiogon.

app.audiogon.com/listings/solid-state-hypex-ucd400ad-modules-with-hg-mono-power-supplies-brand-new-never-built-2014-08-21-amplifiers-90620-buena-park-ca

These aren't the N-cores though right. These are their UCD series, also supposedly good but not the N-Cores. Thanks for the heads up though.

[mgbpuff]

My bad, I should have checked that before posting!

[arturokiwi]

Hi to all. Yesterday I read the all thread because I would like to buy an XPA-2, but I'm curious about Class D.
Reading your post seems to me that you are really entusiasm of NC400, but you have planar speakers.
Do you think that the superiority is still the same with a "classic" speakers?
With a comparison NC400 Vs XPA-2 Vs Hybrid Amp (lile this: www.vincent-tac.de/en/product-lines/powerline/sp-331mk/) do you think that the battle we'll be equal or there is one of them better than others?

Thanks

[klinemj]

I have listened though my old B&W 202's with the NC400's and XPA-2 and felt the same way. And, I know others who have listened through traditional speakers who were awed by the NC400 but they didn't have an XPA-2 to compare to. And, I can't comment on the Vincent as I have not heard their products.

Mark

[rogersch]

Aug 26, 2014 12:29:19 GMT -5 arturokiwi said:

Do you think that the superiority is still the same with a "classic" speakers?

I can confirm that with my NC400.

[arturokiwi]

Thank you both. I must find someone with a hybrid amp to have a comparison.
It's a pitty that in Italy there is so few nc400, otherwise I could give it a try before invest the money.

Sorry for the ultra-noob question, but: the nc400 is mono?

[klinemj]

Glad to help! On mono, the basic amp module is mono, but you can build them as a stereo pair (or, as I had contemplated with a 5-channel).

On trying them before you buy them, I didn't and that is very rare for me. I figured that if I didn't like them I could sell at no/minimum loss. But...I really like them.

Mark

[GreenKiwi]

arturokiwi Where are you located? In NZ? You might check out AudioCircle for more info on the nCores

www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=197.0

btw, the build is quite straight forward and you can get cases that are all ready to go for <$100.

Oh, and I love my amps...

[klinemj]

+1 to Audiocircle. That's where I got my key help in building, along with direct help from Hypex (who were GREAT!).

Mark

[arturokiwi]

Aug 26, 2014 17:37:39 GMT -5 GreenKiwi said:

arturokiwi Where are you located? In NZ? You might check out AudioCircle for more info on the nCores

www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=197.0

btw, the build is quite straight forward and you can get cases that are all ready to go for <$100.

Oh, and I love my amps...

I'm in Italy, not so close to NZ
I'll take a look at audiocircle, thanks

[mvk]

Hey guys,

is this thread still active?
I just ordered my parts and will be building soon. at this moment i'm finishing my LX mini speakers. when done i will build the NC400 amp. As usual i have wild idea's and would love some input on rather of not these idea's are stupid..

so looking forward to hearing from you guys, specially you ofcourse Mark.
still enjoying your amps?

Kind regards

Matthieu

[klinemj]

May 20, 2016 4:09:22 GMT -5 mvk said:

Hey guys,

is this thread still active?
I just ordered my parts and will be building soon. at this moment i'm finishing my LX mini speakers. when done i will build the NC400 amp. As usual i have wild idea's and would love some input on rather of not these idea's are stupid..

so looking forward to hearing from you guys, specially you ofcourse Mark.
still enjoying your amps?

Kind regards

Matthieu

I look forward to hearing about your build. What kind of wild ideas do you have?

Have you looked over at audiocircle? There is a lot of helpful info there about build ideas. And there are some very creative cases people have built. A couple really inspired me to think out of the box and that led me to my wall mounting idea. I am so glad I did that.

I do still have mine and I love them. Plenty of power and very clean sound.

Mark

[klinemj]

PS...welcome to the Lounge!

Mark

[GreenKiwi]

Actually, the AudioCircle hypex board has been archived. Don't know whether the discussion moved somewhere else. (there is still a ton of info there... and the kit is super easy to put together.)

I'm also happy to help answer any questions... I do still love mine!

[mvk]

Thanks guys..

I just got the confirmation today (on a sunday) that the payment has been completed, so i expect them to be shipping soon.
I also just ordered the stuffing for my speakers. so i have all parts complete now, well except for the speaker cable that i need to pic up at a friends place and some parts that i need to put the last hand on.

unfortunately i'm in a exam period so i'll be have a short recess on either build, and also not much here unfortunately.

afterwards i'll put the speakers together and post some pics. hope you'll like it.

it'll be matt black and bamboo.

i also made my music player myself, from an old mainboard.. als bamboo.. and in the near future also matt black.

so ofcourse i want my amp, a 4 channel amp with a DLCP, also bamboo and black. making it a set.

so i thought making it round, like my speakers.

mount the nc400's on top of the round bamboosheet (16mm) on top of a piece of metal for EMI shielding and conduction (earth)and cooling. Haven't decided what kind of metal but would like copper)
and mount the power supplies for the nc400's and DLCP at the bottom of that wood sheet, also on a similar but seperate sheet of metal.
not sure if it would be a good idea to keep them cunductively seperate of better to connect them one way or another.

this way it'll give the impression of a wood build but still have the benefits of a metal casing.

i'd place the 4 pcs of NC400 around the DLCP, but leave space for 2 more for when i want to expand the system with subwoofers.
same for the power supplies.

i would go for passive cooling.

the plate would have some 'tubular' kind of structure on top of it and below it. havent figured out how i want it though.
with again. a bamboo sheet on top. and only a bamboo ring at the bottom, leaving it open there.

on the top sheet i will mount the dlcp add-on display and buttons and the lower level will house the connections, in the back that part will need to be not round for obvious reasons. unfortunate but still, out of sight.

hope i explained a bit clear. if not please ask.

when commenting on an issue. please say why and if possible how to solve.
i have no benefit from comments like.. 'that is just stupid'

[klinemj]

mvk

Sounds interesting. Be mindful of wire routing to follow Hypex's guidelines on that. This defines most people's layouts on power supplies, amp modules, and power/input/output locations.

What kind of degree are you working on?

Mark

[mvk]

yeah i will definately take that in account. the difficulty there is when the PSU physically, shielded but still physically under the NC400's i would need to re-interpret the wire routing from a 2 into a 3 dimensional setup.

which is basically one issue i need to help with. But i will need to figure this out myself first before i call in the help brigade.

Also i will ask Hypex for there idea.

i already had a small talk to them about this. where i mentioned the wooden plate idea, the major issue they came up with is the cooling. for which i added the dual side metal sheet.

but.. i'm still completely in design mode. i will only start building till i figured it all out.

Great Matt

ps: Medschool, but i have a BsC in photonics and am also a gold and silversmith.