Chuck's Statements 7.1 Build

[impala454]

well I'm not doing any roundover until I build the front LR full sized statements and am ready to finish all 7. I haven't decided what type of finish to go with yet and don't need to decide until I get a house (good excuse IMHO :P).

But yeah if I veneer I'd just do the sides on the baffle, not the top and bottom. If I paint then I'll round over the whole box.

[FroDaddy]

well I'm not doing any roundover until I build the front LR full sized statements and am ready to finish all 7. I haven't decided what type of finish to go with yet and don't need to decide until I get a house (good excuse IMHO :P).

But yeah if I veneer I'd just do the sides on the baffle, not the top and bottom. If I paint then I'll round over the whole box.

If you decide to paint the roundovers, you'll need to fill them very well before applying paint. There aren't any shortcuts to take with this step. I cut circles for my mid pass throughs, rounded them over, and sanded very well, but I didn't fill them before painting. They don't look bad, but I definitely wouldn't be pleased with them if it were on the main edges.

HTH

[impala454]

Yeah I will for sure keep that in mind. Whenever it comes time for finish work, if I decide to paint, I'll probably build a few small "dummy" boxes and round them off just to test various methods. I was thinking that mixing a "wet" batch of bondo might work well...

Oh and something to add to the thread, heh I didn't take any pictures, but I completely ghettofied the last two monitor's crossovers. Basically my back was bothering me and I didn't care to reach behind a large table where my big sheet of pegboard was, so I used the super heavy duty cardboard from the XPA-5 outer box. Actually turned out to work pretty well! I soldered up the components first, then mounted them on the cardboard and cut around it, then poked holes for zip ties with a screwdriver. They won't win any beauty contests but hey, it worked!

[Hdale85]

Hey Chuck was just wondering, Do you have the XPA-5 plugged into a surge protector or power conditioner? Lonnie (one of the designers from emotiva) says that it is recommended to plug it straight into the wall because of the amount of current it can draw. He said they recently got one in that was returned and the guy had it plugged into a power conditioner and it actually stressed a lot of the components so bad that it needed repaired. Apparently they built in surge protection and what not into the amp it self so it doesn't need to go into a conditioner anyways. Just thought I'd give you a heads up :B

[impala454]

Yeah it's currently plugged into the "high current" plug of a Belkin PF40. Guess i can just plug it straight into the wall though. Thanks for the heads up.

[Hdale85]

Well I saw it mentioned that the high current plug was ok....but Lonnie or Dann G didn't say that so might be something you want to PM them specifically and ask.

[impala454]

Well after reading through the various threads, looks like it's best to just plug it into the wall. That's less power going through my Belkin anyhow. (heh, Denon 2307CI + Behringer EP2500 + Emotiva XPA-5, probably quite the load to be puttin on that thing). Thanks again for noting that.

[Hdale85]

No problem just thought I'd make sure and mention it for all the other buyers out there as well and I wasn't sure if you knew. Its nice of them to include the protection circuitry in the unit though

[wackii]

I guess I will plug my Emotiva LPA-1 into the wall too Currently it's plugged in the Monster Power Conditioner. Thanks for the info.

Al,

[Hdale85]

And just to prove it http://emotivalounge.proboards54.com...2&page=1#24275

[Dennis H]

Okay, that thread says:

We currently have an amp that just came in for service and it is very appearant that it was run on a power conditioner and the regulators on each modules were highly stressed and one of the modules has melted completely.

and

All of our amplifiers have over voltage, under voltage, spike/ surge protection, power filtering, multiple layers of power isolation, 100% primary to secondary ground isolation and even lightning arrestors built in and they are all desinged to allow maximum performance from the amp.

Something doesn't add up there. They claim to have all this super duper built-in protection but the undervoltage from running it with a line conditioner will make it melt? It should at most choke down the max power and not hurt it a bit. Back to the drawing board guys. Don't they know many people are going to plug these into conditioners without knowing they shouldn't?

[Hdale85]

Well I think in the manual it says not to. Also I think the way a power conditioner works was just stressing the regulators. I don't know doesn't sound that far off to me. I guess they do something silly like expect their customers to read a manual.


Just looked in the manual and it says "DO NOT plug the XPA-3 into a power strip or extension cord unless the device is specifically designed and rated for high current use" although it doesn't specifically say conditioner.

[impala454]

Dennis is probably right. They probably just wanted to tout the construction a little. I went through plenty of EE in college and don't really see how low voltage would fry a regulator like that. The amp just might not run as intended. Oh well. I'll probably just leave it plugged into the "high current" plug on my Belkin, as that seems to jive best with both sides. Short of tearing apart the Belkin, I'd be willing to bet that "high current" is just another word for "pass thru" anyways

[---k---]

Thomas has photos of the inner's of the Belkin in a thread somewhere. He bought one (as did I) when an online vendor was selling them dirt cheep. There was some thought about adding a transformer inside for a combined balanced + power conditioner. In the end, Thomas and Jon decided there wasn't much to mod. That is probably more than you needed to know, but if you search you'll find photos.

BTW, I think emotiva is full of crap on this one. I would think it would blow / fry the power conditioner before the amp.

[Hdale85]

All they are saying is that its best to have it plugged directly into its own circuit that nothing else is on. It doesn't need a power conditioner...how does that make them crap? The stuff about the amp being stressed from a power conditioner whatever not really worried about that.

[---k---]

All they are saying is that its best to have it plugged directly into its own circuit that nothing else is on. It doesn't need a power conditioner...how does that make them crap?

I didn't say that they are crap. I said that they are full of crap. There is a difference.

As Dennis linked to, Lonnie, the Emotiva forum moderator said:

http://emotivalounge.proboards54.com/index.cgi?board=amps&action=display&thread=2012&page=1#24220

We currently have an amp that just came in for service and it is very appearant that it was run on a power conditioner and the regulators on each modules were highly stressed and one of the modules has melted completely.

I think this statement is full of crap. Their gear should not be harmed by plugging it into a power conditioner. As I stated, I think the power conditioner would blow / fry first. I could be wrong about that. But, if if their gear truly can't handle being plugged into a power conditioner, I may have to reconsider my first statement and call them crap. Consumer equipment should be designed for idiots.

That is all I'm going to say on the issue. I'm not here to argue or debate.

[Hdale85]

Well thats what I meant is the "full of crap" thing like I said I'm not sure about that statement because I agree it does sound a bit strange... I know they aren't crap though as I own one :B

[impala454]

I think he just meant the person who said that is full of crap, not that the amp is full of crap. Now shaddap in my thread both of yas! :P Mine has been plugged into the Belkin for a week now and it hasn't melted yet! :rofl:

[Johnloudb]

BTW, I think emotiva is full of crap on this one. I would think it would blow / fry the power conditioner before the amp.

Some power conditioners have inductors for noise filtering, which limit the amount of current it can supply the amp on turn on. Some even have relays which cut off the power off when too much current is pulled.

So when an amp has a large transformer and power supply, like the Emotiva, it pulls a lot of current on turn on. And if the conditioner limmits current to the amp it can caused voltage spikes in the power supply which blow filiter caps or even damage transformers.

I had an amp destroyed, well I mean broken, this way. I've also ruined a transformer by plugging it into the wall and immediately unplugging it.

So, their warning is for a very good reason. You can use power conditioners, but you need to know if it limits current at turn on. And know if it was designed to be used with high power gear.

Noise filters are always a good idea, just have to know your conditioner.

[Johnloudb]

Hey Ryan, I wasn't trying to jump on you there. I was just trying to inform. It can seam strange why a conditioner would cause a problem. Dougie thinks I'm being mean to people on the HT Guide forum so I just wanted to point that out.

[Hdale85]

Huh? When did I say you were being mean? lol

[Johnloudb]

Well, you thought I was picking on Jed. I'm just kidding, it was clearly a misunderstanding.

[Hdale85]

No I didn't you took it wrong I was just saying that Jed was designing my new speakers there for he knows about them not me :B...

[Jed]

Whatever is being argued about, don't worry about it because I'm not offended in the least. Saw my name mentioned so I thought I'd chime in.

[Hdale85]

Haha we're not really arguing. At least I don't feel we are?

[Johnloudb]

No ... no arguing going on here. All is clear now. :B

[impala454]

you punks quit fighting in my thread!

jk :P

[David_D]

Hi Chuck,
How are your Statements doing?

[---k---]

you punks quit fighting in my thread!

Yeah!

[Hdale85]

Haha honest we weren't fighting. I think he was just confused? And then I was confused....either way its all straight now.

[impala454]

They're pretty much as done as they'll be for a while. I'm not going to round any of them off until I'm ready to finish them all. The next step is increasing the size of the room they're in, aka buying a house . I've got a little old debt to pay off and am also waiting for cash to start flowing from the tenants that just moved in to my old house in Lubbock. I'm hoping to be ready to buy by the end of the year, but my current situation (living w/the parents (yeah yeah I know I know shuttup)) lets me be very picky about my next home purchase. My last home purchase was a little rushed, had to find something quickly after my last lease was up. I'm not making that mistake again. Anyhow with a larger room, I'll go ahead and build the full sized Statements for front L/R, then build a sub. Here's my current sub. It's from a very small company in DFW, and mostly meant for car audio competitions. It doesn't get all that low (~35-40Hz) but it will crack plaster with the best of em. Once I get the sub built, I'll put some kinda purty finish on all 8 speakers.

[Hdale85]

I was all set on bamboo for my speakers but I'm seriously thinking about ordering some Quilted Maple now.

[impala454]

What should I be crossing my Monitors at? I just realized my receiver still had the mains crossing at 160Hz (from my old speakers).

[Hdale85]

Depends on what you want. THX calls for like 70hz I think? It just depends on where you want to cross to your sub I suppose.

[Jim Holtz]

What should I be crossing my Monitors at? I just realized my receiver still had the mains crossing at 160Hz (from my old speakers).

Hi Chuck,

Try crossing around 50 - 60 Hz and see what you think.

Jim

[impala454]

thanks I'll give that a shot

[impala454]

In other news I did that fan mod to my EP2500, talk about a night & day difference!

[yousuredo2]

Yeah it is,
First thought was, Oh Sh@t, I just screwed up my brand new amp...

I had to place my hand at it to tell it was on
I also reversed the flow so the "filter" could actually do some good

[impala454]

This Emotiva XPA-5 will be the first time I use a trigger. I plugged a 1/8" mono cable from my Denon receiver's 12v trigger output to my XPA-5's trigger input. Nothing. The multimeter also shows nothing. I'm wondering if there's some setting buried in the receiver's menus that I need to set. Anyone have a clue? I did find it in the menus in one spot and it shows "on" for all of them. Any ideas?

[Hdale85]

I haven't gotten that far with my XPA-3 yet. Also never owned a Denon unit so maybe someone that does own one will know?

[impala454]

well triggers in general, I'm new to them, can someone tell me, is it a 12v constant, or just one quick shot when it comes on? Just not seeing any voltage across the end of that cable (so obviously it's not the XPA-5's fault).

[FroDaddy]

My Denon 4806 is Option Setup -> Trigger Setup, then specify the sources you want the 12v trigger to come on for. For my Denon, the 12v comes on when you switch to the source and it keeps the current constant until you switch that source or turn the AVR off. I've read that the Onkyo amp triggers are fired depending on what zone you use, but my Denon is source driven.

Also, THX spec is 80Hz system crossover and it is what I use. I've tried lower, but I like 80Hz the best.

HTH

[impala454]

yeah those are the same menus I went through. where should I be measuring the voltage? I get nothing when I go ground sleeve to center on the end of the cable, but if I put ground on a chassis screw and positive to center I get .04v. still not sure what the problem is.

[FroDaddy]

I don't know about the measurements. Is your 1/8in cable a stereo cable? I've read the emotiva's won't work with a mono 1/8in.

[impala454]

oh really. yes I am using a mono cable. I'll have to double check on their forums and see.