Changing to monoblocks - things to consider?

[Levitator]

Hi all

I've just set up my first pair of monoblock amplifiers (MC1.2kw's) in place of my MC452 which has served me very well for some time now.

While there is a noticeable difference in sound in terms of bigger sound, more dynamics, better bass etc something seems to be missing compared to what I was hearing.

As a start, I'm wondering whether I might need to reposition my speakers again with the changes that the 1.2kw's have brought into the room - I'm not sure but guess this would make sense...

Before I start mucking around with things I thought I'd see what others may have noticed when transitioning to monoblocks and if any changes needed to be made to their systems to adjust for running separate and more powerful amps.

Any experiences would be great to hear about!

[Mikado463]

what's missing ? what speakers are being used ? room dimensions / current speaker set up ? where have you placed the mono blocks compared to your previous stereo amp ?

[cma29]

Maybe the electrical current demands from the much bigger amplifiers are taxing your circuits? Best bet might be to have a dedicated 20-ampere outlet for each amplifier.

[decooney]

Are you using 1 amp per speaker or 1 amp to highs and 1 amp to lows (bi-amp)?

[Levitator]

Originally Posted by cma29

Maybe the electrical current demands from the much bigger amplifiers are taxing your circuits? Best bet might be to have a dedicated 20-ampere outlet for each amplifier.

I did check this out and it should be fine given my system runs off its own 20amp circuit. The two amps draw a maximum load of 13amps combined and the other components wouldn't push it anywhere need 20amps...

Thanks for the thought.

[Levitator]

Originally Posted by decooney

Are you using 1 amp per speaker or 1 amp to highs and 1 amp to lows (bi-amp)?

1 amp per speaker

[nicoff]

Originally Posted by cma29

Maybe the electrical current demands from the much bigger amplifiers are taxing your circuits? Best bet might be to have a dedicated 20-ampere outlet for each amplifier.

+1
After switching to mono blocks, the biggest change that I noticed was when I decided to add a dedicated circuit to each amp. It cost me less than $1k, but the benefit was impressive. Nothing that I could have done for that price would have made a similar improvement.

[gadawg]

Originally Posted by Levitator

Hi all

I've just set up my first pair of monoblock amplifiers (MC1.2kw's) in place of my MC452 which has served me very well for some time now.

While there is a noticeable difference in sound in terms of bigger sound, more dynamics, better bass etc something seems to be missing compared to what I was hearing.

As a start, I'm wondering whether I might need to reposition my speakers again with the changes that the 1.2kw's have brought into the room - I'm not sure but guess this would make sense...

Before I start mucking around with things I thought I'd see what others may have noticed when transitioning to monoblocks and if any changes needed to be made to their systems to adjust for running separate and more powerful amps.

Any experiences would be great to hear about!

Also ... the voicing on the 452 is different than the 1.2kw's so it will sound different. Same reason I picked 601's(very similar to 452) over the 1.2's but that's more of a personal preference but it will sound different for sure.

George

[dixon007]

Fantastic amps. What pre-amp are you using? How about PCs and ICs? Break in time will be needed for the amps.

[Levitator]

Originally Posted by dixon007

Fantastic amps. What pre-amp are you using? How about PCs and ICs? Break in time will be needed for the amps.

C2500 as the pre-amp. PC's are Shunyata and IC's Wireworld although I was using these with my 452 as well...amps are well broken in already as they are 6 months old (hence the cracking deal I got on them!)...