Buckeye Amps: New US based Hypex multichannel amplifier builder, line-up announcement!

[Jdunk54nl]

The site is LIVE!

Buckeye Amps Official Site

Feel free to send any suggestions or errors found.

I would suggest current lead time somewhere easily viewable on the site.

 

[Multicore]

I want to get a MiniDSP Flex (which hit the jackpot in Amir's review the other day) to use in the living room with our Ascend Sierra Tower/RAAL pair. If we like it then I can replace our integrated amp with one of your 2ch Hypex builds, which can be hidden from view. I have two questions.

1. The MiniDSP Flex lacks a trigger out, which is disappointing. What are the options for remote power control? I don't mind walking across the room to flip a switch but I don't want to grope around under furniture. We use a Sony universal remote.

2. The Sierra Towers are plenty loud with our current amp rated at 85 W (MF MS3i). From that point if view I'd think NC252 would suffice. Otoh, without sophisticated measurements it's hard to be sure how close you really get in practice to an amp's limits under real listening conditions. For $200 we get a bit more head room. But if we never need it, it's a waste. The room is ~18' D x 20' W x 10' H (8.5 x 9.5 x 4.7m).

 

[amper42]

I want to get a MiniDSP Flex (which hit the jackpot in Amir's review the other day) to use in the living room with our Ascend Sierra Tower/RAAL pair. If we like it then I can replace our integrated amp with one of your 2ch Hypex builds, which can be hidden from view. I have two questions.

1. The MiniDSP Flex lacks a trigger out, which is disappointing. What are the options for remote power control? I don't mind walking across the room to flip a switch but I don't want to grope around under furniture. We use a Sony universal remote.

2. The Sierra Towers are plenty loud with our current amp rated at 85 W (MF MS3i). From that point if view I'd think NC252 would suffice. Otoh, without sophisticated measurements it's hard to be sure how close you really get in practice to an amp's limits under real listening conditions. For $200 we get a bit more head room. But if we never need it, it's a waste. The room is ~18' D x 20' W x 10' H (8.5 x 9.5 x 4.7m).

View attachment 186200

1. The Buckeye amp and the Flex can be plugged into a surge suppressor and turn it on when using the unit. The amp switch can be turned on so it powers up when the strip is turned on. Otherwise, the switch on the amp is on the rear left side. I turn on my NC502MP with the surge strip.

2. I also have the Sierra Towers with RAAL tweeter. I power them with the Monolith 7x200. The Sierra Towers do really well with the 200W Monolith amp. The speakers measure 89dB at 1 meter. The NC252MP offers 250W at 4 ohms which is plenty for your setup. If you get the balanced version of the Flex it will power the NC252MP with 4V which would be ideal for their 25.5dB gain. At 12' away from the Towers the SPL could reach 104.7dB.

Peak SPL Calculator

 

[Multicore]

Re 1. power switch, yes, I have such a power strip that controls the power to various things (HDMI switch/extractor, DVD player, TT, Raspberry Pi, and, if I get a Flex, phono pre). But I was hoping to put the power amp out of sight under the cupboard behind the dog. Maybe the Flex draws enough power to work as control.

That MF amp looks way too audiophile for my taste. Off with its head!

At 12' away from the Towers the SPL could reach 104.7dB.

Yikes. I'd call that enough.

 

[amper42]

Re 1. power switch, yes, I have such a power strip that controls the power to various things (HDMI switch/extractor, DVD player, TT, Raspberry Pi, and, if I get a Flex, phono pre). But I was hoping to put the power amp out of sight under the cupboard behind the dog. Maybe the Flex draws enough power to work as control.

View attachment 186232

That MF amp looks way too audiophile for my taste. Off with its head!


Yikes. I'd call that enough.

Nice room! The Buckeye amp can be placed in the cabinet behind rover if you can feed the XLR cables down to the shelf. Or you may be able to stack the Flex and the NC252MP. The amp is only 3.75" tall and the Flex is 2" tall for about 6" in height. It looks like that open shelf could accommodate both units. But maybe you want the amp hidden?

Below is my little RME ADI-2 DAC FS stacked on top of the Buckeye NC502MP. It measures a total of 7.5" high and 8.5" wide. I had a 20 year old amp die and cannibalized its frame for this stack.

 

[DonH56]

I want to get a MiniDSP Flex (which hit the jackpot in Amir's review the other day) to use in the living room with our Ascend Sierra Tower/RAAL pair. If we like it then I can replace our integrated amp with one of your 2ch Hypex builds, which can be hidden from view. I have two questions.

1. The MiniDSP Flex lacks a trigger out, which is disappointing. What are the options for remote power control? I don't mind walking across the room to flip a switch but I don't want to grope around under furniture. We use a Sony universal remote.

2. The Sierra Towers are plenty loud with our current amp rated at 85 W (MF MS3i). From that point if view I'd think NC252 would suffice. Otoh, without sophisticated measurements it's hard to be sure how close you really get in practice to an amp's limits under real listening conditions. For $200 we get a bit more head room. But if we never need it, it's a waste. The room is ~18' D x 20' W x 10' H (8.5 x 9.5 x 4.7m).

View attachment 186200

I jury-rigged this for my Trinnov: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-altitude-jbl-sdp-75.13095/page-7#post-409837

 

[Buckeye Amps]

Alright, there are some big plans in development for my NCxxxMP amps. Nothing that will change performance but possibly make assembly time A LOT quicker to allow filling orders sooner.

I need some consumer input though:
As part of the plans, I am working on a small PCB for the front LED that would incorporate the Power LED and Clipping indicators on a small board.

For clipping indication, would a single RGB LED that is Blue when the amp is powered on/running normal but flashing Purple when any clipping is occurring (since Red + Blue = Purple) work for users as a clip indicator?

 

[Multicore]

I jury-rigged this for my Trinnov: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-altitude-jbl-sdp-75.13095/page-7#post-409837

Yes!

also, Well Done!

 

[Multicore]

Alright, there are some big plans in development for my NCxxxMP amps. Nothing that will change performance but possibly make assembly time A LOT quicker to allow filling orders sooner.

I need some consumer input though:
As part of the plans, I am working on a small PCB for the front LED that would incorporate the Power LED and Clipping indicators on a small board.

For clipping indication, would a single RGB LED that is Blue when the amp is powered on/running normal but flashing Purple when any clipping is occurring (since Red + Blue = Purple) work for users as a clip indicator?

In my plan the box will be installed out of sight where I can't see any indicator LEDs. It would suit my needs to have none at all.

Actually, I have a bit of history with LEDs. I was a requirements jockey at big engineering firms for many years. I grew to fear and respect the magical hold of LEDs on the engineering mind (re-posted today for ASR readers' amusement). At one point I had a candy bowl on my desk full of LEDs that I could offer visitors and passer's by.

 

[Neddy]

Alright, there are some big plans in development for my NCxxxMP amps. Nothing that will change performance but possibly make assembly time A LOT quicker to allow filling orders sooner.

I need some consumer input though:
As part of the plans, I am working on a small PCB for the front LED that would incorporate the Power LED and Clipping indicators on a small board.

For clipping indication, would a single RGB LED that is Blue when the amp is powered on/running normal but flashing Purple when any clipping is occurring (since Red + Blue = Purple) work for users as a clip indicator?

Yes!

 

[Neddy]

In my plan the box will be installed out of sight where I can't see any indicator LEDs. It would suit my needs to have none at all.

Actually, I have a bit of history with LEDs. I was a requirements jockey at big engineering firms for many years. I grew to fear and respect the magical hold of LEDs on the engineering mind (re-posted today for ASR readers' amusement). At one point I had a candy bowl on my desk full of LEDs that I could offer visitors and passer's by.

Nice article. Wish I'd thought of the led candy jar - had a Jacobs Ladder tho, instead, and used it to terrify The Silly or Stupid.
And a particularly gruesome hell to any engineer who uses blink pulse rates (eg, long-long-short) to indicate various setting status(es), esp on devices that have multiples of them.
There are many designers/engineers (almost always those who have clearly never used their own designs) who I'd love to punch in the snoggin(s) for stuff like this.

 

[Multicore]

Nice article. Wish I'd thought of the led candy jar - had a Jacobs Ladder tho, instead, and used it to terrify The Silly or Stupid.

The urge to smite could be somatic and palpable. The article and my LED candy jar were part of my efforts to cope. Another was throwing theatrical little tantrums at review meetings. Needed to be careful who exactly was present when customers were around.

 

[SuperDave]

Alright, there are some big plans in development for my NCxxxMP amps. Nothing that will change performance but possibly make assembly time A LOT quicker to allow filling orders sooner.

I need some consumer input though:
As part of the plans, I am working on a small PCB for the front LED that would incorporate the Power LED and Clipping indicators on a small board.

For clipping indication, would a single RGB LED that is Blue when the amp is powered on/running normal but flashing Purple when any clipping is occurring (since Red + Blue = Purple) work for users as a clip indicator?

If you're driving an NCxxxMP to clipping, you likely have larger problems than what some random LED is doing. Like, perhaps, the smoke your speakers are emitting.

That qualification aside, I see no reason why one LED can't perform both roles.

 

[Keened]

Alright, there are some big plans in development for my NCxxxMP amps. Nothing that will change performance but possibly make assembly time A LOT quicker to allow filling orders sooner.

I need some consumer input though:
As part of the plans, I am working on a small PCB for the front LED that would incorporate the Power LED and Clipping indicators on a small board.

For clipping indication, would a single RGB LED that is Blue when the amp is powered on/running normal but flashing Purple when any clipping is occurring (since Red + Blue = Purple) work for users as a clip indicator?

Clipping indicators
Blue/Green LEDs

Also this is limited to the NCore amps because the Purifi amp doesn't have a clipping sensor out, right? So it's not just a matter of choosing the right buffer board/daughter board to read the state, you'd have to check the power supply directly; which only works if the total power available to roughly equivalent to clipping power of the amplifier or you have to program a threshold range for a sensor.

Also, any chance we could purchase the vertical 3-channel case by itself from you (perhaps with mandatory part purchases to go along with it like the amplifiers themselves to pump up the profit margin)?

 

[Bachemar]

I hate blue LED's! They are way too bright and distracting. I would recommend single red LED. The LED should be on/steady when the unit is in the On state, and blinking when it is clipping. You could consider adding a switch to disable the On state, without disabling the clipping state indicator

 

[HammerSandwich]

Power OK to green. Logical OR (<- that's a verb) the clip & DC error to red. If I understand datasheet correctly, clipping will display green + red; while fatal errors will disable main PSU, leaving red only.

 

[Sal1950]

For clipping indication, would a single RGB LED that is Blue when the amp is powered on/running normal but flashing Purple when any clipping is occurring (since Red + Blue = Purple) work for users as a clip indicator?

Sure, why not.

Now they're going to be fussy about colors.

 

[Jdunk54nl]

On the note of LED, I seem to remember discussion on how to dim the power on led by adding a resistor or something to it. Can someone refresh my memory if this was true, and then what value of resistor to use?

My wife complained about how bright they are so I was wanting to do that instead of tape.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

An alternative to tape are these:

Amazon.com

I used them. The circular sized ones fit perfectly on the LED housing and are nearly "invisible" unless you are up close looking at the LED so aesthetically they are great. Just one of them is enough to make the LED barely visible in a bright room but also dim/non-obtrusive in a blacked out room

 

[Jdunk54nl]

An alternative to tape are these:

Amazon.com

I used them. The circular sized ones fit perfectly on the LED housing and are nearly "invisible" unless you are up close looking at the LED so aesthetically they are great. Just one of them is enough to make the LED barely visible in a bright room but also dim/non-obtrusive in a blacked out room

Ordered. Thanks!