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General Asylum: REVIEW: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) by Brian Cheney General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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64.12.102.52
Model: Le Amp Category: Amplifier (SS) Suggested Retail Price: $500pr Description: 100W/ch monoblocks Manufacturer URL: Not Available Manufacturer URL: Not Available
Review by Brian Cheney on October 13, 2001 at 21:19:53
IP Address: 64.12.102.52Add Your Review
for the Le Amp
This review will be unusual for AA in that it contains both measurements and listening impressions from more than one inmate, although I oversaw and moderated the proceedings. Also I must note that I manufacture speaker systems and am a competition of the nOhr company in that regard. However, we are dealing here with an electronic product of a kind I do not manufacture. I decided to do a formal review for these pages after becoming embroiled in a pointless controversy with Michael Barnes of nOhr concerning the design of this amplifier, which I had not seen or heard when I was commenting on it. Foolish of me, and I apologized to Mr. Barnes publically and privately.The review will be in several sections since AOL has a habit of logging me off without warning, losing all my text. So if this review stops suddenly, please continue to the next part.
DESCRIPTION: Le Amp is two small monoblocks weighing about 24 lbs each. Pictures and specs are available from the manufacturer's website. Construction quality is solid and the unit is nicely finished. There are gold RCA inputs and gold binding posts of a kind I don't like, since they do not accept standard spade lugs. An 18 gauge power cord (supplied) was used in the tests.
MEASUREMENTS: I asked my colleague John Curl to bench test one of the Le Amp monoblocks in the presence of the amp's owner Vishal M and another AA inmate John R. Measurements were made on the Sound Technology meter assisted by a very expensive Hewlett Packard Spectrum Analyzer and dual channel scope.
Le Amp has a tendency to heat up rapidly on the test bench. Power output at clipping from was 75W at 5 kHz, 78W at 1 kHz and 74W at 20 Hz into 8 Ohms. The amplifier clipped at 108W into a 4 Ohm load over a broad frequency range. Linearity was outstanding, less than .3dB droop at 10Hz and 50 kHz. The distortion waveform showed considerable crossover distortion indicating the unit operates in Class C. Most remarkably the harmonic distortion series continued undiminished out to 50kHz and was rising at that frequency. It was truly remarkable to see the 49th and 50th harmonics of 1 kHz rise clearly above the noise floor. Neither John Curl nor I have ever seen an amplifier act this way, and it is not indicative of good performance. John described it alternatively as "sweet and sour tube" or "fuzzbox". However, the crossover distortion was at a low level, a constant 0.05% broadband.
I asked John after 30 minutes of testing to return to a 4 Ohm load and remeasure output and distortion at clipping. By this time the amp was hot enough to trigger thermal protection, and the output into 4 Ohms clamped at 25 W, so the distortion measurement at full power into 4 Ohms could not be performed.Go to part 2
Product Weakness: see below Product Strengths: see below
Associated Equipment for this Review: Amplifier: Le Amp Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Jadis JPL Sources (CDP/Turntable): Krell MD10/BC modified ART DIO Speakers: VMPS RM 40 Cables/Interconnects: Kimber Select Music Used (Genre/Selections): rock, percussion, orchestra, voice Room Size (LxWxH): 31 x 14 x 9 Room Comments/Treatments: full LEDE Time Period/Length of Audition: 2 hrs Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Bybee, PS300 Type of Audition/Review: Home Audition Your System (if other than home audition): na
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Topic - REVIEW: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - Brian Cheney 21:19:53 10/13/01 ( 74)
- nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - Reading 16:52:22 10/17/01 ( 0)
nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) Testing - Curt W 12:10:23 10/17/01 ( 4)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) Testing - Brian Cheney 20:47:56 10/17/01 ( 1)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) Testing - Curt Wishman 22:58:36 10/17/01 ( 0)
Curt, welcome to this den of.... - pmkap 19:43:46 10/17/01 ( 1)
- Re: Curt, welcome to this den of.... - Curt W 23:24:16 10/17/01 ( 0)
nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - Vishal 19:38:07 10/16/01 ( 0)
Has anyone used the 7294 simulation tool? - mike 18:08:17 10/15/01 ( 1)
- Re: Has anyone used the 7294 simulation tool? - mbarnes@norh.com 05:26:39 10/16/01 ( 0)
nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - Todd 12:01:10 10/14/01 ( 2)
- What for? DIY kit? - Mellson 14:28:56 10/18/01 ( 0)
Couple more... - JohnR 05:23:46 10/15/01 ( 0)
Very interesting, as well as a good thing that... - DeKay 11:15:59 10/14/01 ( 0)
nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - Tyson 10:18:39 10/14/01 ( 1)
- Sorry, I meant "increase in sound", not "increase in soundstage" above. - Tyson 10:20:25 10/14/01 ( 0)
nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - tkp 09:53:01 10/14/01 ( 23)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - john curl 12:45:05 10/14/01 ( 22)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - mbarnes 01:01:24 10/15/01 ( 8)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - JohnR 04:54:40 10/15/01 ( 7)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - mbarnes 12:47:11 10/15/01 ( 5)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - Juan G 16:39:56 10/15/01 ( 2)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - tkp 17:15:24 10/15/01 ( 1)
- Third it (nt) - PJ 18:17:39 10/15/01 ( 0)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - john curl 14:16:42 10/15/01 ( 0)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - JohnR 14:14:02 10/15/01 ( 0)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - john curl 11:32:06 10/15/01 ( 0)
Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - tkp 13:17:56 10/14/01 ( 12)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - tkp 14:20:05 10/14/01 ( 11)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - john curl 15:22:14 10/15/01 ( 10)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - tkp 15:38:01 10/15/01 ( 9)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - john curl 16:43:11 10/15/01 ( 8)
- WAY TO GO JC!!!! Thank You - ALam 20:16:54 10/15/01 ( 6)
- I don't compare it with a receiver cause I don't have one... - Mellson 14:55:26 10/18/01 ( 0)
- Great post well said - Ricky W 06:39:30 10/16/01 ( 4)
- that was a stupid post and he is as clueless as most of us.nt - Mellson 14:59:59 10/18/01 ( 0)
- Re: Great post well said - PJ 07:35:58 10/16/01 ( 1)
- Re: Great post well said - Ricky W 09:23:38 10/16/01 ( 0)
- Re: Great post well said - Juan G 07:21:20 10/16/01 ( 0)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - tkp 17:08:52 10/15/01 ( 0)
nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - mbarnes@norh.com 04:26:16 10/14/01 ( 28)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - JohnR 11:38:20 10/14/01 ( 11)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - mbarnes 05:50:00 10/15/01 ( 5)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - PJ 07:42:03 10/15/01 ( 4)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - mbarnes 06:43:57 10/16/01 ( 3)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - JohnR 11:59:31 10/16/01 ( 2)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - john curl 15:36:55 10/16/01 ( 1)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - john curl 15:41:24 10/16/01 ( 0)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - mbarnes 22:23:54 10/14/01 ( 4)
- Power ratings - Spunky 09:35:19 10/16/01 ( 2)
- Re: Power ratings - john curl 10:20:19 10/16/01 ( 1)
- Re: Power ratings - Spunky 18:49:35 10/16/01 ( 0)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - elyor 03:40:26 10/15/01 ( 0)
Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - Brian Cheney 08:37:03 10/14/01 ( 15)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - mbarnes@norh.com 10:00:42 10/14/01 ( 14)
- Re: nOhr Le Amp Amplifier (SS) - john curl 15:25:22 10/15/01 ( 0)
- A modest proposal - Brian Cheney 11:39:18 10/14/01 ( 12)
- Re: A modest proposal - mbarnes 08:56:20 10/15/01 ( 3)
- Re: A modest proposal -- at last!! - Bruce from DC 06:51:30 10/16/01 ( 1)
- Re: A modest proposal -- at last!! - john curl 10:21:58 10/16/01 ( 0)
- Re: A modest proposal - Brian Cheney 09:04:23 10/15/01 ( 0)
TDA 7294 specs - Brian Cheney 14:49:37 10/14/01 ( 7)
- Re: TDA 7294 specs - tkp 19:23:34 10/14/01 ( 5)
- Re: TDA 7294 specs - john curl 10:23:45 10/16/01 ( 1)
- Re: TDA 7294 specs - Brian Cheney 11:12:09 10/16/01 ( 0)
- Re: TDA 7294 specs - Brian Cheney 20:48:09 10/14/01 ( 2)
- Re: TDA 7294 specs - mbarnes 06:45:51 10/16/01 ( 0)
- Re: TDA 7294 specs - tkp 21:01:11 10/14/01 ( 0)
Re: TDA 7294 specs - MikeCh 15:32:03 10/14/01 ( 0)
Why not cut and paste? - Ears 22:03:13 10/13/01 ( 5)
- Re: Why not cut and paste? - Brian Cheney 22:14:18 10/13/01 ( 4)
- Simple enough. - Ears 03:20:23 10/14/01 ( 3)
- Re: Simple enough. - Jon Risch 09:17:09 10/14/01 ( 0)
- Re: Simple enough. - Brian Cheney 08:38:19 10/14/01 ( 1)
- Re: Simple enough. - Ears 13:10:52 10/14/01 ( 0)