MC250 vs. Rocktron V300

[TI4-1009]

And by the way, I spent every summer of my life, until age 14, in Ellenville!

I spent a weekend in nearby Bethel back in 1969.....

Wow wow, so did I! Been back a few times since too! Going there this Saturday to see Furthur. Can't wait!

Did ya make it to Watkins Glen too?

Yup. I see Phish was at Watkins Glen two weeks ago for their Ball. 30,000 people. The place must have looked almost empty with 570,000 fewer people than we had "back in the day"

[hippieguy1954]

Yup. I see Phish was at Watkins Glen two weeks ago for their Ball. 30,000 people. The place must have looked almost empty with 570,000 fewer people than we had "back in the day"

Yea, things were different then. Was a magical, new time for music and society! We are lucky to have lived it and lucky to have made it through it.

[hippieguy1954]

Spoke to Rocktron today just for clarification. They told me If you run the Velocity in the bridged mode, and you connect one 8ohm speaker to one output and one 8ohm speaker to the other output your getting 300 watts to each speaker at 4 ohms because the outputs for the bridged channel are wired in parallel. I've been running it this way (even though they don't recomend it) for a while because I don't turn it up past 4 or 5 and like the way the 300 watts clips the E 120's a little, but have noticed that the cooling fans do run a lot. Just thought I'd mention it.

[wolftigerrosebud]

The cooling fans are running higher because running the amplifier at 4 ohms instead of 8 works it harder. If you push it too hard with the way you have it configured now, you risk damaging the speakers, having the amp shut itself off, overheating, or having it die completely. It sounds like you're trying to get the sound of a McIntosh out of this power amp, which isn't really designed for that. Might you just go with the Mac? You'd get the clipping sound without potentially damaging your rig.

[hippieguy1954]

The cooling fans are running higher because running the amplifier at 4 ohms instead of 8 works it harder. If you push it too hard with the way you have it configured now, you risk damaging the speakers, having the amp shut itself off, overheating, or having it die completely. It sounds like you're trying to get the sound of a McIntosh out of this power amp, which isn't really designed for that. Might you just go with the Mac? You'd get the clipping sound without potentially damaging your rig.

I have changed the configuration, because I know I'm flirting with the amps ability. Now I have two 2x12 16amp cabs (i wired the 8 ohm E120 speakers in series, in each cab) running into the parallel out puts of the bridged/mono channel for a total load of 8 amps and 300 watts! The speakers are rated at 300 watts, so no worry there. I would have to run the Rocktron at full power and some to cause any speaker damage. Even with this configuration I can get the SMS classic to clip the Rocktron, if I want. I would go for a Mac, but would only want the 2300 and they go for $2500 or so.

[wolftigerrosebud]

Right on, good thinking. Sounds like you know more about electronics than I do; I just didn't know if you understood the risk of running a lower impedance. Evidently, you do.

I feel you on the price issue, too. Just figured you might be one of those guys who has no issues with price. I, however, am not one of those folks, either, and my V300 has served me well.

[hippieguy1954]

Right on, good thinking. Sounds like you know more about electronics than I do; I just didn't know if you understood the risk of running a lower impedance. Evidently, you do.

I feel you on the price issue, too. Just figured you might be one of those guys who has no issues with price. I, however, am not one of those folks, either, and my V300 has served me well.

I try to know what I'm doin, but before I spoke to Rocktron I didn't realize the out puts for the bridged/mono are wired in parallel. So, now that I know that, I made the changes. I really only wanted to use two 8 ohm speakers, but the only two ways to get all 300 watts with 8 ohm speakers is to use only one speaker or use four in the configuration I mentioned in my last post: 2 (2x12 cabs wired in series for 16 amps each) one plugged into each bridged/mono output for a 8 ohm load at 300 watts.
I also do like the Rocktron V300 a lot and find it does what I need. The only thing they could do to make it better would be making it so it can handle a 4 omh load when bridged. Glad I didn't screw it up!