Which basic amps can drive 1 ohm loads ?


Which amps will drive 1 ohm loads like Apogee Speakers?
seadogs1

Showing 7 responses by ritteri

Yep I third Aragon. Palladiums will delivery over 1000(1500 on dynamic peaks roughly) watts at under 2 ohms.
Muralman: Just read over some of your responses. Aragon Palladiums can rum 1 ohm and below with realitve ease. Very underrated amp,especially for driving extreme low impedance loads. Awhile back we did a lil test running 4(at one point we had 6 speakers in total running off of one channel, but the last pair were 6 ohm nominal speakers) true 4 ohm nominal speakers in parallel off of one channel back in 98'. She ran the load all day long(which is a serious statement)at moderate volume with no overheating issues whatsoever. If your wall has the current, the Aragon's will deliver, and they will do it reliably. Too bad Klipsh owns em now. I believe the Palladium 1k's are going to be discontinued real soon. They are the last of the truely industrial quality amps built by this company.
Mural: You should tear an Aragon apart, like I stated the amps capabilities are far underrated which is a shame. Even though the heatsinks look small in the configuration their in, its actually surprising the actual surface area of them. The amps run relatively cool with a nominal 3-4 ohm load putting out about 6-800 watts, under 2 ohms they do get hot. But Dynamics really arent a problem for this amp. 1500 watt dynamic peaks at 2 ohms or less is nothing to sneeze at. And I kinda think thats more than enough power for concert level sound levels in even really large rooms wouldnt you say? Now as for how long they would run at this impedance, yes, thats something I never did or tried with them for long listening sessions at a time(nor found the need to really as there arent many speakers made with a 2 ohm nominal load or lower) at maximum volume capabilities. But talking with a few techs a few years back at Mondial Designs, I was told that if each monoblock is given its own dedicated 20amp circuit(which they should really be on to begin with), they would run ANY speaker and are completely stable down to below a half ohm if driven within their(with caution not to overdrive the output stage) capabilites.
Im sure you do have plenty of real world experience, but so do I, with ALOT of different gear in countless configurations(yes I used to be a dealer for alot of high end gear in Ma. and RI.).And I probably have just as much if not more real world experience with what an Aragon amplifier is capable of. No Im not a dealer anymore, nor have I been for the last 3-4 years(got out of the business at just the right time before the tradgedy in NYC)but I do have solid experience with Aragon's running Apogee speakers with ease, as back in 97-98' I sold a few pairs of the older Palladium's to folks with low impedance Apogee speakers. To this day I know that at least 1 of my old customers is still running the combo and enjoying it as much today as he did when he first purchased them 6 years back.

What Im adamant about is a statement that these amps cant run low impedances reliably for extneded periods at high output volumes when I know for a fact this is the farthest thing from the truth.
http://www.apogeespeakers.totalserve.co.uk/scintilla.htm

Though the thread is a bit old, this is geared towards Muralman.

Aragon Paaladium true specs(not their conservatively posted specs):

8 ohms: 150 watts in class A operation, 500 watts in Class AB(listed: 125 watts CLass A, 400 watts Class AB)
4 ohms:80 watts Class A operation, 850 watts in class AB(no rating given for class A, 600 watts given RMS for class AB)
2 ohms:45 watts Class A,1400 watts Class AB(listed rating for 1000 watts RMS)
1 ohm: 25 watts Class A, >1500 watts Class AB(no listed rating. But Palladiums are recommended to be on seperate 20amp circuits if driving loads 2ohms or lower regardless)
.5ohms:15 watts Class A, >1500 watts class AB(no listed rating)

Though Ive heard a few folks state that the amp doesnt fully "double down" its output rating as the impedance drops, Id like to point out that NO AMP can double down its true output, no matter what the mfg. claims. Alot of amps state that they can to some extent, but in reality its not physically possible.

Each Palladium is a true differential balanced monoblock. Each block features a 2000kVA Toroidal with 140,000uf capacitance, 24 output devices that are rated for a total of 2400 watts per side maximum.Heatsink mass is also very similiar to the x600's btw muralman, and is LESS than 10% in total mass surprisingly which is in line with all the other specs on the amp in reality. The 8008BB is basically half the ratings listed above, the 4004mkII is also very similiar with less output. All 3 can drive Scintillas with ease. And I know of a handfull of folks driving Apogee 1 ohm speakers with Aragon products(Along with some older Krell models too)as stated earlier.
One last thing too, I have heard of and seen 4004 amps overheat due to their heatsink mass being substantially less(about 50% less) than the newer 8008/Palladium models.
Muralman: You are 100% correct. THe X600 Passlabs monoblocks do have 4000kVA toroidals. But unless these monoblocks are running on 230 volts, its useless. If the X600's are running on 110 household current, its not going to matter if its a 2000kVA,3000kVA or 4000kVA toroidal. For the x600's to run their very best and put out their best dynamics they neeed 230volts. The palladiums were designed to 100% maximise basic 110volt 20 amp lines and no more. As for capacitance, the x600's have 180,00uf per side, about 20% more, but again its needed, especially if your on the heavy juice. As for the biasing for class A, the Palladiums actually put out a bit more than the x600's in this configuration across the impedance range. Dont get me wrong, the x600's and x1000's are one of my favorite pairs of SS amps, but there is no denying how close both amp pairs are in terms of power and SQ in reality. I would give the x600's the edge for powering a pair of inefficient 1 ohm speakers, but thats a really small edge, especially if your on 110volt juice.