I Need amplifier for 4 height speakers.

[aceinc]

I installed 4 speakers for height (Atmos, DTS...) a while back. I was using a Sherbourn 5/1500A to power them because I had it laying around. Fast Forward a few months I decide I want to increase the volume of the height channels so I start running the pink noise generator and my back two channels are sputtering and cutting out. I contact Emotiva, who bought Sherbourn, and they were very responsive, but the cost to repair after shipping will be ~$500. Bummer... This replaces relays on all 5 channels as well as capacitors, so it sounds like a reasonable price for parts & labor. This seems to be a common problem with this amp.

So I start looking around and I see I can build some class D amps for about $300 per stereo unit. I would end up with new amps for about $600 but they would be class D and lower power than the Sherbourn.

I check into Professional amps, after all these are height channels, mainly for SX anyway. I found a 4 channel brand X Class D Pro amp which advertises 300 W RMS at 8 ohms for $300 with free shipping. (their hype ad is 9,600 watts).

I thought I'd see if anyone has had any experience with this company and what is the general consensus.

MUSYSIC Professional 4-Channels 2x9600 Watts D-Class 1U Power Amplifier MU-D9600

I would have posted a link but the system accused me of spamming.

 

[jshillin]

The amp only weighs 13lbs, but I wouldn't expect much out of it.

 

[aceinc]

The amp only weighs 13lbs, but I wouldn't expect much out of it.

Yeah, I know what you mean, but Class D doesn't have to be heavy.

 

[aceinc]

The plot thickens;

I decided to pull the Sherbourn amp out of the cabinet. I have 3 other 2 channel amps (only need 4 channels) I can use while I decide what to do ( a Crown K1, an NAD PE 2200 and an Adcom GFA 555 II) . Once I got the amp out I decided to open the top & look around. Nothing really to see (for a dilettante) everything looked solid.

For fun I decided to test the Sherbourn, I used a pair of KEF 102.1s (4 ohm speakers) I have laying about, hooked them up to the two outside channels and plugged my cell phone/YouTube in to the RCA jacks as a source. Everything sounded fine. So I tried the other channels in the Sherbourn. ran each one for at least 5 minutes with no issues. I used the same patch cables (amp to wall/speakers cables). I also tried pink noise. No sputtering or cut outs.

I took my Adcom amp and plugged it into the jacks for the two ceiling speakers using the same source, I had no problem.

I brought out my Crown K1 the only other spare amp I have which has XLR inputs and hooked it up to the sound processor and rear height speakers. Ran tests and everything seems fine.

Does anyone have additional suggestions as far as diagnostic things I should try?

I could put everything back together, but jockeying an 80 lbs amplifier around ism't a lot of fun.