Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Help! I think I need more power.

There are a number of forums on the web regarding swapping out "noisy fans" on pro amps for home use. Charles, how much heat does your amp put out without the fans if you push it? The noisy fan(s) are one of the concerns I have if I were to get a pro amp. You use an external fan just in case don't you? I think I saw one of your posts where you had a fan off to the side of your amp.

When you get a chance, have a look at some of the EPX amps from Behringer and the Tapco(Mackie) J2500...these are also class "H" amps, and see how they compare to the GX-5. Also compare the Behr'er EP and Tapco J1400 to the GX-3....some of the similarities are uncanny. Whether this is a case of copying, subbing to the same production company or if all these amp builders basically ended up with the same design conclusions, I don't know. Maybe one of the tech guys here can enlighten us/me a little.

On the low current rail it stays cold - really, feels less than room temp, but just because it is metal. Comports with the low wattage needed for normal sound principle. When the high rail kicks int, you can cook on it without a fan. The external fan is nice b/c you can easily unplug it if don't want to run it hard, and when running hard, you can't hear the external fans anyway.

You cold replace the internal fan without much work at all. but the cause of the noise is the cheap mounting system, not so much the fan, and I did not want to mess around with better options to mount the fan.

I'll try to look at those other amps. I should have taken a pic with the amp opened up.

Charles, here is some pictures of the internals of these amps I mentioned. Scroll down to see the pics.

Well, they're not quite identical. Similar designs, certainly, but hardly identical.

That was not a pic of the GX, not from what i recall anyway. I agree they look similar in layout, but you can see they are built to different specs. Look at the caps, they are different sizes in each.

Zimm - do the amps you are using have current sensing so that they turn themselves on when they get a signal, or do you have to find some other way to sync the 'on/off' to when your AVR turns on and off? (or are they really easy and have a remote control that turns them on/off)

Thanks,

Jason

I forgot that pain in rear part, you must flip the switch. If you get a IR controlled outlet it would work, but it is easy for me to turn it on/off since it is in the open. But yes, that is another issue you have to deal with. Bit of a pain, but livable.

Do your receiver and amp have triggers you could use?

There are a couple of other similar amps besides those ones(EAW CAZ800/1400/2500). I guess the point I'm trying to get at, is that like many other branded products, some of these amps(despite some spec diff's) are likely being subbed out to the same manufacturer offshore.

From what Zimm wrote back, the amp does not. And in my case, neither does my receiver. (Denon 3808)

It has an outlet on it, but not one into which you'd want to plug a 4 million watt amp like Zimm is using.