360 Watt MCM Plate Amp / Please help (1 Viewer)

[Mark>Som]

has anyone purchased the 360 watt MCM plate amp? Any comments or concerns. Someone stated that the THD is rated at 250watt at 4 ohms. What does that mean?

I want to use this to drive a 12" shiva or the tempest.

Please help.

 

[Brent_S]

Hi, I'm the one who pointed out that MCM is spec'ing the amp output power at 360 watts into 4 ohms, but they only rate the THD figure at 250 watts of output. THD is total harmonic distortion. The spec tells you how much distortion is measured at a given power output.

The point I was trying to make to the poster's question was that by showing the THD spec at 250 watts, but calling it a 360 watt amp made me wonder if the true output was more realistically 250 watts, like the similarly priced plate amps sold by Parts Express. Since he wasn't getting any feedback about MCM, I suggested he should consider the PE amps since there's a generally positive public body of knowledge on them and the true useable output power was most likely equal.

Subsequent posts by others who had purchased the MCM amp seem to indicate it's fine. The MCM THD specs just leads me to believe you're not getting a 360 watt amp for the same price as PE's 250 watt amp, but more likely you're getting the same power for the same price with either supplier.

From a strictly performance point of a view, if we assume the MCM can truly produce 360 watts and the PE only 250, you're only talking about maybe a 1-1.5 db increase in volume with the 360, all else being equal. To get a full 3db increase over the 250, you'd need 500 watts.

Brent

 

[Wayne Ernst]

Brent, Then there's also the issue that MCM did a "copy and paste" of their specs from the 250 watt amp - and didn't update the distortion figures based on the more powerful amp.

I'll guess we'll never know unless MCM makes a correction to their Web site - or confirms the numbers reported for the 360 watt amp are accurate.

 

[JohnSer]

I have two of the 250W plate amps from PE, and have been happy with them driving a first gen Shiva and PE 12" DVC. Also check out the Apex Sr (bigger version of PE amp) and the CVT300S, which someone mentioned is a better bargain. ApexJr Website

JohnS

 

[Mark>Som]

PE has a 250 amp. There is 2 versions. one with bass boast at 30Hz and one without. What is best?

 

[JohnSer]

Mark>Som: The difference is only a couple of resistors. If you are building a ported sub, you don't want the boost. If sealed, you may want the boost, depending on room and alignment. May want slightly less or more boost. There is some info on the web on how to change and adjust the boost. I just don't have the links right now.

JohnS