High powered amp with DR200s?

[DJ Higgumz]

I am looking at a Lab Gruppen clone FP10000Q amp, and its rated at 1350w @ 8 ohms per channel, 4 channels total and 2x 5000 watts bridged @ 4 ohms. That nets me 2x183v of power, meaning I could run 4 16 ohm T60 duallies off of one bridge, and 6 Dr200s off of the other 2 non bridge in a 30lb 2u amp. Obviously those 200s won't barely sip that power am I correct? Would I have any issues controlling the volume with such a hot amp? It says it has selectable voltage gain settings, I assume the dip switches are for that and they aren't talking about the volume knobs.

On a second note, Will I trip breakers with this kind of power, and would I have the 3 phase stove type plugs in venues of that size available? Would I be better off with 2+ smaller amps ran on separate 20 amp circuits?

[DJPhatman]

Running ANY amp at 4 Ohms bridged is as bad, or worse, than running it at 2 Ohms per channel. This means high heat output. And heat shortens the life of electronics. I, personally, won't do it except when absolutely necessary. And, why not run 2 series-wired T60s, in parallel, on each channel? At the claimed power, it will output over 100V at 8 Ohms, with headroom, which is the hard limit for Lab 12s series wired.

Lab Gruppen clone FP10000Q amp

This tells me it is most likely a chinese rip-off, and will not have anywhere near the build quality of a real Lab Gruppen. You are investing all this time and money to develop a system that will absolutely devastate anywhere but the largest stadiums, and now you are going to "cheap-out" on the amps? Have you learned nothing on here, and your own experiences? Buy once, cry once. Spend the extra $$$ now for a known high quality amplifier capable of outputting enough voltage swing to your cabinets.

For the DR200s, the mid-tops don't require as much power to get loud, but running 3 per side of an amp will not allow for power-shading, making your 3 high array a lot less effective.

[DJ Higgumz]

They are Chinese rip offs, but they are not cheaply built. There have been extensive testing along with a large thread on these particular amps. And yes I could run them at 8 ohms that was a brain fart on my part. I would run the 200s with the top 4 wired parallel-series, then the bottom two parallel to allow shading

[sine143]

way overkill.

you will trip breakers 20 amp breakers

The only person who can tell you if you'll have access to 3 phase power (for distro purposes) is you or the venue owner.


only 1 venue in town has 3phase readily available in my parts.

also, you can run 6 series wired (inside box) dual t60 in parallel PER SIDE of that amp.

[byacey]

20A x 120V= 2400 Watts. Subtract 10% for amp inefficiencies and you're down to about 2160W of output when the 20A breaker flips.

Most range plugs I've ever seen are 2 legs of single phase @ 40A, yielding about 9600 watts.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

If you're going to power a lot of DR200s with one amp build them with 16 ohm Delta Pro 8Bs.

[gdougherty]

I'm a fan of lightweight amp racks, but I'm also a fan of redundancy. I have a pair of sub amps so ideally I run everything 1:1 on its own channel. Given a failure or some other redeployment need I can link everything and use a single amp, albeit with reduced output capability, but the show will go on.

Relying on one single large amp that may give you power headaches is not the route I'd go. I'd rather have two large amps that can coast along most of the time without generating massive amounts of amp killing heat.

[Bruce Weldy]

I'd rather have two large amps that can coast along most of the time without generating massive amounts of amp killing heat.

+1

When I recently added two more subs, I considered going to a single, more powerful amp. But, after considering the possibilities, I ended up just adding one more of the same amp - bringing it to three sub amps to run 6 boxes. While I can't double up if I drop an amp (running 'em all bridged), I'll at least have two-thirds of my subs still running. And anytime I'm running less than 6, I have a full amp on reserve. Yesterday, I only used one of the three. The redundancy is a nice feeling.

Plus, I carry an extra amp for a little more redundancy on the mains or monitors. At the price of the lightweight amps nowadays, it's just silly to be caught short.....and it will happen...not if, but when.