Phoenix Gold Phorum

While I was visiting Brian in Corvallis for the dabor, I had to make a stop through P-town to get some one-on-one time with the MPH6300. We haven't had many good pics of it yet so I thought some of you might appreciate a detailed look of this monster. Make no mistake: this amp is a complete beast. It weighs more than I do!

I uploaded all of my pics here:
http://photo.stipud.com/v/stereo/mph6300/

This one makes a nice wallpaper
http://photo.stipud.com/d/13696-1/IMG_7204.jpg

Note you can get the full 10mp images by clicking on the picture once more after the thumbnails page.

A few of the highlights:

It has some nice cosmetic metal work, such as the tops to the inductors and the wire clamps. But aside from that plus the time required to design it, I'm not sure where the money went? Considering the hype and made up price list.

That amp needs to have its capacitors replaced...



On a more serious note, that is very impressive. I personally think it would work as well. Everything needed is right there exposed. If it were powered on though, I would use a 5A fuse first (which might actually blow from the idle current demands), then go to a 10A or 15A to use it.

KUB3 wrote:It has some nice cosmetic metal work, such as the tops to the inductors and the wire clamps. But aside from that plus the time required to design it, I'm not sure where the money went? Considering the hype and made up price list.

so what would you think it would cost design and build one of these from the ground up?

KUB3 wrote:It has some nice cosmetic metal work, such as the tops to the inductors and the wire clamps. But aside from that plus the time required to design it, I'm not sure where the money went? Considering the hype and made up price list.

If this were an actual production amp, I would guess it to be $2,000 to $3,000 in cost. It all depends on the quantity. All the metal work on this one was hand made, and probably hand assembled. It is not worth $99,000, but that price tag was for marketing purposes.

The closest amp to this is either the Reactor or the Octane LE as far as production complexity and cost is concerned. Both of which used off the shelf boards, but custom metal work, so they would be less in cost. However, the MPH6300 has custom boards, but not really a custom heatsink (from what I can tell in photos). I think the heatsink is the same extrusion as a MS, but I have no real evidence of that.

so does the heat sink look like a normal ms amp? I have never seen the back or the other end
does it have a normal ms end cap with real gold letters..lol
very very nice

Scratch that last half of my last post. The heatsink is not a MS heatsink.

This amp has 3 boards in it, each of which is a 2-channel on its own. That helps cut costs. Board development might have been pretty low, as each 2-channel board is really not any more complex than a M25 board is. Maybe even simpler.

I agree Eric I remeber the total cost to built make the parts, gold and pay the staff to make it was some were in the 20k mark

make it run!

I asked Harold about this piece when I meet up with him this last friday to get my TI and PLD1 stuff from him!

I would love to see this in person!

ttocs wrote:

KUB3 wrote:It has some nice cosmetic metal work, such as the tops to the inductors and the wire clamps. But aside from that plus the time required to design it, I'm not sure where the money went? Considering the hype and made up price list.

so what would you think it would cost design and build one of these from the ground up?

No idea. How much is a competent amp designer paid per hour? How long would they spend designing this? Multiply the two. Hence why I said aside from the design costs.

In reality a company would most likely have their existing staff design this in down time. So it should cost very little to PG in terms of design. They clearly did not expect to sell any, so it was pure marketing anyway.

Tom, these photos are a big help! Thanks for posting them.

What I am seeing is 6 almost completely independent channels. Each channel has the following...

1 Input nulling toroid shared with another channel
6 2,200uF (most likely) supply caps shared with another channel
1 PWM controller for the single channel
2 TO3 transistors for power supply switching
1 transformer
1 power supply filtration coil
2 high speed rail capacitors (one for +, one for -)
2 high capacity rail capacitors (one for +, one for -)
2 TO3 output transistors
2 High quality heatsinked Dale emitter resistors

Now, my numbers don't match the numbers on the info about the amp. 18 power supply transistors? That would mean 3 per power supply, and I have never seen an amp with an odd number. You need even numbers so you get a balanced "push-pull" on the transformer. Maybe it only switches in one direction. This would be less efficient, but might reduce power supply noise.

24 output transistors? I count only 12 heatsinked resistors and 12 other large resistors standing off the board near the heatsinked ones. I suppose there could be two types per channel, for a total of 4 transistors per channel, but using different resistors does not make much sense to me. They should be matched in brand, type, and value, for load balancing.

kinda reminds me of a sony xm2100r, a money no object project only sony had the balls to produce them and sell 'em

that amp has more gold than all of Mister.T's gold chains combined maybe thats where the money went. i cant help but wonder the actual output of that amp.of course i could justify hooking up my 300 amp alternator to power that battelship.i guess you would need more than a 300 amp alternator with 400 amp max current draw if they even make a more powerful alt now. what speakers would you use on it and could they handle it im sure with that low of a thd on that size amp i could find a way.

What is under the big top ...
Photo Please

Sorry I totally forgot to get a picture of the backside

There is nothing under that plate... there is actually a gap on the top of that amplifier. I think this is where the crossover probably would have slotted in, if it was ever made.

Harold, does the wooden mockup crossover fit in there at all? Also could you get these guys a pic of the top? Come to think of it I think Paul got one.

How do RCA signals make their way to the boards? I don't see anything for this off hand.

Never mind, I figured it out...

I only snapped 3 pictures, but here's what I got.

After seeing those three photos, that amp is kind of a piece of junk.

But don't get me wrong or anything. It is the look that "only a mother could love". Despite the downright awful fit and finish, I still want it just as much today as I did yesterday.

some of that could also be due to it flying around to trade shows for 12+ years, then getting shuffled around PG for the last 4....in no box.

the first time i saw it they had to dig through a pile of cardboard to find it.

It could use about 40 hours of cleaning work done to it for sure.....

I have always wanted one from day 1. How in the hell numbnutz here gets his hands on both the MPH6300 and the MPH10K is beyond me. IF he ever sells it, it better go to one of us here in the family. If it doesn't, I'll hunt him down and beat him with Brain's pole!!!!

Power wise, I think it wouldn't need the use of an alt as high as 30 ampere. A stock 145 ampere my truck has I would think to be enough. Just because it's huge as hell doesn't mean it's power as hell too.

smgreen20 wrote:I have always wanted one from day 1. How in the hell SWEETnutz here gets his hands on both the MPH6300 and the MPH10K is beyond me. IF he ever sells it, it better go to one of us here in the family. If it doesn't, I'll smoke Brian's pole.........

Fixed that.....