Phase Linear 400 Amplifier Questions

[Northwinds]

I can lay the meters flat to the right for hours at a time with my WO'd FC 400, I do it daily

Getting a little tired about people perpetuating the flame linear urban legend. The amps that did that were abused being made to do things they were not designed for... I can show you Lee's ancient Aerosmith 400 still pushing hard in the garage after years of Pro use by Aerosmith and others who rented it from Handley Sound. Out of something like 20+ Aerosmith PL700 and 700B amps, only one was flamed and that's because one of the huge reserve power caps spewed

Let's see some of the talking heads do this with their amps and expect it to survive and not destroy their speakers with clipping... I have yet to get my amp to clip. The WO upgrades are phenomenal

I apologize for the SQ, the camera mic can't handle the SPL's. Playing a MFSL 24kt Boston Third Stage CD in the below vid. Not a hint of distortion or clipping and pushing 300w's easy. I did not even have to turn on the dual fans for the length of the disc, it stayed fairly cool and she has more to give, I just don't have speakers that can take much more

I do recommend that anyone with a stock Series 1 to get the DC protection, never have to worry about taking out a set of speakers. Do the full monty WO Full Comp upgrades and you will have an amp that will last your lifetime and probably your kids to

http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v514/maxwedge426/DSCF7335_zpskrsscsda.mp4

 

[barkerd]

Lots of misinformation on these amps. The "rep" they have is usualy the result of P.A. use or home use that resembles P.A. use (WOT for many hours) . The only ones I know that have "flamed" in consumer home use have already been abused or were in the process of being abused.
There are protection circuits around (ak'er d3imlay makes one which I have used to my statisfaction)
At this stage an original unit's components are pretty much beyond their original intended lifespan. Get it rebuilt / upgraded. For the two I have all ceramic resistors were replaced with metal film, bridge amperage was doubled and filter capacitance was about tripled. I have about $800 into each total. If someone said "I want that" and insisted on buying new I think you would have to go to a $3k Bryston to be in the ball park. My recently departed tech (excellent guy / was a tech for over 50 years) was absolutely blown away by how good the reworked PL400 sounded .... he had a few favourite recordings that only "the best" amps could resolve certain parts of : and the PL400 could. Love the big meters / love the power.

 

[Gibsonian]

I can lay the meters flat to the right for hours at a time with my WO'd FC 400, I do it daily

Getting a little tired about people perpetuating the flame linear urban legend. The amps that did that were abused being made to do things they were not designed for... I can show you Lee's ancient Aerosmith 400 still pushing hard in the garage after years of Pro use by Aerosmith and others who rented it from Handley Sound. Out of something like 20+ Aerosmith PL700 and 700B amps, only one was flamed and that's because one of the huge reserve power caps spewed

Let's see some of the talking heads do this with their amps and expect it to survive and not destroy their speakers with clipping... I have yet to get my amp to clip. The WO upgrades are phenomenal

I apologize for the SQ, the camera mic can't handle the SPL's. Playing a MFSL 24kt Boston Third Stage CD in the below vid. Not a hint of distortion or clipping and pushing 300w's easy. I did not even have to turn on the dual fans for the length of the disc, it stayed fairly cool and she has more to give, I just don't have speakers that can take much more

I do recommend that anyone with a stock Series 1 to get the DC protection, never have to worry about taking out a set of speakers. Do the full monty WO Full Comp upgrades and you will have an amp that will last your lifetime and probably your kids to

http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v514/maxwedge426/DSCF7335_zpskrsscsda.mp4

That was some major meter pegging!

 

[Northwinds]

Lots of misinformation on these amps. The "rep" they have is usualy the result of P.A. use or home use that resembles P.A. use (WOT for many hours) . The only ones I know that have "flamed" in consumer home use have already been abused or were in the process of being abused.
There are protection circuits around (ak'er d3imlay makes one which I have used to my statisfaction)
At this stage an original unit's components are pretty much beyond their original intended lifespan. Get it rebuilt / upgraded. For the two I have all ceramic resistors were replaced with metal film, bridge amperage was doubled and filter capacitance was about tripled. I have about $800 into each total. If someone said "I want that" and insisted on buying new I think you would have to go to a $3k Bryston to be in the ball park. My recently departed tech (excellent guy / was a tech for over 50 years) was absolutely blown away by how good the reworked PL400 sounded .... he had a few favourite recordings that only "the best" amps could resolve certain parts of : and the PL400 could. Love the big meters / love the power.

Amen Brother, unbelievable amps

 

[8golftango]

I really need to get my ass in gear and order the driver board for mine

 

[laatsch55]

I really need to get my ass in gear and order the driver board for mine

Yep.....

 

[Mamrak1]

I owned a Phase Linear 400 for at least 10 years with out any problems. God knows I drove that amp hard. I had the hard wood case to go with it. Just beautiful!

 

[zebulon1]

OR you can PM me for his Yahoo email address.
I just finished two PL 700 upgrades using both the White Oak and Watts Abundant Kit's.
Great People to work with!

Below is the full Quasi upgrade with the cool blue LED kit. Protection from WA and the WO universal driver board and LED Kit.
WO recommends using the MJ21196 outputs to take advantage of the newer technology.
The driver board is designed for them.
The whole upgrade took about 9 hours or so to complete.

I am kinda happy with the outcome. Had to brag a little.

 

[vsat88]

OR you can PM me for his Yahoo email address.
I just finished two PL 700 upgrades using both the White Oak and Watts Abundant Kit's.
Great People to work with!

Below is the full Quasi upgrade with the cool blue LED kit. Protection from WA and the WO universal driver board and LED Kit.
WO recommends using the MJ21196 outputs to take advantage of the newer technology.
The driver board is designed for them.
The whole upgrade took about 9 hours or so to complete.

I am kinda happy with the outcome. Had to brag a little.

View attachment 780398

View attachment 780399

That is what I am talking about ! Bragging rights yes, you have them..No doubt !