Review Chord SPM 1200E

[Spacebass]

Ik zag het ja...   Ik heb hem op de Doelen show ook behoorlijk kritisch toegesproken...

En terecht zou ik zeggen! 

[Del member]

Dat zinnetje "waar ik van weet" zegt mij genoeg. Hij baseert uiteindelijk z'n opinie wel ergens op, dus wil ik wel weten wat hij dan allemaal heeft geluisterd. Blijkbaar Jeff Rowland apparatuur wel. Is een gemis in zo'n artikel.

Vond het artikeltje ook maar niets, alsof alle apparatuur met geschakelde voedingen te vermijden is. Veel indruk heeft het niet gemaakt en het heeft weinig veranderd aan de beslissign een eAR versterker uit Denemarken te importeren. Met de eAR is het tegendeel bewezen. Trouwens, Jeff Rowland gebruikt ook de geschakelde ICE modules van B&O waar eAR zich op toegespitst heeft ze nog verder te verfijnen door zware tweaking. Peter Thomsen (oprichter eAR) heeft me trouwens afgelopen zondag tijdens een telefoongesprek uitgedaagd om een ingespeelde eAR eens naast een Jeff Rowland te zetten 

Misschien moet Speet maar eens voor een Jeff Rowland zorgen, kunnen we eens lekker A/B'en en dan kan hij zijn mening over digitale versterkers van de concurrentie eens grondig herzien.

[eduard]

Vandaag ben ik er achter gekomen dat mijn op merking betreffende de geschakelde voeding en mij Ear power amp niet terecht waren. De Ear power amp blijkt helemaal geen geschakelde voeding te hebben.

[garmtz]

Mailwisseling gehad met Chord over lichtnetfiltering e.d.:

Hi Garmt,

   The Chord power supply uses both capacitive and inductive
filtering on both the AC input and the DC output. The main
benefit of a switched mode power supply is that any noise
present on the input is switched to very high frequency
( 80 - 100 KHz in our case )and so cannot affect the low frequency
audio band. I hope this helps you and as Owen mentioned there
should ( please check this Owen ) be a more technical white
paper on the power supply function and operation on the web.

I have not personally experimented with power cords but I know
a lot of our customers have with varying results. Technically
the way in which the power supply has been designed should mean
that the power cord has less of an effect than with other amplifiers.
Although I cannot endorse any particular brand of cable please
feel free to experiment but just make sure that the cable is
properly earthed.

Regards,

Matt

-----Original Message-----
Sent: 25 June 2004 14:39
To: Owen Maddock
Cc: Matt Bartlett
Subject: RE: Technical Question about mains filtering


Hi Owen,

Thanks for your reply!

I completely agree with you, especially when you tell
me it takes away dynamics and 'life', because that is
exactly what I am hearing!

Matt, could you tell me what kind of mains filtering is
used in the Chord amps? Or is the filtering part of the
inherent working of the switched power supply?

Has Chord ever experimented with different power cords?

Thanks!

Kind regards,

Garmt

> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: donderdag 24 juni 2004 14:18
> Cc: Matt Bartlett
> Subject: RE: Technical Question about mains filtering
>
>
> Dear Garmt,
>
> Nice to hear from you again.
>
> Tell Mr Kemp, he can tell us what to do in design when he has
> made an amplifier that performs as well as your Chords :-)
>
> Just kidding.
>
> But certainly, we have yet to find a third party mains
> product that improves the sound at all - generally we find
> that they take away dynamics and 'life'. 
>
> With those traditionally designed products (big mains
> transformer, etc etc) we can see how there might be
> improvements with the third party products, but to us this is
> one more reason not to design amplifiers in that way...
>
> The easiest way to think about it, is that the Chord PSU
> operates at the kHz level, whereas the traditional designs
> operate much slower, at the mains frequency - 50 or 60Hz
> depending on where you live.  We don't spend much time
> investigating other people's filters, but our guess would be
> that they are simply unable to supply current quickly enough
> on demand, hence the dynamics and transient performance -
> areas in which we are very, very strong - suffer. 
> Unsurprising if the filter was designed around all those
> other amps in the market which use old technology :-)
>
>
> You can see the Chord PSUs at
> http://www.chordelectronics.co.uk/chord_tech.asp?view=amp. 
> These designs are not found anywhere else, and you certainly
> couldn't afford to use one in a computer...
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
> Owen Maddock
> Sales Manager
> Chord Electronics Limited
> Maidstone
> England
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: 24 June 2004 10:15
> To: Owen Maddock
> Subject: Technical Question about mains filtering
>
>
> Hi Owen,
>
> How are things? Nice to have met you again on the 'HVT Open Dag',
> although it was short...
>
> I am currently in a bit of a discussion with Ron Kemp from KEMP
> Elektronics (http://www.kempelektroniks.nl). They make mains
> filter products. I have tried one of their products and it made
> some of my equipment sound WORSE, especially my Chord amplifiers.
> I think this has something to do with the switched power supply.
> Could this be the case, even if I only use the KE-POWER-STRIP,
> which only has a parallel filter (so it is parallel with the
> mains current, instead of in series with it)?
>
> He suggests taking the mains filter OUT of the amplifiers, as
> they are 'designed for computers, not audio'! Of course, I am
> not planning to do this!
>
> Can you or perhaps a more technical person explain to me why
> extra mains filtering would be detrimental to the performance
> and what exactly the mains filtering in Chord amps entails.
> According to your literature, the amps are very insensitive to
> mains pollution and don't pollute the mains like many other
> audio equipment with switched power supplies.
>
> Are there ANY mains products which you DO support for use with
> Chord amplifiers?
>
> Many thanks for your support!
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Garmt van der Zel

[Spacebass]

Leuk Garmt!

Is wel grappig hoe er op dat niveau over gedacht wordt...zou leuk zijn als  kemp ook reageerd, ben benieuwd wat daar uiteindelijk uitkomt.

Grappig om te lezen dat zij zelf ook met filters hebben zitten experimenteren 

[garmtz]

Is wel grappig hoe er op dat niveau over gedacht wordt...zou leuk zijn als  kemp ook reageerd, ben benieuwd wat daar uiteindelijk uitkomt.

Die heeft ook wel via de mail gereageerd, maar hij blijft erbij dat er vrij goedkope filters in zitten die ik er beter uit kan halen... Nou, blijkbaar zijn ze perfect, want geen enkel filter heeft tot nu toe een positief effect gehad. Alleen maar negatief. En inderdaad, ik heb nog nooit zo weinig verschil gehoord tussen power cords als met de Chords.

Grappig om te lezen dat zij zelf ook met filters hebben zitten experimenteren 

Ja, dat geloof ik ook wel. Ik ken die Owen persoonlijk en het zijn gewoon freaks, net als wij...

[jp56]

Hello ,
i have 2 SPM 1200 E for 10 years and on one of them i have inside the unit many clicks and a noise when i put on the amplifier ,
what is it ?
i think i am going to envoy my SPM 1200 E to Chord Electronic for check but i am afraid by the transportation ( lose the amplifier )
What do you think of that ?
The SPM 1200 E are famous amplifier .

Thank you very much for your advice and excuse my bad English .

jp

[garmtz]

Contact Matt Bartlett at Chord Electronics, it's worth it!

[jp56]

Thank you very much

JP

[eric_audio]

Matt Bartlett is a great guy indeed. Very approachable and helpful.

[brtram]

Matt Bartlett is a great guy indeed. Very approachable and helpful.

+1

[jp56]

Bonjour ,
j'ai bien réfléchi , le probleme ne s'aggrave pas , cela ne m'empeche pas d'avoir une tres bonne écoute et en plus j'ai peur du transport ( accident , perte , tout simplement abimé ) avec une assurance surement hors de prix , je vais pour le moment tant que ce n'est pas plus grave ne rien faire car en l'expédiant j'ai peur d'aggraver le probleme .

JP

[Siddartha]

Essayer en Anglais peut-être?

[jp56]

i have good reflect , the probleme do not increase , i have a very good sound like that and i am afraid by the transportation ( loss , accident only spoil ) whith a very important insurance , i have for the moment as long as it is not more serious make nothing  .
I have contact Matthew but i have no response .

JP

[RalphH]

If you live in The Netherlands, you could contact Jerry (wattsound) in Tilburg. He proves to be very competent in any sort of maintenance/repairs on hifi amplifiers.

[jp56]

Hello ,
it is strange this little noise when i put on my SPM1200 e , it is also when i put my hand on the railings  ?

jp

[bmateijsen]

Hello ,
it is strange this little noise when i put on my SPM1200 e , it is also when i put my hand on the railings  ?

jp

When you put on the SPM1200e, it is ok if there is a little noise. When you put your hands on the railing sounds also like a grouding issue.
Do you use the ground in your power outlet?

[jp56]

Hello ,
thank you
it is a very good question .
i think yes  , it is the cable Chord .

[bmateijsen]

Hello ,
thank you
it is a very good question .
i think yes  , it is the cable Chord .

The question is do you have a ground?

[jp56]

Ok but how to do to know i f i have a ground or if it is  something else ?

[bmateijsen]

Ok but how to do to know i f i have a ground or if it is  something else ?

Where are you based? Netherlands, Belgium or further abroad?

[jp56]

i live in France ( country : bretagne )

[jp56]

i am in awkward situation with this noise
if it is possible to know what is it i would be very glad

[Octaaf]

Ground = conducteur de terre. It's a green/yellow cable in all EU countries.

[Dirk]

salut jp56
comme Octaaf clarifie bien, c'est le fil jaune/vert du terre qui doit être connecté dans ta prise murale.

c'est bien possible que ta prise semble d'avoir une terre (une prise murale avec pin rond), mais la seule façon d'être 100% sur qu'elle est aussi connecté est de dévisser ta prise du mur et voir dedans si ce pin (= la terre) est effectivement attaché au fil jaune/vert.

Si c'est le cas, c.à.d. ta prise est branché au terre et si ton cable Chord qui est branché la dedans est aussi équipé d'un fil de terre (ce câble tu peux simplement mesurer avec un multimètre), t'est absolument sur que ton alim électrique est en ordre, comme Bjorn (bmateijsen) te propose de vérifier.

attention; avant déviser ta prise du mur, assure-toi que tu coupe la fusible!

edit:typo