D'Agostino Momentum amp melts down

Most amps fail the test. Bryston amps are not musical to my ears. I'd bet the farm that the Momentum sounds wonderful, but a used FPB 600 would most likely embarass it! Dan's best work has already been done:)

That's a feature for superior sound.

If so many amps fail this test, and failing it is irrelevant, curious why they do the test.

At a proposed price of $55K(!) and knowing full well what it was potentially going to be subjected to, I think it's test results are disappointing.

Rhljazz, what exactly is your agenda in starting this thread? Nowhere in the Stereophile article does it say anything about a melt down. The amp stopped working. It didn't melt, catch fire or explode, yet you keep using language suggesting some Chernobyl style event. You actually seem to take pleasure in the amp's malfunction. The German language has a multisyllabic word for what you're exhibiting.

My agenda is three fold. First of all there are more amps that pass the test than ones that don't. The Momentum is a 55000.00 amp that I would expect to pass the test based on price and the designers reputation.

If the amp has proper protection, it should shut down and return to normal operation after it cools down. So a defect exists whether it is a design flaw or a single product failure we don't know since the second amp was not subjected to the same test.

I have a problem with Stereophile not making a bigger issue of it and basically sweeping the result under the rug. Then there is no defense from the manufacturer which I find unusual.

The third related problem with Stereophile is the test itself. If they deem the test as not being relative to the products performance, either change or eliminate the test.

Mr. onhwy61, what words would you use to describe a product that managed to get really hot on the test bench, shut down because of it, and then failed to operate after the fact? My first thought was melt down. Maybe you can make up a politically correct term for it. LOL!