Is my Amp OK?
As for the effect on the high end market, that requires a rather different analysis. The economic theory behind that analysis is that of monopolistic competition, first developed by the late Joan Robinson in her 1933 The Economics of Imperfect Competition. Profits in a full competition market of homogeous goods are quite restricted, and only possible for the most efficient producers who can benefit most from economies of scale. As a result small cottage producers could only survive by persuading their clientele that their products were in fact different. Hence, if you can indeed persuade customers that a particular product is not a homogeneous good but has some unique properties, you have created a monopoly, and increased your profitabilty accordingly. You are no longer competing on price, and your higher manufacturing costs no longer matter that much. All that this requires is a powerful strategy of persuasion, usually attained by large brand advertising budgets, but increasingly also by a blurring of the distinction between editorial and advertising pages in the media (the audio press is a very good example). The internet has magnified the impact of such strategies significantly. In short, the growth of the small scale high end industry is the product of precisely the fact that the electronic link of the audio chain had become a homogeneous good sold in a very competitive market, with facilties, power etc the only real differences. |
Hi thyname, The short answer is that there is always better. Are you interested in the best sound/ music replication, OR are you interested in having the coolest/sexiest gear. If you have the scratch you can get both. It's seldom that any one does - I certainly don't. The Human sensory spectrum with regards to hearing falls within a frequency response of 15 hz - 150 Khz. When putting your system together use that as a guide to the end goal. There are several unseen factors involved some of which have been mentioned by others in this post - Room Treatments (can be expensive), Cabling, Power Delivery, all are often overlooked in favor of the readily seen, Pre Amps, Power Amps, Dacs etc. Build a Solid Foundation around the gear you already have. Since you are already pleased with the sound maximize on the performance by Investing in Power chords, Interconnect cables and a Power distributor. Your system will reveal where you are falling short. As you go along you can make better choices based upon your preference of Tube gear, Solid State gear, Analog, Digital or a combination. What ever you decide, Stay within your budget and have fun. IMHO Solid / reasonably priced products to invest in MTB -6 R-1 http://www.oyaide.com Power Oval 2 https://www.analysis-plus.com Speaker Cables / Interconnects - a little more $$ but for the money the best and last you would ever invest in www.tonarm.ch |
