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Oh how I wish Class D amps ...

I sure wish manufacturers and designers would move forward as quickly as is possible on improving the current status of Class D amps ... I have heard them all, some in my own system, and they have SO mcu promise !!! Unfortunately they just do not have it down yet. They still sound dry, unmusical, and strange in the treble ... kind of chalky and rolled off, and definitely lacking air.
I long for the day I can get rid of my hundred pound Class AB monster amp, for a nice small cool running amp that sounds just as good. I am worried though that designers and manufacturers have accepted the " It sounds good enough" opinion, and that the B&O Ice power may be a long time before it is "fixed"... sigh.
Just my rant ...
timtim
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
"No signs of stress or distortion"

- that might be due to line and load regulated power supply in your REF1000. 99% of the other amps have completely unregulated supplies - that is why class AB amps have monstrous size toroidal transformers and a lot of capacitors (to minimize voltage drops).
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,205 posts
 
"No signs of stress or distortion"

- that might be due to line and load regulated power supply in your REF1000."

I'm thinking that is a part of it. At least I'm hoping so because I know that is the main reason I opted to pay a hefty premium for the BC ref1000ms rather than go with other similar designs for a lot less.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Mapman - second generation of REF1000 not only have huge bank of additional capacitors but also converts huge narrow spikes of current to more of resistive load. Was it worth extra price? I'm sure it was. Any small improvement at this point costs a lot and is worth any money if you know that it works in your system. I might upgrade to this amp in future. I understand that "m" stands for mk II (new generation) but am not sure about "s" suffix?
michael_moskowich
86 posts
 
" ...the bar that has to be met by class D is not how they compare to traditional transistor designs but (especially on SoundLabs) how well they compare to tube amplification. "

Hello Athmaspere. I don't like to put all amps together into single group as "class D" and even more tube amps.

I mentioned in my post Spectrons and Wayne Donnelly, reviewer from Enjoy The Music, sent back his $50k VTL Zigfrieds (spl) when he got his Spectron. I also much prefer Spectron over my former amp, McIntosh 2202 etc

On other hand, I truly love OTLs - your and that of Jud Barber of Joule-Electra but I can't stand their heat and high maintanence. Moreover, only you know how well your amps can drive Soundlab (I suspect very well) but 100% they cannot drive my Sasha by Wilson and provide the same dynamic range as Spectron does - Sashas are the most power hungry speakers in entire David Wilson line.

Mike
rleff
1,065 posts
 
Mike do you think Ralph's MA2 or MA3 could drive those speakers?
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