Question about Class A

Hi Jay78,

In my opinion, I don't think there is a difference in sound.  I have Klipsch La Scalas with efficiency of 101 to 104 dB.   I experimented with Schiit Aegirs (essentially Class A), Black Ice 3502s and Cary 120S Mark II.  I actually had a twinge of buyer's remorse with the Black Ice and the Aegirs and thought they did not have significant SQ improvement over my Outlaw 2200 monoblocks.  With the La Scalas, the amps are always in Class A.   It was a nice experiment:  in the long run, it probably may not be a good return on investment.  I like the Cary because it keeps my basement warm in the winter.  It is a hot beast as it runs in Class A in triode mode at 60 watts.  I would never use it in the spring or summer.  Class A amps are essentially gorgeous space heaters.

This may not help, but it depends.  If you have efficient horn loaded speakers > 95 dB/watt-meter, you may hear a difference. 

...Or not. My speakers are 98dB and we make class A amps; we also make class D amps and they sound very similar. Class A is a means of theoretically reducing open loop distortion but like all things its a matter of execution.

Just curious: I am thinking about by-amping my speakers (Quantum 2). With low/mid, mid/high and high being the high pass from 200 Hz (200/600/4000), how much power is needed? 

The idea is to use mean brute amp for thw Watkins (dual coil, dual crossover) woofer (dipping below 2 ohm), and a class A (or tube?) for the high pass.

Does someone know the percentage (for example white or pink noise) of sound energy above 200 Hz (vs below 200 Hz)? Maybe the term is 'spectral energy'? 

Less scientific: Using 200 Watt input (rated at 350 W RMS) how much power goes to low pass ( under 200 Hz, woofer) and how much to the high pass (above 200 Hz)?

So I went to the local dealer today that I mentioned earlier to hear the Sugden.

He only had the A21S available to hear.

It sounded good but of course how it will sound in my system would be different.

He had it hooked up to a HiFi Rose and Klipsch Heresy's (I believe).

If he had the A21SE in stock, I might have actually bought it today. 

But he states it's $3700 and he can order it.

I can understand with the current way things are, that prices can go up but I can't do $3700. I would have gone for it at the $3250 prices that I have seen.

I figure since I am willing to spend the money and if I want Sugden, then I want to get the A21SE and not settle for the A21S (which in no way is a bad unit) but I don't want to feel that I settled later.

So the journey continues.

What speakers do you have and whats their efficiency? If Magnepans, I can tell you Aegir isn't a good match, nice sound but 85db efficient speakers make it sound stressed and clip protection will cut in at loud passages. ASR didn't find that running them as monoblocks gave that much more headroom.

really important to know your speakers impedance curve/efficiency and to look for trustworthy reviews that used your speakers with different amps. An amp thats  ho-hum with one speaker can work well with a different speaker.