What Al said, plus
What is it that you're saying here? That I build good products, but - ? they aren't real or something? I'm sensing a contradiction here.
IMO you've been misreading what I've been writing.
I have qualms about **feedback**, not output impedance, as long as the low output impedance does not come with added higher ordered harmonics. And I can back my qualms up easily enough without going into the weeds. If you are not familiar with Norman Crowhurst, he is a well-known authority in the field of amplifier design. His books are likely a bit rare but the important ones are a free download from Pete Millet's site:
http://www.tubebooks.org/technical_books_online.htm
In fact I would love it if I could make the output impedance of our amps lower. The problem I have with solid state is that many semiconductors have a non-linear aspect about them that causes them to have higher ordered harmonics (at low levels, but as I pointed out earlier, the ear is very sensitive to that sort of thing) and hard clipping. The only devices that I have found that don't are the static induction transistors made by Sony. IMO They had a chance to really set the audio world forward, but in true Sony fashion (which is to come up with an innovation and then shoot themselves in the foot) failed to make a full complement of driver and voltage amplifier devices to go with their rather amazing output devices.
With such technology we could have had low distortion, zero feedback and low output impedance all at the same time!
For the most part, what I'm really hammering on is the simple fact that you can't seem to get low distortion **and** low output impedance at the same time. Now I do this in the face of the fact that many solid state amps **appear** to have very low distortion, but what research in the last 40 years has shown is that the ear has distortion on a curve of sorts; the lower ordered harmonics being unimportant to the ear and the higher ordered harmonics are really really important. I freely acknowledge that this flies in the face of the test and measurement regime, which I feel is outdated by research of the last 40-50 years.
Can you describe the sound of an amplifier by looking at its spec sheet? Most audiophiles can't; so why is there a spec sheet? The fact is most spec sheets are there to make the product look good on paper and have nothing to do with how the ear hears. That's a pretty good example of the Emperor's New Clothes...
Now if one is to say that the specs are the final arbiter, great, no worries. Have at it. But I feel that the ear, not the specs, is why we buy audio equipment and that equipment will sound better if the gear follows the rules of human hearing.
Did you mention what your speaker brand is? I missed that bit.
You know, it is a real shame that you take this tack, because I actually think you have a lot of fans, and built good products, but I've gotten really tired of you constantly hammering the superiority of high output impedance amps as a feature based on false and misleading (that's your own phrase) statements you repeat over and over again.
What is it that you're saying here? That I build good products, but - ? they aren't real or something? I'm sensing a contradiction here.
IMO you've been misreading what I've been writing.
I have qualms about **feedback**, not output impedance, as long as the low output impedance does not come with added higher ordered harmonics. And I can back my qualms up easily enough without going into the weeds. If you are not familiar with Norman Crowhurst, he is a well-known authority in the field of amplifier design. His books are likely a bit rare but the important ones are a free download from Pete Millet's site:
http://www.tubebooks.org/technical_books_online.htm
In fact I would love it if I could make the output impedance of our amps lower. The problem I have with solid state is that many semiconductors have a non-linear aspect about them that causes them to have higher ordered harmonics (at low levels, but as I pointed out earlier, the ear is very sensitive to that sort of thing) and hard clipping. The only devices that I have found that don't are the static induction transistors made by Sony. IMO They had a chance to really set the audio world forward, but in true Sony fashion (which is to come up with an innovation and then shoot themselves in the foot) failed to make a full complement of driver and voltage amplifier devices to go with their rather amazing output devices.
With such technology we could have had low distortion, zero feedback and low output impedance all at the same time!
For the most part, what I'm really hammering on is the simple fact that you can't seem to get low distortion **and** low output impedance at the same time. Now I do this in the face of the fact that many solid state amps **appear** to have very low distortion, but what research in the last 40 years has shown is that the ear has distortion on a curve of sorts; the lower ordered harmonics being unimportant to the ear and the higher ordered harmonics are really really important. I freely acknowledge that this flies in the face of the test and measurement regime, which I feel is outdated by research of the last 40-50 years.
Can you describe the sound of an amplifier by looking at its spec sheet? Most audiophiles can't; so why is there a spec sheet? The fact is most spec sheets are there to make the product look good on paper and have nothing to do with how the ear hears. That's a pretty good example of the Emperor's New Clothes...
Now if one is to say that the specs are the final arbiter, great, no worries. Have at it. But I feel that the ear, not the specs, is why we buy audio equipment and that equipment will sound better if the gear follows the rules of human hearing.
Did you mention what your speaker brand is? I missed that bit.