Very interesting topic. My partner and I just finished building a pair of mono block El-34 pure Class A power amplifiers. Took them to a customers home to compare to his Jeff Rowland Model 7 mono blocks driving Mirage M-1si speakers, probably like 85 db. The Rowlands controlled the bass a little better (Update - just added a larger capacitor size and the bass was even better with the Class A amps but we would have to go back to compare). The rest as they say is history. The Class A had tone, musicality, dimension, that made the music so beautiful, piano was just stunning. We were stunned on how good an old Cat Stevens CD sounded and a few tracks of the old Jeff Beck CD Blow by Blow, Santana Abraxas, etc. The guys wife's eyes actually teared up.
Oh sure like someone already stated above, it comes down to the design implementation. There are some Class A amplifiers that probably are not as good sounding as class A/B amplifiers, I have not heard every single one of them so who knows but in designing amplifiers, we have not been able to make one that sounds better to our own ears. Do Class A products run hot, sure do. Does that mean they won't last as long, no it does not. As for head room, that depends on the design - that can happen with any amplifier not matter how many watts they are rated. But the pair we just finished are simply killer! My Vandersteen Model 5As never sounded so good.
Happy Listening.
Oh sure like someone already stated above, it comes down to the design implementation. There are some Class A amplifiers that probably are not as good sounding as class A/B amplifiers, I have not heard every single one of them so who knows but in designing amplifiers, we have not been able to make one that sounds better to our own ears. Do Class A products run hot, sure do. Does that mean they won't last as long, no it does not. As for head room, that depends on the design - that can happen with any amplifier not matter how many watts they are rated. But the pair we just finished are simply killer! My Vandersteen Model 5As never sounded so good.
Happy Listening.
