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Class "A" sound, as related to Stereophile.


It's all about the sound.

It's all about sound, not how much it cost; when I got into "high end", I knew right off the bat I couldn't afford it, but I had to find one thing for sure; how do the various components sound in regard to Stereophile's classes, or ratings? In order to know this; I had to acquire the ability to identify "Stereophile's" class "A" class "B" and class "C" sounds, and the only way to do that was: first, subscribe to Stereophile, and next was to go to every high end audio salon within driving distance; there were 5 well stocked "high end" salons within driving distance. (Since I didn't take my wife, that created some problems)

After a few years of subscribing to Stereophile, plus auditioning equipment that Stereophile recommended, I knew the sound of those recommendations, and I absolutely concurred with them; "If you want to hear the music, you got to pay the piper". While that's true, it's possible to get class "A" sound with class "B" bucks or less.

At this moment, I am looking at 8 capacitors that cost $25 dollars each, plus 2 mono blocks with an instant resale value of 6K. Once I take the covers off and go in with my soldering iron, these mono blocks are worth a resell of O; my mission must be a success. After a successful mission, the resell is still 0; but those mono blocks will deliver class "A" or "A"+ sound, and that's some sweet music.

I have to visualize and hear music in my head before I can modify a component to deliver class "A" sound; but that's the only way for me to get what has become a necessity.

The pressure someone is under when they modify, is great, but the rewards are glorious. On these mono blocks, they are too small for the huge capacitors, therefore I have to figure a way to make the case larger. My reward is "sound" with absolutely no relation to money. I often wander if someone with a fat bankroll can identify the sound, or only how much they paid for each piece.


Happy listening.

orpheus10
orpheus10 OP
8,668 posts
 

Al, the purpose of the phono is to bring the signal to line level; while a hot signal can come off the CD, it's not supposed to, because there is nothing to control volume inside the PC. The only difference this makes is that the signal is louder, not better.

The quality of the preamp is determined by how precisely it amplifies the signal it gets from the phono or CD. The quality of phono varies a great deal more than CD; that could be good or bad. When we considered BIC, Gerrard, and Dual as good TT's; they were not as good as CD; but when the expensive cartridges and TT's that are currently discussed, are used, the signal is better than CD.

That signal requires an expensive pre and amp. I think what Viridian was saying, is that he only has so many "bundles" of money; when the cartridge costs one bundle, the TT another Bundle, by the time he gets through with those bundles of money, plus bundles for the pre and amp, he can't buy as high a quality speaker as he would like; therefore he chooses a less costly speaker because he has a perfect signal all the way up to the speaker, and moderate speakers will sound good when they are presented with a perfect signal.

An expensive perfect speaker will not compensate for a bad signal, it will do what it is supposed to do, which is to turn the electronic signal it gets into audio whether that signal is good or bad; that sums up both sides of the equation, and I side with Veridian.
koestner
671 posts
 
You are missing Al's point. With a CD player the preamp will most likely be reducing the signal to the amp, not amplifying it. Without some way to reduce the source singal everything would be one volume level, and very loud!
orpheus10 OP
8,668 posts
 

Koestner, take me to your source; the source of what ever made you say that. That thing called a volume control on the preamp that you turn up or down sets the level to the amp. But I know you knew that. If you turn it up, the speakers get loud, and down, they get quiet.
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dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
The source vs speaker debate is a valid one and there will likely never be consensus. The obvious fact is that both are important. However, I submit that while both are the major determinants of a system’s sound character and audio quality, a great source will work well with a wider variety of room acoustical treatment, preamplifiers, phono sections (providing it has adequate loading adjustment), amplifiers, and cabling than a speaker will, thus the speaker is the primary foundation component when building a complete audio system.
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