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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
 

Dave, I told the engineer I liked Thiel speakers; as I stated he was eccentric, after I picked out the drivers, he designed the crossover. As an example of his eccentricity; I told him I was going to change the value of a capacitor, and he told me he would crack my knuckles if I did; I left the capacitor alone.

If you know the design of a Thiel speaker crossover, you're quite a technician. I'm sure you could build your own speaker, just make sure you got a good cabinet maker lined up before you start.


Enjoy the music.
orpheus10 OP
8,668 posts
 

Dave, are there any capacitors that can replace "Black Gates"? Time is what has to be in the evaluation for the answer to that question. I replaced all my electrolytics with Black Gates a long time ago, and all those old components function like new.

I know Nichicon Gold might be comparable to Black Gates, the only question is time. Since they're all I know, I'll have to settle for them; also they're much cheaper.


Enjoy the music.
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
Hi orpheus10,

From Stereophile June 1990 review:

"The CS5 crossover is itself also heroic. Constructed on a single hard-wired board, it incorporates 87 elements realized with 114 components. Only—only—55 elements are directly related to the first-order high- and low-pass filter functions, the rest being used to fine-tune the system's time response. The two midrange units, for example, are electrically "moved backward," by the equivalents of ¾" and 3/8" respectively, to bring their acoustic centers into the correct alignment. All coils apart from one are air-cored, and the capacitors are polypropylene and pure polystyrene types, the latter custom-made with tinfoil plates and copper lead-out wires. The internal wiring is a polypropylene-insulated solid-core type."


I have seen a picture somewhere of Jim Thiel holding this crossover.  The visual impact of this crossover is breathtaking.  Will keep looking.

I don't think that I (or likely anyone else alive) can design something like this.

Best to you O,
Dave 
orpheus10 OP
8,668 posts
 

Dave, my crossovers have one for each driver, and I used Jentzen Silver Z- cap, except for the woofer where I use Solen Caps; all of that to get a speaker that does not exist.

I've seen the Thiel crossover, it's a monster. Since I specified the big Heil Air motion transformer, he had to design according to that; they gave him a lot of latitude in regard to tweeter crossover frequency, and Thiel speakers were the closest to anything I liked in regard to sound. Now I've got speakers that have no sound, but the sound stage is similar to Theil, meaning the speakers I heard disappeared; state of the art ARC was used for the electronics, so that certainly helped.

Of course I would never attempt to design a crossover; you got to know when to hold, and when to fold.


Enjoy the music.
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