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Thinking of replacing my Bat spaceheater with class D, real world thoughts please

Ok so I know there are already lots of threads on class D both negative and positive

As I have had a very positive result with replacing the ss amps in my ht rig with a single tiny Nuforce class D amp I was tempted to look into the same for my stereo rig.

This is a little more difficult as my present amp is a BAT VK600SE, 120LB of muscle and heat.

Now I am in love with my present sound but still am very curious if class D could do anything for me as it certainly did in the ht rig although those ss amps were not in the BAT league to start with.

So I would like to hear from people who have actually gone this route, replaced their expensive, heavy, power consuming amps with tiny little cold running boxes and what their results were.

Was it uplifting, about the same or make you wish you had never heard of class D!

128x128uberwaltz
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
uberwaltz
Thinking of replacing my Bat BAT VK600SE spaceheater with class D, real world thoughts please

http://www.openaudio.co.kr/cdn/item/20080506/VK-600SE-2.jpg

Whatever, do not sell/trade the BAT VK600SE which is a magnificent amp, before living with Class-D for a while, they maybe fine in a in a high processing HT system, but when it comes down to hi-end hi-rez stereo without visuals to fool your ears, you may find things change.

I’ve worked on modified and listen to a few Nuforce 9SE v3’s and while cute and powerful for their size, don’t come within coo’ee of my similar amps to the the VK600se, on a hi-end stereo system.

And yes the sound of the BAT does change a fair bit depending on volume

And this could be your pre,, and not the Bat doing this.

Cheers George
oscar44
130 posts
 
The BAT's a great amp. I had (and still do actually) a BAT VK500SE which continues to give solid performance. I did hear and compare amps from W4S, Nuforce and Digital Amp Co in my rig, all of which have strengths but it took a pair of Spectron monos to convince me to move to Class D finally over the BAT. I think you'll find that Class D amps have as much variability in them as Class A, AB amps etc, it's all about the implementation so you have to really hear for yourself.  Agree with George above -- you are unlikely to determine what works best with a quick listen so proceed slowly, ideally with good home audition opportunities.  That's my journey, and you wanted those experiences, hope it helps. 
mitch2
4,003 posts
 
I agree with George on this one. I went from Clayton Class A to Class D Ncore NC1200 for about a year but ended up on a circuitous path to McCormack, Lamm and then back to Clayton.  An expensive lesson but well learned.
erik_squires
16,118 posts
 
I guess to re-phrase my answers:

I don’t know of any reason why you should NOT consider a Class-D or hybrid (NuForce) amplifier.

I also don’t know you’ll like them better. :)

With the type of amp you have though I’m going to guess you have really gotten used to it’s virtues. Switching to any other amp may be a hard one for you. :)

Best,

E
gammajo's avatar
gammajo
846 posts
 
Since you already like the Nuforce. I would recommend trying the Nuforce/Nuprime Reference 20 mono amps, which are a huge step up in refinement from their other designs, yet still run cool. Also Bob Smith their repair person does mods on these that do not void warrentee and do not change signal path, rather add better quality wire and shielding, which further pleases the ear. Just got back from AXPONA and have heard many other class D and other systems in people's homes and I like what got the best (with proper cabling and power isolation) in a sensitive system
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