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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
 
Ones I had considered so far include Bel Canto, Jeff Rowland, NuForce, D-Sonic
Out of that lot the BC600mono’s were the ones that has the best Class-D sound I’ve heard, but it needed to be driving a very flat benign 4ohm, from mids to highs to get that sound, otherwise it sounded fair, this was achieved with a very expensive Raven tweeter’ed 2 way. "Could" also work with Maggies.

Cheers George
asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,667 posts
 
It always amuses me that in the whole 'to D or not to D' discussion that the simplest answer to 'will I like it (the sound) or not' that it never occurs to anyone to simply 'cheap out' with a simple test....

Buy an inexpensive unit.  Flog the daylights out of it, like I did.  Find out for yourself if it's worth going further with it.

For sure, an inexpensive unit won't be as 'nuanced' as a more expensive one, but at least one would have the opportunity to stick your toe into the water before you cannonball in....

Just my 2 cents of (perhaps) sense...;)

Personally, I like them.  But I like all types of amps.  Viva la difference. *S*
madavid0
214 posts
 
The key factor is that class D is physically, mathematically inferior to class A-A/B.

That's not to say you can't accept the inferiority for the sake of something you value over absolute sound quality.
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,719 posts
 

uberwaltz-


it is interesting that you do not use a B.A.T. pre-amp?

When I think about owning a REX...


Happy Listening!

uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
@jafant 
I do not use a BAT pre simply because the mc. c48 is a all in one solution and was a big step up from the older arc ls2b I was using previously.
I considered BAT pre of course but the c48 let me get rid of 2 other boxes and simplfy matters. it has 4 digital inputs, mm and mc inputs and a headphone output so i could get rid of my phono stage, headphone amp and run the vault straight into the c48.

@asvjerry 
TBH I am not really asking if I will like it or not, that is obviously all up to the individual and their system but rather just others views who have gone this route from possibly years of ss or tube power amps.

One thing I may do as I have a nuforce multi channel amp in the ht rig is pull it and install in the stereo just to see. would mean running rca connects but could be a worthwhile test......
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