Here is my prediction. All the amps you have listened to will be boat anchors within 2-3 years.
Class D is progressing fast now. You do not need giant heatsinks and banks of transistors to get class A type sound. One pair of transistors and hardly any heatsink gets you 200 watts a channel.....3 pairs and a slightly larger heatsink gets you 600 watts a channel or more. Switching power supplies that can deliver 3000 watts cost very little....they are very light. What is inside the Merrill....is probably not much. They are expensive because they are making it pretty and using expensive jacks, have dealer markup, etc. The packing box for them alone cost a pretty penny. How much money is in the guts?. Merrill does not allow anyone to look inside.....hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Jay, please take the cover off and show us the beef!!!!!.....he he.
GaN transistors are not expensive....nor is anything else in a class D amp. You do not need any expensive coupling caps, giant heatsinks, rows of transistors, banks of large caps, 1500 watt giant transformers.
Why do class A amps generally sound better than class D....well, for one they are usually made by people who design their own circuit and pay attention to lots of stuff. Class D amps are generally stock modules designed by non audiophiles and then they just stick their own input stage on it. Of course, most of them don’t cost that much, but if you want perfection you cannot just throw stock modules in a box and add a front end and some good wires and jacks. It is much deeper than that. Gryphon knows this....Merrill knows this. D’Agostino knows this. So, we need people to design and modifiy class D amps that listen to every part and think outside the ’Class D..throw it in a box" mentality. Merrill is no throw it in a box thing....not whatsoever.....this is why it is really good. But this is just the beginning. You do not need fancy boxes and shipping containers....you need someone to just pay attention to the stuff inside the box.
If Merrill took all the guts of his amp and put it in a plain box and used a plain shipping box and sold it direct.....what do you think it would sell for? Maybe $8K for the mono blocks? Of course, he wants to recoup all his design time and make the most out of the fact that he is first with a good sounding and sexy looking GaN based amp. I understand business. But I also see the writing on the wall.
There is no reason why a state of the art class D mono block that does 400 watts a channel should be more than $3K (6K the pair) sold direct. Plain but nice box....great jacks, audiophile fuse and super paid attention to everything inside the box construction. Someone who listens and thinks and tweaks. This will happen before you know it. This amp will weigh under 20lbs. Maybe the about to be released $3K 300 watt a channel GaN stereo amp from LSA with super tweaky mods can challenge some mega buck amps....we shall see/hear. And then there are mods that can be done to the Purifi module that can take it to new heights. So much fun coming and so cheap.........boat anchors away!
Class D is progressing fast now. You do not need giant heatsinks and banks of transistors to get class A type sound. One pair of transistors and hardly any heatsink gets you 200 watts a channel.....3 pairs and a slightly larger heatsink gets you 600 watts a channel or more. Switching power supplies that can deliver 3000 watts cost very little....they are very light. What is inside the Merrill....is probably not much. They are expensive because they are making it pretty and using expensive jacks, have dealer markup, etc. The packing box for them alone cost a pretty penny. How much money is in the guts?. Merrill does not allow anyone to look inside.....hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Jay, please take the cover off and show us the beef!!!!!.....he he.
GaN transistors are not expensive....nor is anything else in a class D amp. You do not need any expensive coupling caps, giant heatsinks, rows of transistors, banks of large caps, 1500 watt giant transformers.
Why do class A amps generally sound better than class D....well, for one they are usually made by people who design their own circuit and pay attention to lots of stuff. Class D amps are generally stock modules designed by non audiophiles and then they just stick their own input stage on it. Of course, most of them don’t cost that much, but if you want perfection you cannot just throw stock modules in a box and add a front end and some good wires and jacks. It is much deeper than that. Gryphon knows this....Merrill knows this. D’Agostino knows this. So, we need people to design and modifiy class D amps that listen to every part and think outside the ’Class D..throw it in a box" mentality. Merrill is no throw it in a box thing....not whatsoever.....this is why it is really good. But this is just the beginning. You do not need fancy boxes and shipping containers....you need someone to just pay attention to the stuff inside the box.
If Merrill took all the guts of his amp and put it in a plain box and used a plain shipping box and sold it direct.....what do you think it would sell for? Maybe $8K for the mono blocks? Of course, he wants to recoup all his design time and make the most out of the fact that he is first with a good sounding and sexy looking GaN based amp. I understand business. But I also see the writing on the wall.
There is no reason why a state of the art class D mono block that does 400 watts a channel should be more than $3K (6K the pair) sold direct. Plain but nice box....great jacks, audiophile fuse and super paid attention to everything inside the box construction. Someone who listens and thinks and tweaks. This will happen before you know it. This amp will weigh under 20lbs. Maybe the about to be released $3K 300 watt a channel GaN stereo amp from LSA with super tweaky mods can challenge some mega buck amps....we shall see/hear. And then there are mods that can be done to the Purifi module that can take it to new heights. So much fun coming and so cheap.........boat anchors away!