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What is missing here?

In this months Absolute Sound magazine there is a nice review of an amp that many of us would probably consider based not only on the review but on the topology utilized with the amp. The amp in question is the new Air Tight ATM 300R. This amp utilizes the 300B tube and according to Dick Olsher " The Air tight ATM300-R wowed me with countless hours of listening pleasure. It consistently brought to life the full sonic promise of the 300B". Sounds amazing right??


Except, nowhere ( except in the specs section) does it mention that this amp is limited to 9Watts/Ch!! And at that it is putting out about 10% distortion! So not only is the amp severely limited to which speakers one can match it to, but those speakers had better be ULTRA high efficiency. While most experienced a’philes will expect the extremely severe limitations of this kind of max output, how many casual listeners who read this article will realize the extreme limitations that this amp comes with? Certainly none of that is mentioned in the review, which brings up the question...why not??? How many even somewhat seasoned a’philes have made the mistake of matching a flea powered amp with a less than favorable speaker load? Let’s hear about it....
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jnorris2005
185 posts
 
" @millercarbon  The specs section is not really where most readers are going to look that closely, at least IMO. The information on the output is not highlighted in any way in the spec section. Like I stated, the extremely low output is not mentioned anywhere in the body of the review."

I actually go there first because they state the price among the specs.  This way I know if I'm wasting my time reading the rest of the review.
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
@noromance 

the purpose that those write ups serve is to reap advertising dollars, or more accurately, the write ups are the reward to advertisers

just look at the recommended components list -- there is 100% correlation to advertising LOL
daj
87 posts
 
Seems like the essential issue the OP is questioning is the responsibility of the reviewer. He's insisting the reviewer should educate the 'casual listener' on not just this amp, but how amplifier output and distortion generally relate to speaker sensitivity. Can't say I agree with the premise, and I'd assume the reviewer would not either.

And, I'm not sure "How many even somewhat seasoned a’philes have made the mistake of matching a flea powered amp with a less than favorable speaker load?" Seems like making a true mistake would be indication of pretty light seasoning, as this probably implies ignorance of Hifi basics, standard research prior to purchase, in home trial with knowledge of return policy, etc.
mrdecibel
3,065 posts
 
I am just wondering, what folks think of Art Dudley's ( RIP ) review of this amp in the January 2019 Stereophile Magazine. Although reviews are always " good " these days, for reasons discussed above, I miss the writing of A.D. Enjoy.....
daveyf's avatar
daveyf OP
2,935 posts
 
@daj That is precisely what I am getting at. Although you seem to negate this, I believe that a reviewer has a responsibility to a reader to educate them as to what the possible issues (failings) of the product are...and not, as some of the other members here have commented on...simply to write advertising prose. Like Atmasphere commented above, this omission is actually pretty important, and leads to a failure on the reviewer’s behalf, IMO.
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