Class A into Class AB
tom68971,405 posts10-09-2021 1:14amTo me the first few watts of class A are the most important. That is where 85%+ of your listening will exist ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ La Creame de la creame. Great Britain calls it Double Cream* When fresh cows milk settles, the top layer of the cream layer. = Double cream. With 92 db sens wide band, only 5% of the Defy's 100 watts are needeed. Class A, class A/B is not important. At 5% , Class is irrelevant. I listen at very moderate SPL levels, maybe 75 db tops. Even though low SPL and very near field, I still want higher sens speakers. Doing it all over again, I would have a much smaller amplifier. with exact same results. IMHO 40 true watts,,make that ~~30~~~ true watts is really more than enough power. |
What is the goal of a designer who makes intergrated amps that have class A for x amount of watts before it goes into class AB? to provide a balance between purity of sound for most of the listening experience, versus heat, cost (of the unit and energy use), volume headroom, weight/size of the unit Are there any examples of this being implemented well? yes there are many |
My stereo experience began during the watt wars in the late 70’s and early 80s. 30 to 50 watts with horn midrange and 12 inch woofers made wood filling sound and no damage to speakers during peaks. Watts became cheaper d speaker designers were free to experiment with smaller woofers and inefficient crossovers. I had an power meter from realistic and measure the output from from a 100 wpc nakamichi stasis amplifier into my Polk sda 2 speakers. The meter had a high and low setting 0 to 1 watt and 1 to 100. Even in a large living room most of the listening was under 1 watt and momentarily reached 5 during peak symphony or rock drum/bass combinations. |
