Classdaudio vs Channel Islands amps

All, a sourcing clarification is in order... I just spoke to Dennis at D-Sonic:

* D-Sonic power amplifiers are manufactured/assembled near Houston (TX), USA.

* Some of the power conversion modules (or amplification modules) employed in D-Sonic amps may be physically manufactured in China.

As such, any information implying that D-Sonic purchases fully assembled amplifiers from China is incorrect. Only some component parts may originate in China.

G.

Guidocorona,
Thanks for clearing it up. :)

Guido..my first conversation with Dennis last winter basically was the same information he told Izora that his amplifier's are made in Texas, which is completely false, strongly implying they are his own designs. It wasn't until several months later I saw his amps with the tops off and discovered they were Abletec's and Pascal's. I called him and mentioned they are not D-Sonic amps and when I brought up the subject of Abletec and Pascal, he stated, " I will not comment on the Class D amps in my models". He did admit a month later that the M2 1500M amp he purchases is completely built by Pascal, an X-PRO model, and he adds an additional small red circuit board at the input stage, and mentioned his other amps with lower power output have no additions, just wiring, and connectors added. I have called and spoken to other companies making class D amps such as Clear Audio, Channel Islands, Arion, Bel Canto, Nuforce, DAC, and others, and all these companies were right up front about the brands of amps they use or they are in house designs. Reports I've read on D-Sonic during the past eight months have repeatedly mentioned that his manufacturing is done in China. If Dennis wasn't so Cloak and Dagger and Mission Impossible stealth by not revealing and answering very simple questions that customers have the right to know, then I wouldn't be so darn skeptical about where he's coming from. By the way Gudio, are you brain dead? You state that "some of the power conversion modules or amplification modules employed in D-Sonics amps "may" be physically manufactured in China" is absurd. The Pascal and Abletec amps have no separate power modules. The power conversion/power supply and the switching amp in both Abletec and Pascal amps are all integrated on one main board and not on separate boards as the Ncore NC1200/SMPS1200. The bottom line is that the Pascal X-PRO and the Abletec ALC 1000 amps are fully assembled complete amps that Dennis uses and they are absolutely not manufactured in Texas.

Audiozen, please consider watching your language... Whether or not my cerebrum -- or anyone else's cerebrum -- is operational or not, is a matter not material to the topic of this thread.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming... The problem is a confusion of terms caused mostly by the suppliers of class D power amplification modules... While strictly speaking, Pascal/AbleTec/Hypex may be correct in calling their products "amplifiers", without further qualifiers, the usage causes occasional misconceptions an unnecessary panic by audiophilic consumers.

For our purposes, It may be best to refer as "amplifier" the end product complete with the pretty metal box that you Audiozen purchase from our beloved designers/integrators, while the class D engine inside the box is best referred to as the ""amplification module", or the "power conversion module". The terms are largely interchangeable. Some power conversion modules may also include an integrated SMPS, others have an off-board SMPS which may or may not always be utilized by the OEM designer/manufacturer/integrator. in many entry level products, the power conversion module may be the only active components, in progressively more sophisticated implementations, the module is just one active component of a potentially complex circuitry.

D-Sonics is a designer/integrator who manufactures near Houston (TX) end-user entry-level power amplifiers which are based on Class-D power amplification/conversion modules and other component parts sourced from a potentially multi-national/global supply chain.

While Dennis has this far declined to discuss at any length the origin/brand/model of the modules, there exists some empirical evidence that D-Sonic may be using Pascal modules as engines in some of its power amplifiers, and Abletec modules in other ones.

G.

I am aware of what a separate power module is..Dennis told me directly he adds no additions to the amps he uses from Pascal and Abletec, only to the Pascal X-PRO he uses in his M3 1500M..Let me repeat myself Guido...D-SONIC DOES NOT MANUFACTURE AMPLIFIERS IN TEXAS..Dennis uses B&O ICE in his multi-Channel amps, and only Pascal and Abletec in his mono and stereo amps which Dennis has admitted to me directly. There is no such thing as a in house D-Sonic amplifier designed by Dennis, who is not an amp designer, he has a professional background in metal work, not in electronics. "there may be some empirical evidence that D-Sonic may be using"..he is definitely using the Abletec ALC-1000 and the Pascal X-PRO. The interior photos speak for themselves since they are identical twins of company pics from Abletec and Pascal. Dennis does not manufacture separate power modules for the Pascal and Abletec amps he uses.