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Class D amp driving Thiel

I was honing in on a 2 channel system and had seriously narrowed down the contenders until last Saturday. After not being impressed with a pair of B&W CM7's I was encouraged to listen to a set of Thiel 1.6.

It was amazing. Driven by a Bryston amplifier they had detail and precision with beautiful tonality. Yes, they did lack bass under 50 hz. But completely different and world's better than the Thiel's I owned and powered with tubes years ago. So now I have to rethink things. I have only a small shelf for the SB3 and amplifier and can't fit (or afford) anything above 30 lbs or 5 inches tall.

Maybe a second hand Krell 400xi would work but Krell's rap is that they can be bright and fatiguing. And I can't do anything bigger or costlier. While the Naim forum has good reports of Thiel's being driven by even a Nait 5i I am a little cautious based on my previous experience. As I learned the hard way you have to muscle up on Thiel's or they sound bright and nasty.

So, the thought of a class D amp came to mind. Small, light, and powerful. Though I haven't even heard one before (hard to find them in Chicago, believe it or not) my interest is piqued. But would it be up to driving the load I am contemplating without getting bright or harsh? Any thoughts but more importantly experiences are appreciated.
wdrazek
stevecham
3,340 posts
 
Vic, but that tube amp's squarewave sure does look much better than that D amp.

I am totally cognizant of what happens as soon as acoustic sounds is trasduced to an electronic signal, the phase shifting, the compression...we have to accept that as part of the recording chain. I too am a musician and a recording engineer. But I want my playback system to reflect what was recorded, for better or worse, as accurately as possible. In other words I want the quality of the performance and the production to define the musicality, and, as little as possible, the playback system.
vicdamone
850 posts
 
Stevecham: I'm must be missing something as a result of this form of communication and I'll apologize in advance if I missunderstand your original statment but it seemed you were putting down all class D amps because of the apearance of one test signal.

I doubt I would have responded had you singled out a particular class D amplifier and after seeing the test signal it somehow confirmed your listening experience. I take exception when I think I hear or read negitave generalities and I guess that's how your remark struk me.

I have four amplifiers for stereo, two of which are class D. I'm extremly happy with their preformance but unlike the tube and the linear solid state amplifiers a great deal of care was taken with regards to VAC quality and cable selection before they came into their own.
coffeey's avatar
coffeey
363 posts
 
Two points,bear with me,what does this 10k wave prove or not prove?In one of the last Stereophiles,with Ayre on cover,in Man. comments Charles states that his amps passes a 10k wave fine,what is the point of it?
stevecham
3,340 posts
 
Noise and distortion are the points of it.
stevecham
3,340 posts
 
And he said it but didn't show it. This is my opinion: Class D amplifiers are not ready for prime time yet, except for a narrow frequency range as required by a subwoofer. And car stereo with all the attendant road noise. Those who will embrace Class D at this time will do so by looking the other way when it comes to measurement because they don't care a damn about measurement but only how it sounds. And that's fine by me.
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