TRL ST225 - Goodness anyone else own this amp

Bill,

You described the sound quite accurately. Seems you've become quite acclimated to the ST-225. Glad to hear you are enjoying it. Now just wait until you hear the CDP with it.

Based upon my recollection of conversations with Paul, I don't think the amps have fuses in them, but circuit breaker switch only. Besides the full spectrum tonal balance Bill experienced, one among other things that impressed me is the "density" of the sound "images" in the stage that the amp is capable of casting. I am lucky to hear some very good setups of a few top amps (i.e. Gryphon, Jadis, Goldmund, ASR, Halcro, DartZeel, Kondo, etc) at various friends' dwellings. Personally, my TRL amps have never disappointed. For people seeking truthful, distortion-free, grain-free reproduction of music, IMHO TRL amps should definitely be on the short audition list before purchased.

Just pulled a past email from Paul about never using fuses in his own designs, but circuit-breaker switches for the reason yielding much better sound. FYI, here is the spec I have collected about the amp:

Input Impedance: 68kohms
Input Sensitivity: 1.1Vrms
THD: < 0.05%
Gain: 30db
Noise Floor: < -100db
Rail Voltage: +/- 76 VDC
Power: 225 watts
Power consumption: 600 watts

Your right Howard, it has been known for years now that fuses are not the way to go . Hopefully, someday the others will catch up.

Paul told me the gain on my amp was about 37db and input sensitivity .8V. I would have to agree with the gain number as most preamps I used with this amp could not get past 10 o'clock on the volume control before reaching my preferred listening level (about 90db or so). Only exceptions were the K&K Audio TVC and the TRL Pre-1.5.

On the power consumption I find the number interesting. I once had an Exact Power EP-15A. With this component as you plug gear into it the display tells you how much power consumption is being utlized. I plugged in my DAC and transport and the display read 30 watts. When I plugged in the amp I expected an increase along the lines of 500 watts or so, but the display increased to 45 watts. On occasion it would rise to 60 or 75 watts when I was playing music. I thought there might be something wrong with the EP-15A so I called tech support at Exact Power. They had me run a simple test. They asked me to get the power consumption rating for my TV and then plug it in to the EP-15A. Sure enough the display jumped up 150 watts, which was the correct power consumption rating.

I'd like to know the slew rate and damping factor of the amp. However, I've learned that Paul eschews specs when designing and relies on his ears much more.