Mosfet mist?

Magfan all that sounds familiar as it seems all engineering and prototyping is done in the states then once the wafers have a proven yield it seems to go offshore.

There is a fab within 25 miles of here with a capacity of 20,000 (!!) 6" wafers per week. At least. The class 100 area is almost 2 acres....no kidding.
They make power devices, FREDS, IGBTs and who knows what else.

I carried a pedometer with me for a week or so and even before the expansion, never walked LESS than 3 miles per day.

You simply would not believe the electric bill......and the low power factor surcharge. Each furnace, for example, has a 100 amp breaker. The same as the service to my house. And....they come 4 to a 'stack' and there quite a few stacks. Each implanter has a transformer the size of a Smart Car.....only a slight exageration...but you get the idea.

Many companies use 'foundaries' for overflow capacity. Also, companies like Intel simply don't want the mask set (layer by layer blue print, if you will) out of there grasp. All Intel is made in the US of A.

Many comodity devices....like OPAMPS are made in these foundaries and pretty much sold by the bushell.

I own a B&K ST-140 that I use as a backup amplifier. Stock, it does sound really warm, and a little undetailed.

However, a quick look at the schematic and you'll see a gross little electrolytic used as the input capacitor. I replaced this (and the power supply bypass caps) with some Elna Silmics. It was a big improvement in the sound, making the amplifier sound more open.

Dividebytube,
I seem to be hearing the same thing inre electrolytics.

After living with my CJ ART preamp (no elecs anywhere), every pre (with elecs) that I've tried since seemed to have a certain "sour?" sound. Latest experience was with a DAC. A friend offered me one of his personals. He helped design the DAC but in his personal ones, he took out all the elecs and replaced them with polys. I've tried a few well reviewed (fwiw) DACs since then and each one, while slightly different, had that "sour? sound. Coincidence? Don't know, works for me.

I'm also a fan of bypass caps on the big PS elecs of power amps.