High-end amplifier clarification?

Weseixas what amps do you feel are hi end and which are not in your experience?
Is the 2 ohm load spec you mention your current speaker load?

One of the above posters mentioned Levinson being hi end . I would not consider my Levinson #431 hi end . In fact I would not consider any of my system high end , ( see my system link ) . It used to be if you spent $10,000 on a single component you were in that elite group but now with six figure gear the bar has been raised , not that price is what matters .

03-02-11:
Weseixas what amps do you feel are hi end and which are not in your experience?
Is the 2 ohm load spec you mention your current speaker load?

-Rleff

No, i have multiple speakers, currently using not 2 ohm, my speakers have nothing to do with my statement , try and understand that .

A true hi-end amp would be a perfect voltage source, there are available, Krell,levinson, Classe, Audia flight, MBL,et al, it is the basic premise of making a true hi-end amplifier after which other parameters fall into place.

Regards,

03-03-11:
One of the above posters mentioned Levinson being hi end . I would not consider my Levinson #431 hi end . In fact I would not consider any of my system high end , ( see my system link ) . It used to be if you spent $10,000 on a single component you were in that elite group but now with six figure gear the bar has been raised , not that price is what matters .
-Tmsorosk

Tmsorosk, i would consider Levinson hi-end , absolutely not mid-fi...

regards,

Sound is very subjective, one man's euphoria is another' anathema. An amplifiers job is that of an voltage source, expensive high end amplifiers that cannot replicate such, is well ................

A Pretender.

Weseixas, so you exclude Nelson Pass?? Gamut?? Shindo?? Kondo?? Lamm?? VAC?? Sorry. Your model does not hold up. BTW, you might be interested in this;

http://vintagefisher.com/vintage-fisher-55-a-tube-power-amp-monobloc-55a/

What we see is a Fisher 55-A mono amplifier. The knob on the lower right hand side is the Z-Matic knob, which is a variable feedback control. It is labeled: "Constant Voltage" on the fully counterclockwise position, "Constant Power" at 12 o'clock, and "Constant Current" at fully clockwise.

You seemed to accuse me of 'pseudo science' on another thread recently; I just thought you should see this so that you would know that I did not make something up. And also, you can see that tube amplifiers are capable of being voltage sources. The Wolcott is an example of that.

However now that you see that I *did not* make this up, and that a feedback control is having something to do with this on the Fisher, then you will see that my comments about negative feedback being something that is often part of the Voltage Paradigm (http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.html ) is not made up either.

And it is a fact, borne out of real science, that there is a price paid for the inclusion of negative feedback in most amplifiers- that of increased odd ordered harmonic distortion, which is shown to be unpleasant to the human ear.

So the bottom line is that it is **intention** that defines what a high end amplifier is. It is certainly not the ability to drive 2 ohms, as quite often that ability means that the amplifier might not sound like real music, and therefore neither can the speaker being thus driven. Some designers want to see their equipment sound better than that. You see? Its intention, and nothing else.

Now just so we are clear, it may be the intention of the designer that the amp *should* drive a 2 ohm load as a voltage source. That's fine- it still falls under the definition of intention.