450 Pound Monobloc Amplifier

03-17-13: Tomtab
"i was told many years ago in audio that if you bought by weight alone you could never go wrong.i guess im old school."

Tomtab,

I would recommend using your ears in choosing an amplifier, not heft.
I hope you didn't follow this old school advice by choosing your wife, or significant other, by heft alone.
Sorry,Tomtab, but I couldn't resist. No offense intended.

Hi Noble100, what barand and model is your current class D amp? Guido

I would agree. A decent tube pre-amp + Class D amp is a hard combo to beat for overall versatility and good sound.

Maybe the Class D trend will ironically provide a fresh boost for tube based gear as well. That would be ironic. Could be just what high end audio needs though, an effective blend of the best of the old and new that people might actually want in their homes and be able to afford to boot.

450 pound monoblocks are a very cool statement, but is there any doubt the market for 450 pound monoblock amps is limited?

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Tim, I love the sound of my Pass amps and I'm in no hurry to change. However, I have no loyalty or sentimental attachment to them. If I hear a set of switching amps that outshine them for less money, I'd change in a heartbeat and never look back. To me, its all about how an amp makes the music sound...and nothing else. For me, the best sounding amp wins, period.

Congrats to you for making the leap to a switching amp. I agree with you that having tubes in the chain could help warm things up. I should be fine in that area if I should go with a switching amp since I have tubes in my preamp, cd player and phono stage.
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Guido,
I just bought a Class D Audio SDS440SC. But I've been thinking of building a pair of monoblocs from the Hypex NC400 modules or even Abletec modules if they're available.