What do you call a dog with wings ? No one answer that please .
Band on the Run still rates very highly with me . More so than Gracelands . I love them both . Linda was not useless and had zero time to learn . Paul was not a Paper Tiger then . I met a lady where I work who was John Lennon's girl friend . All she said was he was a very shrewd man . Before I could ask more my friends rushed me away and said " don't listen to that old ... " I looked her up , She was Alan Delons girlfriend also and top fashion model Irene Dunsford . Now 71 but still fascinating . My young office lad is 21 and so self obsessed he always thinks she is after him .
Band on the Run still rates very highly with me . More so than Gracelands . I love them both . Linda was not useless and had zero time to learn . Paul was not a Paper Tiger then . I met a lady where I work who was John Lennon's girl friend . All she said was he was a very shrewd man . Before I could ask more my friends rushed me away and said " don't listen to that old ... " I looked her up , She was Alan Delons girlfriend also and top fashion model Irene Dunsford . Now 71 but still fascinating . My young office lad is 21 and so self obsessed he always thinks she is after him .
A number of manufacturers used to offer versions of their models for low impedance loads, on special order.
Which meant installing transformers with lower secondary voltages, and lower voltage rating smoothing caps of higher value.
Example is the Burmester 850 fully balanced power amp.
Rare specimens could switch to lower output stage rail levels, by placing secondaries in parallel or series.
Example is the hybrid Sphinx model 16 power amp (buttons for 2, 4, and 8 ohm setting on the front panel, 2 toroidals/ch)
Which reminds me. Some amps, integrated and power, have little switches at the back usually, whicd affect PSU rails. Usually have "Higher impeadnce/Lower impedance" or some such positions.
I have them on my H/K 680 integrated and Citation 24 power amps, and on my Sansui AU-X701 integrated.
It's a quandary, higher voltage gives you better Bass, lower better SOA and sonics for low-Z drive.
or Brute force it ..
It is. Sheer nightmare for any manufacturer. How in heaven's name is he to know what one will attach to?
Thus, the little black switch option is a as good a compromise as can be expected of any general purpose product.
Zero mystery ... it's called engineering, and the reason the differences between the various units isn't obvious, from a piece of paper, is because the ways amplifiers are measured as to how they perform is absolutely hopeless. The "experts" decided decades ago what was important to measure, and the result is no-one has a clue what an amplifier will sound like, until they hook it up in a system and try it. So, we currently have almost zero ability to predict a system's qualities, which, really, is a quite ridulous situation ...Power numbers are vastly over rated vs stability and guts, what gives an amplifier life ? The BAT VK500 was (250w/8ohm) as dead as nails @ 4 ohms or on ML/ESL's (embarrassingly bettered by an adcom on these) vs Levinson 27 or Krell ksa-80 , yet both had less than half the 8 ohm power and yes Nige it was bettered somewhat by the Sunfire amp.
Spectral has a lot of life too and very meager (comparatively) in the output stage and SOA , yet music ..
"Life" in the sound = lack of distortion - a "dead" amplifier means plenty of real world distortion, irrespective of what oodles of conventional measurements might be saying ..
Thanks for sharing the pics - is that one bridge rectifier per supply capacitor? If so, I've never seen such an arrangement before. I like having the caps right next to the output transistors, a Bakoon amp (shown recently on 6moons) also had this arrangement.
a.wayne, I've already let lots out, but no-one thinks it's important - so, I just shrug my shoulders, . The point being, I don't design a system to work right, I listen to what's wrong with it, and aim to fix to fix the problems.
You might as well ask a garage mechanic, how does he fix a car that's not running well - he'll give you a look as if you were a right twit, for obvious reasons ...
Of course, most people don't appreciate that typical systems are not "running well", by a big margin - and hence the disconnect ...
. The point being, I don't design a system to work right, I listen to what's wrong with it, and aim to fix to fix the problems.You might as well ask a garage mechanic, how does he fix a car that's not running well - he'll give you a look as if you were a right twit, for obvious reasons ...
Of course, most people don't appreciate that typical systems are not "running well", by a big margin - and hence the disconnect ...
Sounds Easy Franky, looks like you have the magic touch, throw something up , C'mon , you can do , let it out ..
It's like getting a glimpse of something which might be interesting but then it's gone again before any real insight can be gained.
For what it's worth I think there might be something relevant in what Frank said even if it doesn't actually help very much. I had a little Musical Fidelity X80 integrated at one point which had decent spec (on paper) but it made music quite boring to listen to.
The amusing thing about those "mega" amps is that 95% of the cost of them, to the manufacturer, is all the metal bits that hold it together, and make it look good - the actual electronics, that make it do something, is just spare change ...
So then 'mega amps' are rather similar to perfumes? For them the money goes into marketing and packaging (as I understand it) - the chemicals which are making the smell are relatively chump change.
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