I think I may be getting it..?? (well something anyway). I have been living happily with the 3w ECL86 amp (current output reigned in by feedback) for some months, and am accustomed to its sound now. A friend has recently returned my Class A hybrid digital amp and I thought I would try it out again. I instantly noticed a sort of grungy ness and colder “transistory” sound, even though this is a no feedback design with a transistor emitter follower output. It is curious how the little IB two way speakers don’t like transistor amps.

I got to thinking about current output amplifiers, I was intrigued a few months ago by some comments on an article in the EE times Consumer audio: Is accurate sound overrated? where the poster "Cookie Jar"  stated “One day on a whim, I hooked up my distortion meters to the actual speaker terminals of my living room stereo, and I was in for a rude awakening. The distortion readings were a couple of orders higher than for...