World's expensivest Audio Power Amplifiers - $100.000 - $600.000

[tiefbassuebertr]

Who knows about the sound of the follow listed amps?
http://www.higherfi.com/amplist/amplist.htm
and the sonic different to Mr. Pass top class power amplifiers from the Aleph / X / XA series

In this case also this threat could be of interest:
World's biggest amp? check it out,

[gainphile]

I would want to blind test with a gainclone before parting with $600,000 for an amp

[MRupp]

In this case also this threat could be of interest:
World's biggest amp? check it out,

If this is referring to the Dynaudio Arbiter amps, the guy who supposedly designed them has also smaller amps and a WEB presence. My local HiFi dealer is actually selling his products and they are supposedly very good and the entry series even good value for money. Maybe you can interview him about the arbiter amps and report back

http://www.horch-gmbh.de/index.html

[Nelson Pass]

If you can't be the best, then be the most expensive.

[ra7]

I see the Kleinhorns get a mention in the "World's most weirdest speakers."

I asked my other half if she would let me build those for the living room. Her reply, and I quote, "Yeah, if you build those exact same ones. They are beautiful!"

[el`Ol]

Maybe hard to describe the sound if one has heard an amp together with only one speaker.
I heard a Wavac 833 amp and I believe it sounds unusual enough to describe it despite of knowing only its performance with one type of Kharma speakers. A very warm sound, too noisy and colored to fulfill any hifi standard, very emotional.
Hearing something together with Wilson speakers is always a problem since they brutally imprint their sound character on the whole playback chain. I would describe it as radiance, others have called it alien sounds. So I think I can´t say much about the Soulution, which I have heard whith the Wilson Maxx 3. I didn´t hear the Lamm ML3, but a Lamm hybrid amp together with the Wilson Watt Puppy 8. I think I can say it has some kind of un-natural saccharine sweetness which makes the Wilson sound even more alien. I heard the GTE Trinity chain together with Lansche speakers with plasma tweeter (probably the best tweeter in the world) and the electronics didn´t impair the stunning transparency of the tweeter in any way. One of the best hifi performances I have ever heard. Both the amp and the DAC a real "Materialschlacht" with hundreds of output trannies/ dozens of DACs in parallel. Seems to work.

[DSP_Geek]

Originally Posted by el`Ol

Maybe hard to describe the sound if one has heard an amp together with only one speaker.
I heard a Wavac 833 amp and I believe it sounds unusual enough to describe it despite of knowing only its performance with one type of Kharma speakers. A very warm sound, too noisy and colored to fulfill any hifi standard, very emotional.
Hearing something together with Wilson speakers is always a problem since they brutally imprint their sound character on the whole playback chain. I would describe it as radiance, others have called it alien sounds. So I think I can´t say much about the Soulution, which I have heard whith the Wilson Maxx 3. I didn´t hear the Lamm ML3, but a Lamm hybrid amp together with the Wilson Watt Puppy 8. I think I can say it has some kind of un-natural saccharine sweetness which makes the Wilson sound even more alien. I heard the GTE Trinity chain together with Lansche speakers with plasma tweeter (probably the best tweeter in the world) and the electronics didn´t impair the stunning transparency of the tweeter in any way. One of the best hifi performances I have ever heard. Both the amp and the DAC a real "Materialschlacht" with hundreds of output trannies/ dozens of DACs in parallel. Seems to work.

I can believe paralleling DACs, because each doubling improves the signal-to-noise by 3 dB (2 noise signals add 3 dB, but signal adds linearly so it increases by 6dB), but paralleling transformers is a bad idea. Unless they're matched to a ridiculous degree (better than 0.1%), the current from the transformer with higher voltage output will only warm the windings of the other transformers. See: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/archi...p/t-73408.html

And the Wilsons are no kind of reference at all. I haven't heard convincing music from any, and the simplest measurements show every single model is outrageously coloured across the midband. They do get a few things right: Bessel alignment for the bottom end (albeit somewhat screwed up by weird woofer arrangements in the SLAMMs), non-resonant cabinets (with some unfortunate protuberances causing early reflections), and ambience tweeters for proper room energy in the high frequencies. Now, I don't say a flat frequency response is the be-all and end-all - an outstanding speaker is made of many things - but at least try to get that right before concentrating on more subtle parameters, otherwise you're putting spoilers and a metal-flake paint job on a Trabant.

[el`Ol]

Originally Posted by DSP_Geek

but paralleling transformers is a bad idea. Unless they're matched to a ridiculous degree (better than 0.1%), the current from the transformer with higher voltage output will only warm the windings of the other transformers. See: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/archi...p/t-73408.html

Sorry, I am no techie, so I made a language mistake here: not output transformer (trannies), but output transistors (in the power amp)

[hasaudio.co.nz]

I saw this thread and thought of goldmund? I thnk thats what they are called. Any1 had any experience with these?

[DSP_Geek]

Originally Posted by el`Ol

Sorry, I am no techie, so I made a language mistake here: not output transformer (trannies), but output transistors (in the power amp)

Hey, that's OK. We're all here to learn.

Hundreds of output transistors? Matching those must be fun.