The amp market seems to be lower-powered inexpensive stuff, or >$1000 for just two channels of big power. Why haven't advancements delivered say 5x100 for $600 or something?
And in a vaguely related question, why are the inexpensive ones not so clean? I mean something like the Aiyima A07 which at Audio Science Review measures as dumping a fair bit of power, but not too amazing for distortion and noise. If you don't need a lot of power, why isn't there a really clean inexpensive amp? Is it a limitation of the amp chips? The power supplies just aren't good enough?
[cue Jethro Tull "Wond'ring Aloud"😉
And in a vaguely related question, why are the inexpensive ones not so clean? I mean something like the Aiyima A07 which at Audio Science Review measures as dumping a fair bit of power, but not too amazing for distortion and noise. If you don't need a lot of power, why isn't there a really clean inexpensive amp? Is it a limitation of the amp chips? The power supplies just aren't good enough?
[cue Jethro Tull "Wond'ring Aloud"😉
Does this look like what you are looking for: https://emotiva.com/collections/amps?pf_t_application=home-theater ?
Maybe! Measurements of Emotiva range from amazing to borderline dirty (audibility of how dirty being a different subject, but I'm an engineer so I want nice measurements in order to feel at ease). I'll be curious to see like A3/A4/A5 tested.
The power supply seems to be the limiting factor on a lot of the cheapo amps.
At 2 x140 watts for $89 the Fossi Audio V3 measurements looked good enough for me to buy 3 of them last summer (2023):
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/fosi-audio-v3-amplifier-review.45757/
So far, so good, been using one for subwoofers in the home theater, and a pair for near field studio monitors and subs.
If you want more power, the Behringer NX4-6000 is a decent deal, ~1500x4 peak for under $700.
I still own a pair of NU4-6000, pretty much the same amp, though the NX series made a few improvements.
With two bridged mono pairs each driving four ohm loads just below the illumination of the clip/limit light the NU4-6000 put out 85.5 volts at 60 Hz (1828 watts), 84.6 volts at 30 Hz (1789 watts), dropping the mains voltage on a 100' 10AWG 120V line from 118.1 volts down to 107.2 volts, drawing 31 amperes.
The amp would have put out more power given a full 120 volts, but the test represents a "real world" situation, we don't generally plug our amplifiers in to an outlet two feet from the mains transformer.
Using just one bridged mono pair, the amp ran for 40+ seconds before I terminated the test, as the amp was drawing 19.8 amperes, and the "tired" 20 amp mains breaker had already popped several times in previous tests.
I also tested my old "heavy iron" bass favorite at that time (2015), a Crest CA9. Bridged into a 4 ohm load the CA9 dropped the mains to 99.6 volts, drew 37.8 amps but only put out 80 volts (1600 watts). The NU4-6000 put out more power, and drew only 50% of the power from the mains compared to the CA9, and weighs a small fraction of the "heavy iron".
Art
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