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In Reply to: RE: What has been your amplifier (s) journey? posted by BigguyinATL on February 20, 2015 at 08:36:37
Each of the amplifiers I've used would receive a 5 star (perfect rating). I either purchased and used a different amplifier because one couldn't deliver the current to drive a newer version Maggie, (change from 8 ohm to 4 or 3 ohms resistance, no zero audio autoformer back then) or to satisfy my curiosity as to the performance/sound of a different amplifier. That said, 40 years ago two bridged (tubed) ARC D-76As performed and sounded no differently than either a GAS Ampzilla or two bridged Adcom GFA-555s, when driving a Tympani 1C. That was the case even when playing Telarc 1812 canons pretty loud. (I should qualify that because one of my 555s went up in flames and smoke in doing so. The kind folks working at Adcom customer service quickly replaced that amp, free of charge. I wonder whether or not Bryston today would do the same under their 20 year warranty. I don't intend putting to any test even if Magnepan was willing to refurbish my Tympani IV-A free of charge.)
Follow Ups:
Bob Carver & Stereophile proved that, as he adjusted the transfer functions of his amplifiers to match - well - whatever he wanted. The loudspeaker load and dynamics also are involved. Back around 1981 or so I was second jobbing at a hi-fi store. A customer wanted to compare 100Watt Amplifiers - SAE and the APT Holman One with his loudspeakers (Rectilinears). In our store the APT almost always bested or at least matched the SAE with the B&W, JBL, McIntosh, DCM loudspeakers we offered - but with the customer's Rectilinears the APT was not up to the SAE performance. Of course - the customer didn't but the SAE from me - he walked out and saved $50 by using Mail order :b
As for Magneplanars - they are inherently inefficient but are capabile of good dynamics if you give them lots of power. 300 Watt minimum even for the lowly MMG's I use.
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
"In our store the APT almost always bested or at least matched the SAE with the B&W, JBL, McIntosh, DCM loudspeakers we offered...."
As in optometry .... choose the setting which allows you to see better and more clearly than does another. (In audioland, one amplifier to make sound from some given speaker(s) appear to play louder than another, possibly due to a variety of reasons.) What generalizations can come from such?
Not louder - but due to the way the impedance varies the output subtly - the tone or the presence can favor an individuals or groups preference with a particular source material. Once that preference is established - the human mind will allow it to persist even in the absence of physical evidence to the contrary.
Heyser explained this behavior with his "Catastrophe Theory" as it relates to perception manifolds.
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
When I was much younger and with decent hearing about 35 years ago, I was present during a one hour-plus 'shoot-out' at my high-end dealer, Lyric Hi-Fi (Manhattan), and at that time its proprietor Mike Kay who sold both Mark Levinson equipment (the man) and Audio Research Corporation, conducted that experiment. One the amps was the tubed ARC D-79, the other a ML amp having the closest electronic capabilities and characteristics.
*None* of us, including MK, another customer or myself could tell them apart, so all the theories in the world including the one you mentioned, notwithstanding to me amount to BS. In that case it also seemed to apply to tubes vs. SS, so just call me Julian Hirsch and let's be done with it.
(Mike Kay claimed he could hear which of the two was the 'better', but he was not going to tell us. I think it most probably was the one which most fattened his bank account.)
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