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In Reply to: RE: Yeah Ive heard this before... posted by 2chJunkie on February 25, 2012 at 10:16:08
Only their two largest E-series amps are class D, all the others use exactly the same audio circuitry as the MC-series.
What they lack is the rather sophisticated digital control which is only really interesting when you get close to clipping or they get a bit warmer than they should.
The MC750 and MC1250 appear to live on though as Quested AP800 and AP1300.
PS: The bang for the buck was even better as I bought mine s/h: £350 for the MC450, £300 for the MC750 and £100 for the T500. They would have cost about £4000 new in total.
Follow Ups:
May I ask... Youve taken an approach many do not. Using studio / pro amps to drive your gear. Note I didnt say most dont as there are allot here who do also.
What other amps did you try that did and or didnt do it for you?
I love reading about others experiences and what they found along the way. What brought them to where they are now.
I must admit, Ive only really tried well made tube gear in my rigs. All the SS amps Ive owned and tried really need rebuilds so I feel Ive never really heard SS done well in my own gear.
Im young enough yet so theres time for me to hear more gear. For now I feel quite happy.
Thanks much for sharing your thoughts.
Dave
OPther amps I tried but not necessarily owned are Pioneer, Yamaha (domestic and pro), Phase Linear, QUAD, SAE, Harrison, Bryston, Arcam (easily the worst of the lot), Revox (quite good), NAD etc.
Can't remember all the model numbers though.
I used to spend a lot of time in studios btw so I always was after amps that do not anything by themselves.
I also noticed that I like high damping factors (that's valves out of the window) and more than sufficient power.
One thing that got me interested in MC2 amps was the fact that Terry Clarke designed them.
In case you don't know Terry, he founded Klark Teknik with his brother and KT gear was always famous for being as clean as it got.
Later I found out that the other guy involved in MC2s design is Ian McCarthy who started a HiFi company called EAR with a bloke called Tim de Paravincini.
PS: I do love valve power for instrument amps. There is nothing better for some sweet, creamy distortion. The amp in my Leslie organ speaker is a valve job powered by a couple of 6550s. A thing of sublime beauty when pushed into the red.
Very interesting.
I have in my possession an Aragon 2004, Phase Linear 400 ver 2, McIntosh MC250, Carver 1.5, a few other odd balls.
Ive always wondered if any rebuilt would make for a good taste test of SS done well.
I dont know how Id like it being as conditioned to my current likes in tubes. Can a 50-100 watt SS sound amazing on allot of the vintage speakers I know and love.
Just seems like you and I have fallen for a different sound of amp. Im sure what Im used to hearing is probably different from your known sound and tastes.
If youve heard any of my amps and were impressed let me know. Not sure if I should have one rebuilt and drive these 4430s for a listen.
One thing I was also wondering about. You mention your being after totally neutral and non colored (or so Ive interpreted). But dont your amps have some kind of digital DSP type of addition to the amp? Thought you mentioned about them doing something to the signal when driven hard. Again I may be totally off in this perception. Sorry if so.
Thanks much to educating me on some of this stuff.
All the best
Dave
Friend of mine used to totally swear by his Phase Linear but when I saw him again a week after he heard my MC2 he had bought two of them already!
It is a popular misconception that the MC-series amps are digital or have DSP built in and I suspect that is the reason I got at least one them so cheap.
Thing is the amp is digitally controlled but there is nothing digital at all in the signal path.
What it means is that a little computer overlooks the workings of the amp ie if it gets close to clipping or overheating instead of limiters kicking in or relays tripping the computer fades down the supply rail voltage until the danger cedes. The amp will usually not go silent, just quieter.
It also works at switch on when the computer checks that everything works as designed and then fades the supply rail voltage up. This also increases the amps longevity as ss gear tends to fail on switch on in the vast majority of cases.
The audio path is as short as possible and essentially a standard class AB bipolar circuit.
However it is heavily biased (Ian McCarthy told me that the chances it will get into class B mode at home are small to nil) and the driver stage is current driven rather than usual voltage transfer design.
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