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RE: You could be right

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cawson@onetel.com

In Reply to: RE: You could be right posted by AbeCollins on February 03, 2025 at 07:50:21

Your first sentence sums it up - it matter not what Class an amp uses, but the end result.

In my multi-amp home listening phase about 4 years ago (after deciding to move away from tube amps) I bought or borrowed Class A, AB and D amps in the 3-8K GBP price range. One of the Class A sounded great (Accuphase) but another (Sugden) sounded about as dull as any other amp apart from a Quad and (to my surprise and disappointment) the Benchmark that was so raved about by a fellow Avantgarde speaker user.

In the end, the choice was between the Class A Accuphase (a little too "polite"), the Class AB GamuT (great sound, but a bit naughty when powered up or down), or the Class D NAD M33. I chose this last amp (no regrets after 4 years), but have recently also bought Atma-Sphere Class D monos.

It's what they sound like that matters, not how they do their job.

Follow Ups:

I can feel your pain - Leo loves music 04:05:07 02/04/25 (6)
tube -> class D
That was a big jump.
- Same here but no pain - AbeCollins 19:52:22 02/04/25 (5)
  I went from a pair of lovely sounding Manley Neo-Classic 250 tube amps, 10 EL34 tubes per monoblock. Wanting to no longer deal with the heat, weight, and tube replacement costs I investigated various Class D amps. I went through a few Class AB solid-state amps too but over time I noticed that Class D amps were improving. The other more 'traditional' amps had already plateaued. There was nothing new there except even more creative hyperbole in the marketing literature. Anyway, fast forward a handful of years and I too went
  tube -> class D, and with no regrets.
  Repairing and retubing the Manley Neo-Classic 250 monoblocks
  
  Tried a couple big boy Bryston amps. Big boy mistake.
  
  Manley tube monoblock & Wyred4Sound SX-500 Class D monoblock.
  
  The Wyred4Sound Class D was very good but not quite there. However, I'd take these Class D monoblocks any day over the
  Brystons. This was 14 years ago! Class D has improved noticeably since then. I'm sold.
  P.S. I was running Thiel speakers back then and they required big power to sound their best.
  
  Edits: 02/04/25 02/04/25
  - RE: Same here but no pain - morricab 01:34:43 02/11/25 (2)
    Pity, it looks like you once had a good sounding system (minus the atrocious sounding Brystons)...then you went cheap.
    - Yup. I went small, light, cool and cheap.... - AbeCollins 14:43:42 02/13/25 (1)
      ...but I didn't sacrifice on SQ ;-) I enjoyed those Manleys but I'm digging Class D lately.
      
      Yeah, I hated those Brystons. They were a major mistake on my part but live and learn. I think I told the story of trying different tube preamps with the Brystons to make them sound better. Nothing worked so got rid of them. Some folks like them but they're not for me.
      - that makes 2 of us (Bryston 3B) /nt - Story 15:28:26 02/13/25 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: Yup. I went small, light, cool and cheap.... posted by AbeCollins on February 13, 2025 at 14:43:42
  - Just perhaps, past pain in the wallet nt - cawson@onetel.com 03:23:09 02/05/25 (1)
    .
    - We've all been there! - nt - AbeCollins 16:03:16 02/05/25 (0)
      .

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