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In Reply to: My criteria for a POTENTIALLY good sounding amp posted by morricab on June 18, 2012 at 07:22:50:
The idea is that the amp have linearity without the need for feedback.
The issue then becomes, how do you drive speakers that are clearly made for amps with a very low 'output impedance' (I use the quotes for a reason, which is that the term is not entirely factual)?
What I have found is that if the speaker has these requirements of the amp then it will never sound like real music on account of such amps in and of themselves can't sound like real music because of the limitations imposed by feedback and the like.
This then requires that the speaker is able to accommodate an amplifier with a higher output impedance. This requires different box design (if it is a box) and also different crossover design. With respect to the latter, if you use the wrong amps with the wrong speakers, the crossover might be a couple of octaves off! This is why some horns will 'honk' with some transistor amps. There is more at the link.
Essentially for the most part the industry has been headed down the wrong road for about the last 45 years. What I mean by this is that the human hearing rules are pretty much ignored in favor of specs on paper. The former is why some amps sound good with "poor specs", the latter is why some amps sell better, as the specs on paper can make a bad amp look good.
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Follow Ups
- agreed on all counts! Thanks for putting this up. - Ralph 12:46:24 06/18/12 (43)
- RE: agreed on all counts! Thanks for putting this up. - morricab 14:47:53 06/18/12 (39)
- RE: agreed on all counts! Thanks for putting this up. - Ralph 08:15:32 06/19/12 (38)
- RE: agreed on all counts! Thanks for putting this up. - morricab 05:37:54 06/26/12 (37)
- yes and no. - Ralph 10:16:26 06/26/12 (36)
- RE: yes and no. - Sunya 07:00:29 06/29/12 (28)
- RE: yes and no. - villastrangiato 08:09:50 06/29/12 (27)
- RE: yes and no. - Sunya 09:29:23 06/29/12 (26)
- FWIW, the old tubes vs transistors debate.... - Ralph 09:43:16 06/29/12 (25)
- RE: FWIW, the old tubes vs transistors debate.... - villastrangiato 20:14:32 06/29/12 (24)
- I think there are a few. - Ralph 09:37:51 07/02/12 (18)
- RE: I think there are a few. - villastrangiato 06:05:20 07/03/12 (17)
- RE: I think there are a few. - Ralph 10:00:07 07/03/12 (16)
- RE: I think there are a few. - villastrangiato 20:31:27 07/03/12 (15)
- harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - Ralph 11:13:05 07/04/12 (14)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - villastrangiato 19:41:28 07/04/12 (13)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - Ralph 09:29:27 07/05/12 (3)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - villastrangiato 19:57:03 07/05/12 (2)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - PaulF70 07:28:10 06/17/16 (0)
- The human ear is the most important thing in audio - Ralph 07:48:20 07/07/12 (0)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - morricab 01:13:20 07/05/12 (8)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - villastrangiato 04:42:49 07/05/12 (7)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - morricab 14:21:54 07/05/12 (5)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - villastrangiato 19:46:44 07/05/12 (4)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - morricab 00:36:34 07/06/12 (3)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - Sunya 07:02:50 07/06/12 (2)
- Correction - morricab 15:14:17 07/06/12 (0)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - morricab 15:10:10 07/06/12 (0)
- If you are not willing to read the studies and work you will remain ignorant - Ralph 09:42:57 07/05/12 (0)
- Spectral nt - Sunya 03:39:31 07/01/12 (4)
- RE: Spectral nt - villastrangiato 07:11:53 07/01/12 (3)
- RE: Spectral et al... - Ralph 09:33:53 07/02/12 (0)
- RE: Spectral nt - morricab 09:39:07 07/01/12 (0)
- RE: Spectral nt - rick_m 09:19:53 07/01/12 (0)
- RE: yes and no. - morricab 08:07:36 06/27/12 (6)
- RE: yes and no. - Ralph 09:25:00 06/27/12 (5)
- RE: yes and no. - villastrangiato 08:13:24 06/28/12 (4)
- The goal is the same. - Ralph 12:31:01 06/28/12 (3)
- RE: The goal is the same. - rick_m 09:36:22 06/29/12 (0)
- RE: The goal is the same. - morricab 00:18:36 06/29/12 (1)
- RE: Yes, I agree. nt - Ralph 09:32:46 06/29/12 (0)
- What "human hearing rules" are you referring to? nt - Rick W 14:01:05 06/18/12 (2)
- RE: What "human hearing rules" are you referring to? nt - Ralph 07:58:27 06/19/12 (0)
- Read Ralph's linked paper for the details. (nt) - jbrrp1 15:04:52 06/18/12 (0)