Amp/Preamp Asylum

Yes, even Pass Labs Class A get hot....

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: 20-30Watts Class A nominations apart from Aleph for pure sound posted by bare on April 10, 2017 at 19:50:48

NO Pass class A does Not get hot. Certainly Not his Firstwatt designs Only the earliest designs got HOT. Nelson is constantly developing new topologies... each version an improvement on it's predecessor.

By their very nature Class A amps run HOT relative to other designs. There's nothing Nelson can do about that. All one needs to do is look at the idle power consumption spec relative to the amp's output power. That idle power consumption is a direct indicator of heat dissipation. The smaller 10 - 25w Firstwatt amps dissipate anywhere from about 150-watts to 250-watts in heat. That's HUGE for the small amount of audio power they actually produce, which is typical of Class A. Nelson isn't going to change the laws of physics to change the relationship of Class A to heat dissipation.

audio ouput / power consumption

F7 20w / 170w
F6 25w / 180w
SIT1 10w / 200w
SIT2 10w / 200w
J2 30w / 200w
M2 25w / 160w
F5 25w / 180w
F4 25w / 180w
F3 15w / 200w
F2 5w / 150w
F1 10w / 200w
Aleph J 25w / 200w
Aleph 30 30w/200w
Aleph 3 30w / 250w

XS150.5 150w / 700w
XS300.5 300w / 900w

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