Budget AMPs vs. EXPENSIVE AMPs

[admin_exported]

I found some very nice budget amps lately on the web, and some expensive ones also....actually very expensive...and i was wondering is there a big difference between these two types of amps? Is it really worth paying so much? Some budget amps receive maximum on some websites, i know is the sound quality/price ratio, but even so whats the point of those expensive ones? i need some advice regarding these amps...i want to buy one 

 

[Anonymous]

there is a number of things that make an amp expensive/cheap. if you could list a few model numbers you'll get the info your looking for.

 

[Frank Harvey]

The quality of the parts used can make an amp more expensive. Some amps use 'off the shelf' parts which are mass produced and relatively cheap, but others use hand made parts which are more expensive, and even more expensive if they're specifically made for that manufacturer. Also, how is the amp constructed? Many Japanese amps tend to be mass produced on a production line. Amps like Naim and Bryston are hand made from start to finish, and in the case of Bryston they soak test each product for 100 hours before sending them to the dealer. Some amplifiers, due to their parts and design, can produce masses of power, capable of driving speakers regardless of how low their impedance gets.

Some amplifiers will only show their true colours in the right system, or with certain speakers. I've mentioned many times before that the amplifier and speaker pairing is the most important one in the whole system - get this wrong and it doesn't matter how much the indivdual parts or whole tem costs - it's performance won't be equivalent to it's worth.

 

[SteveR750]

I would have thought that the biggest cost differentiator is R&D and design costs. The more they are the greater the amortised cost per unit, which in turn means a higher selling price and therefore likely fewer numbers to sell, so your expensive design had better be "good". I would imagine that it is the attention to detail in the design process that is the biggest sonic differentiator between good and average amps. That said, like all consumer products, often price and cost are totally unrelated (B&O springs to mind).

I agree then that the cost of high quality component parts in the electrical circuit probably make up the rest.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Another thing, which Naim do, is matching internal components. Resistors, capacitors etc are all matched so that the possible difference between the left and right channel are minimised. I'm not sure which other manufacturers do this, but I doubt there's many amps under £1k that use this process.