If all well designed amplifiers are difficult to distinguish

[TrevC]

It's not about being deaf. People, including myself, enjoy loud music. How does one get large, deep and accurate bass out of small boxes (acceptable for domestic application)? You make them acoustic suspension (closed box) and 4 ohms. Not an easy task even for your A500, I asure you. I made more powerfull and better built amps run out of juice under such conditions.

Are there any small speakers that can handle more than 160 watts of amplifier power?

 

[TrevC]

You're not the only one with this view of it, though the other reviews are as guilty of misguidedly believing they have a sonic giant killer bargain as those that spend thousands and thousands. It doesn't even increase its power output into a 4 ohm load, let alone double it.

Oh dear, that is false. http://theaudiocritic.com/plog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=22

If you had said it's fugly and you wouldn't have it in the house that would be fair enough.

 

[TrevC]

Fully regulated power supplies built to last and survive most speakers and most applications do not come cheap.

Most amplifiers don't have fully regulated power supplies for the output stage. They are entirely superfluous.

 

[haider]

To me you have answered your own question here really. If standard, commonly accepted specifications and measurements were all we needed to design a good amplifier, why then it's simple. We set parameters on the test equipment and keep adjusting the numbers on the circuit till it hits the right thresholds or sits in the right band etc.

What you have missed out is, response time of a signal( at any given frequency), it's reaction to changes in a complex load (the speaker can behave quite differently at different frequencies, temperature, current and so on), impulse response, response to a massive need for current like when an orchestra all, suddenly, play at once and loudly and so on.

So what you are really saying is the two amplifiers seem to sound the same in two dimensions not taking into account that you live and hear in three.

THD+N, Watts at 1kHz blah blah. Might as well put your finger in the air really.

We usually do them right at the end for the user manual. Always seem to come out fine.

Haider (of Sonneteer)

 

[Vladimir]

I think you might be right Vladimir.

Thinking about it again this morning, the amp was turned on full making the cones look like they where going to pop out! This was done to show how far the amp could be turned up, but for anly a few seconds.

So the amp had no more power at that point, but I would not risk driving my speakers to that point with any amplifier. Maybe the ST40 could not control the speakers properly and a more powerful amp could drive them harder but with more control.

The sound whilst this was happening was not unpleasant, as in not nasty distortion, and we could talk/shout over the music, but I would not drive them like that again as something was clearly distorting.

Just go easy on the gas pedal. It can cost ten times what you paid and it will still be 40w amp with low damping factor. No way around its design limitations as a valve amp.

 

[Vladimir]

Fully regulated power supplies built to last and survive most speakers and most applications do not come cheap.

Most amplifiers don't have fully regulated power supplies for the output stage. They are entirely superfluous.

Fishnet stockings are superfluous but I like them on a good pair of legs.

 

[FennerMachine]

[font="Arial, sans-serif"]I was going easy, mostly! The chap helping with the demo turned it to full after I asked how far it was safe to turn up the amp. I don't think he was saying it should be run like that for long periods. The amp/speakers played loud enough for me at around 1 or 2 O'clock with no obvious issues. In the size room the demo was in I would likely never need to run it that hard in my room, probably 12 O'clock would be more than enough and less than that most of the time.[/font]

 

[TrevC]

When you buy a classic sports car, you can't drive it like a modern one. You enjoy and appreciate in its other virtues, not just power.

True, but we don't want to go back to this.

My dad had this very model but we upgraded the turntable to a Garrard 2025TC.

 

[Vladimir]

When you buy a classic sports car, you can't drive it like a modern one. You enjoy and appreciate its other virtues, not just power.

 

[Vladimir]

Of course not. You want the red horn player on the right!

 

[SteveR750]

You're not the only one with this view of it, though the other reviews are as guilty of misguidedly believing they have a sonic giant killer bargain as those that spend thousands and thousands. It doesn't even increase its power output into a 4 ohm load, let alone double it.

Oh dear, that is false. http://theaudiocritic.com/plog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=22

If you had said it's fugly and you wouldn't have it in the house that would be fair enough.

One opinion vs another. It's clearly great at the price, but please stop trying to give the impression it performs anything like a £2k amp. It doesn't. And it looks like a piece of **** for the record. To claim it's anything more is as deluded as spending the Greek national debt on a pair of cables.

 

[fr0g]

You're not the only one with this view of it, though the other reviews are as guilty of misguidedly believing they have a sonic giant killer bargain as those that spend thousands and thousands. It doesn't even increase its power output into a 4 ohm load, let alone double it.

Oh dear, that is false. http://theaudiocritic.com/plog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=22

If you had said it's fugly and you wouldn't have it in the house that would be fair enough.

One opinion vs another. It's clearly great at the price, but please stop trying to give the impression it performs anything like a £2k amp. It doesn't. And it looks like a piece of **** for the record. To claim it's anything more is as deluded as spending the Greek national debt on a pair of cables.

The fact you would almost certainly not be able to tell the difference in a blind test with most 2K amps kind of marks your post as innacurate and irrelevant.

And actually, I think it looks pretty good. Subjectively of course.

 

[TrevC]

You're not the only one with this view of it, though the other reviews are as guilty of misguidedly believing they have a sonic giant killer bargain as those that spend thousands and thousands. It doesn't even increase its power output into a 4 ohm load, let alone double it.

Oh dear, that is false. http://theaudiocritic.com/plog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=22

If you had said it's fugly and you wouldn't have it in the house that would be fair enough.

One opinion vs another. It's clearly great at the price, but please stop trying to give the impression it performs anything like a £2k amp. It doesn't. And it looks like a piece of **** for the record. To claim it's anything more is as deluded as spending the Greek national debt on a pair of cables.

The underlined is false so that is not merely my opinion. 220w at 4ohm, 138w at 8 ohm, and it will perform just as well as a £2k amp with the same spec. Better than many, especially if they have valves in the output stage. I've already said it looks lousy.

http://theaudiocritic.com/plog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=22

 

[SteveR750]

The fact you would almost certainly not be able to tell the difference in a blind test with most 2K amps kind of marks your post as innacurate and irrelevant.

And actually, I think it looks pretty good. Subjectively of course.

Well, being pedantic (and accurate) "almost" is not "fact"

And let's suppose I could hear the difference in a blind test?