iceman16 said:
Vladimir said:
Just a bit of chitchat PP. Keeping the thread warm with some Class A talk while Happy Listener enjoys his new amp and accumulating new impressions.
Peace
Maybe you've heard a classy class A.and you dont like it. How about class A at present? Vlad?
I like Class A sound, it is as pure as it can be regarding distortion, which results in relaxed listening. Ideally I believe an amplifier should have no sonic signature, add or remove from the original signal it enhances as less as possible. However, I too like lemon flavored water and enjoyed various amps through my life, part of the fun of this hobby sometimes.
Most high quality proper made Class A amps have "let me down" at first listen. When you see those monoblocks bigger than most Tokyo living rooms, sucking in more power than central heating and blasting heat like actual central heating, and the sound is relaxed, smooth and sweet, I get underwhelmed. But then I turn up the volume. *shok* Oh my G!
After you get hooked up to that bottomless abyss of pure power, you want one, even a little one. So I bought integrated amps with Class A stickers. Whether they run first 8, 10, 30 or whatever watts in Class A, the result is not as impressive, sometimes hardly at all audible. After a while you notice they tend to self-destruct from the heat and I realized, who in the right mind made a 12 kilo integrated Class A with small heat sinks inside the box?
All this bringing me to a conclusion, Class topology is not the main factor here, but the build quality. You can't have a proper Class A amp without it weighing a ton, with massive heat sinks extruding on both sides, sucking in 3 French nuclear power stations, all components of high quality, with high operating headroom, extremely well matched and handpicked, R&D and build done to OCD perfection, double, triple checked everything working to spec before going to the customer. If any, any! small link in this complex chain fails, the amp explodes, engulfing in fire the owner, the family, the dog, the house, the neighborhood.
IMO proper Class A sounds as good as it does because of it's uncompromised build. Start compromising it to affordable small integrated levels, you might as well get a Class AB or D. Less and less appeal to it. To me personally not much appeal to a small integrated running somewhat in Class A, made with lots of doorstops so it doesn't self-destruct when you turn up the wick, or just by leaving it on!