Amp design logic

Many factors presumably contribute to that $50K sales price, many of them having been mentioned in the posts above. As someone experienced in electronic design (not for audio), one factor I would particularly emphasize is amortization of design and development costs.

Designing a sophisticated high performance electronic product involves many months, perhaps even years, of effort, involving multiple technical disciplines. For starters: Electrical design, including analog, digital, and power supply design, which are essentially different disciplines; mechanical design; thermal design; and in many audio products these days also software or firmware design. Significant payments to subcontractors and suppliers are also involved, not just for parts and materials but also for work by the subcontractors to design and develop custom integrated circuits that may be required, and to perform the non-recurring efforts that are required to prepare for production of major subassemblies such as the chassis, transformers, etc. Specialized test equipment and laboratory facilities will also be needed to support the design and development process.

All of those costs, and many others that have been mentioned, will have to be amortized across a total lifetime production quantity that is perhaps measured in dozens. Frankly, considering that and considering the limited market for high end equipment and the vast number of products that are available to choose from in any given category, what surprises me is not the amps that sell for $50K, but the ones that manage to sell for only $4K.

Now if you were asking about cables, that would be a different story IMO :-)

Regards,
-- Al

Kijanki, I not only admit it but I second it :-)

Great line! Best regards,
-- Al

04-23-12: River251
I was really hoping for a discussion of the components in a $1000 amp vs those in a $50,000 amp, and how much they, vs the designer's intellectual property, contribute to the quality (and cost) difference. In other words, can I take a standard amp design, use the best available parts, and get the sound of the $50K amp. If I can't even get close, the sound quality must come from the circuit design.

"Best" in this context would have to refer to using the same kinds of parts, but in versions that have tighter tolerances and/or more idealized behavior. My expectation is that Doug's answer is correct -- you can't make a VW into a Veyron by using upgraded versions of the same kinds of parts. You have to use different kinds of parts, that are not direct substitutes. That in turn will necessitate differences in circuit design, mechanical design, thermal management, and overall architecture.

Also, I would point out that "better" parts, however that may be defined, will not necessarily perform better if arbitrarily substituted into a given design, and may in fact perform worse, depending on how they interact with the surrounding circuit. For example, substituting a faster transistor or integrated circuit for a slower one can result in all kinds of problems, depending on the function the device performs. In digital circuitry that would include electrical noise problems such as signal crosstalk and "ground bounce," and increased sensitivity to impedance mismatches. In analog circuitry it would include possible increases in rfi susceptibility, intermodulation distortion, frequency response peaking, ultrasonic ringing, or even potentially damaging oscillations.

And I agree with everything in Bryon's characteristically well thought out post.

Regards,
-- Al