2. amps-preamps
  3. 168108-87559

Amplification: what are the biggest advances of the last 40 years?

As an audiophile most of my adult life but without any engineering expertise, I wonder how amplification has advanced since I started in this hobby as a high school student in the eighties?

Specifically, what has advanced the state of the art and what, specifically, make newer products sound "better" than older ones?

Is it that circuit design has advanced so much?  Or is the bigger difference parts quality and the technology leading to these better parts?

And please, none of the banal "it all matters" comments.  What I'm asking: which of the above matters the most?


bobbydd

Showing 1 response by three_easy_payments

three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
@bobbydd  

I inquired as to why the new amplifier we were listening to was so expensive?

The parts and labor that go into a quality point-to-point constructed amp are incomparably expensive vs 60 years ago.  Mass produced, PCB-based HT receivers can be churned out much less expensively (relative to inflation) than products even in the 70s.
More to discover