Buckeye Amps musicality? Not measurements, musicality....


Hey Everyone.... question, I am contemplating the Buckeye Amps 9040 Purifi monoblocks. I am, at the same time, considering the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 (5 channel) all of this in an effort to run my LCR up front. (Arendal 1723 THX Monitors)  - everything I read from Dylan at Buckeye and hear from his interviews in YouTube videos all surrounds measurements. Let's assume that every amp, in particular these two options, measure incredibly well. I get that.

But I also get that amp measurements are only a piece of how an amp ACTUALLY SOUNDS in the real world with my room and my speakers.  Which is why its a red flag that Buckeye hides behind measurements as the end-all-be-all of buying an amplifier. If measurements were the absolute end of the discussion, there wouldn't have been a Class A or A/B amp sold in the last 5 years. I get that the Purifi stuff measures well, incredibly well, but to never say anything in public forums or in public interviews about how your amps actually sound or how musical they are compounds and continues the notion that while Class D measures insanely well, they sound cold, brittle, analytical, bright, shout'y and too forward. Class D or no Class D, it boils down to the amp designers' actual implementation of the technology in how it sounds, e.g. the input stage, the output stage, the signal path, etc.

So what I'm looking for I suppose is owners of exceptional Class A/B amps (like Musical Fidelity, Parasound, Rotel et al) who have made that leap of faith to the Purifi Buckeye either 7040 or 9040 modules and how your experience has been.....  ??  Thanks immensely! 

audiotruth

Showing 1 response by thriftyaudio

A year ago I was considering the Buckeye mono amps. I was on a merry-go-round of power amps after selling off my Threshold design Nakamichi PA7A-II. I tried a few different class D and Hybrid amps and found out that my speakers have a 0.5 ohm draw at high frequency that would cause the amps to clip at volume. I asked Dylan if his amps would clip. He said they might. That was all I needed to find a stable class A amp. 

However, with the Arendal 1723 speakers there is no real potential for clipping so the Buckeye amps should do great, particularly in a home theatre set up. If this was a two channel, music only, situation I would encourage you to focus on class A or A/B units.