Class-D or switching amps, any opinions on??

" ... they don't mimic the special quality of tubes -- a kind of creamy sweetness in the harmonic presentation. It is easy to understand the appeal of that tube sound; it has had a grip on me for years. But what the Spectrons do is, to my mind, ultimately even more impressive....[they] have a crystalline purity in the reproduction of every voice and instrument that sounds more to me like the essence of live, unamplified music -- which I attend, on average, more than once a week year-round-- than any other amplifier, at any price, based on any technology, that I have ever heard"

-Blue Note 2009 Award for Best Amplification by Enjoy The Music to Spectron Audio amplifier - http://spectronaudio.com/

John Ulrick of Spectron is the inventor of class D audio amplifier in1976.

Check their awards and professional reviews on their web site and do Audiogon search for the owners comments/reviews.

All The Best In Your Search

Rafael

Hello Kijanki:
Many people participated in the development of class D technology. However, as journal Sound & Vision reported in "50 Greatest A/V Innovations", January 2008 issue:

"DIGITAL AMPLIFIERS

Going back to the Infinity SWAMP-1 of the mid-1970s, digital amps have had a checkered history, but they seem finally to have turned the corner in terms of reliability and performance. Highly efficient and cool-running, they promise to play a bigger role in the future."

John Ulrick at that time was chief designer of Infinity and SWAMP is his amp. Moreover, he introduced SWAMP as the first commercially available class D amplifier into the (hi-fi) audio world at CES 1974.

So without taking a credit from anyone who worked in the filed of this technology, Spectron chief designer John Ulrick is generally recognized as the father of Hi-Fi class D audio amplifiers

All The Best,
Rafael

Hello Kijanki,

May be word "inventor" in not the most accurate - however, as I have illustated with the quote from "50 Greatest A/V Innovations" over last 50 years - John ULrick is attributed for bringing class D into HIGH FIDELITY audio, specifically in conjunction with his Infinity speakers which I believe were considered one of the best in 1970's. I believe that Spectron amplfiiers today are also one of the best among powerful amplifiers but this is besides the point.

All The Best
Rafael