2. amps-preamps
  3. 181164-160104

Ditching Class A Amps due to Heat - Sort of a Poll

A discussion elsewhere about the future of Class A made me wonder how true one statement really is. So the questions are...

Have you done away with your Class A Amp due to Heat concerns?

Will you be moving away from Class A Amp due to Heat concerns?

Will you never buy a Class A Amp due to Heat concerns?

I only have a class A/B unit that does Class A up to 6 watts with almost no heat so really can't speak for those who have used in the past or currently own and run Class A Amps.

brianh61

Showing 1 response by dynamiclinearity

dynamiclinearity
304 posts
 

Almost all push/pull class A amps are really very rich class A bias AB amps. For example the Pass 30 watt class A amps are 30 watts class A but they are reall75 watt AB amps. Look at the Stereophile tests. And things get worse as load impedance drops. About the only amps you can be sure are always class A are single ended amps which are class A due to topology and are almost always low power anyway. Then again these amps still run hot.

Perhaps the only push/pull amp that may really be called class A was the old Levison ML2 mono blocks. They were 25 watts/8 ohms, 50 watts/4 ohms and 100 watts/2 ohms and class A all the way down to 2 ohms.

More to discover