2. amps-preamps
  3. 148905-976

How far have ss amps really come in the last twenty years?

I have owned and enjoyed my Jeff Rowland model 8 ( recently modded and upgraded by Jeff to the last version) for many years. I recently had the opportunity of comparing it ( after mods) to a few of the current ss models from Gamut, D'Agostino, YBA, Parasound, Sim audio, CH precision, Constellation,PS audio,Pass Labs  and Musical Fidelity. The results were very interesting, because to my ears and in the systems that we did the comparison, the Rowland held its own against all but the most expensive D'Ag and CH amps. Even those were only very slightly outclassing the Rowland in the areas of top end resolution...and a tad in the bottom end resolution. Now the thing is that the last revision to the Rowland 8 was designed by Jeff over ten years ago! 
So, my question for those more technically inclined than myself is...how far has the design of ss amps come in the last ten...or even twenty years? 
daveyf

Showing 5 responses by stringreen

stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,524 posts
 
Frustrating is right Dave..... Tried left/right cable swap and remained in the left...I even tried entirely different brand of cables...no luck. Moved the chairs/sofa to another room....same.
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,524 posts
 
..don't know much about electronics, but I think that parts (caps, resistors, etc) have gotten better through the years rather than amp design.
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,524 posts
 
A couple of weeks ago, I had my Ayre amp looked at for a "noise" - "resonance" that I heard in my left speaker.  Ayre told me that the amp was performing well with no noise that they could detect.....I asked them to look further and do anything that they thought would improve the piece. I got the amp back after they replaced a number of capacitors, and other improved parts.  They also applied a tape to the heat sinks....the result was a better sounding amp...but the circuit itself wasn't changed.  (I doubt if the resonance tape on the heat sinks did THAT much). (the original "noise" prevails.)
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,524 posts
 
Hi Davey.... I've been searching for this noise for over a year.  It sounds like a resonance....so I banged on everything in the room - nothing loose/vibrating.  The sound is there on CD and Vinyl, so I thought it might be the speaker - Vandersteen 5A.  I reached out to Richard who suggested it sounds like the support cones are loose....checked - nope.  I removed the tweeter and sent it to Vandersteen.....fine.  When I got the driver back into the cabinet, I removed the midrange and sent it back to Vandersteen - fine.  I then removed the high pass filters from both speakers, the integral amps, and the crossovers thinking the factory would replace the batteries while checking for the noise (which they did)... but they also told me there was nothing wrong with the components I sent to them.  The noise is not coming from the preamp, because I have a dedicated amp for the earphones, and - no noise.  This is very interesting, and a real project.   I'm off to the audiologist for inspection....we'll see....(hear)
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,524 posts
 
Thanks  for your caution....  In fact, the amp only gets warm - never hot to the touch.  ...and too, the tape was put on by the factory.  It covers only about 15% or so of the fins, and only in the horizontal plane...the fins are vertical.  Thanks again - I'll be vigilant.
More to discover