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I went from Class D to Luxman A/AB - And most of what you think is wrong

Hi everyone,

As most of you know, I’m a fan of Class D. I have lived with ICEPower 250AS based amps for a couple of years. Before that I lived with a pair of Parasound A21s (for HT) and now I’m listening to a Luxman 507ux.


I have some thoughts after long term listening:
  • The tropes of Class D having particularly bad, noticeable Class D qualities are all wrong and have been for years.
  • No one has ever heard my Class D amps and gone: "Oh, wow, Class D, that’s why I hate it."
  • The Luxman is a better amp than my ICEPower modules, which are already pretty old.

I found the Class D a touch warm, powerful, noise free. Blindfolded I cannot tell them apart from the Parasound A21s which are completely linear, and run a touch warm due to high Class A operation, and VERY similar in power output.


The Luxman 507 beats them both, but no amp stands out as nasty sounding or lacking in the ability to be musical and involving.


What the Luxman 507 does better is in the midrange and ends of the spectrum. It is less dark, sweeter in the midrange, and sounds more powerful, almost "louder" in the sense of having more treble and bass. It IS a better amplifier than I had before. Imaging is about the same.


There was one significant operational difference, which others have confirmed. I don't know why this is true, but the Class D amps needed 2-4 days to warm up. The Luxman needs no time at all. I have no rational, engineering explanation for this. After leaving the ICEPower amps off for a weekend, they sounded pretty low fi. Took 2 days to come back. I can come home after work and turn the Luxman on and it sounds great from the first moment.


Please keep this in mind when evaluating.


Best,

E
erik_squires

Showing 3 responses by jetter

jetter
3,087 posts
 
tweak1, you two are not that far off on your love of all things audio.  I am uncharacteristically interested in how you like your EVS 1200.  As I know you will, give your initial impressions, but be sure to circle back after you have a month or two under you belt for the longer term view, after the honeymoon is over.  Thanks in advance. George 
jetter
3,087 posts
 
Other than George's post by manufacturers who would be expected to praise the virtues of their amps, the common post by those who support class D is that the rest of us are class D haters.

In fact, on A'gon, there are 10 class D posts calling us class D haters as there are posts by class D haters.  IMHO, most of us just don't think about it that much.

Tweak, I was excited to hear your evaluation of your new amp as I was considering purchasing one, but now that you are already posting like a loyal supporter before even receiving your amp (or hearing one?), I will take your evaluation with a grain of salt.  
jetter
3,087 posts
 
Actually, Erik just said what I meant to before having a couple of pops last night. Class D is just another class. It may be better in some applications, the same, or worse.

My point was that there appears to be twice as many class D promoters talking about class D "haters" than there are class D "haters".

Grasshopper, be like your amp, and chill.
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