Question for Amp Designers

Great question. I would like to know too.

Also lets not forget both amps are rated across the entire frequency spectrum, 20Hz-20kHz with the same THD at every frequency. So surely if the amp was tuned to sound better at certain frequencies, wouldn’t this affect the THD at these altered or accentuated frequencies to give the amp a signature sound? 

Have you heard this for yourself or are you going by what someone else said?

I think its fair to say that we hear it all the time in the world of audio. 

Someone seems to always be describing one amp as warm while another says this model is clinical.  Or its a bad fit with this speaker or that speaker because of some character that has nothing to do with the amps specs.  I remember one member on this forum constantly dissing certain brands because they were not 3 dimensional.  That seemed to be his favorite metaphor for describing an amp.  Despite specs that were better or as good as the brands he was claiming were 3 dimensional.

I think the OP raised a very intriguing question and I would like to know how these metaphoric attributes can be designed into an amp too?

Maybe. But if the OP was going by other people’s comments and not by his own observation, then we don’t know if the amps really sound like that. There may be no problem at all.

But the OP has said both in this thread. In his initial post that posed the question and then with his own observations....

I’ve heard it with my own amps. I have 3 systems in my house and for some strange reason I Iike to swap out pieces to hear the changes.

Now I am not in the camp that says all amps sounds the same. IMO, they don’t. Nor am I an electrical engineer. But I have also wondered how some can be described as warm, laid back, etc. while others are forward, lively, etc? Especially when comparing two different brands of amps with a near identical power output rating, bandwidth and THD. I have been told this in the past when selecting my own gear. For example, I have been advised many times, on this board and others, that my Marantz PM15S2 is warm and laid back and shouldn’t be paired with warm speakers like Vienna Acoustics or Sonus Fabers.  Why?  It has the proper output to meet a 4 ohm speakers needs in an average sized room.

So again, what exactly do the designers do to give an amp a signature sound that would earn these attributes by both audiophiles and those who sell them? And yet maintain the same low THD at all frequencies for its rated output?