Hi Ralph, yes, class A does have its sonic attributes, I never said it did not, but the heat is an issue, what you say go against studies done by the US military and us, showing that tube life is directly affected by heat, the higher the shorter the life, as well it goes against what has happen to so many Class A amp manufacturers in the past, going out of business due to reliability issues.
Class A tubes also deteriorate at a faster rate than ones in Class A/B amps, again due to the heat (or always being on).
A well designed Class A/B is harder to implement, "True" auto biasing and power supplies need much more attention , when this is achieved a Class A/B amp can be excellent but I agree, not too many get it right.
As for the analogy with the car, IMHO it's correct, Class A tube is on all the time, it requires the power, to be on all the time, from the supply, a well designed AB can be a factor of many times more efficient and many times cooler.
I'm not saying that Class A does not have it's place, but to say that Class A should be worth more than AB is wrong and misleading, AB can be more expensive and complicated to implement correctly and for people who don't want to risk their family and friend/Pets to burns or heat discomfort, as well for those with an eco conscience, Class AB can be as excellent if well designed.
Good tube life is relative, we have amps out there with the original tubes that are way over 20 years old.
I mean, don't take me wrong here, we will be making Class A amps again in the future, we just don't feel that it's worth more only because it's Class A.
Last of all, No one is saying that Atmaspheres are not reliable, my comment was general for Class A vs. Class AB and what heat does, and that is with us having 36 years of research in the matter.
