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Stereophile - MF Supercharger article-add 550W/ch.

Have you read this article in september issue of Stereophile?
It says that Supercharger pumps up your system to 550W/ch. and leaves "no sonic signature" - "Like a chameleon".

It works like this - simply connect Supercharger between your power (or integrated) amp and speakers.You only need a new set of very short speaker cables.You get 550 W/ch.,better dynamics and bass, and everything else is the same.
It is claimed that it only increases dynamics, and doesn't change "the sound" of your original amplifier.

Without questioning Stereophile's knowledge (it is my favorite magazine) i just find it hard to believe this.
My question - has anyone actually tried adding supercharger to the SET based system,2-20 Watts of primary amp. power?
And can any owner of such SET system say it didn't damage (a bit at least) the magic and "the sound" of SET tubes?
I am aware that in article Scott 299B(18 W/ch.) amp was connected with Supercharger.
I want to hear from owners of SET based systems who have tried this.Or from other people who have some opinion on this subject.I just find this hard to believe.
audiobb

Showing 5 responses by atmasphere

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,088 posts
 
FWIW the MBL 101s don't really need as much power as people think. Yes, they have low measured efficiency at 1 meter, but as soon as the speaker is put in a real room, the sound radiating in directions other than the one that the microphone was placed in all gets heard. You can add about 6 db to the result. 200 watts is enough power in many rooms.

Back OT: Its a fun idea, but the 'supercharger' will have a negative sonic artifact, one that anyone who values what tube amps do will hear in a heartbeat. I imagine its pretty transparent on transistor amplifiers, Res Ipsa Loquitur.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,088 posts
 
db, don't think for a minute that transistor amps don't have colorations too! My experience is that it is a rare transistor amp that does not also sound like transistors- I can count them on one hand. No wonder that a 'tube-like' sound is used as a complement in reviews of well-received transistor amplifiers

Tubes more closely mimic the rules of human hearing, and while they often have more distortion (not always mind you), they have less of the distortions that the human ear objects to: odd ordered of the 5th harmonic and beyond. The human ear can distinguish these harmonics in vanishingly small amounts.

In this case, the supercharger concept is alluring because you could potentially have a setup that has small tube amp sonic properties along with high power. The 'supercharger' adds its own colorations of odd-ordered harmonics of the type I just described, and its easily heard. Re-read my earlier comments in this context and you will have a clearer idea of what I was talking about.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,088 posts
 
Hi Dbphd, the way that tubes operate closer to the rules of human hearing is through the lack of odd-ordered harmonics, which comes from greater linearity and less need for feedback. Feedback runs counter to the rules of human hearing (i.e. adds high order odd harmonics).

Human hearing uses high-order odd harmonics as a way to measure loudness. Our ears are so sensitive to these harmonics that fractions of a percent is easily audible. We hear them as a 'sheen', 'hardness', 'clinical', 'brittle' or 'chalky' quality in the reproduction.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,088 posts
 
Hi db, I don't think high-ordered odd harmonics do add to our lives. The current state of high-end audio suggests that they don't. Their rarity in nature might mean that less brain power is required to detect the change in volume, but what is important is not the 'why?' but the fact of 'what is'.

That we react this way is easy to demonstrate BTW. If you have access to test equipment, set up a sine wave and run it through an amplifier at 0VU and listen to the result. Now run down the volume, switch to square wave, and turn it up until you get the same perceived volume level. Now look at the meter- you will be about 20-24db down compared to the original sine wave. That's 1/100th the level or so depending on your perception. If you add a filter to filter out the lower orders, you will find there is almost no change in perception.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,088 posts
 
Dbphd, its not empirical if you don't try...

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