I have a Classe DR-9 amp built by Dave Reich. This amp to my ears sounds great and so far" from my mouth to GODS ears" is very reliable.I believe this amp can give many modern ss amps and many tube amps a run for the money. They can be had for a fair price. But lately I see alot of DR-9s going for unreasonably asking price's on Audiogon. A grand or under would be a very good price for this well built amp. Just my humble opinion?
What constitutes a great solid state power amp?
Can you see any "common patterns" or simularities between great power amps,e.g. only one pair of output devices or a lot of them, little or no nfb,global or local nfb, over-dimensioned power supply etc?
Any idea of what traits in their performance that are of greater or lesser importance?
Of cource, this is indeed generalizations, and at risk of beeing overly simlified,but...
My own view is; type of otput devices(ss) are of less importance,but just maybe bipolar have an advantage here.
The amp´s ability to handle transients are more important than very low THD figures.An amp´s ability to handle back-emf from the speakers, is of very high significance.An amp has to be sufficient linear, before applying any negative feedback at all.
There are , -strange enough, no real valid measurements to predict how an amp will sound, at most some cues. Amps are often constructed in a rather traditional way, even if their creator tells you how radical they are, i.e. it´s more about evolution than revolution.
Some days ago, I read a review of the DarTZeel NHB-108 power amplifier,in (the English magazine) hi-fi +, and also read about it at the manufacturer´s website.This amp could be very good, but I disliked some categorical statements on the website(even reflected in the review);stating that something is nearly perfect,doesn´t make sense to me.
IMHO it´s very much about which compromises you make, as the constructor.
Any idea of what traits in their performance that are of greater or lesser importance?
Of cource, this is indeed generalizations, and at risk of beeing overly simlified,but...
My own view is; type of otput devices(ss) are of less importance,but just maybe bipolar have an advantage here.
The amp´s ability to handle transients are more important than very low THD figures.An amp´s ability to handle back-emf from the speakers, is of very high significance.An amp has to be sufficient linear, before applying any negative feedback at all.
There are , -strange enough, no real valid measurements to predict how an amp will sound, at most some cues. Amps are often constructed in a rather traditional way, even if their creator tells you how radical they are, i.e. it´s more about evolution than revolution.
Some days ago, I read a review of the DarTZeel NHB-108 power amplifier,in (the English magazine) hi-fi +, and also read about it at the manufacturer´s website.This amp could be very good, but I disliked some categorical statements on the website(even reflected in the review);stating that something is nearly perfect,doesn´t make sense to me.
IMHO it´s very much about which compromises you make, as the constructor.
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