I think there are a lot of good applications for Class D amplifiers, such as small devices that need small amplifiers, but I don’t have that constraint for my home stereo. Of course, I’m the idiot who bought a 175lb amplifier that I am unable to move. Perhaps with the help of one other person I can duck walk the thing into its shipping container.
When someone tells you it's a $40,000 amp, does it sound better?
I've always been a little bit suspicious when gear costs more than $25,000 . At $25,000 all the components should be the finest, and allow room for designer Builder and the dealer to make some money.
I mean that seems fair, these boxes are not volume sellers no one's making a ton of money selling the stuff.
But if I'm listening to a $40,000 amplifier I imagine me Liking it a whole lot more just because it costs $40,000. How many people have actually experienced listening to a $40,000 amplifier. It doesn't happen that often and usually when you do there's nothing else around to compare it to.
I'm just saying expensive gear is absolutely ridiculous. It's more of a head game I'm afraid. Some how if you have the money to spend, and a lot of people do, these individuals feel a lot better spending more money for something. Now you own it, and while listening to it you will always be saying to yourself that thing cost $40,000 and somehow you'll enjoy it more.
Showing 9 responses by larrykell
I never set out to buy an amp with an MSRP of $40k, it just happened after decades of putting together systems and deciding I liked Class A amplification. I started by having old vintage gear restored and ended up with a Sumo Gold, a 90lb Class A amp that ran hot as heck and needed two fans to keep it cool. I loved the sound but not the fan noise. Getting that amp up and running cost me a few thousand. I rescued it from a pawn shop on the bay. Later, wanting to ditch the fan noise and hear something else, I looked around the industry to see who was building no holds barred Class A designs and listened to Gryphon and was sold. You can get a $40k amp for around half that on the used market. I don’t go for $40k power cables. I look for components that will improve the sound quality the most and I think amplifiers do that the most, probably followed by speakers.
People immediately think of money but I look at the joy I get out of something I buy. My stereo and my piano, a Yamaha DYUS5 upright, have provided me with many happy hours.
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It’s funny, I don’t find the power bill to be that prohibitive. Maybe the amp adds $20-40 a month, I’m not sure. My electricity bills are around $175-200 a month. I also charge my Tesla at home so I don’t know how much it costs to keep that charged up to 75%. I don’t drive much, though, and I certainly don’t run the Colosseum 24x7, lol. At the moment, I am sad, as my beloved amp has a crackle in one channel so I have to arrange for a way to ship the 175lb monster to a repair center. Look at Gryphon’s Apex There is always a sky above a sky, as they say. |
True Class A amplifiers require large power supplies, huge heat sinks, have many output devices, consume lots of electricity, and generate a lot of heat. They’re expensive to build. My Colosseum has 48 Sanken bipolar transistors and can generate 160w at 8ohms and 1250w at 1 ohm. It’s all Class A. There can be no crossover distortion because the transistors never turn off. I think the sound is glorious and that there is no substitute for Class A amplification. |
The guy I bought my Colosseum from was going to Mephisto Solo monoblocks. 200w Class A each monoblock. I’m sure they sounded better than the Colosseum stereo amp. The key to moving up the ladder is finding someone who is upgrading and who is crazier than you are. The monoblocks are $190k a pair. My seller is a well known electrical engineer. He was running crazy huge wiring throughout his house, AWG 3/0? I can’t remember. It mattered to him. The seller of my Cantata speakers was converting his three car garage into a listening room so he needed bigger speakers. |
@atmasphere How can this be when the turning on and off of output transistors at a rapid rate in Class D amplifiers produces high frequency noise which must be filtered out? There is no such thing as instantaneous switching. I tried a Class D amplifier the last time my Colosseum was in for repairs and I hated the thing. It sounded harsh and gritty to me. Granted, it was a $1-2k Class D amplifier. I sold the Glass D amplifier as soon as my Colosseum came back to me.
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To me, it’s about having the power to handle the transients in music and those transients can require tremendous amounts of power. I don’t understand how one can be certain that a small amount of power will be sufficient. The more current reserves an amplifier has the more able it is to effortlessly handle transients. I learned that speaker drivers do not have a magical number at which they fail. It comes down to how well the spider is constructed, its durability, the ability of the driver to dissipate heat, on and on. So, I don’t worry too much about whether my Cantata speakers to handle the power I throw at them, I think the drivers are well built. |