Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: dparm
Check the distortion figures.
I am talking about rather low end stuff, like this:
http://www.crownaudio.com/pdf/amps/XLS_Datasheet_CRO137.pdf
The way they give their THD ratings is somewhat flaky/iffy to me, but I would probably never crank it up to anywhere near its full power, so maybe this is irrelevant.
The high end stuff as you say would cost as much as A/B amps, in which case I'd just get an A/B amp.
By the way, this would be used to power home speakers, not subs.
I'm a bit old-fashioned, but there is no way an 11 pound power amp stage is going to produce the wattage they're claiming into any meaningful load. I've got an amp that can deliver that sort of wattage (and into nearly 1 ohm), and it weighs over 80 lbs.
I'd bank on a 25wpc model that weighed 25-30 pounds at a more modest price point over these amps.
It's all about the power supply. More real power requires more weight in the trannies and filters. That costs real money.
I don't understand the rage with these new lightweight "megawatt" amps. I thought the Japanese wattage wars ended in 1980. What kind of speakers are you driving and how loud into what space?
It's amazing just how lovely a 6BQ5 output can sound . . .