Starke Sound AD4.320 Amp Review (Sample 2)

[amirm]

@amirm was your dynamic measurement A-weighted like Starke's measurement?

No.

 

[dasdoing]

The whole hifi industry relies on a hope that the consumers stay ignorant.

in a way the whole system works like that. marketing sales, not the product. and who pays all the marketing that destroys competition? us. google is not free. there is no free lunch. we pay them to trick us. we pay them to destroy competition. and we even say thank you

 

[anchan]

Agreed. But even without ASR, with just s few hundred $ of investment and a bit of time, it’s possible for anyone to confirm the accuracy of some of these basic specs down to 100dB of dynamic range (below that it gets harder). So hopefully the pendulum has now swung in the people’s direction.

 

[F1308]

anything this drastic is simply criminal.

...and refrain potencial buyers from adquiring anything, damaging the industry. A pity.

 

[Kegemusha]

Why spending more time on this one? Was reviewed before as bad, now is badX2.

 

[tential]

This is what got me in to the measurement game. I was looking for amplifiers and then the diy section of avs informed of this. So I got an inuke snd a crownxls. I understand there are cleaner amps, will maybe afford one day, but this does just fine for my needs. At lest I get the power, which before my tweeters blew out twice due to me playing my speakers at high volume without enough power. Never happened after I used the crown xls.

 

[nstzya]

The AD4.320 is completely absent from the Starke website this morning. I can not help but think that this is not a coincidence.

 

[audio_lover]

The AD4.320 is completely absent from the Starke website this morning. I can not help but think that that is not a coincidence.

Also the AD8 is gone...

 

[anmpr1]

Before ASR, audio companies could reasonably expect to just get away with this kind of stuff...

It was not always like that. In the heyday of hi-fi, you could get both cursory fact and (a little) opinion from Stereo Review and High Fidelity. Audio was quite in-depth in their tear-downs, and it was a sad day when they tanked. I think these in the mainstream press tended to keep manufacturers more honest than not. But once they left the building, it was pretty much over.

In England you had Hi Fi News. But they were outliers, and seldom seen or read, in the US.

The 'undergrounds' were never very helpful. Peter Moncrieff's IAR was certainly more technically oriented than whatever Gordon Holt or Harry Pearson was doing, but IAR didn't last long. With Peter Aczel's reincarnation, you had David Rich (and a few others) poking around, usually to the embarrassment of manufacturers. Rich occasionally still has something interesting and valuable to say over at the Hi-Fi Secrets site, but his work is scarce and, strangely, often focuses on outlier stuff, like phono cartridges, and refurbing open reel tape recorders. John Atkinson makes Stereophile important.

Today, as you say, no one does it like ASR, at least with any frequency and consistency. If ASR was not here, things would be very bad, in audioland.

 

[voodooless]

The AD4.320 is completely absent from the Starke website this morning. I can not help but think that that is not a coincidence.

Indeed something is going on here. Also the google indexed product page gives a 404. So I guess it’s time for an official statement then?

 

[nstzya]

It was Starke’s resistance - or at best, reluctance - to pull the product from ongoing sales and promotion that bothered me the most! Now that Starke seem to have stopped new sales, it becomes more a matter of informing existing customers. If they choose to live with the units as-is, they at least do so knowingly.

We get bogged down in minutia at times with things of debatable audibility. This is a grossly misrepresented or faulty product however. Amir, you should feel good about exposing this one.

 

[voodooless]

Amir, you should feel good about this one.

After all the agony he has gone though last couple of weeks this must be a real uplift!

But this affects not only Starke, but als deals a massive blow to all those shill reviewers that touted this as the best thing since sliced bread! This very story shows exactly what is wrong with the industry as a whole.

Sadly, all efforts will be made to have us forget this as quickly as possible so business can go on as usual.

Let’s keep going on finding these rotten apples!

 

[ex audiophile]

@amirm, you gave them a mulligan and they came up short again. It's gratifying that you were willing to be so magnanimous to give Starke a chance to redeem themselves—especially given your current personal circumstances. In my opinion, the fact that you took the time to do this goes a long way toward silencing your critics. Thanks, also, to the member that provided the amp for retesting. It really shows that the ASR community is not just a group of sycophants that others accuse the membership here of being.

Indeed, and before the next variant strikes we should all start the New Year with a huge thanks to Amir and ALSO the many engineers and audio professionals who give so generously of their time. Cheers

 

[nstzya]

But this affects not only Starke, but also deals a massive blow to all those shill reviewers that touted this as the best thing since sliced bread! This very story shows exactly what is wrong with the industry as a whole.

Let’s keep going on finding these rotten apples!

I personally know of owners who still love the sound of their units and remain devoted to them despite being presented with the facts (insert hand on chin thinking emoji here). As long as they are operated within their true power range, they may function perfectly adequately for them. And it may explain some of the favorable reviews as well - if they were likewise operating them within their range. So not necessarily “rotten apples“ per se. But the point is there are perfectly acceptable and less expensive options with specs similar to those measured. At best, it’s gross misrepresentation and should be exposed. At worst, it’s a grossly faulty design/product and should definitely be exposed!

 

[voodooless]

So not necessarily “rotten apples“ per se.

Of course they are a rotten apple. Selling a product far under spec, then blaming and handhaving without acknowledging any issues.

But the point is there are perfectly acceptable and less expensive options with specs similar to those measured.

No, that is not the point. The point is that they lied and almost got away with it.

 

[KxDx]

I personally know of owners who still love the sound of their units and remain devoted to them despite being presented with the facts (insert hand on chin thinking emoji here). As long as they are operated within their true power range, they may function perfectly adequately for them. And it may explain some of the favorable reviews as well - if they were likewise operating them within their range. So not necessarily “rotten apples“ per se. But the point is there are perfectly acceptable and less expensive options with specs similar to those measured. At best, it’s gross misrepresentation and should be exposed. At worst, it’s a grossly faulty design/product and should definitely be exposed!

There's a testament to how much power people really need vs how much they think they need. Most people never come close to reaching the limits of their amps, even at intolerable volumes.

 

[Madjalapeno]

Gone from B-stock too - https://shop.starkesound.com/collections/b-stock

So when will someone one buy one of their speakers? The shipping on those lethal legs must be expensive.

 

[dasdoing]

The AD4.320 is completely absent from the Starke website this morning. I can not help but think that this is not a coincidence.

if you are in this situation as a company, I would say this is the best thing you could do. later I would send a redesigned product to ASR.

 

[Chrispy]

Just because you have a brand doesn't mean a lot.....what a joke Starke has turned out to be.

 

[restorer-john]

I'd like to see some measurements of the Starke Sound A2.640. It's already been noted in another review that despite Starke's claims the first 65 Watts are in Class A, the amplifier only consumes 64-69 Watts at idle. So we know that claim is also most likely BS.

And 640 Watts @4R per channel?