24 Crazy-Ass Hi-Fi Systems

[fpitas]

This is also a crazy, a 5million speaker casted in 24 karat gold... The "Hart Audio D&W Aural Pleasure"

and to stay on the theme, the summum of ugliness and bad taste... The Audiovisual Art Fusion, custom build for one of their clients. If you need to ask the price you're not rich enough to buy it they say...

I'll obviously never be rich, since I wouldn't let most of these in my house.

 

[Mr. Widget]

If you need to ask the price you're not rich enough to buy it they say...

Nice to see that there no limit to bad taste.

 

[MAB]

Keep the jokes coming...

I mostly agree with your post above. You can have a high powered Class A amp, but the room will get massively heated, your energy bill will go up, and the amp(s) will cost a bundle.

As for sounding the same? Big debate there... been going on for decades.

It is a fair debate. I like amplifiers, and am happy to own a couple old Class A ones.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Always thought horn speakers performed best with low power class A amps?

That myth probably comes more from the fact that the low power class A valve amps clip into normal speakers so sound less crap on horns.
I have a pair of 109dB/watt Tune Audio Animas and whilst they work fine with a valve amp I am using a 100+ wpc Job INTegrated amp with them mostly. Super sensitive speakers are not kind to amps that aren’t super quiet.

 

[ahofer]

never had much use for ass hifi

 

[fpitas]

Crossover distortion that's inaudible on cone speakers can become audible on horns, since they're about 20dB more sensitive. Most class AB amps are not made with that in mind, and as mentioned above, the noise can be excessive.

 

[Doodski]

It is a fair debate. I like amplifiers, and am happy to own a couple old Class A ones.

I've owned 2 class A amps that are the real deal. Including faux class A I've owned 5. The true class A that I owned where the same model but in different finishes and one was rack mount where the other was not rack mount, was all over anodized platinum green and was gorgeous to look at. 75 watts/ch of pure class A linear down to 2 Ohms at 300 watts per ch. It did really good and sounded pretty nice. It used a "hysteresis negative feedback" that was above my pay grade of understanding and I estimate it was a colored amp to sound tubular and smooth. Class A can be different although if that means colored then I say so be it because that slight coloration was very pleasing to the ear.

 

[ahofer]

ummm....

 

[fpitas]

ummm....

The rich aren't like you and me. Evidently, they're more or less blind.

 

[Mr. Widget]

ummm....

These make me rethink the vulgarity of the gold speakers.

 

[Doodski]

ummm....

Where do people find this stuff? is it custom limited production or is this sort of stuff made in quantity and purchased by enthusiasts? Other than pics I've never seen a retailer of this sort of esoteric stuff.

 

[fpitas]

Where do people find this stuff? is it custom limited production or is this sort of stuff made in quantity and purchased by enthusiasts? Other than pics I've never seen a retailer of this sort of esoteric stuff.

If you have to ask, you'll never find it. It's like the angels: they come for you, but you'll never find them.

 

[Frank Dernie]

The Munich show has a lot of really extreme stuff to see and hear if you want.
It was somebody who had seen them there that imported the Tune Audio Anima speakers I bought.
They sound great but in the end I don’t prefer them to my existing speakers on direct comparison in the same room.
I did audition the B&W Nautilus in the mid 90s and whilst I love the styling they didn’t sound as good as what i bought and still use over 25 years later.

 

[restorer-john]

Crossover distortion that's inaudible on cone speakers can become audible on horns, since they're about 20dB more sensitive. Most class AB amps are not made with that in mind, and as mentioned above, the noise can be excessive.

When have you ever heard crossover distortion? Or better still, when have you seen it on an analyser and measured how far down it really is? Crossover distortion has been a solved issue for 50+ years.

What you hear on horns is residual noise (hiss) and most amplifiers, regardless of class have audible, residual, hiss.

 

[sq225917]

Yeh, if you speakers ate 20db more efficient you just turn the pre amp down. As RJ says its all hum and hiss.

 

[Doodski]

When have you ever heard crossover distortion? Or better still, when have you seen it on an analyzer and measured how far down it really is? Crossover distortion has been a solved issue for 50+ years.

What you hear on horns is residual noise (hiss) and most amplifiers, regardless of class have audible, residual hiss.

I've dialed in and out the bias adjustment while observing the zero crossover point and then listening for change and with sine and audio waveforms and a significant amount of crossover distortion was required in order to actually hear it.

 

[fpitas]

Before we get deep down any class A rabbit holes, these days I think class D is the better solution.

 

[Waxx]

Where do people find this stuff? is it custom limited production or is this sort of stuff made in quantity and purchased by enthusiasts? Other than pics I've never seen a retailer of this sort of esoteric stuff.

You only see those when you're rich enough. And you buy often direct from the company. These have no retailers really as they don't sell big numbers (which is part of their marketing, exclusivity).

And demo's are mostly given on closed meetings where you only get in with invitation, or as peasant to work (like i did) for the organisation. And to get an invitation you need to be very rich. There is a whole market of superluxe stuff that is only visible for the very rich people and their channels, not for the ordinary world... Most of these meetings are in places like Geneva, Zurich, Milan, Monaco or Dubai, places where such rich people come toghetter, flying in with private jets...

 

[restorer-john]

I've dialed in and out the bias adjustment while observing the zero crossover point and then listening for change and with sine and audio waveforms and a significant amount of crossover distortion was required in order to actually hear it.

Exactly. As I stated, it's a solved problem and has been for half a century.

@fpitas was erroneously linking residual noise in efficient horn speakers to crossover distortion in class AB amplifiers.

It doesn't help when you've got companies like Benchmark peddling the BS line about crossover distortion being a 'problem' they supposedly 'solved', using very deceptive 'scope' shots. Go back to the thread where we/I discussed it and even posted some x1000 (mag) scope shots of the THD analyser notched residual on a typical class AB amp. There's nothing there except noise.

Classic HiFi marketing 101. Resurrect a solved problem, call it serious and audible. Imaginate* a solution and present it as game-changing and exclusive. Market the hell out of it.

*imagine/create portmanteau.

 

[Suffolkhifinut]

This is also a crazy, a 5million speaker casted in 24 karat gold... The "Hart Audio D&W Aural Pleasure"

and to stay on the theme, the summum of ugliness and bad taste... The Audiovisual Art Fusion, custom build for one of their clients. If you need to ask the price you're not rich enough to buy it they say...

Think you got your spelling wrong? Should it have read “Hart Audio Anal pleasure?”