Firstly, no one called them idiots. But you can say it's perhaps implied.
Also, if I were to call people idiots, it would still be to my definition. That doesn't include business savy people trying to get by with bottom of the barrel shovelware. Their business wit doesn't impress me because it's something anyone is capable of when they're forced to accept concessions on achieving a certain goal (like for instance having these sorts of pathetic "partnerships" between companies trying to peddle a device no better than a $99 DAC, in fact, worse than a $9 phone dongle with respect to fidelity metrics).
You seem to not comprehend the scope of just how low this falls short. There is no way on this planet this device has been made with all the care in the world to offer the most bang-for-buck value to whoever partners with the buffoonery collective that peddles this. It's just THAT MUCH away from any sort of sensibility one need only look for when trying to draw distinction between what virtually every single person would assume exists between a consumer product, and a professional product.
Unless of course you're capable of rendering a logically sound argument that demonstrates a device such as this simply is at the limits of what could be extracted in terms of fidelity for the price being billed.. If you're able to do that, then I will gladly retract what I've said and admit the complete and ignorant error. The thing is though, as I said before, my intuition on this specific example of device leads me to believe as I currently do, simply due to the divide being this MASSIVE from a fidelity metric perspective.
You could also choose the other avenue, and claim this device if the best performer in it's class, that would also serve in similar favor toward swaying my sentiment on the matter heavily in your direction.
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Short of these two, I want to to really think about if it's worth defending a $2,300+ device of ANY kind meant for Earthly terrestrial audio pursuits, yet fails to compete to a $9 dongle device that comes with almost every smartphone as a freebie; specifically concerning fidelity metrics. Please don't make the mistake of talking about "but what about power output tho", my post wasn't levied in that respect.
One thing I would like a bit more elaboration on, as it's seemingly pretty vacuous for me atm, was the claim you made about "business partnerships, and engineering partnerships". I can imagine the funny suits at Ashly have a problem when they buy a bunch of stock used on the board they're going to have their engineers come up with. What I'm a bit confused about is what particular "engineering partnership" I would have, or anyone else would have as Ashly's customer? Why would I care about their partnerships AT ALL? For all I care they can go and setup shop on the Moon if their "engineering partner" demanded of them? Is this one of those: sympathy for "the game" or "for how business in the real world works" sorts of appeals?
I think you're missing the purpose of this product. This amplifier is designed for a specific application, and that application is one where fidelity takes the back seat. Why? Because the source material, and the transducers being driven, are an order of magnitude worse. The requirements of the system are also lower. In a lot of cases, intelligible speech is all that is required.
I fully comprehend how much this falls short from the standpoint of a hifi amplifier, or even for a lot of pro applications. I've designed / tested / commissioned a lot of amplifiers - some for audio, some for other purposes. Part of designing any piece of equipment is understanding application requirements, and knowing where effort and money is well spent and where it is not. Why should Ashly waste engineering time and BOM cost to make distortion better when it already meets their customers requirements?
Also, while the distortion numbers for this amplifier definitely stink, you'd be surprised by how tolerable an amp of this nature actually sounds. I end up with stuff like this on a semi-regular basis, and I usually throw it in my system for a listen before getting rid of it. Does it sound as good as my reference amplifier? Of course not, but it isn't immediately bothersome, and in a lot of applications wouldn't be noticeable. Some high distortion amps (some tube amps, for example) are surprisingly inoffensive in actual use.
As for the partnerships - I'm not aware of any loudspeaker companies that are partnered with Ashly. Ashly tends to target the fixed installs market, typically in places like churches, schools, office buildings, board rooms, etc. An 8-channel amplifier sort of has ceiling speakers written all over it. I didn't mention the frequency response earlier, and that's because in nearly every application for this amp, it will be used with DSP, and it will have a high-pass filter.
Companies making systems for concert halls tend to be picky about the electronics paired with their speakers, for good reason. Some speaker companies make their own amplifier (L-Acoustics being an example), while others (like JBL) have partnered with an amplifier company (Crown). Most often, JBL speakers will be powered by Crown amps. It's very rare to see an L-Acoustics speaker powered by an amplifier that isn't made by L-Acoustics. This means that the electronics (amplifiers and processing) is tested and configured for the arrays being used, and it means that engineers from the loudspeaker company will have a much easier time tuning the system.
As for the cost... I'm not aware of any 8-channel amplifiers of this power level that are significantly cheaper, and I know of a good many that are a lot more expensive. Building a 2 kW 2U amplifier with processing isn't cheap, and these things don't sell in giant quantities.
Nobody is advertising this thing as being any more than it is, and the numbers shown here won't surprise the people who design systems around these amps.
