I used to know a repairman. He helped me a lots where I can't solve certain issue and need to feedback to manufacturers. No brand or no matter how expensive their gears are, will not spare for defects according to him. Shouldn't deter you to buy any brands, unless you can really get "insider news". Some dealers may open the chassis for you to see and admire the workmanship. A lots of time just ask. Name your speaker and listening distance, they should able to know what spec of amp you should be comfortable with. You can even ask the dealer to test a harder speaker to test various brand they hold. Sometime this action are giving them a favour to test various components combination.
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Class A amplifier
- Thread starter rman9
- Start date
Maybe the OP should consider a Lyngdorf 1120 and get it all in one?
Galliardist
Major Contributor
All tbese purchases, the “tube experience”… you’ll be referring to your “audiophile journey” next. At least some things are “too expensive” so you aren’t completely lost in the audio abyss just yet.
Anyway, I’m going to give you unwanted advice…
STOP BUYING STUFF!
Now I’ve got your attention… you will soon have an excellent, if probably hard to drive, pair of Magicos. You already have a big and adequate McIntosh amp setup to drive them, so no problem. Stop, set that system up properly, take some time to live with them. Play lots of music - music is the point of this stuff, it really is. And take the time to think about what you really want from audio before grabbing for the next toy.
I'm guessing that you have very different aims from me, and that you are a "listening to equipment" person - well, people will say "rather than listening to music" but that's a bit insulting. You probably have space for more than one system, as well in which case you can more easily target different types of sound of which, let's say, true modern high fidelity may be only one. That's fine.
But I reckon you really should give that one good and expensive system undivided attention for a while rather than chasing more tubes/class A/class D/"that right kind of magic distortion" and all the other stuff that the broader "hobby" can offer. It'll all still be there in a few month's time.
You might decide that it's better to go the "ASR" route instead - improve the good system with ways of getting a better low end with EQ, room treatment and subs, and have better music rather than different sound as your future. You might find that what you have is all you really need. Or you may still want to explore those different equipment sounds. It doesn't really matter what kind of audio hobbyist or music listener you become. I just think now would be a really good time for you to slow down and appreciate the best of what you've already invested in before going after more/different.
My understanding (which may be wrong of course) it that Class A amps don’t “double down”, they produce the same power irrespective of the load.
The Luxman may be heavily biased into class A but is probably AB above 20w
Depends on what sort of Class A. One sort, the simplest, like the classic Linsley Hood 10 watt, can't turn on any more current than its standing current, so if the load drops to a lower value than the design load, the amp will run out of current and clip. The other sort can turn on more current and so goes into Class AB once it runs out of current to stay in Class A. Most commercial so-called Class A amps (Like the Musical Fidelity A1) are in reality only Class A up to a smaller level than their full power, due to the amount of heat generated if they stay in Class A right up to full power.
A very few with VERY large heatsinks or fan cooling will stay in Class A, but they're rare.
S.
solderdude
Grand Contributor
It looks like the amp is simply voltage limited to 13V. (+/- 20V rails)
When the idle current is 2A you can get 40W in 4ohm and 20W in 8ohm.
In that case the idle power would be 160W for 2 channels. It is spec'ed at idle 170W.
- Thread Starter
- #47
Very much appreciate the message, and I'd have to jot this down as a most wanted advice.. And I'll heed to "STOP BUYING STUFF". I needed to hear that. Not sure at what point I went from enjoying music to the constant pursuit of what equipment can I listen and hear a difference.. You are absolutely right. With the system that I have built and with the delivery of Magico, I should focus on the music. Thanks for pointing to the fact I am becoming a listening to equipment person, and I certainly don't take it as an insult, rather a valuable advice. When I plopped the money down for the Magico, back of my mind the sensible self of me was warning me that I am getting lost in the Audiophile abyss.. Again, this is a wake up call I needed and I truly appreciate the feedback.. I have subs and separate equalizer that I use for the movies.. It'd be fun to indulge them into the two channel stereo. I really will slow down and enjoy the system.. and thanks again..
One thing that hasn't been proposed in this thread is to multi amp. I have been multi amping for decades and have used Pioneer M-22 class A amps (with large heatsinks and they are toasters) all that time. They measure the way a preamp measures. They are from the mid seventies and have not been "restored" and still measure like new. I think your experience with the Luxman would be similar. It is likely a very good amp.
But it really is only for tweeters and maybe a midrange. My class A amps drive upper mid range and tweeters. The mid bass and woofers have big class AB amps. Split the spectrum and drive the wooofers with something powerful.
Multi Amping is the most economical way to make a great improvement in your received sound. Makes the amplifiers jobs much easier. Amps are better now than they were when I set out in the seventies but there are still benefits even though many will pooh pooh them. They are easily audible.
I don't know if I would bother with class A anymore. They are wonderful and right now I am listening to one of them full range and even though it is rated at 25 watts it sounds great. It clips about 30 watts. I am using them with 90 dB/W/m speakers. If I was starting out again I would have Tom Christiansen at NeuroChrome make some amplifiers for me. I have a couple of his kits. I read about him on Sigfried Linkwitz site where SL said
"I don't know how to measure such low distortion" or words to that effect. ( I am sure I could be perfectly happy with the Luxman's but they are not distributed here and I am averse to "paying retail" especially AUDIO retail. I would prefer to build something)
There are a lot well designed class AB amps that would be audibly indistinguishable from a class A. It is my opinion that even many lesser ones might be hard to distinguish in a proper level matched ABX test. Operating full range you will prefer the one with more power because it will make better bass and have more headroom and you WILL hear that. And this is even true of many amps that the audiophiles would pee on. (make sure it's not plugged in)
In distortion and many other measurements Class D is the act to beat in this day and age. The question has been raised about long term reliability and that is "A Fair Question". Again whether you could reliably distinguish them in a proper blinded ABX test is doubtful. I watch them with a lot of interest but have not bought one yet.
The Luxman has pre out main in connections so you could use its power amp as an upper register amp and feed the pre out to an electronic crossover That would be a fun system.
But it really is only for tweeters and maybe a midrange. My class A amps drive upper mid range and tweeters. The mid bass and woofers have big class AB amps. Split the spectrum and drive the wooofers with something powerful.
Multi Amping is the most economical way to make a great improvement in your received sound. Makes the amplifiers jobs much easier. Amps are better now than they were when I set out in the seventies but there are still benefits even though many will pooh pooh them. They are easily audible.
I don't know if I would bother with class A anymore. They are wonderful and right now I am listening to one of them full range and even though it is rated at 25 watts it sounds great. It clips about 30 watts. I am using them with 90 dB/W/m speakers. If I was starting out again I would have Tom Christiansen at NeuroChrome make some amplifiers for me. I have a couple of his kits. I read about him on Sigfried Linkwitz site where SL said
"I don't know how to measure such low distortion" or words to that effect. ( I am sure I could be perfectly happy with the Luxman's but they are not distributed here and I am averse to "paying retail" especially AUDIO retail. I would prefer to build something)
There are a lot well designed class AB amps that would be audibly indistinguishable from a class A. It is my opinion that even many lesser ones might be hard to distinguish in a proper level matched ABX test. Operating full range you will prefer the one with more power because it will make better bass and have more headroom and you WILL hear that. And this is even true of many amps that the audiophiles would pee on. (make sure it's not plugged in)
In distortion and many other measurements Class D is the act to beat in this day and age. The question has been raised about long term reliability and that is "A Fair Question". Again whether you could reliably distinguish them in a proper blinded ABX test is doubtful. I watch them with a lot of interest but have not bought one yet.
The Luxman has pre out main in connections so you could use its power amp as an upper register amp and feed the pre out to an electronic crossover That would be a fun system.
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- Thread Starter
- #49
I have a great relationship with the dealer here.. They let me borrow stuff to take home and try it out.. And if its heavy they bring it home and set it up and come back to take it.. Auditions, they allocate sessions and cycle through. That's how I was able to decide on the Magico, comparing them to Sonus, Harbeth and DynAudio..
DHT 845
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If you can afford magicos then you shoud try Gryphon class A amp. Class D or other "lean" amps are not the best match.
Tom C
Major Contributor
This is a falsehood.
JSmith
Master Contributor
Galliardist
Major Contributor
Really? We're always full of very expensive advice, aren't we.
Apart from the fact that the better Class D amps would be an excellent match, our OP has an excellent McIntosh amp waiting for them, and presumably has already listened to that combination: I doubt he will need either alternative. Or even want to change that system once it's in place, for a fair while anyway.
Rubbish - nothin lean about class D
DHT 845
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I ment sonic qualities. Gryphon makes the best sounding solid state amps I know. Thats why I sugested trying it if possible. I would prefer Gryphon Mephisto to any class D amp on the planet earth. No contest. Also McIntosh is not the same league in my subjective opinion.
Hello friends, gene_stl,
I essentially agree with you, gene_stl, for your point on multi-amplifier system.
In my multichannel multi-driver multi-amplifier project, I went through really long and intensive exploration for amplifier selections; as summarized in my post #311 there, I actually tested and evaluated several amplifiers (actually 13 amps), Class-AB, Class-A(H)B, Class-D, Class-A, and quasi-Class-A. I wrote there;
(Almost) all of the home-use Hi-Fi amplifiers, I mean integrated amps and power amps, are designed for full range operation, i.e. to cover ca. 20 Hz - 30 kHz. This means that we should be very much careful in evaluating and selecting each amplifier to directly and dedicatedly drive each of the SP drivers...
and,
Furthermore, throughout my amplifier exploration, I well experienced and learnt that we should never exclude high quality Hi-Fi "integrated amplifiers" to be possibly implemented in this type of multichannel multi-amplifier project.
Furthermore, I shared in my post #435 on my thread that Even Greg Timbers uses "reasonable price" Pioneer Elite A-20 for compression drivers (super tweeters) in his extraordinary expensive multichannel stereo system with JBL Everest DD67000 which he himself designed and developed.
We can wonderfully select and utilize a reasonable-price HiFi amplifier (integrated amp or power amp) directly and dedicatedly driving specific SP driver covering the designated crossover Fq range in multichannel multi-amplifier system; and if you would be using digital XO/EQ (DSP) upstream in PC and/or network player, you can easily and perfectly achieve complete time alignment between the SP drivers, like I could achieve it recently.
Consequently, we can establish a truly high-end multi-channel multi-amplifier audio system with a much lower budget than for one high-end extraordinary expensive amplifier.
Almost all DACs are completely transparent to human ears.
