The idea of "running cool" is mainly related to the dissipated power at idle. Because playing music means being close to idle most of the time, with random power bursts.
Yes, I was not clear - actual power dissipated would be "minus"!
But "efficiency" is a ratio and I somehow confabulated that in what I was trying to say.
The one with great music,drinks and close friends having fun
The one with great music,drinks and close friends having fun
Joke aside,I have "heard" all 3 brands and there's nothing missing or sticking out.
Choose according everything else that matters (for example if you run 110db horns choose the one with better noise measurements,or if you run speakers with big insensitive woofers in big room choose more power,or if are a barbarian like me choose durability and long warranty),you won't hear anything different in terms of sound quality.
Re IcePower: can you elaborate on the comment on speaker dependent response?
If these amps do measure poorly, (most tube amps do) then you say they are hard to surpass sonically, I read that as: you like the voicing of those tube Amps.
He's probably talking about the older non- Edge version ones.
www.audiosciencereview.com
Well, Krell KSA 100 for sure is not a tube amp. I run five KSA 150, two MDA 300, one FPB 300cx and finally three KST 100 poweramps. Why? Because I have three two channels setups with very demanding speakers which I have to tri- and bi-amp. Infinity IRS Epsilon, two pair of Infinity RS Kappa 9 (the infamous amp killer lovely sound) and one pair of Infinity RS Kappa 8 (also have the Infinity Renessaiance 80, but that speaker is very easy to drive) I have not yet found one single class D amp that can drive my Infinitys. I would love to find one because the Krells generate an absurd amount of heat, are big, heavy and quite expensive. From what I remember the Krells measure fine. Conrad Johnson is Tube amps and tubes do colour the sound like and equalizer. Either You like or either You don´t. Krell does not colour the sound (my experience and opinion).
why do you say that? did you hear distortion in class D amplifiers (with competent power, obviously)?
Problem is my speakers are so "hard" to drive so all of the class D amps I have borrowed from Hifi dealers to test with my setups with are "clipping" or shut them self off. My Hifi dealer knows exactly what kind of speakers and setup I have. I would prefer a class D amp if they could drive my speakers. My Krells are running very hot and are heavy and take big place plus they draw enormous amount of energy (I had to install dedicated 25 amperes powerlines in my house just for the poweramps) There is a lot of advantages with class D poweramps but I do need amps that can handle my speakers both at low and high volume without clipping or shutting themself down. Wether or not my Krells are class A or A/B is another discussion but I have only the KSA, MDA and FPB series which are class A. All my Krells can handle loads below 1 Ohm, at least according to the manuals and lot of reviews from different sources (which I am aware of that most people here do not take seriously and I tend to agree with that but, measurements are measurements...) I do not like distortion at all thats why I maybe have oversized poweramps to drive my 4 Ohm speakers which occassionally can "dip" down to 1 Ohm. There are some people that say that the speakers are poorly or bad constructed but they are constructed that way deliberately. Arnie Nudell (speaker constructor) and Dan Dàgostino (constructor of my Krell series) worked together back in the -90`s. I would really be glad to find a class D amp that can drive my Infinitys for reasons stated above. Have You ever listened to a system like mine? I doubt it because you are writing about "hearing "nice" distortion in class AB amplifiers...." Give it a try, if You can find one...
Get an NC2k based amplifier and you will never ever clip it.
