Rythmik F18+Rythmik F12 selection

[aspen63]

I have one Rythmik F18 sub in my setup and decided to get another sub to fight room mode. Due to space restrictions I can get only F12 as a companion sub but there are two variants of the latter with A/B and D amplifiers. The seller advices to go with cheaper D amp as it would blend with existing F18 which also has class D amp. What do think? Does amp class means more than the (presumably) better quality amp in my case?

 

[kyuu]

If the one with the Hypex-based class D amplifier is cheaper (on my end, it's the only I see with an actual price instead of "TBD"), I can't see any reason you'd want to pay more. Not only does that "match" the F18 which also uses a Hypex-based class D amp, Hypex are known for making high-quality amps and there's no reason to think there's any quality advantage to getting the class AB.

 

[DVDdoug]

The class of the amplifier doesn't tell you anything about the quality. With class-D you generally get more watts-per-dollar.

Class-D seems to be "taking over' and I assume eventually everything will be Class-D, except for the old "audiophiles" who will stick with their records and Class-A tube amplifiers.

Class A was simply first. Class B & C aren't suitable for audio. Class A/B required another tube (or transistor) so in the old days most radios & TVs had (cheaper) class A audio amplifiers.

Class D is much more complex, but electronics is cheap now and the efficiency means less heat so smaller/cheaper transistors/MOSFETs can be used along with smaller heatsinks.

Less heat should mean more reliability, but the complexity might make it less reliable. I don't know how that balances-out in real life...