Starke Sound AD4.320 Review (Multichannel Amplifier)

[JSmith]

in great shape and will all of its packing and boxing materials.

I dare say so that they can sell it as brand new to some other poor customer expecting the product to deliver at least 90% of claimed power output under testing.


JSmith

 

[Dennis_FL]

Holy shit, I just read this whole thread beginning to end. I'm almost speechless.

But this testing showed a faulty product and bringing it to life has forced the manufacturer to act to correct it. They just should have done so without so much goddamn friction.

If you fuck up, own it. Good grief. This is like the Ciunas DAC all over again.

I read the whole thing as well. My impression is that Starke came up with the fiction on purpose. It wasn't an accident.

And the "previewers" have an agenda. As they stated....google bucks. So clicks=$$$ but whose money? Starke?

 

[Milesian]

It's pretty simple Gene. Your site clearly lists it as a 'review'.

View attachment 170520



You even double down at the end that it's a review:

View attachment 170522

It's just blatantly deceptive, plain and simple.

A review posted in 3021, 1000 years in the future? I cant wait to read it. Literally.

 

[nstzya]

Further discussion has moved to here:

Starke Sound AD4.320 Amp Review (Sample 2)

I reviewed and measured the Starke Sound AD4.320 multichannel amplifier a few months ago. This is the measurements of a second sample kindly sent in by a member. The first sample missed its power by a factor of two. Company disputed this and promised their own measurements that would show...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[audio_lover]

I the meantime I have also been in touch regarding a refund for my AD4, as stated before, and I will state it again; soundwise I still really like it and it plays extremely well in my home theater currently driving the side and rear surrounds (MK Sound S150).
As I'm in 230V territory I have been in touch with Starke before the purchase on setting up the unit for 230V etc. and I already was pleased with their customer service back then and also now the replies where prompt and acceptable.
They made me a very reasonable offer (factoring in shipping to EU and import taxes etc.) and the reimbursement via Paypal was already transferred.

Definitely will keep following this and see what they make of the recently announced Gen 3

 

[Dennis_FL]

I the meantime I have also been in touch regarding a refund for my AD4, as stated before, and I will state it again; soundwise I still really like it and it plays extremely well in my home theater currently driving the side and rear surrounds (MK Sound S150).
As I'm in 230V territory I have been in touch with Starke before the purchase on setting up the unit for 230V etc. and I already was pleased with their customer service back then and also now the replies where prompt and acceptable.
They made me a very reasonable offer (factoring in shipping to EU and import taxes etc.) and the reimbursement via Paypal was already transferred.

Definitely will keep following this and see what they make of the recently announced Gen 3

Just think how much better it would sound if the missing power was there.

There was a book a number of years back (The Peter Principal) that quoted a guy's resume touting " .. during my term my company's sales went up 300%."

The author asked "What would it have gone up if you weren't there?"

 

[Martynet]

Hi everyone,
I’m running 7.2.4 with Denon 4500 and these speakers:
2x B&W 603s
1x HTM6
4x B&W M-1
4x B&W CCM362

Denon is powering everything expcet the 2 main speakers, which I got XTZ edge A2-300, 2 years ago… and I can’t complain really. I enjoy both, home theatre and 2 channel music sessions. The XTZ is doing great job I think. But I was thinking that I would like to power the center separately too. So I started to look for 2 or 3 or 4 channel amps. Originally I was thinking about buying another A2-300 but then I saw A2-400 which I could use for mains and move old A2-300 to HTM6. And then I saw Jays review of Starke amp and I just thought that this might be perfect upgrade for me. Until I found this thread. I’m so dissapointed by both, the company and Jay.
So my search goes on… I came across VTV purify recently and I really like their amps with tube buffer, which will probably smoke XTZ… but the price is also pretty high. Would you guys have any good recommendation for powering all three speakers so I could hear better sound than XTZ?
I am open to older AB amps too. Thank you

 

[Dennis_FL]

Hi everyone,
I’m running 7.2.4 with Denon 4500 and these speakers:
2x B&W 603s
1x HTM6
4x B&W M-1
4x B&W CCM362

Denon is powering everything expcet the 2 main speakers, which I got XTZ edge A2-300, 2 years ago… and I can’t complain really. I enjoy both, home theatre and 2 channel music sessions. The XTZ is doing great job I think. But I was thinking that I would like to power the center separately too. So I started to look for 2 or 3 or 4 channel amps. Originally I was thinking about buying another A2-300 but then I saw A2-400 which I could use for mains and move old A2-300 to HTM6. And then I saw Jays review of Starke amp and I just thought that this might be perfect upgrade for me. Until I found this thread. I’m so dissapointed by both, the company and Jay.
So my search goes on… I came across VTV purify recently and I really like their amps with tube buffer, which will probably smoke XTZ… but the price is also pretty high. Would you guys have any good recommendation for powering all three speakers so I could hear better sound than XTZ?
I am open to older AB amps too. Thank you

Buckeye (Class D) or emotive (AB)

 

[Everett T]

Hi everyone,
I’m running 7.2.4 with Denon 4500 and these speakers:
2x B&W 603s
1x HTM6
4x B&W M-1
4x B&W CCM362

Denon is powering everything expcet the 2 main speakers, which I got XTZ edge A2-300, 2 years ago… and I can’t complain really. I enjoy both, home theatre and 2 channel music sessions. The XTZ is doing great job I think. But I was thinking that I would like to power the center separately too. So I started to look for 2 or 3 or 4 channel amps. Originally I was thinking about buying another A2-300 but then I saw A2-400 which I could use for mains and move old A2-300 to HTM6. And then I saw Jays review of Starke amp and I just thought that this might be perfect upgrade for me. Until I found this thread. I’m so dissapointed by both, the company and Jay.
So my search goes on… I came across VTV purify recently and I really like their amps with tube buffer, which will probably smoke XTZ… but the price is also pretty high. Would you guys have any good recommendation for powering all three speakers so I could hear better sound than XTZ?
I am open to older AB amps too. Thank you

If you want to hear better sound, get better speakers, as that is what you hear the most in your system. Unless you're clipping your amp, you're not gonna hear "significant" changes.

 

[nstzya]

Denon is powering everything expcet the 2 main speakers, which I got XTZ edge A2-300, 2 years ago… and I can’t complain really.

I’m glad you found this in time, but this is probably better discussed by starting a new thread. This thread is already long enough so let’s try to not clutter it up for those - like you - coming here to learn about Starke. For what it’s worth, you really already answered your question above. And I agree with Everett T. Any improvements will come from $ spent on speakers. Enjoy.

 

[Mack]

The more I look at it the more the STD/Bridge mode also feels suspect.

Theres only one heavy duty secondary on the transformer (white wires in post #3) without a center tap, and only one pair of heavy red/black wires from the power board to the amp board, this all points to a single supply rail for the output stages. Practical single supply class-D is realised by bridging two amp channels with idle output set at VCC/2.

Add to that four sets of L/C output filter per amp board, the whole thing smells of 4-channel class-D chip-amp under each heatsink, which would make "STD" mode correspond to "BTL" in Texas Instruments TPA32xx terminology, i.e the outputs are always running in a bridged mode.

The "Bridge" switch could mean "PBTL" (parallel-BTL) in TPA32xx terminology with the 4 amp channels run in parallel pairs to double the current capability with a mono output. The relays on the amp board could easily be re-arranging the inputs/outputs for PBTL mode.

Anyway - from the photos posted earlier of the internals there is the appearance of a single supply, BTL chip-amp. Even the drill-hole spacing in the heatsink and orientation/placement of the reservoir capacitors (positives terminals both at the center of the board) is consistent with this.

I know it's Been a while but can these amplifiers be fixed or modified?

 

[Mack]

I can only add that I am the one who is doing the review. At the time the preview was written, we didn’t have a product. Typically our previews have not been in actual products. The term referred to a simple retelling is the manufacturers claims. As you already noted, this product looked compelling on paper. It did to us as well. We had no reason to believe it would have measured so differently than the spec.

That preview was written long before I even knew I would be reviewing the amplifier. That point is important. We didn’t find out that the amp was intended as more of a utility amp until I asked about its design and performance for the review. They made clear that the Class D amp is meant more channels, like ATMOS, where ultimate fidelity isn’t necessary. I thought, ok that is disappointing but not a deal breaker. A $1200 amplifier that can do the atmos channels, is well made, and reliable would still be a useful product. That assumed it measured as specified. Amir’s review came out before I could even open mine. That didn’t bode well for the product. So I opened it to see if I would get similar or different results. Maybe he had a bad unit. Mine measured similar. So clearly something was wrong. Maybe the amplifier was built incorrectly relative to what was specified. I once tested an amplifier with a similar problem, it turned out the wrong transformer was used in a number of batches. The rails were half what they should have been. The spec sheet sent to the transformer manufacturer said 25v center tap toroidal 350va. What they got was 12.5v-0-12.5v but what they needed was 25v-0-25v. I have no idea what is going on here, but we agreed to wait for a new amplifier and see if it measures similarly. Maybe it’s similar and a wrong part was snuck in by a supplier. With foreign manufacturing it’s very common.

I know it's been a while but are you say that is we change the transformers that this amp whould perform closer to specs?

 

[amirm]

Pretty sure no. The unit has a switch for voltage so the concept of it shipping with the wrong transformer never made any sense. I would return it to the company and buy something else.

 

[Mack]

Perhaps, but is it "musical" and "warm?"

Yes

 

[beantownT]

Behold the “All new” amp from starke (Altho looks pretty similar or exactly similar to the ad4)

starkesound Product Details

Home Theater Subwoofer,Best Subwoofer,12 inch Subwoofer,15 inch Subwoofer,Ported Subwoofer,Affordable subwoofer

www.starkesound.com

 

[voodooless]

Behold the “All new” amp from starke (Altho looks pretty similar or exactly similar to the ad4)

starkesound Product Details

Home Theater Subwoofer,Best Subwoofer,12 inch Subwoofer,15 inch Subwoofer,Ported Subwoofer,Affordable subwoofer

www.starkesound.com

Well, the SMPS at least removes all margin of error regarding wrong voltage settings

 

[restorer-john]

Well, the SMPS at least removes all margin of error regarding wrong voltage settings

It has a rear mounted voltage primary voltage selection switch for the SMPS. That is basically a voltage doubler for 120V.

 

[voodooless]

It has a rear mounted voltage primary voltage selection switch for the SMPS. That is basically a voltage doubler for 120V.

What? Why ? A decent design should be wide voltage input. I guess they never learn?

… and assumption is the mother of all fuckups…

 

[restorer-john]

What? Why ? A decent design should be wide voltage input. I guess they never learn?

Actually the 'wide range' input products you see have the same voltage doubler arrangement, except it is auto sensing- usually relay operated on the main bridge rectifier and primary caps. You might think that's a better idea, but in areas where the voltage fluctuates or is outside the windows for auto-switching you can get problems.

Personally, if I have to have an SMPS in my amplifier, I would rather have a user selectable two position mains range switch. It is more reliable in the long term.

 

[RichB]

Behold the “All new” amp from starke (Altho looks pretty similar or exactly similar to the ad4)

starkesound Product Details

Home Theater Subwoofer,Best Subwoofer,12 inch Subwoofer,15 inch Subwoofer,Ported Subwoofer,Affordable subwoofer

www.starkesound.com

The Fiera 4 specifications are red flagging skeptics (like me).

Here is why:

- Power specifications do NOT indicate frequency range, which should include 20Hz to 20kHz and bandwidth limiting applied.
- 1% distortion is too high
- SINAD at 1 watt and less, where most of us listen, is not specified.
- SNR is only given at maximum power, where most amps do best, not in typical listening

It looks like another case of specification cherry picking.
Actually, less informative than many AVRs.

- Rich