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The "new" Class D vs A/B amps

Where do you get oxygen free jumper cables? I'm having trouble finding them at my local auto supply. :)
As we all know, there is no need for oxygen free copper. It offers no benefits in audio applications. Nor for car starting applications. :p
 
Even automotive wire is often electrolytic copper, either 99.9 or 99.95% pure. The latter counts as OFC too, just isn't marketed as such. Perfect as cheap speaker wire, for low output impedance class D amps too - to stay at least vaguely on topic. :D
 
Other (anecdotal) reviews regarding Class D have said that the distortion is low, power is abundant....but mid's and lows lack texture and slam.

Maybe some people like a bit of emphasis on the midrange, including a bit of second order distortion, and a very low damping factor in the bass (read: less control). Then they need an amplifier that is defective by design.
 
Class D and SMPS have a big advantage for manufacturers and retailers.. cheaper to manufacture, shipping cost is reduced a lot. But also storage throughout the whole process from manufacturing till it ends up in a Retail store. Even if you put the stuff in a fancy case it’s usually 8-10kg vs 30kg for a traditional A/B big boy amp.

Also way more efficient :) but we are not saving money by throwing a perfectly fine A/B amp away and replacing it with a fancy Class D amp . Nor are we saving the planet by producing Landfill class D amps .
 
They use less electricity as well of course, an advantage for the consumer, not sure what a ‘landfill’ amp is but if customers don’t buy them manufacturers won’t make them.
Keith
 
The only antidote is education in the nature of modern electronics (pretty much universally transparent) AND the mechanisms by which our human auditory system fools us. Calling people mentally ill will not help (and is insulting to those who suffer from actual mental illness)
Agree on the 2nd sentence. But education by demonstration is useful too. We don't need to turn people into scientists to make them aware of how senses don't work in isolation, that one input channel integrates with other inputs and memory to produce perception. There are lots of good demos how vision is lot more than imaging from the eye, e.g. we can show a lack of color discrimination outside the center field and that the color we see out there must then be coming from somewhere else. It would be good to collect a set of such audio demos.
 
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Slam: sufficient amplifier power to play dynamic range peaks without clipping;
We can point to D amps with plenty of power and to non-D amps without. So a classist account doesn't work there.

Texture: fully subjective reviewer's creative way to rather describe the quality of the recording they're listening to... :D
If it describes the recording then it doesn't describe the amp.

If we charitably assume the reviewer was describing audible differences between amps then if the difference is so big that we can hear texture in one that's absent in the other then surely we can measure that difference. We have after all very sensitive instruments. Let's find out if the non-D amp is adding texture or if the D amp is removing it. I think the reviewer should be very pleased to have this info.
 
Works for me!

It's not welding cable, but it is 2AWG, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

View attachment 420668

And bi-wired too, because I could, at speaker and amps, same terminals both ends, all from the junkbox.
Looks ok except for color coding and insulation. Do it again properly! :P
 
Getting ready to purchase a Buckeye NCx500 2 Ch amp to drive B&W 802's. I have read glowing reviews and Amir has put this on his recommended list above other seriously expensive amps. I was originally considering ATI 6002-2, Anthem STR, Mark Levinson 5302. From reading reviews of the Hypex and Purify amps, it seems that the new class D amps are outperforming the "higher-end" A/B monsters. Is this actually the case?
I don't know for sure without comparable bench test results. But I am inclined to assume that all three of those expensive amps are competent. Even if the Hypex and Purify amps test better I would expect that the differences will not be significant in practice, assuming all are suitable for your application.

However, we can engineer a better sounding system with the less expensive Class D amps by reassigning system budget to speakers. It remains the case that high performance speakers cost a lot. Crutchfield lists 5302 at US$11k. Spending instead 1k on an amp and 10k on speakers should produce good sound.

But if you are departing, as it seems you might be, the world of audiophile aesthetics, marketing, and review poetry then take a look at and try to understand some modern gear. The audio pros that rely on good sound for their livelihood are moving (or already moved) to systems using one amp per speaker driver, e.g. active studio monitors. These days they often use hardware that allows crossovers, driver compensation and time alignment, and cabinet compensation to be implemented in software. The individual amps are specified for the job and uninteresting from the audiophile perspectiv: they are small, light, inexpensive and boring/ugly to look at. But there's no denying the resulting good sound.
 
Other (anecdotal) reviews regarding Class D have said that the distortion is low, power is abundant....but mid's and lows lack texture and slam.
Texture and slam?!
Oy vey.

I've found the Class D amplifiers I've listened to to be generally both adequately slammy and texturous in both midrange and lowrange ranges.
 
I'm in the process of converting a stereo 3-way passive speaker to fully active.

Sorry to be a little bit out of the scope/theme of this thread, but...

I am very happy finding you are doing what I have been engaging/enjoying for the past almost 5 years!

In my case, I have added L&R super-tweeters and L&R subwoofers to my main 3-way SP, and converted all of them fully active, i.e. all of the SP-drivers are now driven dedicatedly and directly by each of the four HiFi stereo amplifiers (my subwoofer have powerful amplifier in it); consequently the present stereo system is 5-way 10-channel.

Only if you would be interested in my "long exploration journey", your visit and participation on my project thread will be much welcome.
You can find here (on the thread) and here (remote independent thread post) the Hyperlink Index of my project thread and some of my related posts in remote threads.

As for the latest (almost completed) system setup, you would please visit my post #931 on the project thread.

Edit:
This separate thread hosted by myself would be also of your interest, I assume, since several ASR members share their active (and passive) audio system/setup:
Let's share diagrams (and photos) of our total physical audio system and the whole signal path, with a few words and/or links
 
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