Sorry to drift off topic. Are you talking of the black fronted large knob Cambridge amps from the late 80's? I liked those a lot! The possible unreliable era I recall was the slim silver classic-stylish looking models from the early to mid 70's. Stan may have had design inpout into these as well, but I'm damned if I can remember reliably here...From memory, the P50II was a Stan Curtis design, unlike the earlier P40 and P50, and did "not" suffer from crossover distortion. Martin Colloms rated it highly both for measurements and for subjective SQ. BTW I still think those Cambridge amps were some of the best looking ever, although the slim design probably did compromise heat dissipation.
As a mere consumer, my impression at the time was that Japanese amps were starting to gain respect, but the serious brand was Crown/Amcron, or Phase Linear if you wanted huge power (200 or 350 W seemed incredible then). The Quad 303 was still the established top Brit amp but there were doubts about load tolerance and SQ.
It just means that technology in speaker amplification hasnt progressed that much so a 4 grand amp can be made for the same specs in 2021 for $150. In fact they might cost as much if not more. This isnt the fault of a single manufacturer like Topping but perhaps the industry as a whole.
Well thats my point. Remember when a 4gb micro sd card cost almost $200 15 years ago and now you can buy a 512gb micro sd card for $30. Thats what i call progress, which sadly hasnt happened much in this snake oil filled industry.How much more "speaker amplification" progress would be required to have an audible effect? I think we're already at a point where the real audible improvements have to be in speaker system design and amp-speaker integration rather than in squeezing out the last possible SINAD increase out of standalone amps.
It just means that technology in speaker amplification hasnt progressed that much so a 4 grand amp can be made for the same specs in 2021 for $150. In fact they might cost as much if not more. This isnt the fault of a single manufacturer like Topping but perhaps the industry as a whole.
Well its a snake oil filled industry after all. One of the few industries where you absolutely cant get your worth with the money spentSo the only remaining power amplifier designer in the industry who is worth mentioning and kudos for SOTA circuit ideas is Bruno Putzeys? I would say so and I would say it is a typical example of lost knowledge. Most of the designers act like mere chip and block assemblers, not true design engineers.
Well thats my point. Remember when a 4gb micro sd card cost almost $200 15 years ago and now you can buy a 512gb micro sd card for $30. Thats what i call progress, which sadly hasnt happened much in this snake oil filled industry.
I would say so and I would say it is a typical example of lost knowledge. Most of the designers act like mere chip and block assemblers, not true design engineers.
So the only remaining power amplifier designer in the industry who is worth mentioning and kudos for SOTA circuit ideas is Bruno Putzeys? I would say so and I would say it is a typical example of lost knowledge. Most of the designers act like mere chip and block assemblers, not true design engineers.
This little Topping is not remotely in the same leauge as the Bryston discussed above. Not even close.
But, for people who want a tiny little amplifier that actually works, it's cheap and cheerful.
The bryston is 40x the price so Id hope it performs 40x better. If it somehow performs worse than this little cute toy then I would feel extreme shame telling anyone I work for BrystonThis little Topping is not remotely in the same leauge as the Bryston discussed above. Not even close.
But, for people who want a tiny little amplifier that actually works, it's cheap and cheerful.
Nonsense of course. PAS 2002PCS is about 1.15€ per watt per channel in mono mode.Boulder is pathetic by comparison:
£373 per stereo watt for Boulder
£3.26 per stereo watt for Topping
40dB£ more expensive per watt.
Just one metric admittedly - but still...
The bryston is 40x the price so Id hope it performs 40x better. If it somehow performs worse than this little cute toy then I would feel extreme shame telling anyone I work for Bryston
It was merely an hyperbole statement by me. My point still stands that the day topping outperforms a company like Bryston by having an amp that is a lot cheaper but has the same performance is the day all HiFi company should sit down and ask themselves what have they been doing for the past decades.That's just silly and you know it. HiFi, and indeed anything else in life doesn't work like that. Ever heard of the law of diminishing returns?
You can buy an $8 bottle of wine and an $800 bottle of wine. Is the $800 one a hundred times better? Nope.
You can buy a $30,000 car and a $3,000,000 dollar car. Does the expensive one accelerate 100 times faster to 60mph? Nope.
Bryston and indeed most other proper HiFi companies cannot be merely dissected into one or two metrics. So much more to it.
I'm talking about the early-mid-70s ones, P40-P50-P50II. IIRC they were silver only, whereas the P100 and P110 could be silver or black. I also liked the later ones, but not as much. Note I'm talking about styling ("industrial design"), not necessarily performance or reliability. Someone here agrees with me ;-) <https://community.naimaudio.com/t/what-comes-first-looks-or-sound-quality/14542/224>Sorry to drift off topic. Are you talking of the black fronted large knob Cambridge amps from the late 80's? I liked those a lot! The possible unreliable era I recall was the slim silver classic-stylish looking models from the early to mid 70's. Stan may have had design inpout into these as well, but I'm damned if I can remember reliably here...
Bryston and indeed most other proper HiFi companies cannot be merely dissected into one or two metrics. So much more to it.
What has that got to do with the Boulder 3050 at £280,000 per side? Which is what was posted/referenced?Nonsense of course. PAS 2002PCS is about 1.15€ per watt per channel in mono mode.
As far as I know Creek rised its prises as well, seems to me EU market is hugely uncompetitive for audio manufacturing.Bryston seemed to go up hugely in price in the late noughties I recall - all but doubling in the UK. I never could work out why. PMC who imported them, did the same with their domestic (at least) speaker models too, a £1250pr model being £2000pr after a very few years. I'm not businessman as you may have gathered, but drastic increases like this way over inflation (and I suspect even the stock-market crash of 2008) never lay easy with me.