Haunz, have you ever heard a true Class A amplifier?

 

Ive played with a few... two of em totalled almost 2kw when bridged...


Please dont tell me you can 'hear' a difference bewteen class A and any other suitable solid state...

 

monolithic

 

hmmm good read ya I wont let anything but class a/b touch my zerpoints but thats just me...your probably right... a class D with higher THD would probably be just fine but maybe Im anel about that distortion going to the speakers lol
If your going to go SQ, The first thing id think of is class A or class A/B but maybe im in another ball park here?

Brad [img]graemlins/jammin.gif[/img]

 

Haunz, what brand and model?

I've never heard of anything quite that powerful being Class A.

In theory, you would have double the rated power from the output stage if it was in Class A/B mode...and the power supply would need nearly 4 times the thermal handling of a similarily rated Class A/B amp. (Making it huge)

To date, the largest Class A amplifier that I've set eyes on, is the Krell FPB 400cx. It's a monster, it creats tons of heat, and it costs over 10K USD. Exactly the description you gave of the typical Class A amp above. Why would anybody buy it? Probably to listen to music. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I've never listened to a truely Class A amp in my car yet. I do have a reference quality amp that has a bias adjustment option called the A class booster, which I'll admit makes a very minor improvement to the SQ. What I'd like to do, is find out what's out there for Class A amps...and go from there.

I'll be honest here, if you are one of those people that can't hear differences in amplifiers, count yourself lucky. The world is a lot simpler and less expensive place when you can't...

Adam

 

monolithic </font>[/QUOTE]Monolithic - Actually super high biased class A/B.
Will run class A most of the time though.

 

Dereck, lets assume you already have the power to overcome the noise floor. You have your tunes at a moderate volume. Do you think the Class A bias would make a difference?

Me, I have no idea. I'd like to find out for myself, with my own ears, in my own car. This has nothing to do with price, or owning something that other people do not. I'm currious, this is a big part of this hobby for me, and I have fun exploring these things.

So far I've come up with very little info on the Monolithic amp, other than what's been posted on ECA, which is very little. Anyone have any other models they have heard of?

Adam

 

I cant think of brand or model off the top of my head... they were pro audio monoblocks probably from the mid 70s.... The only reason I figure they must be class A is because they have 'Pure class A' stamped on the front....

My old man has quite the collection of power amps and recievers... tube and SS... more then a few say they are class A somewhere on the chassis or in the manual....


I do not believe for a second that anyone on this forum can hear a difference between any kind of solid state amp..... that in my books, is rediculous....