Leaving Class A or "Why our meters don't go to zero".

[PHC1]

Good article by Nelson Pass of Pass Labs talking about class A, AB and effects of bias. Nice easy reading. http://passlabs.com/pdf/articles/leaving_class_a.pdf

[KingRT]

Thanks!

[Yardbird]

A very interesting article,. Serge. After that I found several more reviews which also rave about Pass Labs amps. Of course, how often do you ever read a reviewer really pan anything? They are out there to grease the wheels of the audio business. I want to hear some PassLabs amps as well as Lamms! Nelson Pass is able to design more power into a Class A design. I wonder if they sound as good as the Lamms? There is some interesting equipment out there... Ted.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Yardbird

A very interesting article,. Serge. After that I found several more reviews which also rave about Pass Labs amps. Of course, how often do you ever read a reviewer really pan anything? They are out there to grease the wheels of the audio business. I want to hear some PassLabs amps as well as Lamms! Nelson Pass is able to design more power into a Class A design. I wonder if they sound as good as the Lamms? There is some interesting equipment out there... Ted.

Pass has more amps to offer but the Lamm is a hybrid with a triode doing the driving of the output MOSFET stage. You should listen to both. I've heard quite a few Pass amps in the past and liked them but never fell in love with their sound. One listen to the Lamm's and it was all over, I fell in love with them.

[Yardbird]

Serge,
Speaking of Lamm, have I asked you if you have ever heard the Lamm M2.2?

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Yardbird

Serge,
Speaking of Lamm, have I asked you if you have ever heard the Lamm M2.2?

I have not. The M2.2 have much less class A than M1.2s and put out 900w instead of 600w into 1 ohm. If you need to pound your speakers that much, I would not get a class A amp to begin with. If you really use the extra power, the M2.2s will spend much less time in Class A so you may as well get a class A/B amp that will run cooler.

You can use this calculator to approximate what kind of SPLs you can get without leaving class A. I get 105dB with my 88dB speakers right now before the amp would ever slip into class A/B. Most of my listening is 85dB with peaks around 95dB. http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

[Talk2me]

Thanks PHC1 for the calculator. I am at 115.9db.

[Tonepub]

Originally Posted by Yardbird

A very interesting article,. Serge. After that I found several more reviews which also rave about Pass Labs amps. Of course, how often do you ever read a reviewer really pan anything? They are out there to grease the wheels of the audio business. I want to hear some PassLabs amps as well as Lamms! Nelson Pass is able to design more power into a Class A design. I wonder if they sound as good as the Lamms? There is some interesting equipment out there... Ted.

Most reviewers don't "pan" products from legitimate mfrs., because none of them are making junk these days. So much of it is about system synergy, set up, the listening room and software quality, there are too many variables.

Being overly negative or gushy on a regular basis doesn't help the reader.

As much as you would like to think we are all "greasing the palms of the audio industry," to not describe a product as accurately as possible doesn't help you, me or the mfr.

The Lamm amps are a great example. I've always found the Lamm stuff to be way too dark for my taste, yet when I've heard them with Wilson Sophias or Sashas, the sound has always been fantastic.

It's never an easy conclusion to draw.

Ultimately the best hifi review will lead you to a product demo so you can draw your own conclusion in your own system. Nothing more.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by tonepub

Ultimately the best hifi review will lead you to a product demo so you can draw your own conclusion in your own system. Nothing more.

Jeff.......That pretty well sums it up right there.

[Talk2me]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Jeff.......That pretty well sums it up right there.

+1 (again )