Soulution 701 monoblocks and 711 stereo amplifier

wizard

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asiufy

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Yes, after trying to convince us that negative feedback is good, they now want to convince us now that SMPS are better than linear supplies...



alexandre
 

opus111

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An SMPS on a $55,000 stereo amp?

If you're paying five digits on an amp and don't get an SMPSU then the PSU is probably under-engineered (valve amps excepted).

<edit> From reading that release a bit more thoroughly its looking like they might be using an off-the-shelf SMPSU design, which would explain why they're paralleling four 600VA units rather than have a single 2400VA design. Not optimal at that price point and most certainly not a 'state of the art' PSU.
 

dallasjustice

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How many amps above $10k use smps? I can't think of many. I guess there's alot of poorly engineered amps, IYO?
If you're paying five digits on an amp and don't get an SMPSU then the PSU is probably under-engineered (valve amps excepted).
 

dallasjustice

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The only high end amp I've heard in my room with SMPS is the Rowland 625. It wasn't very good. I've also heard from reliable sources that the Soulution 5 series amps aren't that great.
 

opus111

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I've also been unimpressed by some implementations of amps with SMPSUs. The first I heard, going back almost two decades now, was Chord. I think they may have been the first to use a switcher in a hi-fi amp. It sounded really gritty at the top end. The distortion measured pretty badly too but when we approached the designer with this information he pretty much said it was that way by design. My own amp sounds just fine with an off-the-shelf SMPSU but draconian filtering is needed to get it sounding this way. Perhaps Soulution haven't figured out the filtering yet but the fact they've got 1F of capacitance in conjunction with an SMPSU sounds like a promising start.
 

asiufy

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My guess is the contrary. I guess they came out with some ingenious filtering, and they assume they can nullify the negative aspects of using a SMPSU.
Since they are very specs-driven, it makes sense, since on paper, their amp looks fantastic (some people must be drooling right now at the 1F of capacitance!).

alexandre
 

ack

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I've also heard from reliable sources that the Soulution 5 series amps aren't that great.

I can attest to that as well. They are extremely low noise, but... I am equally unimpressed by the new switch mode power supply here...
 

asiufy

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ack

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FrantzM

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Has anyone actually heard these amps?
 

ack

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Has anyone actually heard these amps?

The 501s? Yes. The 70x no, but switch mode doesn't work for me in any high end application, neither does 1F of storage - slow to charge and discharge.
 

defride

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Will be interesting to see what they've come up with.

They're a bright bunch and though SMPS and $55k amps is hard to compute they've proved able to take modest off the shelf parts like the dac's in their cdp and build something quite exceptional (and expensive...).

IME the 720/710 combo is pretty exceptional, like all good stuff it reflects whats going on around it and in the same setting dependent on the rest of the system can sound gray and grainy through stunning.
 

ack

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A review of 530 which also uses the same technology.

The 520 and 530 are not DC-coupled. In the 720 we do have an automatic DC offset detection with relays switching the capacitor. As we could not detect any difference in the sonic performance, we decided to have the capacitor in the signal path all the time for the Series5 products.


Hmmm.....
 

Elberoth

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i have not heard these amps but can think of no reason why a switcher can not be used in a well thought out audio design.


Agreed. I remember speaking to Dan Dagostiono the other day, and asked about his opinion on SMPS he told me that they show great promise from the engineering point of view (beeing regulated by design) and that he would like to build one one day.
 
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