SS Amp Performance Characteristics
- Thread starter Kingrex
- Start date
Let me know your thoughts. What else have you had? Any other SS. I was rereading about the Atmasphere class D monos. They read similar. The Atmasphere and the Dartzeel were next to impossible to tell apart in my system.
I like the A-2 in that I can use it in my living room system. But then again, the living room system may become 5 channel.
The A-3 gets a lot better reviews. The sales guy in Vancouver WA (Unveiled Audio) I am talking too has had quite a few people move from the A-2 up to the A3. I am sure that is where I would like to be. But that's a lot more money. Even the A-3 Core stereo amp is $17,000. A lot more than the $5295 for the A-2 on sale.
Will do. The A-2 will replace my YBA amplifier (Yves Bernard Andre of France) and Jeff Rowland Pre-Amp. They are both SS, but quite dated so I'm not sure the differences to the A-2 would tell you much, but I'll let you know what I hear after break-in. Previously, long ago, I had a few tube and hybrid components, but no real aural memory that could be considered useful in light of other changes to my system.
Lacking pre-amp out, the A-2 would probably not be a first-choice for a 5-Ch system, but it will serve my needs for 2-Ch. It was easy to me to buy into Soulnote's philosophy of design by listening rather than designing to a spec, and the many reviews emphasizing strengths in tonality and musicality clicked with me.
Agree on the A-3 reviews but out of my price range. As I understand, the replacements for the A-2 and A-1 are coming in a few months, hence the close-out pricing on them. Purportedly, the A-3 is not in the works for immediate replacement.
You should get an A-2 so you can tell me how they sound with the Trio15 Coax
, which is at the top of my list to replace my electrostaticsNo @Kingrex you have to get the Soulnote A-2! How else will I know if it mates well with the Trio15 Coax??!!
My guess is the replacement for the A-2 coming this year will likely be more $$$ than the $8000 retail of the A-2, so I decided to jump at the close-out pricing on an A-2 while still available
I can buy the Atmasphere and you have the A-2. Down the road we swap for a while. I have let people use my gear.No @Kingrex you have to get the Soulnote A-2! How else will I know if it mates well with the Trio15 Coax??!!
My guess is the replacement for the A-2 coming this year will likely be more $$$ than the $8000 retail of the A-2, so I decided to jump at the close-out pricing on an A-2 while still available
Good thought but I gave up borrowing components as I found that it inevitably led to me discovering some aspect of sound was better in the borrowed component, like soundstage or dynamics or whatever, and I could never unhear that improvement when I went back to my component. As I'm not one to regularly change/upgrade components, I don't want to be continually longing for something else, and thus I try to strive to simply enjoy what I have
That's fine. I'm not pushing.
I see things opposit. Just because I hear something does not mean I can't find it in my system. Most systems leave a lot in the box. The owners don't know how to get it out. Hearing what your missing is about finding what you have.
I put my new horn sub in. OMG. I found all the bass I was missing. Buying a SS amp would be a backward step. I had 2 very fine SS amps and my current amp slaughtered them. I'm so happy I was coached in a good direction.
I still want to hear your thoughts on the A-2. Please post.
I'm personally set. My focus is back to tuning what I have.
I see things opposit. Just because I hear something does not mean I can't find it in my system. Most systems leave a lot in the box. The owners don't know how to get it out. Hearing what your missing is about finding what you have.
I put my new horn sub in. OMG. I found all the bass I was missing. Buying a SS amp would be a backward step. I had 2 very fine SS amps and my current amp slaughtered them. I'm so happy I was coached in a good direction.
I still want to hear your thoughts on the A-2. Please post.
I'm personally set. My focus is back to tuning what I have.
Those SS amps were the ones you bought on the advice you paid Jay to give you ?
Your system sounds so great now because you have North Americas best powerlines installed in your house, we all know that by now.
Why attack me? Did I do something to offend you? I thought Tom has repeatedly said trash talk does nothing to move positive conversation forward.Those SS amps were the ones you bought on the advice you paid Jay to give you ?
FWIW. Thank you for remembering Jays advice to me. Jay said get a Luxman M900. He also said, don't let $ couple thousand keep you from what you really want. If I could afford $8k, I could afford $12k. So I bought the Dartzeel.
Wil loaned me the Atmasphere class D. It was shocking a $6000 amp was sonically the same as a $18,000 amp. Atmasphere makes a great product.
If I were to get a Soulnote, I would get the A-3. But even then, I find the detail and receeation of music sounding as close to live as I have heard comes from my Blade Tube amp. Hands down the best amp I ever had. It is my speakers limiting the bottom end. They are fantastic speakers. But a good subwoofer does them wonders.
Also, I have never looked inside the panel feeding my house. Its not time to update the power. The house came with a guest room over the garage with a kitchenet. There is a metal pipe with 2 x #12 solid thhn circuits. I use a custom power cord by Found Music to power my Torus RM20. That feeds the entire stereo. I have a Oyaide duplex connected to the branch circuit that feeds the Torus. My power is far from optimized. I would have much better power if I had a #10 to my room and the Torus was modified with Furutech NCF Rhodium duplex.
Ultimately I will install a new serice strike with a 200A meter main and a 8 space distribution. The feed through lugs will feed my existing home. The 8 space distribution will hold a large SPD as well as a 40A x 2 poll to feed my Torus wall mount transformer and another 100A subfeed breaker to feed one of my custom 100A all copper subpanels. The room will have a variety of circuits from the wall mount Torus as well as from the unfiltered wall. I will use #10 solid everywhere as well as a pair of #6 to the amps. All circuits will be in ENT with the hot and neutral twisted, the ground run loose. 1 twist every 2 inches. All grain oriented. That sir is premium power.
Just messing with you, not attacking. Maybe your oppen baffle speakers do work best with the damping factor and impedance of the Blade amps. Open baffles often need a little help in the deeper bass regions, i would not run my speakers without subs. You will probably like them even more when you have spent more time dialing them in. Subs take time to get right. You ears adjust to the level they put out, and sound right afters some hours of dialing in, next time you start listening the level might sound off to you.
Amps with global negative feedback can sound very different from speaker to speaker because of how the speakers back EMF will interact with the feedback network of the amp. This was demonstrated by Matti Otala in the 1980s. So, on one speaker it could sound sweet and another harsh and still on another, like an electrostat, it might become unstable and oscillate.
Amps without negative feedback (at least global feedback) will probably sound more consistent across different speaker types as there is no path from output to input in which back EMF can corrupt the signal.
The Dartzeel and the Atmasphere did sound very good with my open baffle. They had more weight in the bass. With a microphone, they did role hard at 50 hertz. But they still sounded full and pleasing
If I had no intention of using a sub, the Soulnote would probably be a better amp. Since adding the sub, I am extremely happy with the bass performance. I played music till about 1:30 at night. Last night I had to take a break. I am pretty stressed out. A crew shows tomorrow to gut my house. Its a pretty overwhelming task. At 40 it was exciting. At 59 its sort of terrifying.
If I had no intention of using a sub, the Soulnote would probably be a better amp. Since adding the sub, I am extremely happy with the bass performance. I played music till about 1:30 at night. Last night I had to take a break. I am pretty stressed out. A crew shows tomorrow to gut my house. Its a pretty overwhelming task. At 40 it was exciting. At 59 its sort of terrifying.
Given the damping factor of most SS amps, I would not consider them ideal for open baffle because of the loss of bass that will ensue. Of course if you add subs then that is a thing I guess. It is similar in a way for horn bass, a high damping factor amp will dry up the bass to the point of leaving it dessicated.
Hi Rex
A very good indication, and how I would assess is if you are describing power amplifiers, is an amplifiers distortion, look for a figure as Total Harmonic Distortion shortened to THD as being less than 0.03% Also look for the amplifiers sensitivity as being ideally matching to what is called consumer line level, where the media you play limits to be 0.316V RMS but OK for sensitivity up to 0.5V RMS, this allows the amplifiers full output to be enjoyed.
Tone controls sadly are a form of distortion, that when you compare to an audio signal without such distortion its very easy to choose the latter and ignore the former. That said there is a good use of tone called emphasis that matches to de-emphasis one adds initially the other subtracts at the same rate, it is used in noise reduction circuits.
Wishing you the best with your choices.
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