PS Audio Gain Cell amps?

James Romeyn · « **on:** 22 May 2006, 02:53 am »

C'mon, Zybar, Marbles, or John the moderator...surely some members have stuck one of Paul McGowan's latest Class-D output stage amps in their system & can report?

Thanks...

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #1 on:** 22 May 2006, 03:34 am »

Not me, Jim....have been underwhelmed by the 3 or 4 PS Audio products I've bought in the past. I didn't find them awful - just not up to the hype that Paul McGowan tends to slather them with

outlawrocketman · « **Reply #2 on:** 22 May 2006, 03:44 am »

I have the GCC-250 (Stereo control amplifier @ 250 Watts). I find it quite nice, full sound, plenty of power, tight control top to bottom of the frequency range. Didn't to much A/B testing of amps so can't give you many comparisons. Before the GCC I was using separate PS Audio amp and pre-amp. Before that I was using Antique SoundLab (tube-based) amp.

I love the sound from my current system, with a Lite DAC-60 (via GR-research) tube-based warming the sound just a touch, feeding into the GCC. Absolutely realistic sound!

James Romeyn · « **Reply #3 on:** 22 May 2006, 04:01 am »

Hmmmmmmmmmmm....vehdy intereztink...(as Arte would say)

Rocket · « **Reply #4 on:** 22 May 2006, 05:33 am »

Hi Jim,

Have you ever been obsessed with a piece of audio equipment? I bought a ps audio hca - 2 and have to say it was a piece of junk in comparison to my aksa 100 amplifier.

I have had it modified by a person in the states and replaced the following parts:

Nichicon gold caps in the power supply
blackgate caps bypassed by v caps in the signal path
harris fred diodes
replaced a number of caps with rubycon
removed the transformer bolt and installed a sound absorbing composite material underneath it for anti-vibration
replaced numerous resistors with better quality ones
replaced the output wire with audio consulting silver wire
replaced the cheap rca's with eichmann cablepods

In total about 40-50 components have been replaced with better quality ones. My friend has an excellent ear and is an ee and his work has been first rate.

The amp is more transparent, better bass ie. deeper with better definition, wider soundstage and overall it sounds very good. I also have a son of ampzilla and it sounds different to the hca - 2 but i enjoy both amps.

I haven't heard the newer digital amps (the hca - 2 is pwm) but i was less than impressed with the hca -2. Lesson learnt i won't sink that kind of money again into a product unless i get the opportunity to hear it first.

Regards

Rod