I posed a question to designer at another thread about amp designs and I got the following response which if MB of nOrh amp comes close to what he states then it might well be worth the purchase.---Enjoy
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I remember reading that a one benchmark about how good an amp is can be measured at how much power can be deliverd when Halfing the Impedance rating. As an example lets say an amp is stated to deliver 200watts at 8ohms and then delivers 400watts at 4ohms then deilver 800wats into 2ohms.Does the ability to double it's rated output that way tell you anything about the amps ability besides being able to drive a wider range of speakers? TIA,ABEX
Actually, it tells you several things.
1. It tells you the designer was using his head while working, and recognizes the fact that nasty things like impedance drops, phase shifts, etc actually do exist, operate in real life like it or not, and attempt to modify the amp's performance into real world speakers, as opposed to lab test loads (usually a bank of high power resistors);
2. It tells you the power supply of that amp has been really well done, no skimping. No output stage can deliver real world power into real world speakers if it doesn't have an enbergy pool to draw that power from;
3. It tells you the output section in particular, but also the whole amp, has been concieved with proper capability to negotiate even very difficult loads, which gives you freedom to choose among speakers according to taste, and not to have to think about drive capabilities, and
4. It tells you the amp's performance, such as distortion and frequency response, will be modified very little by even evil loads, which is a hallmark of any good design.
As a sideline, it also tells you whoever designed it, was one competent designer and worthy of respect.
On the other hand, however important that is, it's not the only factor deciding on the overall quality of the sound. Let me put it this way - such an amp stands a better chance of sounding good than another without such capabilities.
This means the amp's dynamics will not be curtailed by less than perfect loads, and that it will in fact drive almost anything somebody decided to call a speaker.
Cheers,
===============================================II'd do more than that - I'd say power supplies are THE place to start. It's quite simple - the whole product rests on power supplies, without good power supplies, the rest is usually meaningless, and in any and all cases devalued.
The most common and sensible tweak of any product is modding the power supplies. No matter how poor it may sound, after that mod it will sound better, every time, never fails.
Of course, those are absolutes, and there is a relativity factor here as well. If you have to double the product's price to get a 15% improvement in sound, well, that's hardly rational, is it?
Josh, there are TWO things I'd say to you:
1. By all means, do start from the power supplies, and
2. Remember, it's all a balance, to have significant gains you need to mod at least a few things, never just one.
BTW, you found some good brains to pick; Audi has one of the best electrical arrangements in the entire car industry, in my view, better than Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Your paw-in-law sure knew what to pick, kudos to him.
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