Posted by manualblock [ 24.191.167.32 ] on September 17, 2004 at 20:52:13:
In Reply to: Re: Initial Listening Impressions of Yamaha ca-1010 posted by akhilesh on September 17, 2004 at 18:17:49:
Thanks AK; once again a reasoned and respectful dialogue. I would enjoy to delve further into this subject providing you are willing. And in the public foruum so all can observe. These aspects of the reviewers art really need to be expanded on; and since you have taken up the gauntlet via your review site then it is an appropriate venue for this discussion. My pet peeve with amps occurs when they have no life and don't breath, and unfortunately I find most SS amps to exhibit this irritating lack of life. When you state that your amps are SET freindly, what do you mean; the output impedance is low?
Next, odd order distortion products are a fact of life with pentodes, there is no escape. Triodes distort in even fundamentals I am sure that is one of the reasons they sound so good as well as very good damping off the plate.. Please allow me to list what I have on hand and my impressions;
Carver TFM 35 SS amplifier
Luxman M-120 duo-beta SS amp class A
Fisher 5ooc reciever tube PP 7591 tubes
Dyna st-35 tube PP
EAR el-859 screen grid SET SS rectified
Dyna ST-70 fully tricked out
Bottlehead foreplay pre-amp w/ all mods
Seduction phono stage w/all mods
Dyna Pas 2 pre-amp modded
Brians 3578 chip amp
I think we can work with these pieces on my end. The EAR uses 10db negative feedback, the rest all employ some type of NFB. If you examine the schematic of those tube amps you list even w/o obvious feedback there are loops inherent in the circuit I believe.
That is one aspect of amp configuration i cannot understand well. If your amp is cathode biased then there is a feedback loop through the bias cap. Do you have any info regarding that? The Carver sounds dry and bland through the Pi Theater 4's. No life not real musical.
The Luxman is a real ballsy amp but like all SS amps I have ever heard it sounds a little flat and two dimensional, although the class A SS amps are much more musical.
The Fisher is coloured but musical.
The Dyna ST-35 is very smooth and musical.
Same for the ST-70 except it has a slight mettalic tinge, although that may be the result of very high frequency oscillation.
The EAR is one of the best amps bar none but it tends to be less involving than some other good SE's.
Thats good so far my hands are getting tired, Thanks much for helping me out with this reviewing thing, J.R.( The chip amp is a great bargain but not for long term listening)
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