boland audio

[PPI_GUY 10+ year member]

he also designed the boards for the pre-art series PPI amps. I talked to him on the phone a couple times. dude is incredibly smart and funny

Yeah, he may have been involved with the early PPI's but, Bruce McMillian was the guy who headed up the design side of PPI from the early 90's till late 90's. A updated version of his R.I.P.S. technology found in the 2350DM amps would eventually make its way into JL Audio's "slash" series when he joined that company. He's still there today.   

 

[PPI_GUY 10+ year member]

I think this came up last year at some point.  Yeah, amps look great, will probably perform great and last for decades,  and I'm sure he's a solid engineer, but why on Earth build a class A/B amp for car audio in this day and age?

I mean if you're going to go gimmicky to pander to snobophiles just throw a couple tubes in the pre-amp section, otherwise, modern class D technology is way past the point where there's any reason to avoid it.

That's my biggest question with Bernie's amps. There's no doubt he's building very high quality stuff but, the future isn't with class a/b. It's going to be with super efficient class D amps utilizing GaN FET IC technology that will rival the highest level marquee SQ amps currently available.
Plus, the trend seems to be amps with a smaller footprint not bigger.
There may always be some small niches of car audio that refuse to embrace class D and that's fine but, it's hard for me to see a company surviving for years relying entirely on sales to that small group.

 

[PPI_GUY 10+ year member]

BTW, here's a good read on the significance of GaN FET and how it will  ultimately allow class D to equal or possibly surpass even class A amplifiers.
https://audiophilereview.com/cd-dac-digital/why-well-soon-be-living-in-a-class-d-world.html

 

[youdoofus]

Yeah, he may have been involved with the early PPI's but, Bruce McMillian was the guy who headed up the design side of PPI from the early 90's till late 90's. A updated version of his R.I.P.S. technology found in the 2350DM amps would eventually make its way into JL Audio's "slash" series when he joined that company. He's still there today.   

yeah, he told me he left in the late 80s

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

BTW, here's a good read on the significance of GaN FET and how it will  ultimately allow class D to equal or possibly surpass even class A amplifiers.
https://audiophilereview.com/cd-dac-digital/why-well-soon-be-living-in-a-class-d-world.html

2 year old article and who is using those new FETs?   Legit breakthrough or just more SQ snake oil?

 

[PPI_GUY 10+ year member]

2 year old article and who is using those new FETs?   Legit breakthrough or just more SQ snake oil?

Some home audio manufacturers are already incorporating them. I think Taramps may have released a car audio model using the GaN FET technology a year ago. Article was posted in late 2017 and says it may take a few years for consumers to start seeing them make their way to the market. You'll probably see them more commonly in the higher-end products first as the bigger companies have more money to dedicate to R&D. There is some cost associated with new tech.

Hard to call scientific measurements "snake oil" when there are plenty of articles on GaN FET posted online if you do a search. Most all detail the benefits of gallium nitride as a superior material in construction of FET's.

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

2 year old article and who is using those new FETs?   Legit breakthrough or just more SQ snake oil?

It's legitimate.. Taramps is using them. Soundigital used them. You haven't read the article that has a ton of praise from SQ nuts? They bought up a ton of the soundigital 2 channels due to the sound quality 

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

 Soundigital used them.

Why did they stop using them?

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

Why did they stop using them?

they didn't, it was a limited production 

other amps may be using them, but as far as I know the Taramps Bass and maybe MD series? As well as that soundigital line use GaN fets

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Hard to call scientific measurements "snake oil" when there are plenty of articles on GaN FET posted online if you do a search. Most all detail the benefits of gallium nitride as a superior material in construction of FET's.

The point being do these "benefits" translate into any real-world performance or audible difference?   If not you're just paying for bragging rights.

 You haven't read the article that has a ton of praise from SQ nuts? They bought up a ton of the soundigital 2 channels due to the sound quality 

Those types are bigger band-wagoners than the people around here.  

And for some reason nobody has claimed Richard Clarke's 10 grand.

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

Oh boy, haven't heard anyone bring up the RC challenge in a while.

He will never pay out that prize money but it isn't because amps don't sound different. He knows amps can sound different and he's smart enough to know why amps can sound different but he's having too much fun with his little experiment to finally admit something like that.

Do you just not like anything fancy? I mean why did you pay all that money for Zed class D when there are other choices that would have offered simliar power and lasted just as long? Why not just buy the nastiest, cheapest **** you can find since you always try to convince everyone there are never any sonic gains to be had when going for something with "features".

I should know better than to play devil's advocate with you but I sometimes get annoyed at how dismissive you can be when it comes to the whole sound quality thing, since hardly anyone who does the sound quality thing tries to be dismissive toward you with your SPL opinions and experiences.

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

The point being do these "benefits" translate into any real-world performance or audible difference?   If not you're just paying for bragging rights.

Those types are bigger band-wagoners than the people around here.  

And for some reason nobody has claimed Richard Clarke's 10 grand.

The fact that they can handle more power more efficiently in a smaller package is enough for me to know its worthwhile

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

dbl

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

The fact that they can handle more power more efficiently in a smaller package is enough for me to know its worthwhile

Considering modern class D amps are already in the 90% efficient and up range, how much is left to gain?  At what cost?  Why aren't the companies who actually do R&D implementing this?  Surely JL, Rockford, Alpine, etc. have the budget and the brain power on tap to utilize this and already have a customer base ready to  pay premium for their brands.

 

[youdoofus]

Considering modern class D amps are already in the 90% efficient and up range, how much is left to gain?  At what cost?  Why aren't the companies who actually do R&D implementing this?  Surely JL, Rockford, Alpine, etc. have the budget and the brain power on tap to utilize this and already have a customer base ready to  pay premium for their brands.

one of the things that Bernie stressed with me on the phone was the noise floor. Yes, cars are the furthest thing from ideal as far as noise goes, but to eliminate as much as possible before adding the noise of the car into the equation would be a good step to take.