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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ciaonzo" data-source="post: 8517004" data-attributes="member: 607015">I have heard differences when changing amplifiers of the same wattage. But hear me out.An amplifier should not impart color but... You have to consider the partnership of the drivers, cables and acoustic environment the driver is in (in regards to how that will affect the impedance plot). Drivers and cables are reactive loads to the amplifier by way of resistance, inductance, and capacitance. These reactive profiles can change simply by changing the enclosure. Give some amplifiers a driver with an insanely nasty impedance magnitude at resonance (very steep phase angles on the inductance and capacitance sides of resonance) and it may not control the driver too well. This can lead to muddy and/or weak bass. You will hear that. Give some amplifiers a set of flat speaker cables that have extremely low impedance &amp; inductance, but very high capacitance, and not only might you hear a difference, you may actually damage the amplifier with oscillation/feedback. Probably not many folks using this type of speaker wire, but just an example of how this can indeed change the sound.If you have gotten very intimate with a particular pair of speakers over the years and you know exactly how they sound (including their character) and all of the sudden they sound different because you switched amplifiers (exact same wattage), it is likely the result of how that amplifier responds to that particular reactive load. This is what people are hearing when they say they can hear a difference. Some amplifiers can deliver enormous amounts of voltage but struggle with delivering current, some do much better with high current. Some amplifiers can deliver seemingly endless amounts of both current and voltage. These amplifiers don't really struggle too much with reactive loads and tend to sound the same when compared to each other.Other differences that can be heard are better related to poorly designed circuits that suffer from large amounts of crossover distortion. This happens when the hand-off from one transistor turning off to another turning on is not matched very well. Put as pure a signal as you want into one of these amplifiers and all you will get out is garbage. This can affect the sweetness of the treble and all but kill the life brass and wooden instruments. You will hear that.<img src="http://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/crossover-distortion-png.56816/" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>

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