Need opinion on good 3000+ amp

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

We're not talking about power supplies, we're talking about audio amplifiers, and the schematic you posted is not an audio amplifier.

You're really trying to delve into taking Richard Clark's money territory here with all of this, nobody has yet because run within their limitations and EQ'd to be even nobody can hear the difference between two solid state amplifiers side by side.

Let me find a better example.

I have no idea who that is, but I probably do suffer from Bucktism. I mean amps have different sound quality; I’ve heard it with me own ear holes.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

We're not talking about power supplies, we're talking about audio amplifiers, and the schematic you posted is not an audio amplifier.

Class D Half vs Full Bridge:

pretty confident you can build a shitty sounding or unstable amp with a very low output impedance. Damping factor has nothing to do with that, nor does full bridge. MMats has been making 1/2 ohm stable full bridge amps for ages now and they seem really rock solid.

I never said any of that wasn’t possible. Wtf are you talking about? I specifically said I know there’s good full bridge sub amps. Full bridge and half bridge designs are different class d circuitry layouts for amps. I think I’d rather buy half bridge over full bridge, if I’m going with the lower cost range of sub amps, usually, in general.

I agree you could have low output impedance and a shitty amp, because the amp design could be **** in other factors of the amp.

Good read:

Fundamentals of Class D Amplifiers | Maxim Integrated

Maxim Integrated's application note discusses Class D amplifiers and the new technical developments employed to ease the design of Class D audio amplifiers. Find out more today.

www.maximintegrated.com

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

What 3K are we going with? And what is the damping factor of said amp? Asking for a friend.

 

[djdilliodon!]

What 3K are we going with? And what is the damping factor of said amp? Asking for a friend.

Unicorn Audio UA-3000.1, .25 ohm stable full power from .25 ohm to 4 ohm, S/N 169db, THD @ rated power .0000000069%, damping factor <1.69 million, slew rate ♾, 500 MCM power inputs, 4/0 speaker outputs, sexable Rca inputs, 100v input sensitivity, full fine .999% silver circuit board with rhodium coating, fully hand built in heaven, delivered by Jesus. More info is available just waiting for Jesus to get here , should arrive sometime tomorrow!

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

Unicorn Audio UA-3000.1, .25 ohm stable full power from .25 ohm to 4 ohm, S/N 169db, THD @ rated power .0000000069%, damping factor <1.69 million, slew rate ♾, 500 MCM power inputs, 4/0 speaker outputs, sexable Rca inputs, 100v input sensitivity, full fine .999% silver circuit board with rhodium coating, fully hand built in heaven, delivered by Jesus. More info is available just waiting for Jesus to get here , should arrive sometime tomorrow!

Finally somebody finally answers the question. Thank you!

 

[djdilliodon!]

Finally somebody finally answers the question. Thank you!

no problem! Now I don’t know this myself but ive heard these are insanely Underrated. Legend has it they can carry as much juice as a bolt of lightening turning coils into dust. Can’t say for sure tho

 

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

no problem! Now I don’t know this myself but ive heard these are insanely Underrated. Legend has it they can carry as much juice as a bolt of lightening turning coils into dust. Can’t say for sure tho

Please send one to Big D to dyno.

 

[djdilliodon!]

Please send one to Big D to dyno.

I would love to do that but the problem is, with 1 billion volts at the outputs, I don’t think his dyno is gonna handle it . Now his bank might be able to provide the power thanks to nearly 6969% efficiency. Gotta love Angel hair wound celestial Transformers .

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

amps have different sound quality;

So go take Richard Clark's 10 grand. Nobody has managed to do it yet, but I'm sure they just don't have your golden ears.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

So go take Richard Clark's 10 grand. Nobody has managed to do it yet, but I'm sure they just don't have your golden ears.

Idk who or what that is. I don’t really follow anyone audio-wise, I just study physics and have been doing car audio for about 15 years. I really think the test that would show or not show what I’m talking about would be taking a sub and trying to like screw the sub up in a bad box and seeing which amp would fail first or lose control of the sub, like playing way below tuning. Putting a sub in a crappy box and environment and seeing what amp failures arise by intentionally stressing the amp would be how I would test what I’ve been talking about. It’s not the biggest deal, just depends on what you’re doing. Most people probably won’t notice with what they do, just depends I think on how hard you are on your equipment. If I wasn’t in such a **** situation, I’d totally love to test this and see if I can show amp weak spots. I’m rough on my equipment because I like maximum bass.

I just wish there was an easier way to determine amp quality. I know my ED 9.1 sounded better than my audiopipe 1500. The ED amp would play lower and louder with 2 15’s tuned at 34 hz in a ~9 cube box. I remember because I tested the amp limits by playing high and low above tuning. The ED amp played better and somewhat significantly lower below port tuning. The AP amp wouldn’t even move the subs as much once I got down to like the low low 30 hz’s. I could see the lack in woofer excursion with my eyeballs, even, on the lows with the AP amp. I do tend to have extremely sensitive hearing, to be fair, many might not pick up on it, and maybe it’s lucky them. I am OCD with sound; you should see the math behind some of my boxes lol.

But I respect your knowledge, man, and I’m genuinely not making this up. I started noticing some amps sounding different back when I was 17/18 and still in high school and paid attention ever since. Even my cell phones sound different playing my ear buds; one phone sounds worse. It may not be important or noticeable to most, but I don’t think it’s absurd to say that different amps can have different qualities of speaker powering. The differences in sub amp circuitry makes sense from what I’ve heard, too, when I see how the electricity travels through the board, it makes sense to me why I personally like half bridges for what I do with bass, and some of my design customers prefer them too for what they do. Not everyone is doing the same thing with their amps.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Idk who or what that is.

Seriously? This has been a thing for 20 years.

$10k golden ears AMP challenge!

To call Richard Clark an audiophile would be a huge understatement, his strong EE background has enabled him to work with some of the finest audio equipments available to man. He is believes the quest for better sound should be through research based on “scientific facts”. It’s this passion that...

www.hometheaterforum.com

Richard still has his 10 grand.

John Carver did a similar schtick where he proved that he could make any solid state amp and make it sound indistinguishable from any other.

The Carver Challenge

Is it possible to make a $700 "mainstream-audio" power amplifier sound exactly like a high-priced perfectionist amplifier? Bob Carver, of Carver Corporation, seemed to think he could, so we challenged him to prove it.

www.stereophile.com

taking a sub and trying to like screw the sub up in a bad box and seeing which amp would fail first or lose control of the sub

Pushing an amp to failure isn't difficult, nor is making a poorly built box sound bad. I think you'll be hard pressed to find any commercially available mobile amplifier that has high enough output impedance that it will cause audible or even measurable ringing, but again, you have yet to post up some of the damping factor specs of the amps that you suspect are having this problem. They may exist but I won't believe it until you can prove it.

I do tend to have extremely sensitive hearing

Watch out Richard Clark. Finally after 20+ years someone is going to take his 10 grand!

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I’m really not in any audio crowd, man. I just live my life. Idk what you want me to do about my hearing

And you’re still going out of the context I applied; I think it matters more at the low end of the amp spectrum. I think up to a point that amp quality matters; I do NOT think it’s worth spending an absurd amount of money to get a better amp. I just know usually sub amps that cost $1 for 10 watts or so typically don’t sound the same as one that’s a little more expensive. Basically I’d rather have a Salt than a SFB or SIA, or say a SQ Q series instead of an S series, which is only like a $75 difference. Some amps just perform better than others, that’s all I’m saying. There’s some truth to that, for sure, how much truth may depend on your own personal tastes or care or hearing or whatever. Sound is subjective, so some people might be able to hear better details than others, for example. Idk how you prove or disprove that. I think it matters more the lower you’re playing, too. Lows seems to be more stressful on amps, in general, but audio is like all the factors, so it’s complicated in how all these individual systems work together. The internal state of your amp is changed by cabin resonance, to some extent, for example.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Idk what you want me to do about my hearing

Earn an easy 10 grand if you can hear the difference between two solid state amps, played within their limits and EQ applied to normalize frequency response.

I’d rather have a Salt than a SFB or SIA,

SALT 4 costs more than I paid for two SFB 8Ks. Big half bridge surfboards are obsolete but I suppose the same people that keep class A/B alive will milk another 20 years out of that same design they've been using for the last 20.

some people might be able to hear better details than others, for example. Idk how you prove or disprove that.

By winning Richard Clark's 10 grand. Why do you suppose nobody has done so yet in 20 years? You're the only one on the planet with the perfect golden ears?

Double blind randomized control trials generally BTFO a lot of snobophile ******** that is used to pray on those with more money than sense.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Earn an easy 10 grand if you can hear the difference between two solid state amps, played within their limits and EQ applied to normalize frequency response.


SALT 4 costs more than I paid for two SFB 8Ks. Big half bridge surfboards are obsolete but I suppose the same people that keep class A/B alive will milk another 20 years out of that same design they've been using for the last 20.


By winning Richard Clark's 10 grand. Why do you suppose nobody has done so yet in 20 years? You're the only one on the planet with the perfect golden ears?

Double blind randomized control trials generally BTFO a lot of snobophile ******** that is used to pray on those with more money than sense.

I think the Richard Clark stuff is dramatic. Idk what you mean by saying I have golden ears, because that’s definitely not the case, lol. All I’ve said is I can hear sound differences between some amps. Idk why, always, I just don’t know how to deny my senses

I literally know someone (who’s bought designs for a decade) that had issues with the SFB 8k lol and switched to the Salt 8k, and his issues went away. That’s not even my opinion, that’s someone else’s. The system is a wall and also plays low 20 Hz and subsonic and runs various ohm loads, so that could very well have something to do with it. Some systems are more experimental than others, too. I’m not even a SQ person, not really at all, lol. The problems I’ve seen and heard of from amps tend to come from powerful & low playing systems, and I mean lows like below 28-30 hz. I know some people doing well over a 150 or some even over a 155 db in the mid to high 20’s. That’s where I’ve seen the biggest difference.

I think the waveform period with low hz makes a huge difference in current draw inside of the amp, and the stresses become more extreme at full power, just like sound gets exponentially longer as you go down in frequency. Running 3000-6000 watts per woofer playing in the 20’s hz range or lower with massive coils and 40-50mm+ of xmax can really stress amps, it seems. If your amp works for what you’re doing, then it’s all good.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

All I’ve said is I can hear sound differences between some amps.

And unless we're talking about an amp so poorly built that is has hissing, popping, or some other noise there is nothing you are hearing that isn't related to frequency response or amplitude of output which can be adjusted with EQ or just using more power. Until you or some other golden ear takes Richard Clark's 10 grand I'd consider his point to stand as truth.

For the price of the SALT 8 you could have bought two 13K full bridge and a nice outboard EQ and done better, but I guess you have to tell yourself something to justify paying almost 3 grand for an amp that'll cost you 1400$ to repair if anything ever goes wrong.