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<blockquote data-quote="The Camry" data-source="post: 8393900" data-attributes="member: 657974">&quot;For example: It is rare that testing is done on an amplifier&#039;s clipping performance - how the amp recovers from a brief transient overload. I have stated that a hi-fi amplifier should never clip in normal usage - nice try, but it IS going to happen, and it is more common than we might think. Use a good clipping indicator on the amp, and this can be eliminated, but at what cost? It might be necessary to reduce the volume (and SPL) to a level that is much lower than you are used to, to eliminate a problem that you were unaware existed.Different amplifiers react in different ways to these momentary overloads, where their overall performance is otherwise almost identical. I have tested IC power amps, and was dismayed by the overload recovery waveform. My faithful old 60W design measures about the same as the IC in some areas, a little better in some, a little worse in others (as one would expect).Were these two amps compared in a double blind test (avoiding clipping), it is probable that no one would be able to tell the difference. Advance the level so that transients started clipping, and a fence post would be able to hear the difference between them. What terms would describe the sound? I have no idea. The sound might be &quot;smeared&quot; due to the loss of detail during the recovery time of the IC amp. Imaging might suffer as well, since much of the signal that provides directional cues would be lost for periods of time.&quot;<a href="http://www.audioholics.com/audio-amplifier/the-sound-of-an-amplifier" target="_blank">The Sound of Audio Amplifiers: Can you hear a difference between Amps? | Audioholics</a></blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Camry, post: 8393900, member: 657974"] "For example: It is rare that testing is done on an amplifier's clipping performance - how the amp recovers from a brief transient overload. I have stated that a hi-fi amplifier should never clip in normal usage - nice try, but it IS going to happen, and it is more common than we might think. Use a good clipping indicator on the amp, and this can be eliminated, but at what cost? It might be necessary to reduce the volume (and SPL) to a level that is much lower than you are used to, to eliminate a problem that you were unaware existed. Different amplifiers react in different ways to these momentary overloads, where their overall performance is otherwise almost identical. I have tested IC power amps, and was dismayed by the overload recovery waveform. My faithful old 60W design measures about the same as the IC in some areas, a little better in some, a little worse in others (as one would expect). Were these two amps compared in a double blind test (avoiding clipping), it is probable that no one would be able to tell the difference. Advance the level so that transients started clipping, and a fence post would be able to hear the difference between them. What terms would describe the sound? I have no idea. The sound might be "smeared" due to the loss of detail during the recovery time of the IC amp. Imaging might suffer as well, since much of the signal that provides directional cues would be lost for periods of time. " [URL="http://www.audioholics.com/audio-amplifier/the-sound-of-an-amplifier"]The Sound of Audio Amplifiers: Can you hear a difference between Amps? | Audioholics[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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