Doin the Class D thing

[tmazz]

Fuck its beautiful and fuck that neutral studio bulllshit. I want this.

Hey, if it makes YOU happy, that's all that counts. 

[Werd]

Fuck its beautiful and fuck that neutral studio bulllshit. I want this.

Hey, if it makes YOU happy, that's all that counts. 

What can I say. I was hammered when I wrote that. 

[jimbones]

I've tried several D-amps and while they never really contended with SET amps on my top horns (too 'solid-state' for my taste), they are a great match with my bass horns. I used various D-amps up to 200 watts on the bins but settled on a pr of Gainclone monos pushing @50w. They sound relaxed yet detailed and allow the bins to run fairly flat down to 32Hz with a 6dB drop below 35Hz and 10dB below 30. What I really liked about the GC more so than 100-200w tubed and SS amps was their fast, tight and visceral bass - obvious even at the lower wattage. Another BIG bonus is that I can leave the amps on 24/7 and they use the same power as a flashlight bulb at idle and so they are always ready. The other tube/SS amps I tried would take up to 2-3 hours to warm up and I just don't have that much time to wait for the bass to tighten up.

I'm still open to trying Class D amps on the top horns but I just don't see the technology surpassing the sound offered by SETs anytime soon. I'm also interested in putting more power into the bass bins and finding another D-amp that is more powerful, relaxed, tight and visceral than the GC's seems more viable.

One word......  MARASCHINO.  If you haven't heard it, you don't know how good Class-D can do it ALL, like response down to DC and past 100kHz, near zero distortion, super low output impedance, and incredible speed.  It's pretty new, so there are only a few reviews so far.......

-Tommy O

How do they compare to say a Pass Labs amp or McCormack?

[ampdesigner333]

I've tried several D-amps and while they never really contended with SET amps on my top horns (too 'solid-state' for my taste), they are a great match with my bass horns. I used various D-amps up to 200 watts on the bins but settled on a pr of Gainclone monos pushing @50w. They sound relaxed yet detailed and allow the bins to run fairly flat down to 32Hz with a 6dB drop below 35Hz and 10dB below 30. What I really liked about the GC more so than 100-200w tubed and SS amps was their fast, tight and visceral bass - obvious even at the lower wattage. Another BIG bonus is that I can leave the amps on 24/7 and they use the same power as a flashlight bulb at idle and so they are always ready. The other tube/SS amps I tried would take up to 2-3 hours to warm up and I just don't have that much time to wait for the bass to tighten up.

I'm still open to trying Class D amps on the top horns but I just don't see the technology surpassing the sound offered by SETs anytime soon. I'm also interested in putting more power into the bass bins and finding another D-amp that is more powerful, relaxed, tight and visceral than the GC's seems more viable.

One word......  MARASCHINO.  If you haven't heard it, you don't know how good Class-D can do it ALL, like response down to DC and past 100kHz, near zero distortion, super low output impedance, and incredible speed.  It's pretty new, so there are only a few reviews so far.......

-Tommy O

How do they compare to say a Pass Labs amp or McCormack?

See CherryAmp.com for full specifications.  Thanks.

[ampdesigner333]

If you own 48V Maraschinos, check out the DUAL 60V upgrade deal here:
http://kck.st/1EKKHSt

Check out the "rewards" section.

A little more than 3 days left on the project, so get in before it's too late.  Orders from the Kickstarter will be shipped before orders outside the program.

By the way, there's a sweet deal on a pair of demo desktop Maraschinos in there.  Only one pair available!

Thanks to Seth for adding the cable deal (see http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=133137.msg1418883#msg1418883)!

-Tommy O

[rollo]

   Jim compared to the latest Pass amps the Arion hybrid class"D" amp still wins overall. Speakers used were BG Radia FS880 with custom crossover filled with Jupiter caps. Source was an Esoteric K1x the latest from Esoteric.
    Producing over 40W of current they are from our experience an amp to check out if one owns planars or Electrostatic speakers. Actually try any Amp with lots of current.



charles

[KLH007]

   Jim compared to the latest Pass amps the Arion hybrid class"D" amp still wins overall. Speakers used were BG Radia FS880 with custom crossover filled with Jupiter caps. Source was an Esoteric K1x the latest from Esoteric.
    Producing over 40W of current they are from our experience an amp to check out if one owns planars or Electrostatic speakers. Actually try any Amp with lots of current.



charles

Maybe "40 amps" of current?

[topround]

nah  40 watts is good

[rollo]

  Made a typo thanks Kemper. 40A and 500W @8ohm and 1000w @4 Ohm. My bad  


charles

[tmazz]

Something does not compute. 40 amps into an 8 ohm load is not 500w it is 12,800w. And to get 12.8Kw out of an amp you would need to put no less that 12.8 Kw into it. At 120 VAC that would equate to 105 amps into each monoblock, or 210 amps to run a stereo pair. I don't know too many residential homes that have that much service coming into the house period.

This is what happens when you let the marketing people write the spec sheets instead of the engineers. That amp might be able to put out a millisecond length burst that approached 40 amps if it could pull from large bank of power supply caps, but that is very different from saying the amp can produce 40 amps. Sorry, but from the point of view of an engineer that is that is just disingenuous. And I am not talking about so for repeating it, but rather the sales people who put BS numbers like that out in the market.

[rollo]

  Tom there are marketing people involved at all. The amps output stage can produce 40A of maximum  current  output as I was told by the designer and owner of the Arion brand.
 It is on the manf. spec sheet as well. Her are the specs gotten from www.ArionAudio.com

Rated power @8 Ohm  500W and 1000W @4 Ohm
Sens  1.8V
Input Impedance  200KOhm
Damping factor  900@8Ohm/100HZ
Max. current output   40Amp
Freq.  20 -20KHz

   

charles
 
 

[Werd]

Something does not compute. 40 amps into an 8 ohm load is not 500w it is 12,800w. And to get 12.8Kw out of an amp you would need to put no less that 12.8 Kw into it. At 120 VAC that would equate to 105 amps into each monoblock, or 210 amps to run a stereo pair. I don't know too many residential homes that have that much service coming into the house period.

This is what happens when you let the marketing people write the spec sheets instead of the engineers. That amp might be able to put out a millisecond length burst that approached 40 amps if it could pull from large bank of power supply caps, but that is very different from saying the amp can produce 40 amps. Sorry, but from the point of view of an engineer that is that is just disingenuous. And I am not talking about so for repeating it, but rather the sales people who put BS numbers like that out in the market.

It is 40 amps instantaneous. 40 amps is too dangerous. Any slight malfunction would destroy everything.. Lol.

[Werd]

 Tom there are marketing people involved at all. The amps output stage can produce 40A of maximum  current  output as I was told by the designer and owner of the Arion brand.
 It is on the manf. spec sheet as well. Her are the specs gotten from www.ArionAudio.com

Rated power @8 Ohm  500W and 1000W @4 Ohm
Sens  1.8V
Input Impedance  200KOhm
Damping factor  900@8Ohm/100HZ
Max. current output   40Amp
Freq.  20 -20KHz

   

charles
 
 

Looks good, I would like to hear it compared to my 100 lb Chapter Hybrid class D amp. 

[tmazz]

 Tom there are marketing people involved at all. The amps output stage can produce 40A of maximum  current  output as I was told by the designer and owner of the Arion brand.
 It is on the manf. spec sheet as well. Her are the specs gotten from www.ArionAudio.com

Rated power @8 Ohm  500W and 1000W @4 Ohm
Sens  1.8V
Input Impedance  200KOhm
Damping factor  900@8Ohm/100HZ
Max. current output   40Amp
Freq.  20 -20KHz

   

charles
 
 

Here is where I think the specs are misleading. All of the other specs they quote are continuous duty specs and the the throw in the 40 amps in the same way without identifying it as instantaneous peak current. the ability to hit peaks of 40 amps gives you great headroom and would make a good story if you just told it that way.

So this leads me to believe that the marketing people who put together the promotional material were at best do not understand the difference between instantaneous peak and continuous duty output or at worst deliberately deceitful. technologically clueless.

And for the record, I have nothing against Arion, but as most engineers, I don't have a lot of use for the marketing department.

[rollo]

  Tom I will say it again NO marketing people involved what so ever.  Mike is a one Man show. No one stated instantaneous power. It is stated as maximum power output.
  I will ask Mike of Arion to post and explain as I cannot. Hopefully he will oblige.



charles