EP wrote on Wed, 31 August 2005 12:32 |
Threshold s350e here. Older, but solid [no pun intended] and was a good deal.
As a side query: anyone listened to the 'new generation' 'digital amps', such as the PowerPhysics modules (used by NHT in their corrected/powered setup) or similar?
Rumor has it that this technology has matured and is on par with the better class A or A/AB amps.......although previously more or less confined to trunk-rattler car stereo installs.....
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I tested a Digital amp during my search for amp Nirvana a few years ago. I've temporarily forgotten the brand name. I liked the midrange and top, it was quite nice, nearly as nice as the Pass's top end and certainly acceptable. Better than any class AB I had compared it with, including a Bryston 5. The Lipinski speakers are so revealing of any crossover distortion that it is useful to get a class A amp. I could have lived with the Bryston, by the way. We're talking fine levels of differences. But if you have very particular tastes, then at least so far, no class AB amp seemed came up to the sound of the Pass. Maybe a Bryston 7, I never tried that.
But the bottom end of the digital amp was not as extended or tight as that of the Pass. I attribute this to power supply design; I was testing a stereo digital amp and their mono model (costing twice as much, of course) might have been a contender against the Pass. In short: Yes, digital amps have come a long way. Depending on the power draw of your loudspeakers and how well you match it to the amp, you may find a digital amp would be very nice.
One EXTREMELY attractive thing about the digital amp... it idles at very low current and is extremely economical. Runs cool. The Pass, on the other hand, has been heating up the control room and emptying our wallets for a couple of years now.
We have a $400-500 a month electric bill here, running several rooms, all with computers and audio gear and A/C on 24 hours a day.
BK