Class A Amps (1 Viewer)

[Yogi]

Also I believe that Mark Levinson amps have adaptive biasing scheme where the bais on the output devices tracks the input signal so when a higher level transient comes along the bais on the output devices is increased so the amp always operates in Class A but doesn't draw a lot of power at idle and hence doesn't have the problems associated with Class A like reduced life span and large current draw. That should be something to look into.

 

[Craig_Kg]

Krell does that with their new stuff too.

 

[Guy Usher]

Seems they will say anything and do about anything, twist and turn so as to call it Class A.
Personaly I like the design that allows for Class A under about 5 watts, after that it can switch to suburu power as long as it sounds good. If I spend 10K+ for an amp and various other sundries (Pre-Amp, interconnects, speaker wire, spikes, italian marble amp stands, on and on) I end up with 50-100K in the thing, It is going to sound good no matter what they call it. If it was my money it will sound Damn Good, I dont care what anyone says.
My wife says its going to sound real bad if you cant send it back. . .

 

[Craig_Kg]

Personaly I like the design that allows for Class A under about 5 watts, after that it can switch to suburu power as long as it sounds good.

High bias A/B does fine for me too!

 

[Kevin_R_H]

Roger,

From your post (and others' responses) I assume you mean there aren't many SS amps that run in pure Class A. This is true (BEL and CODA are a couple more).

However, there are SCORES of Tube amps (stereo / monoblocks) that run pure Class A. My amps (made by KORA of France) are 100W pure Class A Triode monoblocks. Some others are: Jadis, Jj Electronics, Art Audio, EAR, Canary Audio, deHavilland, Viva, Audio Note, and Audio Valve. Some of these products cost in excess of $15,000. There are many others.

I'm not suggesting you buy tube amps - they aren't for everyone (nor for every speaker). But there are many, many companies making "high end" equipment other than those mentioned on this Home Theater site.

Good luck to you - I'm sure you will end up with a wonderful system.

Kevin

 

[Manuel Delaflor]

Talking about tubes, you may want to consider this beasts from Margules Audio, pure Class A monoblocks, 120 watts on ultralinear mode, 60 watts on triode, can change between modes on the fly. And above all, they are musical as heaven.