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Class D amplification - Shock!

Dirkster

Dirkster

pfm Member
With four weeks worth of leave and no hifi, I took a punt on a basic Bluetooth Class D amp from Amazon for the princely sum of £50.

Well knock me down - It dances all over the Cambridge 640aV2 that started sparking last month after 14 years sterling service.

OK, it can't drive my bookshelf speakers at 'full jock' and doesn't grip like a regular transistor amp but oh, the detail. It is so impressive.

My point is that I am now interested in hearing hi-fi quality Class D amps after wiping my prejudice away in a stroke.

I grin every time I switch it on and wonder what the big boys in this area are capable of doing.

Could anybody suggest an integrated at say £1000 ?

TIA
 
I had a time with some Bel Canto kit. I liked its power, its detail and its neutrality. Above that it lacked 'character' for me, but many love exactly that about it so if it suits you then it's a great make.
 
If they're still here in 12 month's time, I would be interested.

Many thanks to all for the advice.
 
I have the £500 Temple Audio monoblocks with huge horn speakers....they’ve totally blown away amps costing 20-30 times as much....class D is where it’s at...
 
my NAD C368 is Class D, great sounding amp and very happy with it

not a lot of love for NAD on here though
 
Recently added Bel Canto monos to the main rig and Cyrus hybrid D in the office, really happy with both, the Bel Canto especially. I’d look out for a Bel Canto C5i or C7r which come up now and then at decent discounts used, a C5 went on WigWam for £900 a wee while back.
 
I've got a Gato Dia 250s and listening to Maria Schneider's new album at the moment. Seems to work very well with my Dynaudio Special 40s.
 
markedly similar experience to my own (except no sparking, yet!). I've had a CA 640v2 for 14 years as well, a second one about six years ago, and a third (together with a CA540) a couple of years ago, all going well. I run one CA640Av2 each side (vertical bi amping) to feed Usher floor standing 'speakers in a sitting room system, for vinyl based listening and TV sound. The other two I use in horizontal bi amping feeding three way Goodman-based 'speakers.

BUT, I bought two stereo class D amplifiers to use to power some exciters I use for exciting vibrations in materials. To test them out, I connected them up to two pairs of JPW Sonata 'speakers. This system sounded much better than the CA/Usher based system on the same sources. OK, power was lower, bass wasn't as deep ('speaker limited), but the realism was much better. For £100 for two stereo amplifiers and power supplies, and two pairs of Sonata 'speakers, they were more than a sonic match for the £1800 worth of CA/Ushers.
 
Dirkster said:
With four weeks worth of leave and no hifi, I took a punt on a basic Bluetooth Class D amp from Amazon for the princely sum of £50.

Well knock me down - It dances all over the Cambridge 640aV2 that started sparking last month after 14 years sterling service.

OK, it can't drive my bookshelf speakers at 'full jock' and doesn't grip like a regular transistor amp but oh, the detail. It is so impressive.

My point is that I am now interested in hearing hi-fi quality Class D amps after wiping my prejudice away in a stroke.

I grin every time I switch it on and wonder what the big boys in this area are capable of doing.

Could anybody suggest an integrated at say £1000 ?

TIA
Click to expand...
I have a Primare i32 in my second system and it has seen off quite a lot of well regarded - and more expensive - Class AB and the odd Class A design. I think it’s great, and when I have the spare funds to replace it I’ll be going for a newer Primare or a Gato.

HTH

Iain.
 
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