I am sick of failing amplifiers
- Thread starter Kingrex
- Start date
Are you talking about Class D like Fosi? A $89 stereo streaming device with built in DAC and streaming. What do you expect. Durability?
Class D should fail no more or less than SS when built by a competent designer with decent parts.
Class D should fail no more or less than SS when built by a competent designer with decent parts.
Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Some companies may and I think you will find those are more value line products. My Gold Note PA 10's though GaN are well ventilated and overall
are a joy to listen to.
Trust me, I'm still hot over it all. Cobra216 is very well written and likes to try and pin the issues on me. I dared to look inside and see burst caps. I was ungrateful he sent me HumX ground breaking devices and I was uneducated to think that tube gear was supposed to be grounded. That breaking the ground is an acceptable way to remove ground loops. That the ground loops were my system problem. Not the amps he sent me. It was my preamp or power or something else. What a load of crap. And the mess of wire. The circuit was not the same inside from all the rework. And he claimed Bob Hovland had only one time opened them and changed some caps on the power supply. Later Audion told me Bob had made many changes as he was trying to consult for Audion and improve the circuit. It was a heap of lies.
Like I said, I was new to audio and naive. He saw me as a target and unloaded a heap of shit on me. Made himself $4500. If I had been targeted by a shyster on Audiogon I would be less hot. I thought there was a level of trust here. I was wrong. I have grown up and learned a lot over the years.
If anyone is new to audio and reading this thread, take this advice. If you buy something and its not fully functional, return it immediately. Don't listen to any hokey sales crap from the seller. Use Paypal when you purchase. Make a claim immediately with Paypal when the seller refuses to take a return. Upon retrospect that is what happened to me. Cobra said he did not take returns and I was too new and stupid to file a Claim with paypal to get my money back.
The importer of Audion to the USA agreed to have the amps repaired. Unfortunately, he has had a hard time finding a qualified technician. If I had sent these to France, the issue would have been resolved in one trip and probably saved me thousands. Sometimes a larger upfront cost is less than a slow bleed over many years.
Agree with your comment about Friedrich and ASR. I recently transitioned my system to, among several components, an ASR Emitter II and Friedrich does indeed represent a gold standard. Strong engineering, high quality in the build process, care and thought in packaging and transportation practices (poorly designed and executed packaging can be a red flag as can the interior of the box smelling like cigarettes), and ease of communication and guidance throughout and ongoing. The experience with he and other manufacturers and distributors as I changed my system over really helped restore my joy in music and this hobby due to their delivery of the goods and purchase/build process with a complete absence of the happiness drains experienced previously.
You have it right when you key on ethics and integrity, a solid foundation of those makes working through any issues much more likely due to there being genuine care and concern to get it right on both sides of the equation.
Absolutely. It has nothing to do with class D in itself.
But many are sold with very poor cooling solutions.
If you want to extract high effects from class D, cooling is required, and not in the same way in traditional class A/B amplifiers, where all the effect is transferred in the transistors that are placed on the heatsink.
Class D amplifiers also have switching transistors that must be cooled. These sit on a cooling plate and it doesn't take much to keep the temperature on these under control. As a rule, it is enough that they are screwed to the chassis.
But at the output there is a coil which, together with capacitors, lowers the switching noise to livable levels and there a good deal of heat develops both at idle and especially at high currents. Since class D amplifier modules are typically made physically small, the heat from this coil will in practice heat up the entire module to temperatures that will eventually cause the electrolytic capacitors to dry out.
So this is something that needs to be addressed in the design.
Electron audio ion mono amps, hybrid class d tube input stage + ganfet output sounds nice too my tip.
Electron Audio – Made in Croatia
electron-audio.com
While a 5 year warranty isn't a promise for a very long time, it's a good indication that the manufacturer have done a good job in the design when they offer this.
Secondly, one could ask to see data on heating. If the company hasn't even measured this, and that can often be the case, chances for failure down the road are much higher.
Secondly, one could ask to see data on heating. If the company hasn't even measured this, and that can often be the case, chances for failure down the road are much higher.
This has a lot of echoes to my experience with a famous, very small, legendary US tube gear manufacturer.
The previous generation flagship arrived at my house directly from the factory after refurbishing, humming, snapping, crackling and popping.
I wanted to send them back, but felt like a jerk. The dealer and the manufacturer fell over themselves, sending new tubes, and giving the advice to plug both 275wpc monoblocks AND EVERYTHING ELSE into one duplex. I was told that if I shipped them back, they would not hum, so no need.
I moved these eventually through four buildings, always using one duplex for the whole system. There were always hum issues. I tried to ship them back for nonwarranty repairs after the fourth building and the discovery that ARC amps did not hum, but still they did not want them back.
I eventually moved on. I replaced them with ARC Ref 250 SEs, and then with the tube crisis I replaced the ARC with Burmester.
I did fully disclose the problems when I sold them for less than 20% of their nominal original msrp. The buyer discovered several issues, but was never able to completely resolve the hum.
I love the Burmester 911 mk3. It stays on 24/7. It always sounds incredible. Fluid, dynamic, incredible presence. Shout out to Matt Chapman at Paragon Sight and Sound for suggesting and demoing it.
Drama associated with esoteric tube gear is never gratifying.
And FWIW, Krell is not the brand described above, but my KSA series Krells had to go back to Connecticut every other year. They ran great on my dedicated 20 amp circuits, and only presented issues on failure. I was on a first name basis with Ray Mutchler and Patrick Brosnihan, both great guys.
The tube gear described above was aggravating from day 1, and the manufacturer was promoting bandaid solutions. I’d had a 30+ year love affair with that brand, but today I would not buy anything from their product line.
Looks nice. I heard these come up for sale occasionally around $1000. If one pops up in good condition for a price is such, I will buy it.
Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Rex my preference is my X200 and bought 2 PA-10's (run in bridged mode) when there was a change in the US Distributor and they were clearing out inventory. Using an SPL Phonitor 2 as a pre amp and it sounds pretty darn close to the X200 and it is all SS.
Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Audio Hungary.
https://audiohungary.com/product/x200--integrated-amplifier/24
Review: Audio Hungary Qualiton X200 Integrated Amplifier - Twittering Machines
Michael Lavorgna's Twittering Machines: HiFi with a twist
twitteringmachines.com
AUDIO HUNGARY QUALITON X200 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER - REVIEW — AUDIOKEY REVIEWS
The Audio Hungary Qualition X200 is in our estimation a highly successful product, and even more so when taking into consideration it’s price point. You get a heck of a lot for $6500. Along with high grade workmanship, a slew of welcomed features like built in Phono, headphone amp, subwoofer outputs
www.audiokeyreviews.com
May I ask what was breaking down on the Krell amps ? I am not poking you and I mean this.
I am curios and your comments are not alone I’ve read plenty on Krell’s breaking down often
I loved the Krells. But transistors and caps would fail. Ray and Patrick were great, and after the first trip back, subsequent trips in later years were charged generously in favor of the customer.
I probably would have kept them were it not so hard to prep them for return.
FWIW, preamps had to go back too … recap first, and then assorted random stuff aging out. These were 1990’s models that I was using 10 to 20 years after their original in service dates. I did love them. Best amps and preamps I’d owned at the time.
FWIW, old stuff does fail. None of this stuff has an infinite life. You have to expect recaps, failed transistors, failed tubes, etc.
No brand is immune. Companies that can keep their stuff going beyond 15 years are to be admired.
At this point, I’m enjoying current model Burmester and McIntosh amps/preamps. If I live long enough to need to replace them, I’ll probably just go the McIntosh route so that my heirs have an easy time of recouping the money.
No brand is immune. Companies that can keep their stuff going beyond 15 years are to be admired.
At this point, I’m enjoying current model Burmester and McIntosh amps/preamps. If I live long enough to need to replace them, I’ll probably just go the McIntosh route so that my heirs have an easy time of recouping the money.
Wow i am curious to why.
I’ve rebuilt many amps over the years
transistors don’t go bad rarlely
there are reasons
heat is first heat conductive gel must be replaced 10 years or so
next is power caps short or leak or rectifiers short.
now I also will say most don’t change all caps why I have no idea.
but if one cap is bad all must be changed
yet makers insist no only what’s bad
anyway thanks for replying very kind of you
I’ve rebuilt many amps over the years
transistors don’t go bad rarlely
there are reasons
heat is first heat conductive gel must be replaced 10 years or so
next is power caps short or leak or rectifiers short.
now I also will say most don’t change all caps why I have no idea.
but if one cap is bad all must be changed
yet makers insist no only what’s bad
anyway thanks for replying very kind of you
Everybody changes all the caps. Changing one is a rookie error.
Transistor performance changes over time even if you change the gel.
I have had tube and solid state gear dating back over 50 years, both new and vintage. I used to do my own repairs.
Stuff fails. If it lasts 10 years, it really doesn’t owe anybody anything. In my opinion, it’s not reasonable to expect troublefree performances forever. If you look at the statistical life expectations (infant failures, constant hazard rate failures, and wear out failures), there is no reason to be surprised. Naturally, if something does last beyond expectations, it is very nice.
A very big problem with older devices if you want to restore them is that in the past they used corrosive glue to fix components on circuit boards. Replace every component that has come into contact with them. Clean the circuit board completely, it is best to treat the glue with cold spray. It hardens and you can break it off. Clean with methylated spirits; it evaporates but leaves unsightly white edges. Clean in an ultrasonic bath with distilled water and the circuit board will look like new.
Be careful to desolder the polystyrene caps beforehand, otherwise they will absorb water.
Let's get to the good things about old devices. Most switches can be completely dismantled. Simply clean them, then grease or oil the mechanism and they will work like they did on the first day.have fun listening to music
Be careful to desolder the polystyrene caps beforehand, otherwise they will absorb water.
Let's get to the good things about old devices. Most switches can be completely dismantled. Simply clean them, then grease or oil the mechanism and they will work like they did on the first day.have fun listening to music
“Drama is never gratifying” is perfect description and I really don’t know who would take issue with equipment aging 10+ years and needing a refresh or repair. It’s the quality or performance issues early on followed by blame shifting and lack of customer care, communication and a sense of urgency to get things right that tend to cause the drama in my opinion and experience.
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