Apologies, everyone; I had neglected to post my observations after my home audition of the Merrill Element 116 and AGD Vivace mono-block amplifiers. Very likely, I did not want to publicly post the results because they were disappointing, and I didn't want my humble opinions to inflict pain and negatively impact (and even magnify) the interests of all concerned via the Internet. Although nearly one year has passed, I allowed the amps to "warm up" extensively, and took extremely detailed notes on their aural characteristics, using a variety of music which I was intimately familiar with.
Suffice it to say that in MY system, the 116s sounded "broken", with a serious lack of high frequency energy and resolution - so much so that my auditions stopped early. Perhaps its settings for attack/decay were not set properly (see previous post)?
The AGD Vivace amps captivated my visual and tactile senses deeply, as they were SO beautiful to look at. Unfortunately, its single pair of speaker binding posts did not accommodate my double pair of bi-wired speaker cables sufficiently solidly, and their high frequency extension and resolution were moderately lacking, robbing music of their excitement and verve. My conclusion is that there was something inherently limiting with Class D amps, even with designs utilizing the latest hyper-fast GaN semiconductor circuits. If my JRDG 725S2 amplifiers were the reference, assigning it a relative score of 95% [ a composite score of sonics (80%) and ergonomics/usability (20%) ], the 116s scored only 60% (far short of even the minimum required for ownership and musical enjoyment), while the AGDs scored 80% (good, but short of being great).
Suffice it to say that in MY system, the 116s sounded "broken", with a serious lack of high frequency energy and resolution - so much so that my auditions stopped early. Perhaps its settings for attack/decay were not set properly (see previous post)?
The AGD Vivace amps captivated my visual and tactile senses deeply, as they were SO beautiful to look at. Unfortunately, its single pair of speaker binding posts did not accommodate my double pair of bi-wired speaker cables sufficiently solidly, and their high frequency extension and resolution were moderately lacking, robbing music of their excitement and verve. My conclusion is that there was something inherently limiting with Class D amps, even with designs utilizing the latest hyper-fast GaN semiconductor circuits. If my JRDG 725S2 amplifiers were the reference, assigning it a relative score of 95% [ a composite score of sonics (80%) and ergonomics/usability (20%) ], the 116s scored only 60% (far short of even the minimum required for ownership and musical enjoyment), while the AGDs scored 80% (good, but short of being great).
