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Don Pearce
 
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On Sat, 3 Sep 2005 07:16:14 +0000 (UTC), Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

On Fri, 02 Sep 2005 22:38:33 -0700, hoarse with no name
wrote:

Class A amps seem to be universally considered to provide better sound
than Class B amps.


Not in this Universe! :-)

Has this ever been put to a real test?


Yes, and even into a very tough but highly transparent load (Apogee
Duetta Signatures), my pure Class A Krell KSA-50 mkII sounds identical
to my low-bias Class AB Audiolab 8000P.

The only significant difference for the DIY enthusiast is that it's
quite difficult to make a traditional Class A amplifier that sounds
bad, this is not so true of Class AB, where many pitfalls await the
unwary constructor. Ultimately, there are many more important things
about amplifier design than mere class of operation.


True enough. Provided both amplifiers are competently designed, there is no
audible difference. The big difference between A and B (or AB) is that I
really don't want to be using a Class A amp during the summer.

I've just had a quick read through Doug Self's book on this subject, and
his view (which he supports very persuasively) is that Class A is not the
panacaea to linearity that many believe it to be.

d