"goFab.com" wrote in message ...

In addition, the equipment reviews seem have become, at last, totally unmoored
from reality. A recent review of an absurd $350,000 tube amplifier from Wavac
results in the predictable "takes things to a whole new level of heart-stopping
reality" praise from the reviewer. We then find out in Mr. Atkinson's technical
sidebar that this amplifier, costing as much as 3 Porsche 911s and rated at an
already-modest 150 W/ch, actually only reaches 2 W/ch before clipping.

An amplifier that only reaches 2 W/ch before clipping is a 2 W/ch
amplifier, not a 150 W/ch amplifier. The problem is not with the
amplifier, but with the manufacturer's specs. If these 4 Watts sound
good to your ears, and you are willing to pay $87500 per Watt, then I
say it's a good deal. Also, from the manufacturer's website, this rig
draws 800 Watts, so its thermodynamic efficiency is somewhere around
half a percent.

In the sound reinforcement business, we are beginning to see
respectable power amps costing less than 50 cents per Watt.