"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
...
On 20 Aug 2003 18:39:11 GMT, "All Ears" wrote:

I had the chance to evaluate some solid state current amplifiers
(observations only). I had quite high expectations towards these
amplifiers. However, they could only match part of my expectations.

Shame that it's not actually a current amplifier, just a poor voltage
source.

The interesting part is that the bass area worked extremely well, best I
have heard from any amplifier so far. Very musical and detailed, unlike
any
other SS design I have heard.

Please define 'worked extremely well'.

Apears to be very well balanced, musical and detailed. To me it seems
"natural"

Unfortunately the tonal balance and general dynamics was not too good, I
do
however doubt that it is the basic concept of current amplification, that
is
to blame.

You are right to doubt that, since what you have is *not* a current
source.

Okay, maybe is is better to call it a modified voltage source.

I spoke to a couple of speaker designers, and they both confirmed that
"speakers are current based devices" and they also said that the basic
idea
of current amplification is good, providing it is implemented the right
way.

I suspect that this is not what they actually said, assuming that they
have some competence in the field, since a current source would be
about the worst possible way to drive most speakers.

The reason for my high expectations was, that my beloved OTL tube
amplifiers
works like current amplifiers (however not entirely linear)

No, they most certainly do not, they are simply voltage sources with
an output impedance of several ohms. A good current source would have
an output impedance of many thousands of ohms.

Trying to figure out what the so called "tension gain" really does. They
must be trying to compensate for the variating impedance of the speakers?

and these has an
excellent tonality and the way they handle the bass area, feels just
right.
Actually, the way the OTLs handles the bass area, is quite similar to the
SS
current amplifiers, the OTLs are just not quite as detailed in the lowest
end.

In other words, the OTL is simply a poor substitute for a SS amp....

Well, you can call it what you like, to me it is close to the ultimate
listening experience.

KE
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Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering