of course, just trying to say it should sound at least as powerful as the reigning amp. you really don't know until you plug it in and play it. i had an 80 watt amp and a 150 watt amp by the same manufacturer and the 150 watt amp sounded much more powerful. also had two different 100 watt amps by the same manufacturer and one of them sounded much more powerful.
i wasn't opposed to looking at bigger amps either, saw a used Krell DUO XD and a Pass XA30.8 but after handling and shipping the 110 lb carton of the Parasound JC5 I thought about going small. Still has to sound great though, open to the possibility of adding another if needed.
Yep I've had big azz amps for about 40 years of my audio life....but i still think back and wonder occasionally about the NAD 3020? Amp i had before all that.20 Watts i think?It successfully replaced a 150 watt Sansui amp that would shut down on overload trying to drive my M+K S1a speakers and Goliath sub.Weird little hobby we have here.
very weird. i had a conversation with someone who got tired of the euphonic sound and i could not understand. now i am right there.
Have them both. Love 'em. Get the DAC3, you won't regret it. A trifecta of goodness. Actually I have two AHB2s, run in bridged mono. The AHB2's noise spec is 3db lower when run in bridged mono. Yes, you can hear the difference. Subtle but very real.
I've always felt that "euphonic" sound is easier to achieve with transducer gear,speakers,cartridges ect.I like to think amps and preamps are at the point where accurate reproduction should be a given....resolution being the only acceptable improvement.That's just my 2 cents for what it's worth
I've listened without the subs, but as you may know, my room is large and the speakers are well away from any boundary, so getting any real bass isn't going to happen with monitor speakers. That said, both the PSB Synchrony 1Bs, and the Chartwell LS6 speakers provide a fairly robust presentation through the Benchmark.
Lil bro....nothing wrong with experimenting! Especially when you gots deep pockets like your self!....nothing wrong with a little side bet, either!
In case any of you are wondering (or haven't tried to find out for yourself), the protection circuitry in the AHB2 in bridged mode is very robust! A short while back we used one to measure some prototype speakers (WITHOUT crossovers) in an anechoic chamber. Unfortunately, the guy who usually runs the Audio Precision measurement system was not available, so the chamber owner stepped in, and he was not an AP expert by any stretch of the imagination. Due to his clumsiness, not only did we trip the AHB2 a few times, but he burned out a very expensive tweeter. Fortunately, we had spares on hand.
It has both balanced and single-ended outputs. It can also run them simultaneously. The remote works a little better now that I removed the protective film from the display, but it’s still finicky. Seems to have max range of about 10’.
The AHB2 has a tightly regulated power supply so when it does clip, it clips hard. It’s not a gradual increase in distortion, rather it goes from low distortion to peak distortion almost instantaneously. Basically, it doesn’t have the power reserve for dynamic swings that more typical A/B amps possess. Luckily its protection circuitry should keep any clipping from damaging the speakers. But at the end of the day it’s not a powerhouse, and should be viewed as the ~110 WPC amp it is. If a system needs an amp that can supply even 140 WPC during dynamic swings (into 8 ohm nominal), the AHB2 should not be used.
this^ No capacitor reserve It is on or off On < cutoff Off > cutoff SMPS vs linear PS not a bad thing, a design choice Obviously a good one, impeccable performance, excellent price and value.
