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I heard the new D'Agostino Progression 800w monoblocks last night

Last night was the 11th Music Matters event at Seattle's Definitive Audio.

Here's a pic of Dan D'Agostino with his monoblocks, and flanked by the very new Wilson Alexx.

Facebook picture of Dan at the event

This was a true premier event. Dan Wilson and Dan D'Agostino were still doing final soldering on their respective units the weekend before this event.

The monoblocks are around 170 lbs ea (IIRC), and make 800/1600/3200/6400 watts into 8/4/2/1 ohm respectively.

This was a new experience for me--to hear audio playback with NO discernible ceiling on power. Completely unfettered dynamic range. Of course, these not only have incredible brute power, but also incredible finesse, with very natural timbres, unfailingly musical presentation, and subterranean bass extension. To my audio memory, they made the $100K Alexx's sound much like the $200K XLFs I heard a few years earlier.

They played music from digital sources and also from LPs played on an AMG turntable. All sounded great. D'Agostino also featured a phono preamp and a great line stage as well. 

johnnyb53
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lak
3,516 posts
 
Nice!
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,486 posts
 
..Are these amps Class A or Class A/B?
johnnyb53 OP
3,490 posts
 
Are these amps Class A or Class A/B?
Dan and co. never mentioned the topology, but given that they're stable and double power all the way down to a 1-ohm load (6400 W), weigh over 150 lbs. each, have 84 output transistors, and functioned as space heaters in the demo room, I'm inclined to guess Class A.

If I was so fortunate to be able to attend that event I am not sure how everything else would measure up after that.

That's why I always start with the Wilson room. Anything that impresses me after that has to have it going on. As it happens, I was also very impressed with the Audio Research/Magnepan 20.7 room and the McIntosh/Focal Sopra No.2 room. Personally, I liked the airy and realistic soundstage presented by the Maggie 20.7s. The Sopras were also very impressive for their output, transparency, and bass extension at $14K (same price as the 20.7s).
bwaslo
51 posts
 
Dan and co. never mentioned the topology, but given that they're stable and double power all the way down to a 1-ohm load (6400 W), weigh over 150 lbs. each, have 84 output transistors, and functioned as space heaters in the demo room, I'm inclined to guess Class A.


But it doesn't work that way.  The amp is likely Class A up to some power level and impedance (as are ALL Class AB amps!), but certainly not to full power at 1 ohms -- that would mean it would have to consume and put out heat equal to a theoretical minimum of 12.8kW.  Considerably more in an actual build, and very unlikely to be within the continuous AC power levels supplied to that room.  

Other than with single-ended class A amps (but not including pseudo push-pull types like PASS Aleph), pure class A changes to class AB when the output current goes above what the static bias level supports.  So always take the "Class A" designation with a big grain of salt.


goose
364 posts
 
I was also at the same event.  I can't really comment on the impact of the electronic and speaker combinations except to give an overall  impression of the rooms.  I listened to four rooms and my favorite was the room with the Maggie 20.7s.  The second best was the B&W room with the 800 D3's.  The next was the Wilson room and the last was the Focal room.  I think the Focal Sopra room suffered from the room itself.  To me the Wilson room didn't impress me.  The speakers and electronics were new and I felt the speakers were directional and had an etch in the high end.  I have only heard one Wilson system that I liked at a mastering engineers facility.  The Wilsons always have a grit and etch that I can't live with and in this case at $110k.  Just my two cents.
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