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Class "A" sound, as related to Stereophile.


It's all about the sound.

It's all about sound, not how much it cost; when I got into "high end", I knew right off the bat I couldn't afford it, but I had to find one thing for sure; how do the various components sound in regard to Stereophile's classes, or ratings? In order to know this; I had to acquire the ability to identify "Stereophile's" class "A" class "B" and class "C" sounds, and the only way to do that was: first, subscribe to Stereophile, and next was to go to every high end audio salon within driving distance; there were 5 well stocked "high end" salons within driving distance. (Since I didn't take my wife, that created some problems)

After a few years of subscribing to Stereophile, plus auditioning equipment that Stereophile recommended, I knew the sound of those recommendations, and I absolutely concurred with them; "If you want to hear the music, you got to pay the piper". While that's true, it's possible to get class "A" sound with class "B" bucks or less.

At this moment, I am looking at 8 capacitors that cost $25 dollars each, plus 2 mono blocks with an instant resale value of 6K. Once I take the covers off and go in with my soldering iron, these mono blocks are worth a resell of O; my mission must be a success. After a successful mission, the resell is still 0; but those mono blocks will deliver class "A" or "A"+ sound, and that's some sweet music.

I have to visualize and hear music in my head before I can modify a component to deliver class "A" sound; but that's the only way for me to get what has become a necessity.

The pressure someone is under when they modify, is great, but the rewards are glorious. On these mono blocks, they are too small for the huge capacitors, therefore I have to figure a way to make the case larger. My reward is "sound" with absolutely no relation to money. I often wander if someone with a fat bankroll can identify the sound, or only how much they paid for each piece.


Happy listening.

orpheus10
orpheus10 OP
5,988 posts
 

I just discovered something today; this is not a "hobby" for me, although I can't think of any other word. If it was a hobby for me, I would want to do, what reviewers do for a living; they review equipment forever.

Today, I was listening to me Technics 2 track reel to reel, and enjoying the music, while at the same time evaluating my speakers. The sound stage was perfect; although the speakers were in sight, there didn't seem to be any music emanating from them; they seemed to be some kind of decorations for the room.

The sound stage just magically appeared and had nothing that would connect it to the speakers; it was as if the electronics had magically turned into audio, because I couldn't define the sound in any kind of way that related it to a speaker.

This is what I set out to get, and this is what I got.

Music with the 2 track as the source was superior to anything else in my room; a record I bought in 1974, and just about wore out, that had been recorded on tape, revealed sounds I never heard before.

I had to go to the basement for something, and I still could hear Carmen McRae through the floor and she sounded good.

While I was contentedly listening to music, I fell asleep in my listening chair (sometime I can't get to sleep in bed) When I woke up, I asked myself, "Do I really want a new speaker?" The answer is no, but I must hear some more speakers.
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,105 posts
 
"Perhaps it's that I listen closer than 8 feet and the drivers can't sum properly in the near field or perhaps those slow crossovers don't knock the drivers down far enough out of the pass band for me."

Hi viridian.  It's the former.

Best to you,
Dave
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Thanks Dave, I think that it is really both. The modest Theil 1.2s had a measurable peak in the woofer's response above the passband that was only down around 12db. I could always hear it and did not like it.

I think with first order crossovers, the more drivers the better as each has a lot less real estate to cover. And I have enjoyed the 2.2 and 3.6 quite a bit more than the 1.2 and 1.5 as one should for the price. 

Orpheus, I too love Carmen McRae and have been listening to her Concord recordings from the end of her career lately. Great stuff!

orpheus10 OP
5,988 posts
 
You have good taste Viridian, but I already knew that.

My crossover is a 3-way, 4th order crossover, T-Type; but I didn't design it.  A very eccentric engineer designed it.  This was quite awhile ago, before computers were as common as they are now, and I watched him work with a computer that had "solid" geometric shapes in color; a cone was one of them, and they had numbers on them.  He was using two dials that merged these shapes how ever he wanted to engage them.

I have never seen anything like that before, or since.

While I know you would be able to put it together, it took me forever to get a cabinet that looked decent.  If you can't hire a cabinet maker, don't even think about it,


Enjoy the music.
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Thanks O, no I'm not as handy as you, but so far, I am more comfortable with the higher order crossovers that you use. Maybe I'll get an invite to Dave's place some time and he can educate me on the virtues of first order crossovers. I'm always up for learning.

Another thing may come into play for me. I'm not really interested in imaging, or sound staging. More heresy, I know. I think that maximally phase coherent speakers preserve this information much better than higher order crossovers.

In the early 80s I had a pair of Spica. TC50s. They had the nice imaging of phase coherent speakers and seemed to have faster roll out of the drivers. But the Bessell crossover alignment never got much traction. I think that Dave Fokos (may be misspelled) did some nice speakers for cj as well as some under his own brand that used the alignment, but I really have not heard much about it since. There must be technical challenges with the alignment. I would love to hear from those more knowledgable about this....Dave...Al?

Let's keep those Carmen McRae recommendations coming!

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