Contrary to Luxman’s published specs, the L-590AX puts out in excess of 90wpc into 8ohms, not 30. It’s not purely Class A, they seem to have fibbed a bit. Presumably, it’s Class A for the first 30W. It’s far from "low powered". The phono stage is also more than a mere afterthought. http://www.navratilaudio.cz/novinky/Luxman_L590AXII_HFW.pdf
Please tutor me on some integrated amp basics.
I’ve recently purchased Magico A3 speakers and a VPI Classic 2 SE turntable with an Ortofon Black 2M moving magnet cartridge. I have a Marantz SA 8005 CD/SACD player to play the few (maybe a hundred or so) CD’s in my possession.
I’ve mostly vinyl albums and no streaming sources. I’m next going to upgrade my old amp/preamp purchased back in the late 70’s with a new, probably integrated, one and am starting to do some research.
Here’s where I need some tutoring. A lot has changed since the seventies with the advent of digital technology. As well as I need to learn more about amplification components in the high end of audio technology. I keep running across terms I don’t understand. I’ll give you a list and if someone would be kind enough to explain these basics I’d be obliged.
For instance I was reading about the Hegel H360 integrated amp that Magico’s Alon Wolf recommended for their A3’s. The review mentioned they were a Class A/B amp, another person commented Class A’s were better, and a third person said he didn’t care for Class D amps. What do these classes signify?
A second question is about DACs. I generally understand their purpose of the DAC, converting a digital to an analog signal. However my only digital device, the Marantz SA 8005 already has a DAC, ostensibly of good quality. The turntable ’s Ortofon cartridge would not need to play through a DAC, I presume. Would I bypass the CD’s players DAC if I purchase the higher quality Hegel H360 integrated amp?. Or could I find an equivalent integrated amp without an integral DAC?
On the other side of the equation I understand the turntable’s cartridge cannot play through the Hegel without first going through a phono stage. My old Phase Linear 4000 preamp you just plugged the turntables RCA cables into the back of the preamp and you were done. What’s that about? Do they make equivalent integrated amps to the Hegel H360 with integrated phono stages already in place, so I can just plug my turntable in as I’ve been able to do before. The amps don’t seem to be well integrated at all if you have to add a pricey phono stage to make them work, and end up having an extra DAC. That’s just me whining.
Third question is what are monoblocks, how are they used, and what are their advantages to a system? They were used at one of my speaker auditions.
I figured out the answer to what amplifier damping was myself, so I’m sparing you that one, but what does the term impedance mean? I keep coming across that.
Thank goodness I don’t have to figure out the cabling nightmare yet. Thanks for any help.
Mike
I’ve mostly vinyl albums and no streaming sources. I’m next going to upgrade my old amp/preamp purchased back in the late 70’s with a new, probably integrated, one and am starting to do some research.
Here’s where I need some tutoring. A lot has changed since the seventies with the advent of digital technology. As well as I need to learn more about amplification components in the high end of audio technology. I keep running across terms I don’t understand. I’ll give you a list and if someone would be kind enough to explain these basics I’d be obliged.
For instance I was reading about the Hegel H360 integrated amp that Magico’s Alon Wolf recommended for their A3’s. The review mentioned they were a Class A/B amp, another person commented Class A’s were better, and a third person said he didn’t care for Class D amps. What do these classes signify?
A second question is about DACs. I generally understand their purpose of the DAC, converting a digital to an analog signal. However my only digital device, the Marantz SA 8005 already has a DAC, ostensibly of good quality. The turntable ’s Ortofon cartridge would not need to play through a DAC, I presume. Would I bypass the CD’s players DAC if I purchase the higher quality Hegel H360 integrated amp?. Or could I find an equivalent integrated amp without an integral DAC?
On the other side of the equation I understand the turntable’s cartridge cannot play through the Hegel without first going through a phono stage. My old Phase Linear 4000 preamp you just plugged the turntables RCA cables into the back of the preamp and you were done. What’s that about? Do they make equivalent integrated amps to the Hegel H360 with integrated phono stages already in place, so I can just plug my turntable in as I’ve been able to do before. The amps don’t seem to be well integrated at all if you have to add a pricey phono stage to make them work, and end up having an extra DAC. That’s just me whining.
Third question is what are monoblocks, how are they used, and what are their advantages to a system? They were used at one of my speaker auditions.
I figured out the answer to what amplifier damping was myself, so I’m sparing you that one, but what does the term impedance mean? I keep coming across that.
Thank goodness I don’t have to figure out the cabling nightmare yet. Thanks for any help.
Mike
- ...
- 344 posts total
Skyscraper; you are asking for a lot of explanation in your question and I'm sure that you will get a lot too. However it likely will be overwhelming, so I suggest that you give yourself a subscription to both: THE ABSOLUTE SOUND and stereophlle magazines. They are both excellent with respect to introducing you to a wide range of high quality audio equipment, in various price ranges. Also, as a subscriber you can go on line and review many back issues. It can really be an education for you and you ought to enjoy the process. To partially answer you original question, however an integrated amp combines a basic amp with a preamp. Some include a phone preamp, as well; some include a DAC. Your best bang for the buck is to stick with those that have all three. Although I recognize that DAC technology is evolving current DACs in the PARASOUND HINT or the NUPRIME IDA 16, or the new HEGELs are all better than the one you are using and you will probably never want a newer one. Oh, one parting thought: don't be afraid of class D amps. They have come a long way from those of years past. HEGEL uses them, NAD, NUPRIME, and Rogue do as well. Enjoy the journey. |
Ignore all specific recommendations. They aren't worth the bits to transmit them, little more than fan boy ravings. NEVER forget you are building a system. You could assemble the 'best' of everything and still have the sonic equivalent of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Well designed integrateds offer the advantage of internal connections without all the sonic garbage introduced by cables and connectors. 99% do not understand the power relationship. All other things being equal, which they NEVER are, 400w only plays 6db louder than 100w. 400 sh.tty watts are far worse than 40 great ones. Damping factor is irrelevant. Impedance [Z] is largely misunderstood and misreported. Mathematically Z is the product of LCR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_impedance As used by speaker manufacturers, it has little grounding in reality. Ideally it should be quoted as a range, Min Z @ Hz, Max Z @ Hz. What most manufacturers report is meaningless. They may approximate the average, something close to the minimum but almost never the frequency. To be useful, you would also need to know an amplifier's capability to supply current at the specified Hz and Z and every other combination within the frequency band. Most power specs are on a resistor. Some are on a simulated speaker load. NONE are on an actual speaker playing wide range program material. Ravings about Class are audio prejudice. As my dear old Great Gran was wont to say "There's good and bad where ever you go. And Bad and Worse in Ireland." Class D maybe exactly what you need to breathe life into the A3s without taking out a mortgage. Bonne chance... P.S. - the 8005 is a well designed, excellent sounding unit. Marantz paid a great deal of attention to power supply linearity and topology, something that can pay huge dividends. For anyone interested in power supply Z linearity and how it affects the music, there is a very interesting thread on diyAudio https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/power-supplies/143539-look-lm317-lm337-regulators.html |
| Post removed |
It's all about bang for the buck, as assetmgr said. I suggest that you include a record cleaner in your budget. Perhaps the best bang for buck. I went to ultrasonic. Least bang for buck, IMO, is cables. I went to the trouble of building theoretically optimal interconnect cables (virtually zero capacitance, virtually zero dielectric absorption, gold plated fine silver) inside a Faraday cage cabinet (for noise rejection), and found them no better than star quad microphone cable (Canare, Mogami) with decent termination (ETI, Klee). When you open up a high priced component, you'll see why - they use internal wiring which is no better than microphone cable in terms of noise rejection and dielectric absorption, and very little better in terms of capacitance, three key physical properties. I suggest that you buy cheap, real cheap, and upgrade only when some one can demonstrate a better sound in your system. Let the hate mail begin. |
- 344 posts total