I suppose I should add the AGD is not made from any silly module whatsoever. Modules are made so guys that cant design digital can still make amps by creating an input section. Ive got no respect for modules in a box, unless I hear about some very innovative front and with some very interesting software they wrote.
(here comes a rant, youve been warned)
I must say something about this amp (not the guy) the top of the line Merrill at 36 K per box.. dont you guys think this kind of crap is ruining the industry ? Dosent Dan have an amp thats near $200K ? Give me a break.. Those are the designs of scared people that thier meal ticket is ending so kick some Dubai Sultans under the robe before they go. Cash grab before the grave type thing.. Because it is ending. HiFi the way youve known it is on its way out, and class D is coming whether you like it or not. Eventually EPA will stop the production of Class A as an energy waster, just wait and see..
Finally back top Merrills top of the line is it just me or is that 36K box made from plate aluminum screwed together with more plate in smaller pieces put on the sides, 2 squiggles put on those plates to distract design neophytes, a set of outriggers in chrome which serve no mechanical purpose (they are meant to keep tall things from tipping over) again, distract the folks that dont know design, then make it a weird color. To me this company has just exposed how little they know about aesthetic, or how strapped they are for cash to do proper aesthetic, but to have the Gall to price it at $32K ?? now you are going to make true lovers of high design blow off our industry. Look at the AGD, 1 inch thick billet walls with no seams, and a smoked underlit Lexan top with a freaking output stage in a KT88 envelope !! Say what ?? yes, he "ship in a bottled the complete output section into a empty KT88 tube and its pin correct for operation. This is an infinite number of iterations you can easily do yourself. You dont buy a new bigger amp, you buy an output tube with a digital GaN engine inside. Theres no way to blow these but lets say you invent one.. so what ? change the tube out to fix your blown amp. If you dont recognize innovation when it kicks you in the shorts then I can not help you. This amp is clearly something new. Nobody has ever seen anything close. you want a plate aluminum amp screwed together for $36K as something new, I honestly don't think that's ever been done either.. which type of innovation do you respect ? Lets get priorities straight people ! Look at Jeff Rowlands amps, I dont really think the comparison is fair because he still uses silicon, but I respect his method. He represents the tried and true. he will let everyone else step on their noodle while he sits back and watches and calculates. He moves on well proven tech only. Partially from going to early on new tech in his earlier years. Older and wiser. His 535 are only $6K, crap, his 125 are $3K but still come out of a machined single block of aluminum. There is no better chassis ive ever seen than milled billet. I will keep most of my focus on GaN since I abide by the posters desires, but These GaN amps better my Class AB Rowland amps in the clarity and articulation of upper mids and highs on complex music and the bass is out of this world, yet there is one area the Rowlands dominate, and I will check this more, and thats the upper bass, lower mid area.. Male vocals for instance.. a little fuller in the body in that specific part of the freq range only. I imagine tuning may fill this area of the AGD, but if I did not AB , I would be extremely happy with AGD Merrill is the only other contender with GaN and Id be happy to compare. I honestly dont think manufacturers even care about these little squabbles
so theres my .2c
M
(here comes a rant, youve been warned)
I must say something about this amp (not the guy) the top of the line Merrill at 36 K per box.. dont you guys think this kind of crap is ruining the industry ? Dosent Dan have an amp thats near $200K ? Give me a break.. Those are the designs of scared people that thier meal ticket is ending so kick some Dubai Sultans under the robe before they go. Cash grab before the grave type thing.. Because it is ending. HiFi the way youve known it is on its way out, and class D is coming whether you like it or not. Eventually EPA will stop the production of Class A as an energy waster, just wait and see..
Finally back top Merrills top of the line is it just me or is that 36K box made from plate aluminum screwed together with more plate in smaller pieces put on the sides, 2 squiggles put on those plates to distract design neophytes, a set of outriggers in chrome which serve no mechanical purpose (they are meant to keep tall things from tipping over) again, distract the folks that dont know design, then make it a weird color. To me this company has just exposed how little they know about aesthetic, or how strapped they are for cash to do proper aesthetic, but to have the Gall to price it at $32K ?? now you are going to make true lovers of high design blow off our industry. Look at the AGD, 1 inch thick billet walls with no seams, and a smoked underlit Lexan top with a freaking output stage in a KT88 envelope !! Say what ?? yes, he "ship in a bottled the complete output section into a empty KT88 tube and its pin correct for operation. This is an infinite number of iterations you can easily do yourself. You dont buy a new bigger amp, you buy an output tube with a digital GaN engine inside. Theres no way to blow these but lets say you invent one.. so what ? change the tube out to fix your blown amp. If you dont recognize innovation when it kicks you in the shorts then I can not help you. This amp is clearly something new. Nobody has ever seen anything close. you want a plate aluminum amp screwed together for $36K as something new, I honestly don't think that's ever been done either.. which type of innovation do you respect ? Lets get priorities straight people ! Look at Jeff Rowlands amps, I dont really think the comparison is fair because he still uses silicon, but I respect his method. He represents the tried and true. he will let everyone else step on their noodle while he sits back and watches and calculates. He moves on well proven tech only. Partially from going to early on new tech in his earlier years. Older and wiser. His 535 are only $6K, crap, his 125 are $3K but still come out of a machined single block of aluminum. There is no better chassis ive ever seen than milled billet. I will keep most of my focus on GaN since I abide by the posters desires, but These GaN amps better my Class AB Rowland amps in the clarity and articulation of upper mids and highs on complex music and the bass is out of this world, yet there is one area the Rowlands dominate, and I will check this more, and thats the upper bass, lower mid area.. Male vocals for instance.. a little fuller in the body in that specific part of the freq range only. I imagine tuning may fill this area of the AGD, but if I did not AB , I would be extremely happy with AGD Merrill is the only other contender with GaN and Id be happy to compare. I honestly dont think manufacturers even care about these little squabbles
so theres my .2c
M