Here are the questions...
1. Between a 1K amp and a 50K amp, what accounts for the additional cost to the MANUFACTURER?
2. Between a 1K amp and a 50K amp, what accounts for the additional cost to the CONSUMER?
3. What is more important to the sound quality of an amp: its DESIGN or its IMPLEMENTATION (i.e. internal components)?
Here are my suspicions...
1. It depends on the amp.
2. It depends on the amp.
3. It depends on the amp.
RE: 1. Every manufacturer has costs, but not every manufacturer has the same distribution of costs. To state the obvious, there is considerable variation from company to company in the number of employees, the extent of marketing, the R&D man hours for any particular model, part costs, the costs associated with a particular country (labor, building, shipping from factory to market, monetary exchange rates, etc.). My suspicion is that there is significant similarity in the distribution of costs among manufacturers of $1K amps, but considerably less similarity in the distribution of costs among manufacturers of $50K amps.
RE: 2. Cost to consumer = answer to #1 + profit. With respect to profit, again I believe that there is considerably more similarity among manufacturers of $1K amps than manufacturers of $50K amps.
A consequence of #1 and #2 seems to be that there is considerably more variation in the PRICE/VALUE ratio for $50K amps than for $1K amps, which seems consistent with audiophiles' experiences.
RE: 3. There are several people on this thread who have far more informed opinions than I do, but from what I can tell, the relative importance of design vs. implementation (i.e. internal components) to sound quality varies from amp to amp, and probably from amp type to type. And I suspect that the relative importance of design vs. implementation varies among sections/stages OF THE AMP ITSELF.
I also suspect that the attribution of sound quality to design vs. implementation is highly speculative, except for manufacturers who have personally built many similar versions of the same amp over a number of years (e.g., Nelson Pass, Ralph Karsten), and so are in a position to have heard (a) similar designs with varying implementations, and (b) varying designs with similar implementations.
And finally, there is a level of analysis at which the distinction between design and implementation breaks down, but that is a bit of a philosophical quagmire.
Bryon
1. Between a 1K amp and a 50K amp, what accounts for the additional cost to the MANUFACTURER?
2. Between a 1K amp and a 50K amp, what accounts for the additional cost to the CONSUMER?
3. What is more important to the sound quality of an amp: its DESIGN or its IMPLEMENTATION (i.e. internal components)?
Here are my suspicions...
1. It depends on the amp.
2. It depends on the amp.
3. It depends on the amp.
RE: 1. Every manufacturer has costs, but not every manufacturer has the same distribution of costs. To state the obvious, there is considerable variation from company to company in the number of employees, the extent of marketing, the R&D man hours for any particular model, part costs, the costs associated with a particular country (labor, building, shipping from factory to market, monetary exchange rates, etc.). My suspicion is that there is significant similarity in the distribution of costs among manufacturers of $1K amps, but considerably less similarity in the distribution of costs among manufacturers of $50K amps.
RE: 2. Cost to consumer = answer to #1 + profit. With respect to profit, again I believe that there is considerably more similarity among manufacturers of $1K amps than manufacturers of $50K amps.
A consequence of #1 and #2 seems to be that there is considerably more variation in the PRICE/VALUE ratio for $50K amps than for $1K amps, which seems consistent with audiophiles' experiences.
RE: 3. There are several people on this thread who have far more informed opinions than I do, but from what I can tell, the relative importance of design vs. implementation (i.e. internal components) to sound quality varies from amp to amp, and probably from amp type to type. And I suspect that the relative importance of design vs. implementation varies among sections/stages OF THE AMP ITSELF.
I also suspect that the attribution of sound quality to design vs. implementation is highly speculative, except for manufacturers who have personally built many similar versions of the same amp over a number of years (e.g., Nelson Pass, Ralph Karsten), and so are in a position to have heard (a) similar designs with varying implementations, and (b) varying designs with similar implementations.
And finally, there is a level of analysis at which the distinction between design and implementation breaks down, but that is a bit of a philosophical quagmire.
Bryon