mrdecibel:"
So, in a nutshell....I want to try a Class D amp. I am looking for 1, that can do all of the best things, tubes and solid state, do wonderfully ( I would say we all want this ). Black background, dynamic, fast and well tempo'd, neutral in tone, no added warmth or color, a beefy power supply ( 50 years later and I still believe in this ), a well damped, non resonant chassis ( this too, is necessary ), well, something that can make my Lascalas ( modified and tweaked, of course ) sing more than how they sing, now.. I have been strictly using solid state for the last 20 years ( no tubes for me, unless a reasonably priced unit gives me all of the above )."
Hello mrdecibel,
My opinion is that there are probably numerous new solid state class D amps currently available, as well as likely some on the used market, that would meet all of your criteria:"
Black background, dynamic, fast and well tempo'd, neutral in tone, no added warmth or color, a beefy power supply ( 50 years later and I still believe in this ), a well damped, non resonant chassis ( this too, is necessary ), well, something that can make my Lascalas ( modified and tweaked, of course ) sing more than how they sing, now.."
Unfortunately, I've not been as active in auditioning good quality class D amps over the past 6 years or so, ever since auditioning and being completely satisfied with a pair of D-Sonic M3-600-M monoblock amps that I auditioned for about a month on a free in-home trial basis and then purchased for about $2,100 at that time. These are still my main system amps, have been powered on 24/7 virtually since I first installed them and I remain very pleased with their performance, sound quality and reliability.
I looked at your system pics, however, and I'm a bit confused. You seem to have numerous systems shown in the pics with high quality electronics along with similarly high quality speakers that I know would place varying demands and requirements on any amp or amps driving them, specifically in terms of wattage, current and impedance demands.
In other words, I'm not sure whether your profile system pics represent all of your system iterations over the last few decades or if the pics represent the entirety of all the very high quality audio gear that you currently still own and want to utilize.
If it's the latter, then I'm amazed, astounded, impressed and give you a very big tip of my plumed pimp hat, that I'm currently wearing in my underpants along with my brand new leather boots, to you out of total awe, envy and respect. I'd also advise you that I have virtually no doubt that a used pair of the D-Sonic M3-600-M monoblocks, or a new pair of their current model M3(a)-600-M amps, would perform very well driving all of the pictured speakers, even the notoriously difficult large Apogees, and would be a very good choices to audition.
My only caveat is that these amps probably have an excess of power, with 600/1,200 watts at 8/4 ohms, and current, about 28 amps, for your needs. Although I haven't tried any of them yet, I also suspect that any of the newer class D amps, based on the Purifi power modules, would also likely perform very well.
I'm assuming it's the former, however, due to statements you made from your last post, that your currently looking for an amp or amps to power your pair of extremely high,105 db, efficiency Klipsch LaScala main speakers. Given the well known ultra high efficiency as well as the very high performance quality level of your LaScalas, I literally feel an obligation to advise you to at least consider and audition a good quality tube amp with the LaScalas. The LaScalas are ideal speakers for being driven by low powered tube amps and are even well known as being sufficiently efficient to be driven by headphone amps.
I'm sensing dichotomies, conflicts and a lack of clarity in your thought process about your overall system sound qualities and preferences. On the one hand, your chosen main speakers are very high quality, highly efficient horn type speakers that are normally paired with lower powered tube amps for a resultant overall system sound character that is warm, colored to some degree, euphonic, smooth, 3-dimensional and palpable.
On the other hand, your stated preferred characteristics in an amp are "
Black background, dynamic, fast and well tempo'd, neutral in tone, no added warmth or color, a beefy power supply ( 50 years later and I still believe in this ), a well damped, non resonant chassis ( this too, is necessary ), well, something that can make my Lascalas ( modified and tweaked, of course ) sing more than how they sing, now.." These qualities are a good description of what to expect from a good quality class D amp.
I'm questioning whether you're mainly interested in just trying something new, such as a class D amp, in your system or if you're certain that you prefer the typical qualities provided by a good quality class D amp: very low noise and distortion, a dead silent background, powerful, dynamic, smooth, fast, accurate and detailed that has a neutral overall presentation with no added warmth or color.
If you're looking for these qualities, along with beefy linear toroidal transformer power supplies, I can state with certainty that either a used or new pair of D-Sonic monoblocks will provide them and I think it's highly likely that the new Purifi power module based amps are likely to as well.
Tim
