2. amps-preamps
  3. 1404873838

The End Of Big Iron?

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Once upon a time you could buy a 1,000 wpc, a 900 wpc and a 750 wpc monoblock from Krell. You could buy a 1,000 wpc monoblock from Pass Labs. Now, 575 wpc is the biggest you can get from Krell and 600 wpc is the biggest you can get from Pass Labs. The muscle of flagship amps in those mfgs has been virtually halved. I mean, was 1,000 wpc, 900 wpc, or a 750 wpc amplifier ever necessary? If they were, why are they no longer necessary? What has changed in audio or speaker technology to cause the dwindling of 'muscle' amps?
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128x128mitch4t

Showing 3 responses by macrojack

macrojack
1,303 posts
 
I think there was an escalating contest among "big iron" manufacturers of the day. Consumers tend to latch onto categorical assets, real or otherwise, and when makers get that scent they run with it. In the case of the amps in question, momentum carried them well beyond anything sane or useful before common sense among consumers signaled a cease and desist to Krell and their competitors.

As an aside, does anyone else think that Krell looked like what the army would create if they were designing amplifiers.
macrojack
1,303 posts
 
I believe I will accept your invitation and say you are certainly crazy to invest that much in that amp. However, I give you credit for putting your money (lots of it) where your mouth is. You sound very happy and for all I know, in the long run, you may prove to be the smartest guy on this forum. Crazy people always think everyone else is crazy.
If your 14 year old can easily lift 180 lbs. he's one damn strong kid.
macrojack
1,303 posts
 
Jeff Rowland's new Daemon integrated provides 1500 watts per channel. Big enough?
I imagine Unsound is referring to the prodigious output of many new class D designs. While they certainly deliver the juice, they are not the massive, back breaking monster blobs of metal that I took as the object of the thread title.
OTOH, the above mentioned Daemon does weigh 99 lbs.
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