What going fully Class D has taught me.


Over the past year I’ve been working on a project to transform my main L and R 2-way speakers to active 3 way by adding a woofer tower with a 3-channel plate amp underneath.  This project is finally completed.  My Luxman integrated now sits dark and disconnected.  

The plate amps are made by Hypex, though I have previously used ICEpower based amps as well.  

What I can confidently say is that the old Class D memes have no reason to exist anymore.  I can also say I miss my Luxman sound for music.  

I’ve done this swap before.  I went from Parasound to ICEpower to Luxman, and while I really liked the Luxman sound I was still compelled to attempt a new speaker / amp project.  Many of my objectives have been met.  Very low distortion, high dynamic range, excellent off-axis response and seamless integration.  It sounds very transparent, and realistic for movies.  The low distortion makes high volume listening deceptive.  You don't realize how loud it is because there's absolutely no distortion.  Some of t

What am I missing?  The liquid smooth midrange, buttery treble of the Luxman, which was the main reason I went from Class-D to it in the first place.  What I don’t have is all the normal tropes that used to float around here about how bad Class D sounds.  It doesn’t, it actually sounds really good.  What I need now is a juicy smooth two preamp with HT bypass. 

erik_squires

Started with the Audio Research SP-4/D-100A preamp/amp and the Maggie Tympani 1-D 48 years ago.

I’ve had the Class D Lyngdorf TDAI-3400 for 5 years. Just got the new Magnepan 2.7x to replace my 1.7i. Absolutely breathtaking in a 22’x 40’x 14’ (ceiling height) room. Streaming direct from Qobuz app on iPhone to the Lyngdorf via Qobuz Connect, bypassing my Aurender. 
 

Lyngdorf is light, cool (I’m in Hawaii), 400W per channel into 4ohms, software updates wirelessly, and delivers clean sound. Works flawlessly. 
 

Hope this helps. 

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What? Abandoned this thread?  Due to physical injury and being caught up in research I've not been paying attention.  What a needy bunch!!  laugh Like you all need me to participate to begin with.  

OK, here you go, first two publicly available pics are in my blog.  

No, never got to hear GaN.  Honestly it was so over hyped I got turned off, but also, I live in the boonies and with modest ability to really get to an interesting store.  

The tweeters on the top of the SNR-1 are the only good investment I've made besides gold.  They are worth twice what I paid for them six years ago.  laugh