On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 17:28:11 -0000, "JustMe" wrote:

"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
news On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 15:16:22 -0000, "JustMe" wrote:

"Ian Molton" wrote in message
...
JustMe wrote:

Many of you chaps believe that the Peter Walker(?) "straight-wire"
ideal
is
that which any "hifi" designer should aspire to construct.

Do you think that this is attainable?

To all intents and purposes it has been attained in all good SS amps
(And a handful of exceptional valve amps)

Please can you suggest some examples? (Hopefully I will know at least
one!)

Audiolab 8000S, and the 8000P power amp. Common enough, and
essentually 'blameless', as Doug Self would say.

Well I know these amps very well and used to own an 8000S, so I'd find that
to be a useful reference.

So, who's going to build me an Alchemist Kraken APD6aII filter for use with
an 8000S then?

That depends what was wrong with the Kraken! If it's not a simple FR
difference, then a filter isn't going to do it. From your description,
it sounds more likely that it was a combination of weak bass and high
distortion, either crossover or HF IMD. You could likely synthesise
this with a good DSP unit (and a good programmer!), but wouldn't it be
simpler just to buy another amp?

There's nothing wrong with the Kraken - I love it, it sounds better than the
Audiolab (see thread "Amp swap disappointment" for more).

Of course, there's something wrong with the Kraken, otherwise it would
sound like any other good amp! Please don't use terms like 'sounds
better', when what you mean is that *you* prefer some particular
nonlinearity.

I don't want to buy another amp - I'm going to flog the Audiolab shortly and
continue to enjoy the pleasures of the Kraken.
If you were to apply any simple description to the sound, it wouldn't be
weak bass, in my opinion, but rounded-off HF.

Fine, so that's your preference, no problem.

So then, from what you and others would say, the "filters" or "DSPs" used
now, are NOT able to accurately emulate other amps with accuracy and the
technology to do so may be some way off and/or be too expensive?

As noted, it depends what's wrong with the Kraken. It might be easily
simulated, or it might take a serious box of DSP tricks.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering