Waiting eagerly to the debut of the Vidar. I am not a technician and have a few questions with regards to the Vidar not being 4 ohm rated. I currently use a Parasound A23 running 2 Monitor Audio Pl200 speakers. I always wanted to try a Mono Block configuration without breaking the bank. The Vidar for a non tech seem to fit the bill. I know that the PL200's have been measured (not by me) and will drop down 3.6 ohms at 150Hz.
Will I be safe using 2 Vidars in a mono block configuration or wait in hopes that the Schiit gods come out with a 4 ohm rated amplifier in the Future?
Since I haven't had time to write a chapter in a while, this will serve as a good kickoff to what could be called the "being too honest doesn't get you far in marketing" theory.
Here's the bottom line: sometimes we're too straightforward.
Examples:
1. We don't cherry-pick measurements, and, indeed, our published measurements are usually much worse than our actual measurements, just to be safe. So meter-readers write us off, because our THD and noise (or crosstalk, or whatever) are 0.001% worse than some other published measurements.
2. We discuss the use of circuitry such as summers in balanced amps, and call out when we're using them. As a result, some people automatically think single-ended output on some of our products is "compromised." The reality is that everyone uses summing circuitry in the same application--they just don't mention it. The same people that have a problem with our summers don't have a problem with them in other applications--even if the entire "balanced" components sums to single-ended at the input, then re-converts to balanced output at the end. Which, in our opinion, is not a balanced component.
3. And finally, we tell you, honestly, when you'll hit the protection system in our amps. Here's the reality:
no Class AB amp anywhere near Vidar's price will be rated for 4 ohm continuous RMS operation when run as a monoblock. None. Zero. Nada. Remember, we're talking 400W into 8 ohms mono here. Sure, we could be like everyone else, and say, "Yeah, it'll work," because, you know what? For most people it'll work fine. If you're not going to be running headbanging volume levels, it'll be fine. But if you turn it wayyyyyyyyy up, you will hit our protection system at some point. The amp will go "click," the lights will flash, and you'll have to turn it on and off again to reset it. This is, by definition, "safe." Whether or not you'll run into the protection enough to be irritating is something we can't predict.. So we won't rate continuous power into 4 ohms in monoblock mode.
However, there is a simple solution to this problem (if you have 4 ohm speakers):
Just get ONE Vidar, which is fine with 4 ohm loads. One Vidar is MASSIVELY underrated in terms of power. It is STUPID how much power one Vidar has. For everyone considering two Vidars, here's a hint: start with one.
(Oh, and by the way, whenever a manufacturer makes a recommendation that actually reduces their sales potential, it's probably honest.)
"Oh, but then I can't use balanced input, boo hoo!" you cry. Well, you know what? Balanced ain't all that. Balanced does not make or break a system. Balanced is one part of the equation. And all of our DACs that have both balanced and single-ended outputs do SE right--as in, they sum the SE from balanced, thus preserving most of the benefits of balanced (using a single phase without summing is not as good, period.) And all of our products have single-ended outputs. So there's no problem hooking up any of our gear to Vidar.
And, another recommendation: Saga and one Vidar are an amazing combo. That's what I'll be using.
....we will need a smiley listening to speakers emoticon!
