[sublime9]

"What about a 25W class A amp in a Vidar chassis that does 200W into 4 ohms mono"

Yes, Please.

200W Class A would have a Vidar sized on switch. On the back, of course.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

How to wrap a cat for Christmas:

Christmas is almost here, and if you haven’t found the perfect gift for your family, look no further. This Australian woman’s brilliant how-to video will inspire you to give your loved ones an awesome holiday gift — or at least a good laugh.

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JC

 

[KoshNaranek]

How to wrap a cat for Christmas:

Christmas is almost here, and if you haven’t found the perfect gift for your family, look no further. This Australian woman’s brilliant how-to video will inspire you to give your loved ones an awesome holiday gift — or at least a good laugh.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/brilliant-woman-shows-us-wrap-cat-christmas-211359835.html

JC

Costanza looks down her nose at this and says, "We are not amused."

 

[JohnBal]

I'm really curious how this (hypothetical) amp will achieve 25w class A into 8 ohm and 200w into 4 ohm. I'm no engineer, but I have followed the high end industry from afar for 30 years, and I cannot think of another amp that can 8x the power into 4 ohm. If Jason can do this and retain class A, using the Vidar chassis, that will be a huge trick. Personally, I don't think 200w class A into 4 ohms can come from a chassis this size. But again, I'm often proven wrong. Usually from my wife.

 

[NoahFence]

One thing I was delighted to see in "Where we're going" is work on a "more tube-like sound" from a ss amp, an entirely new tachnology. I have no idea what "square-law" means in amplification, but I have noted several times in these threads that for me the magic begins with the hybrid Vali 2 and a multibit DAC. In contrast the joty se is just too lean for me, the sound lacks the bloom and depth that I hear when I listen to live voice or instruments. It seems to me that something is lost in recording with the A/D conversion, and tubes seem to bring some of that back.
So from my perspective keep that work coming, and maybe, just maybe it will supplant 'pure class A" amplification. (I'm font of that too.)

Keep up the wonderful work!
NF

 

[DougD]

They can double as space heaters.

Serious question for those interested in the potential 25W class A amp: what does this do for you that the current Vidar does not, other than support for high output into 4 ohm speakers?

It could have a volume knob that goes up to 5 and 1/2 .



(Technically 2.75 but that's too complicated.)

 

[JoeKickass]

How to wrap a cat for Christmas:

Christmas is almost here, and if you haven’t found the perfect gift for your family, look no further. This Australian woman’s brilliant how-to video will inspire you to give your loved ones an awesome holiday gift — or at least a good laugh.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/brilliant-woman-shows-us-wrap-cat-christmas-211359835.html

JC

Awesome video, that's a very mellow cat, try that with the wrong cat and it could be your last Christmas!

 

[GearMe]

I'm really curious how this (hypothetical) amp will achieve 25w class A into 8 ohm and 200w into 4 ohm. I'm no engineer, but I have followed the high end industry from afar for 30 years, and I cannot think of another amp that can 8x the power into 4 ohm. If Jason can do this and retain class A, using the Vidar chassis, that will be a huge trick. Personally, I don't think 200w class A into 4 ohms can come from a chassis this size. But again, I'm often proven wrong. Usually from my wife.

Think they mean 25 watts stereo into 8 ohms and 200 watts mono into 4 ohms...

 

[rkw]

Think they mean 25 watts stereo into 8 ohms and 200 watts mono into 4 ohms...

Doesn't matter — still doesn't make sense for class A.

 

[MASantos]

The 200w figure is most probablt in class B. I have an amp with 100W output @8ohm and the first 25w are class A. Simple to do.

 

[wink]

btw, the vidar is Not to be used for this......

Just to be clear:-

 

[GearMe]

Doesn't matter — still doesn't make sense for class A.

You're probably right. I'm not an amp designer so I wouldn't know if a Class A design can pragmatically achieve the same quadrupling of power into equivalent resistance when switched from stereo to mono that the Vidar can. That would be a question for Jason to answer.

And, obviously, I can't speak for what the poster was thinking. It's probably even more of a stretch to ask for doubling the power again when the resistance drops to 4 ohms...just offering a suggestion on why they may have posted it.

Given the Vidar's power increase when you switch from stereo to mono (below), it might be where they were coming from

Power Output:

Stereo, 8 Ohms: 100W RMS per channel
Stereo, 4 Ohms: 200W RMS per channel
Mono, 8 ohms: 400W RMS

 

[MWSVette]

From the FAQ section on the Schiit site for the Vidar:

Wait. How does the monoblock mode work?
It’s not a mode. It’s just the natural result of driving each channel with one half of a truly balanced signal. That’s why you need a preamp with balanced outputs. And that means REAL balanced outputs, not just XLR connectors.

 

[Brubacca]

One thing I was delighted to see in "Where we're going" is work on a "more tube-like sound" from a ss amp, an entirely new tachnology. I have no idea what "square-law" means in amplification, but I have noted several times in these threads that for me the magic begins with the hybrid Vali 2 and a multibit DAC. In contrast the joty se is just too lean for me, the sound lacks the bloom and depth that I hear when I listen to live voice or instruments. It seems to me that something is lost in recording with the A/D conversion, and tubes seem to bring some of that back.
So from my perspective keep that work coming, and maybe, just maybe it will supplant 'pure class A" amplification. (I'm font of that too.)

Keep up the wonderful work!
NF

I'M not an electrical design engineer, but I think Jason is referring to the output waveform of the amp. I was told by a dealer that tube amps are better at transients and are "faster" in transient response. This is demonstrated in the ability to output something closer to a square wave than a typical Solid State amp. I was comparing a Naim Nait 5si, with a Rogue Spinx and Rogue Cronus Magnum. He was saying that the Naim amps are very good at doing this, but still can't hold a candle to the Tube amps. He was saying this is something that Naim in particular pays attention to.

Jason may jump in here and say I'm full of it, but this is my understanding from others.

 

[AMRoberts]

This is at best a tangent, more realistically off-topic question for this thread; but I'm looking for suggestions. If there is somewhere better to do reading and research please point me in that direction.

My father-in-law is a two-channel listener, primarily classical music, via spinning CDs, broadcast FM, and a couple of internet radio streams. He is very unlikely to go beyond two channels (retired architect, large open floor plan room with lots of glass in the house he designed, other transducers or cabling would violate the style guidelines). He currently drives a pair of Snell Acoustics Type C/V speakers (manual recommends 50-250W of amplifier power) with an old Denon receiver. However, video has crept into this world with band-aid connectivity to the two-channel system ... The digital TV (with really horrid built-in speakers), satellite receiver, and DVD player live on the wall between the speakers. The DVD player is old enough to have unbalanced audio outputs, so those got connected to an input on the Denon. Neither the satellite receiver nor the digital TV have unbalanced stereo outputs, so his temporary solution was to pull a 3.5mm-to-RCA pair cable out of his collection-of-stuff drawer, and plug the headphone jack of the television into another input on the Denon.

The newest problem is that the Denon is suffering random self-muting and input changing that suggests its control logic is dying. So arriving at their home for Christmas I find him asking if he should just get replacement electronics.

The notion of getting an A/V receiver and running in 2.nothing mode, so that he could switch his audio and video sources at the receiver and handle the audio for devices which only have HDMI outputs seems compelling, but I gather from a bit of reading last night that this could be The Dark Side of the Force calling with respect to his music listening (i.e., a lot of A/V receivers seem to gather negative comments with respect to musicality). Also any number of the products I glanced at last night don't seem to reach into the power range that the Snell's recommend.

Are there A/V receivers that get good marks when used for two-channel music listening? Or should I find him a decent sound bar for his digital TV, declare that we are divorcing his video and audio worlds, and then suggest Saga+Vidar+somebody's FM tuner for the music listening side of his world? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Alan