[MoodyDragon]

My payment for a PPX goes in as soon as my IRS refund comes in!

 

[PinkFloyd]

Mikhail,

Thanks for your response it's been a long time coming. I only learn't about the amp / pics in question after a moderator deleted a thread which contained pics of the innards of one of your amps.

I have no agenda with anybody and had no reason or desire to bad mouth you but those photos of the inner construction of your amp caught my eye and prompted comment from me. I am still of the opinion (please take this as constructive criticism as it is intended) that your point to point wiring is far from adequate and may lead to long term / short term.... reliability / safety issues.

Obvious causes for concern include diodes with one end "floating" and carrying heavy-looking wires, components with leads twisted in a manner which may cause internal damage (if not carried out with extreme care) and also the fact that future repairs or modifications may be extremely awkward to implement.

Surely it would be safer and easier to service if you were to attach all components to a supporting pillar and for delicate resistors incorporate a stress-relief loop in one lead?

You state that "All parts conform to safety standards" and I am sure they do....... however, my question was "Does your amp comply with any internationally recognised safety standards" I'm confident that all of the parts used in your amps conform to safety standards but does your amp conform / comply and if so to what recognised standards?

This has been a horrible week for head-fi and, I imagine, a nightmare for you Mikhail but when pictures of that nature are made public then you can be sure that comments will be made and opinions will be bandied about from experts and laymen alike.

You still haven't confirmed whether or not those pictures were / were not representative of your amp? you've offered to provide pics of the inside of your amps on request and I, for one, would love to take you up on your offer........ if those pics that were posted are not from one of your amps then I will retract all of my comments / observations and apologise to you in person Mikhail.

If those pics are representative, however, then I'm afraid I will have to stand by my original comments.

All the best.

Mike.

 

[kevin gilmore]

quote
Pure Class A never varies.It either is or is not Class A.

Any class A amplifier is only class A up to a specific power level.
That power level may vary due to the load. It could be 10mw
it could be 100mw. This is not specified. No one has bothered to
ask either. Even the largest krell amplifier ever made will fall into
A/B operation at some point.

I'm glad that mikhail has finally answered some of these questions.
Something i personally asked him on the phone back on sunday.

 

[tom hankins]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevin gilmore quote Pure Class A never varies.It either is or is not Class A. Any class A amplifier is only class A up to a specific power level. That power level may vary due to the load. It could be 10mw it could be 100mw. This is not specified. No one has bothered to ask either. Even the largest krell amplifier ever made will fall into A/B operation at some point. I'm glad that mikhail has finally answered some of these questions. Something i personally asked him on the phone back on sunday.

Thanks for clearing up the class A part. Maybe after this thread some others will also use the phone and get there questions answered also.

 

[mikeg]

Dr. Gilmore mentioned in another thread (now closed) that improving the layout of Mikhail's circuitry would raise his amplifiers' cost a great deal. comabereni, in his comment in the current thread, also mentions this increased cost factor in his statement (within parentheses), in his last sentence. For me, the cost factor is of extreme importance. For me spending several thousand dollars for an amplifier is really a big deal. And, I would vehemently resent having to pay thousands more just because Mikhail is either forced, or browbeaten into producing military spec. compliant amps; i.e., amps that can be bounced and jarred around. Mine just sits quietly on a desk, and produces marvelous sound. So, I appreciate getting a top notch sounding amp., at the lowest possible price. For my intended use (i.e., sitting peacefully on a desktop) the sturdiness/robustness of my SinglePower amp's circuitry is much more than ample, while amp's sound greatly exceeds my expectations.

 

[cosmopragma]

This is the third time this week I'm trying to respond to a post which disappears while I'm typing.
Oh, well ......
However, I'm glad that Mikhail finally responded.
In the end any potential customer has to decide if he appreciates Singlepowers approach of achieving extraordinary SQ and the corresponding downside.
It's not for me, but YMMW.

 

[Nik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevin gilmore quote Pure Class A never varies.It either is or is not Class A. Any class A amplifier is only class A up to a specific power level. That power level may vary due to the load. It could be 10mw it could be 100mw. This is not specified. No one has bothered to ask either. Even the largest krell amplifier ever made will fall into A/B operation at some point. I'm glad that mikhail has finally answered some of these questions. Something i personally asked him on the phone back on sunday.

But do you still think that the inside construction is poor work? Or do you have now another idea of that?

Best!
Nicola

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

Any class A amplifier is only class A up to a specific power level.

then it is not "pure" class A.you can have degrees of class A operation but if you are claiming pure class A the operating points are consitant,non varying until you hit clipping.then it matters not what class you are running as you are out of steam anyway and it will sound like crap.

I defy anyone to prove to me and back it up with measured results where a Szekeres Amp EVER goes out of classs A up to full clipping.That my freinds is what PURE CLASS A IS !

You can bias for class a up to a pre specified level and have an amp switch over to class A/B by design but that does not make the amp a Class A amp.

Nothing to do with sound preference,just clarifying through all the smoke being blown around.

Head-Fi is rapidly becoming an arena for dis-information and too much is let go

 

[Nik]

About the Singlepower 's sound, I'll test one of a Italian friend on saturday, and I'll report here my impressions indipendently from any other story about this amp we have see in these last days. If I'll like (a lot) the sound I'll probably buy one.

Best!
Nicola

 

[cpw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevin gilmore quote Pure Class A never varies.It either is or is not Class A. Any class A amplifier is only class A up to a specific power level. That power level may vary due to the load. It could be 10mw it could be 100mw. This is not specified. No one has bothered to ask either.

OK, I'll bite.
Given the output tubes and circuitry of the MPX3, up to what level voltage swing would the MPX3 be Class A into a 32ohm load?
CPW

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg Dr. Gilmore mentioned in another thread (now closed) that improving the layout of Mikhail's circuitry would raise his amplifiers' cost a great deal. comabereni, in his comment in the current thread, also mentions this increased cost factor in his statement (within parentheses), in his last sentence. For me, the cost factor is of extreme importance. For me spending several thousand dollars for an amplifier is really a big deal. And, I would vehemently resent having to pay thousands more just because Mikhail is either forced, or browbeaten into producing military spec. compliant amps; i.e., amps that can be bounced and jarred around. Mine just sits quietly on a desk, and produces marvelous sound. So, I appreciate getting a top notch sounding amp., at the lowest possible price. For my intended use (i.e., sitting peacefully on a desktop) the sturdiness/robustness of my SinglePower amp's circuitry is much more than ample, while amp's sound greatly exceeds my expectations.

It's more labour intensive to twist bits of wire together and solder them (very time consuming) Singlepower's tecnique is very time consuming but, IMO, not the best example of the genre. It would be CHEAPER for singlepower to adopt different / safer connection methods and not more expensive.

 

[PhilS]

This stuff is classic. First someone says Pure Class A never varies; it either is or is not Class A. Then someone says that's not correct; any class A amplifier is only class A up to a specific power level. Then someone says it would be more expensive to build the Singlepower amps with an improved layout. Then someone says, no, it would be cheaper. Unless I'm missing something, it sounds like even some fairly knowledgeable people (and I do not include myself in this group) disagree about some of the fundamental issues that have led to criticism of Singlepower's design. If so, one might conclude that one designer might choose to go one way and another might choose to go the other -- based on the designers preferences, the market, customer preferences or requirements, etc. -- but neither is necessarily right or wrong.

 

[tom hankins]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkFloyd It's more labour intensive to twist bits of wire together and solder them (very time consuming) Singlepower's tecnique is very time consuming but, IMO, not the best example of the genre. It would be CHEAPER for singlepower to adopt different connection methods and not more expensive.

Although cheaper may be, well....cheaper. I think Mikhail has stated that he has tried different technics and the sound has suffered. I personally can live with the prices the amps are now, because the sound is perfect to my ears. However I would not be happy, even paying less, if the sonics were to suffer. If my amps were not as reliable as they are I might think different. But to date they have proven to be perfect in operation. There are alot of amps with pretty internal parts out there that (even at a high price) are noisey and, or, just dont sound very good. So far the amps (singlepower) have shown to hold up very good and none of your safety worries have come true. Why should he redesign the amps to a lower cost and screw up the amps that have become favorites with so many of the owners? I'm glad that you our concerned about our well being but it seems like the people who have been laying down there hard earned cash for the amps are (at least the great majority) are very happy with there purchase.
Also if you think the way they are done can be improved on with lowering the cost of the amps and improving the sonic signature maybe you should either call Mikhail and clue him in on it, or try building one yourself and compare it to one of his amps and see. Until then you really are just speculating.

 

[sft]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickcr42 then it is not "pure" class A.you can have degrees of class A operation but if you are claiming pure class A the operating points are consitant,non varying until you hit clipping.then it matters not what class you are running as you are out of steam anyway and it will sound like crap. I defy anyone to prove to me and back it up with measured results where a Szekeres Amp EVER goes out of classs A up to full clipping.That my freinds is what PURE CLASS A IS ! You can bias for class a up to a pre specified level and have an amp switch over to class A/B by design but that does not make the amp a Class A amp. Nothing to do with sound preference,just clarifying through all the smoke being blown around. Head-Fi is rapidly becoming an arena for dis-information and too much is let go

I look "pure class A" up in my electronic textbook, find nothing.

"pure" is just an adj. right? I think you can define it what you like IMHO.

it maybe means: EVERY STAGE, I don't know.

 

[vanillawafer]

Mikhail,
Thank you soooo much for this response! What a relief it is! The lack of response was making me think that something was being hidden, I know that's not really fair, but it truly is how I was feeling. I also want to thank you for addressing all of my concerns via email, your true colors have shown through even more. I now have faith in what I purchased because you, the manufacturer, addressed mine and others questions even when you did not have to. Also, I want to let everyone know that Mikhail offered to refund my money even though he did not have to by any means. In fact, his words to me via email were "I will honor any choice you decide to make". This is what he told me when I specifically asked him if he would accept a return of my amp if that is what I decided to do. Well, I now have the facts and I will be keeping my PPX3. I have always loved the sound and the sound quality has never been an issue for me, but all of this crap floating around and not being addressed really go me worried, and I was of the mindset that spending this kind of money on an amp and not being 100% happy about it was ridiculous. Thanks again Mikhail!

~Jim