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Don't all amplifiers sound the same..

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prolle

New Member
.. at equal volume, while both amps are operating within their capable dynamic range. Why should one competently designed amplifier sound different to the next?

I can understand that a low power amp, may clip when turned up too loud and perhaps not able to handle the transient dynamics of the particular track, but at normal listening levels, don't they all sound the same?

Have you been able to tell the difference between amps in a blind test? Or do you find amplifiers vary significantly? How much of this is marketing?
 
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In my limited experience, I have found amplifiers that were operated within their capabilities sounded the same.

I agree with you that all amps should sound the same. If they don´t they are either not operating properly, or were purposely designed to sound "different". Their job is, after all, to amplify a signal, not change it.
 
They sound as how the engineer intended and each company had a different philosophy of how they should sound so the answer is no they don't sound the same. We've had solid state made to sound like tubes, gear to boost frequency's for a particular type of music (rock, jazz, hip hop) and we've had the wire with gain (these should all sound the same but they don't).

Different gear definitely sounds different on the same speaker with me now preferring Kenwood over the other makes from the 70s.

Even better is that your brain will adjust to whatever you're listening to and that gear will sound the best to you after a while.
 
I have two very closely matched amplifiers from different manufacturers: A Soundcraftsmen Pro-Power-Four rated at 205-wpc into 8-ohms and a Crown PS-400 rated at 190-wpc into 8-ohms. I tried them both on a pair of JBL L7s. The difference in the bass response was very noticeable to the extent that I thought the Soundcraftsmen made the L7 too bass-heavy. In neither case were the amps driven anywhere close to their limit or beyond a normal listening level.

Now I've used Crowns in my home systems for over 40-years so maybe my ears are just used to them . . . which would also tend to disprove the hypothesis that all amps sound alike. Either way, I could tell a difference and chose to use the Crowns to bi-amp my JBL 4345. Maybe it's the incredibly high damping factor of the Crowns (>400) and how that relates to controlling a woofer. Perhaps what I heard and the overemphasized bass was actually resulting from lesser control of the woofer? I'll let you know when I compare them to my Crown Studio Reference-II (damping factor >20,000)!

BTW, I kept the Pro-Control-Four anyway. A great amp. I just prefer the Crown.
 
They don't sound as different as speakers do, but there are differences in 'voicing' (for example, loudness contouring); AND, the way a particular amp interacts with the reactive load of a speaker is different depending upon the amp design, power output vs. demands of the speaker, speaker impedance, etc. Generally speaking I would say that if your ears are fairly well trained and your gear is fairly good, you would be able to hear some differences. It doesn't take high end gear or golden ears to hear it. But again I would focus on speakers first, more bang for the buck.
 
I wonder how many of these cable and amp threads will be started this year. All that wasted energy could feed a village somewhere. :)
 
runnin' said:
........All that wasted energy could feed a village somewhere. :)
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Nah, the warlords would just kill the aid workers who brought it and steal it for themselves.

prolle said:
.. at equal volume, while both amps are operating within their capable dynamic range. Why should one competently designed amplifier sound different to the next?........
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They shouldn't. That said, I have noticed a difference in a single blind back to back comparison of a Yamaha M-70 and a Yamaha M-80. The difference wasn't large and I probably wouldn't have noticed it if I had listened to each amp on successive days or maybe even successive hours instead of right away back and forth.
 
runnin' said:
I wonder how many of these cable and amp threads will be started this year. All that wasted energy could feed a village somewhere. :)
Click to expand...

Well this is an audio forum. What do you want to talk about, motorsports?

From my personal experiences I have found very little difference in the sound of my amps when run through the same speakers, same volume, same music etc. However, I do hear differences or at least I perceive differences in their SQ.

I kind of wish all amps did sound identical. I sure would have saved a boatload of money.

cubdog
 
There's a huge list of caveats attached to the All Amps... statement that are usually forgotten. When the list is satisfied there's little evidence that anybody can tell the difference. Even when it isn't, it's harder to tell the difference than you might think. Every time I've thought there was a difference between power amps, the more I refined the test and removed biases, the smaller the difference became, until it faded away to nothing.
 
No, all amplifiers do not sound the same.

Each amplifier has a unique sound signature. An amplifiers phase response affects imaging and soundstage, slew rate affects dynamics, signal to noise ratio affects the "blackness" of quiet passages.

These difference are very noticeable between amplifiers with significant differences in capability.
 
cubdog said:
Well this is an audio forum. What do you want to talk about, motorsports?

From my personal experiences I have found very little difference in the sound of my amps when run through the same speakers, same volume, same music etc. However, I do hear differences or at least I perceive differences in their SQ.

I kind of wish all amps did sound identical. I sure would have saved a boatload of money.

cubdog
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Uh, no kidding, this is indeed an audio forum. When the slightly doltish guy in the room keeps bringing up the same topic again and again and again, don't be surprised if a few start avoiding him. It's simply human nature.
 
prolle said:
.. at equal volume, while both amps are operating within their capable dynamic range. Why should one competently designed amplifier sound different to the next?

I can understand that a low power amp, may clip when turned up too loud and perhaps not able to handle the transient dynamics of the particular track, but at normal listening levels, don't they all sound the same?

Have you been able to tell the difference between amps in a blind test? Or do you find amplifiers vary significantly? How much of this is marketing?
Click to expand...

Are you basing this on logic rather than using your ears?
 
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