FOCAL Class D Audio Amplifier Sucks Too, More to argue about... LOL
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- Опубліковано 13 жов 2024
- If you are dumb enough or desperate enough to buy Class D amplifiers after seeing what I display in these last few videos, then you deserve what you get. I was dumb, I believed "Stephen Mantz" from "ZED Audio" and look what I got stuck with, his junk high dollar amps.
![If you can't hear this then you're not an audiophile [See description for link to followup video]](/img/n.gif)
It's looks like the the main PWM was never filtered out 🤣
I don't understand what you are trying to show me. You might understand what those waves look like, but could you elaborate. Is it supposed to look different? I got some class D for the home. I've had them a couple months now and I cannot get them to sound like an old awesome class AB amplifier. Sometimes I think they sound great and other times I think they're shredding my ears. The placement of my speakers has become more picky for the bass response. I've hooked up seven different pairs of speakers. I'm just not sure about them. That's why I was looking at your video but the pictures you're showing me needs explained. But I must say thanks for your opinion. I know that focal makes great speakers. This could come down to an opinion just like it does with speakers. I'm thinking maybe I could just use the Class D amplifier on my subwoofers if I can't get them to sound good with regular speakers. The treble just sounds weird sometimes.
When you put a signal into an amplifier, all the amplifier should do is amplify the signal, it should not change the shape of the signal in any way, other than making it larger, and it should be able to amplify signals across a large range, such as from 20hz to 20,000 hertz for human hearing. It should also do it equally across that range... what I mean by that is, if you put in a 1 watt 20hz signal and the amplifier outputs 10 watts, then if you put in 200hz, or 2000hz, or even 20,000hz, they should all come out of the amp at 10 watts each also. Some amplifiers distort the signal and/or add their own harmonics to the signal. Some amplifiers don't distort the signal too much but they may increase a 1 watt 20hz signal to 8 watts and a 1 watt 2000hz signal to 10 watts, that's not good either. The signals that many people use to test an amplifier are square waves, triangle waves, and sine waves. As you see in this video, those 3 wave shapes coming thru the class D amplifier are not coming out square, triangle, and sine. I have been in audio over 40 years and I am here to tell you that I have never seen a class D amplifier even come close to reproducing signals properly or evenly across the audio spectrum EVER. On top of that there is something called a damping factor, that is for a whole other video, but class AB almost always has a great damping factor, D does not. There is also a huge difference in how an AB and a D react to the changes in the impedance curve of a speaker. D is no good at handling the impedance curve either. I do not recommend class D for anything other than a shop that wants to sell cheap shit and make a huge profit at the listeners expense, and unfortunately I cannot even recommend that you use your amplifiers for the sub unless you absolutely have to. It sounds like you have a good ear and you can clearly tell the difference, when using class AB it is much better all around, and if you have a good system you will not have to play with speaker placement or the EQ etc.... once you have it set up, everything you play should sound good, you shouldn't have to make adjustments for different genres of music or when you watch a movie. The ear fatigue is common with high frequency distortion. Even the distortion created by horn tweeters will cause ear fatigue. Have you ever been to a club or a concert that didn't seem really loud, but when you get home your ears are ringing? That's because they were using those Large Speakers with Huge Horn tweeters. Horns create a huge amount of distortion. Same happens with class D, that's why you get fatigue. Anyways, the signals in the video were supposed to be a clean square, clean triangle, and a clean sine wave, but coming thru class D they are not. As far as your woofer placement being picky, try not to place woofers in corners or against walls, I know everyone is gonna cry that I said that, but it's the truth. Place your subs 1/3 away from a corner of a room, and not against the wall, this will give you a more even bass response across the room. What I mean by 1/3 is like if your room is 12' across, place the woofer 4' away from the corner and at least a foot away from the wall. Woofers placed against walls and in corners will give you a lot of problems across all frequencies, and the bass will be too loud in every corner of the room and in the center of the room, and bass will be dead everywhere else. I hope this has helped some and you don't have to blindly believe what I say, but just try it to know for yourself. Have Fun
@@bigcbradio Thanks for the reply. That does explain some things about these Class D amplifiers. I think I notice that some parts are louder and more shrill, (If that's a good word)than they should be. And yes, I know about horn tweeters I used to have KLIPSCH speakers, and they also shredded my ears.
Now I just realize that the pictures you are showing are almost digital choppy looking things and they should be what I've seen before with a nice, smooth curve. Almost like a string or a rope. I think it might be a good idea if you did a side-by-side that would help us. But thank you again for your reply. I think you are very knowledgeable and class D is not ready for prime time. But here's what's funny. Back in 2017 a reviewer for Home theater magazine examined some ATI amplifiers. The article was called ( Head of the class D ) When he was done, he said he kept them and removed his Parasound amplifiers. He made them the main part of his system. Well here it is seven years later, and I got some class D with the newer, Hypex NCX modules. I've spent months trying to adjust them because they are a new animal in my opinion. Maybe a big company like ATI put some kind of damping factors in those units? I believe you suggested something like that or that whole amplifier should have it. The one I have is just a plain power supply and module. I had a Five channel Parasound amplifier with 205 W per channel. One day it turned off, and would not turn back on and it was the best sounding amplifier I ever had. It was just amazing. It filled the room with full detailed sound. That is what I was shooting for when I got these Class D amplifiers to no avail. Right now I'm sitting here listening to the amplifier, and it is very detailed at a very low level but as soon as I try to turn it up, some parts become immediately fatiguing. One last thing, they have a chart with all the amplifiers on these blogs, I've been reading and they are rated excellent and these are right up there with the best of them but I'm afraid they're just going by specs and not how they sound.
Update : yesterday I wrote the above, but I did not send it. All day after that and all day today I have been messing with the sound. I hooked up an old School 35-year-old. Maybe it's 40 years old Fosgate processor. It's a Fosgate DSL one. It's just a simple unit, but it allowed me a lot of adjustments and to turn the base up a little. That's really what I was missing. I don't think it's perfect. I also think the mid range is exaggerated a little bit from the amplifiers . I added 2-15 inch Fosgate woofers Inboxes directly to the right, and left speakers in parallel. The right and left speakers at this moment are a pair of Bowers and Wilkins dm640i. Then another pair of the same 640i speakers to the farthest right and left, hooked up to the subwoofer output.
OK it's sounding pretty good right now with some nice detail and full sound. I think I still have some work to do and it has not matched the Parasound HCA2205A quality. It is a really old amazing thing.
@@HIFINatic I just read the specs on your HCA2205A... here is a partial of them... 5 Hz - 100 kHz, +0/-3 dB at 1 watt...Total Harmonic Distortion: < 0.03 % at full power. You are never going to get something like that in class D. I really hope you get your HCA2205A repaired and sell those class D's to someone who loves D. You shouldn't have to spend so much time messing around to get great sound. That HCA2205A is an awesome amp, probably not much out there better.
I don't usually like class D either , GAN class D is decent. It's just a preference thing. Class D quality varies wildly. Whatever amp you buy make sure you can return it if it doesn't work for you.
Ya, Stephen Mantz wouldn't take em back, and when I told him one of the switches caused static when the bass hit and vibrated it, he told me I should spray some tuner cleaner in it, and if that didn't fix the issue, try and repair it myself.
@bigcbradio Wow . When a manufacturer doesn't fully support their own product. It really says something. Ask again nicely and if it isn't resolved it might be a time for a Twitter name and shame. Was there a warranty ?
@@matthewhilty4209 This was a few years ago already. There has already been people shaming hin for over 10 years now
Sooooo, just curious. What amp did you have pushing the American Bass Subwoofer
@@drrckhamilton I've used quite a few, but the main ones I loved and drove the shit out of the American Bass Woofers were the Lanzar 700x2 and 900x2... not to be confused with the "dot series". Lanzar had a series that were labeled like 500.2, which was 250 per channel @ 4ohm, then they had ones that looked very similar but they were 500x2, which was 500 per channel @ 4 ohm, and those were double the power at 2 ohms, so the 700x2 would do 1400 per channel at 2 ohms. For example I would run a single 12" American Bass that was a dual 2 ohm voice coil, and I would run each channel of a 700x2 to each of the voice coils, and I would commonly see over 50 volts into each coil. 50x50=2500/2ohms =1250 watts, times 2 voice coils 2500 watts total in that single 12" woofer, and I would run it like that for more than an hour at a time and even after a couple years of that, the woofer is still tight and the voice coil looks shiny like new. To me that's a lot of power for one 12" woofer, and it doesn't just soak up the power, it gets louder as you add more power. Some speakers just soak it up but don't seem to get louder. I love the old Lanzar. I have old Lanzar amps all the way back to when they were made in USA and they were black and red.. Have Fun, Thanks for watching and commenting