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In the Forum: Playback Listening
In the Thread: “Harmonic Speed”- friend of foe?
Post Subject: The balance in ampsPosted by Antonio J. on: 1/31/2005
Hi Romy,
I agree with you, when an amplifier is fast and capable to response quickly to abrupt dynamic challenges, then the harmonic structure of the notes becomes sharpened, it loses richness and "texture" because they fade away too quickly and their rise time seems to be accelerated, then it sounds tending to bright and unnatural. And it doesn't matter it's tubes or SS, although SS amps tend to fall more often into this category.
Furthermore I'd dare to say that it has some relationship with the use of feedback to lower THD. I had the chance to try here a Berning ZH270 power amp, which has 3 feedback settings, and when you increased the amount of feedback, thus getting lower harmonic distortion, this "harmonics sharpening" was more audible, but when using the lowest feedback setting, the harmonic content was fuller and more "adecquate" but the sense of "speed" was lower.
I suppose that a correct balance between both parameters, speed vs. harmonic rightness also depends on the speakers response, but I much prefer fast speakers, so it should be the amp suppliying that balance. How are your Lamms on that?
Rgrds,
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