Power Poll - Tubes, Solid State Or Class D?

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Tubes, Solid State Or Class D?

  • Tubes.

    Votes: 28 32.2%
  • Solid State.

    Votes: 52 59.8%
  • Class D.

    Votes: 5 5.7%
  • Something Very Weird.

    Votes: 1 1.1%
  • I'm so stupid, I don't actually know.

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • Total voters
    87
I guess I'm in the "I'm so stupid, I don't actually know" category.

I have a Sunfire TGA-5200 which is a solid state switching amplifier, but some websites say it is Class D and some say it is Class H. :confused:


No worries, Sunfires are hard to categorize as they’ve been variously called Class G or H, but they are definitely NOT class D.

But just like the G/H, it is basically a rather conventional Class AB type; there are no switching devices in the audio amplifier channels. What makes these amps unique is their power supplies.

The Power Supply IS a switching type supply but it is unique in that it tracks along with the music signal. The supply is essentially a regulated power supply but instead of using an immovable static voltage reference (almost impossible to achieve), it uses the music signal itself. The advantage to this is that the output transistors of the amplifier do not have to dissipate the heat produced by having fixed power supply rails that are significantly greater than the average signal level. At idle the output transistors see only about 8.5 volts across them. As the music signal increases, the supply rails continuously track the signal. At full power the supply rails approach 120 volts. As a result, the Sunfire amps have no heat dissipation devices and yet still run cool.

Another advantage to these amps is that they cope extremely well with low impedance loads. The Sunfire amp will double its wattage into 4 ohms, double it again into 2 ohms, and if your circuit breaker can stand it double it again into one ohm. Perfect for ML’s :)

Therefore, it really falls more to a Class H attribution, than a Class G, since it has an infinitely variable power supply. But it’s not exactly a ‘pure’ H.


Here's a great article on Sunfire amp technology

And the Wiki on amp classes
 
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Note to poll starters: there are many, many types of amps. :p

If you make too few buckets, things will get mis-categorized ;)
 
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Hi DrJRapp,
Just 1 point your amps idle at 140 watts,therefore class a power maybe up to 20 to 30 watts not 140watts but they do not claim any class A power.

You are right, they don't claim anything on paper, but unlike you (apparently) I'm not a paper driven person. I don't know where you got your information, perhaps conjecture on your part...to make that call....my amps idle at approximatly 250 wpc and are biased to produce 140 wpc class A as setup and tested...not by conjecture or claim but by design.

The Palladium 1ks are the Palladium IIs in slightly different sheet metal. The PIIs (mondail design's) were rated at 140 wpc class A. Klipsch chose to back down the heat (bias...an internal adjustment) for their own purposes, and I chose to have that corrected.
 
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You are right, they don't claim anything on paper, but unlike you (apparently) I'm not a paper driven person. I don't know where you got your information, perhaps conjecture on your part...to make that call....my amps idle at approximatly 250 wpc and are biased to produce 140 wpc class A as setup and tested...not by conjecture or claim but by design.

The Palladium 1ks are the Palladium IIs in slightly different sheet metal. The PIIs (mondail design's) were rated at 140 wpc class A. Klipsch chose to back down the heat (bias...an internal adjustment) for their own purposes, and I chose to have that corrected.

Hi DrjRapp,
Did not mean to offend you,but class A power is usually between 20% to 33% of idle current hence my doubt of their claim.I have found out that they do indeed claim 140 watts class A power but with an idle current of 250 watts this is not possible ,1/3 is maybe possible.

In my system I use prodigy,logos and rears requests 4 subs(2 revel b15 and 2 rear genesis 900)
Amps, Audio research reference 600mkIII MONOS(LEFT,RIGHT).
http://www.audioresearch.com/ref600.html
KRELL TAS (5 CHANNEL ,MONO CENTRE channel only)
BAT VK-500 rear channels.
My SYSTEM.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1136036
 
Note to poll starters: there are many, many types of amps. :p

If you make too few buckets, things will get mis-categorized ;)

Like it as it is. Let's face it, even the Sunfire didn't get into the weird category... and polls with loads of options have oft been criticised too. In short, you can't win.;)

Interestingly, a tubes or solid state poll run on a UK forum is currently running at about 45% tube, 50% solid state and 5% don't know. It is a generic hi-fi forum, though. Draw what conclusions you will from that.
 
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The poll shows a lot more tube power than I would have guessed.

Tubes rule.:music:
 
Tubes and Stats!

I am using tube monoblocks (cj premier 12's) for power and tube preamp (supratek) on my logans.

To my ears, a clear improvement in helping cure the "leaness" criticism of logans.

No solid state for this guy. Tubes Rock!
 
Yamaha MX-800U is more than enough SS power in my huge 25x65 room. I would really like to try tubes in the future.
 
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