Hi, I have the Goldenear Triton Ones along with a Marantz 8802a preamp. My current amp quit working

P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
Why do you think the Benchmark amp has similar HF noise? Because they talk about using a "switching power supply"? I admit that I can't tell what they're talking about, since they discuss Class H characteristics in their literature (to the point of that being responsible for the H in the product name), which implies output power rail voltage manipulation, and then they discuss a switching power supply (implying some sort of Class D-like operation). Of course, they are the same guys discussing "inter-sample overs" WRT to digital recording, so I do have some skepticism about Benchmark's literature.
Wow, you don't miss a thing do you? I thought I deleted my last sentence soon enough but you still manage to quote me, probably right before I clicked "save".

I wrote that in because somehow I initially thought the AHB2 had the switching power supply as well. Shortly after my post I thought there's no way someone like JA would miss something like that so I did another quick read on the review, and then I realized Kal described the power supply as below:

"Tied to the AAA technology is a system of class-H power-supply rails that track power demands in order to increase amplifier efficiency without the penalty of added distortion; the power supply itself is a regulated switch-mode type that uses resonant switching, claimed by Benchmark to reduce noise.

Since I know little about that kind of power supply I decided to delete my comment. Unfortunately it is now in your quote but that's my own fault. I don't like the way they generalized the crossover distortion issue with class AB amps, but to give them the credit, at least they added the word "traditional". I take it their subtle way of hinting that not all class AB amps, just "traditional" class AB amps that have crossover distortions significant enough to be a problem.

I am not saying well designed class AB amps don't have any crossover distortions but I am not sure if such distortions are at the level higher than that of the AHB2's or high enough to be audible. Feed forward control is nothing new, without knowing how they applied the technology, I am not going to assume it will work as their marketing literature claims. At this point, I believe in Benchmark's marketing information as much as I believe Passlab, ATI, Bryston, Hegel, Parsound's etc., just to name a few. If I am in the market for a 100W/200W power amp today, I won't be going for the AHB2 just because of what I read on the Benchmark website, but their excellent measurements on JA bench certainly help.
 
E

<eargiant

Senior Audioholic
Did you really read what those analyses say, or are you just blindly interpreting the measurements without context? (I think the latter.)

I admit that I don't understand the effects of sending 381mV of 442KHz noise for 1V of audio signal into my speakers. If these were the only two amps in the world, I'd choose the Benchmark product.
I couldn't even get past that lousy square wave on the Bel Canto. Jeez...


If I am in the market for a 100W/200W power amp today, I won't be going for the AHB2 just because of what I read on the Benchmark website, but their excellent measurements on JA bench certainly help.
Forget about JA, you know this is a special amp when Audio Precision itself states that testing the Benchmark AHB2 also validated the capabilities of their latest TOTL "Highest Performance" Audio Analyzer, the APx555.

Tom Kite of Audio Precision himself measured the AHB2's THD-N to be -118 db which is at the cusp of the APx555's capabilities.

https://www.ap.com/analyzers-accessories/apx555/
 
Cos

Cos

Audioholic Samurai
Yeah, I hate to be the bearer of bad news for the OP, but the Triton-1 speakers appear to be kind of "bright" on the Stereophile measurement. It looks to be +5dB from 9-12kHz, +6dB to +7dB around 15-16kHz.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/goldenear-technology-triton-one-loudspeaker-measurements

So I'm afraid any great NEUTRAL amp (ATI, Parasound, Mark Levinson, Lexicon, etc.) may end up sounding kind of "bright".
As someone who has lived with my T1s with my Parasound amps and the same excact pre/pro as your gear for about the past 2 years, that could not be further from the truth. Sandy himself has even used Parasound amps in some of his demos, they do NOT sound bright by any means. I don't use Audyssey for music, I do use it for HT.

Parasound is also releasing their new A52+ which is a slightly beefed up A52 with separate power supplies for each channel and 180W vs 120W

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/parasound-reprises-popular-5-ch-amp-boosts-power
 
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Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
As someone who has lived with my T1s with my Parasound amps and the same excact pre/pro as your gear for about the past 2 years, that could not be further from the truth. Sandy himself has even used Parasound amps in some of his demos, they do NOT sound bright by any means. I don't use Audyssey for music, I do use it for HT.

Parasound is also releasing their new A52+ which is a slightly beefed up A52 with separate power supplies for each channel and 180W vs 120W

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/parasound-reprises-popular-5-ch-amp-boosts-power
ADTG isn't saying the amps sound bright, he's saying the speakers are bright.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Seriously now. Really. How many people are going to spend $3,000 on a 100WPC stereo amp? Really now.

When people buy external amps, they often look for something that has more power than most AV Receivers. Like a 200WPC or 300WPC amp, not a 100WPC amp.

I mean you can buy the Denon X4300 for $799 that can output 150WPC x 2 Ch into 8 ohms and 240WPC x 2 Ch into 4 ohms.

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/denon-avr-x4200w-av-receiver-review-test-bench

If you're thinking of spending $3K on a 100WPC amp, spend it on better speakers instead.
 
Cos

Cos

Audioholic Samurai
ADTG isn't saying the amps sound bright, he's saying the speakers are bright.
I know exactly what he is saying, I am saying the exact setup that the original poster was inquiring about does not sound bright. (see my equipment below :D) The T1s don't sound bright. Sandy has used the parasound with the T1s in demo's which I have attended, you would be hard pressed to hear anyone describe them as bright.
 
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AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
As someone who has lived with my T1s...
That's what matters most. If they sound great, then they are great.

My only point is that people shouldn't blame the Amps for sounding bright.
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
I know exactly what he is saying, I am saying the exact setup that the original poster was inquiring about does not sound bright. (see my equipment below :D) The T1s don't sound bright. Sandy has used the parasound with the T1s in demo's which I have attended, you would be hard pressed to hear anyone describe them as bright.
It may not sound bright to you in your room but it may sound bright to someone in his/her room. Between subjectivity and the huge influence by the room, you guys could be both right. I do see ADTG's point about blaming the amp. The amp could be part of the problem too, but probably not.
 
Cos

Cos

Audioholic Samurai
It may not sound bright to you in your room but it may sound bright to someone in his/her room. Between subjectivity and the huge influence by the room, you guys could be both right. I do see ADTG's point about blaming the amp. The amp could be part of the problem too, but probably not.
100% agree with you. I am sure the room or environment plays a role, not so much the amp in this case. I don't dispute how speakers measure, my point is to look at a graph and make an opinion on speaker w/o a proper audition seems not to provide the best picture on how a speaker sounds.
 
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