The V1 amp was sourced by CrealM (basically a representative/broker) through a very large Chinese amplifier builder. The output stage (the part that makes the input signal large to drive the woofer) used a design from the build house. It was not my choice, as preferred options Doug G. and I presented were passed by (10-20% more expensive
). After the 2nd large batch started failing, Doug and another engineer identified a common point of failure due to some loose tolerance parts which could drift into a point of thermal instability, especially in the small amp chamber. Instability means once past a threshold, the design would continue to drift toward a failure state. Obviously the first batch mostly worked, but that result proved not repeatable given the push for cost cutting.
Later amps of the exact same design (at least they intended it to be the same) from CrealM's own build house was also problem ridden. The V2 amp retained the input signal circuitry and the power transformer from the original amps and replaced the output stage with the new design which was built in the US and assembled and loaded on the Chinese sourced amps replacing the original output stage. The V3 amp came after AV123 ran through the China sourced amp parts (plate, input section and transformer). A new input section was created, the separate adjustment panel was eliminated, and the power supply and all parts were sourced and assembled by QSC. From what I understand, these were about 2-3x the cost to build as the original V1 amps. For what it's worth, IMO, murrel is likely to loose money handling and delivering the V3 amps at $225, and should be charging about $250+ shipping unless everything is boxed, packed, and ready to ship without any handling, pick up or checking prior to shipment to buyers. I'd suggest pushing harder on QSC for the pricing if they want to get rid of the parts, or stick to $250 so as to not have anyone else get sucked into the money pit of AV123.
I had no involvement with the development of nor hands on knowledge of the V2 or V3 amplifiers, so much of the above info is 2nd hand from those with some involvement combined with what I've observed from owners.
