inside todays receivers

[audioman00]

<font color='#000000'>Anyone noticed that the good old guts inside todays newer receivers and amps are starting to look a lot less healthy? I have repaired and owned alot of audio equipment through the years and have never seen such small capacitors and the avid use of IC transistors instead of good old descrete technology. For those that are not electronically inclined, just pick and old yamaha/hk/kenwood/pioneer receiver up and notice the difference in weight compared to the newer ones. Does anyone else notice the degradation in quality of av components? -audioman00</font>

 

[aussieHT]

<font color='#000000'>I wouldnt agree to that 100% as new and better parts are made, most parts are built smaller and are better
ie cars are getting lighter, and there motors are smaller and there safer &nbsp;and going faster and better fuel economy
just my opinion</font>

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

<font color='#000000'>From what I've read, there's no inherent advantage to discrete circuitry (the best modern integrated opamps are very good indeed) and Aussie has it pretty well nailed. Although, it is not hard to imagine that some makers are indeed skimping here and there. Even expensive big-name gear sometimes uses shamefully cheap parts where a better alternative could certainly have been used for the price being charged to the customer!

If (big if) they ever get the distortion problems of Class D and true digital amps ironed out, we're going to see a lot of small, light, powerful audiophile grade amps in the near future, IMO. As it is, Sony and some other makers are using Class D/digital amps in mass-market gear already for compactness, where the target buyer might not care about THD figures.

On a &quot;high-end&quot; board I sometimes visit out of curiosity, there's a lot of talk about a B&amp;O (Bang &amp; Olufsen) digital &quot;ICE&quot; module for amps. Hawke and Gene and the EE types here: any thoughts on that?</font>