It seems that when the 150 Wpc Simaudio amp drove the Focal Maestro Utopias, there was an effective compression (limiting) of the macrodynamics. JA writes that the Focals "didn't offer the unrestricted dynamics I expected" and that "orchestral climaxes just didn't climax as much as I wished.." The 600 Wpc Classe amps fared better.
Now, I find that a little peculiar. When an amp is overdriven on the test bench, it usually doesn't compress -- it usually clips. One sees the power output continuing to rise on the graph, albeit with higher and higher distortion. I would expect that distortion to be audible, so I would expect the dynamics to be present but strained-sounding.
JA, do you think that this limiting behavior is a peculiarity of the Simaudio, or am I just wrong about the subjective effects of clipping?
It seems that when the 150 Wpc Simaudio amp drove the Focal Maestro Utopias, there was an effective compression (limiting) of the macrodynamics. JA writes that the Focals "didn't offer the unrestricted dynamics I expected" and that "orchestral climaxes just didn't climax as much as I wished.." The 600 Wpc Classe amps fared better.
Now, I find that a little peculiar. When an amp is overdriven on the test bench, it usually doesn't compress -- it usually clips. One sees the power output continuing to rise on the graph, albeit with higher and higher distortion. I would expect that distortion to be audible, so I would expect the dynamics to be present but strained-sounding.
JA, do you think that this limiting behavior is a peculiarity of the Simaudio, or am I just wrong about the subjective effects of clipping?