Will PS Audio enter the pro market?
Subscribe to Ask Paul Ask a QuestionWith PS Audio power products in use by recording studios around the world, will the company ever venture into selling its products into the pro audio world?
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As far as I understand the purchasing process of big (broadcast) studios they define tender specs (including measurable (!) parameters) and among those manufacturers who fulfill the requirements there will be a final shoot-out including price negotiations and listening tests. In contrast the smaller (private) studios are limited primarily but the budgets available and have rather low fi specs if ever. While the audiophile starts with listening tests and then has to make more or less compromises depending on the budget available – but always having the option for future upgrades (no time limited investment as for studios). No specs defined here. And the professional honor of a hired (!) sound engineer is just to create a good sound based on the available equipment and tools. Thus he will never require a better mains supply because he believes that he can tweak the sound to the required quality level the using his expertise and tools! And he has no time to read weekly reviews showing to him that there are better audio components and tools! 🙂 The Problem for the audiophile now is: how to get the sound created without unwanted additional distortions and noise/artifacts? Resulting in the demand for highest fidelity (high end equipment no more offering integrated equalizer functions). Tweaking only possible by cables, platforms and most mysterious snake-oil products.
I’ve been in lots of recording studios, across this both country, and the world.
None of the studios that I’ve been in except the one that I yoost to own have, is tube amplifiers driving their mane speakers.
again except for my own, none of the recording studios that I’ve been in, had one of these either.
Nobody had one of these, except for me.
And that Pease of equipment is, a mixing council that uses nothing but tubes throo out its hole entire cerkets.
There are some things, that I would like to see, taking place.
In other words, for the tube power amps to drive the mane speakers of my recording studio, I would have to get those, from companies like Mcintosh Rogue Audio Conrad Johnson Manley Labs and VTL.
The pro studio market isn’t the way it yoost to be, like it was in the fifties sixties and seventies.
Warm sounding recordings, oh ya!
That’s what we done back then, I wish we were still doing that now.
But however, the mixing council I had at the time, I built it from the ground up.
It blew anything with transistors in it, right out of the water, sonically speaking.
Are you going to build a H amplifier similar to what NAD and Proton built that had 7 db of headroom? I think those were H amplifiers. What do you think of those high headroom high current amplifiers Paul? I noticed the slew rate on my Proton D1200 is only 2.5 or so. The amp is stable into 2 ohms in which it had measurable peak wattage of over 2000 watts. 8 ohms the peak power drops to 700 watts with a conservative rms rating of 100 watts. It uses a dual power supply transformer. Mine is the rare bridgable unit. They also made some unit’s with a 120V 240V switch on the back. I believe the bridgable unit if used as mono blocks to kick up the power loses the 2 ohms rating in bridgable mode. I was wondering if this type of amplifier typically has a low slew rate?
Good afternoon Joe!
I don’t quite understand when you said, “my amp has a slue rate of 1.5 or so.”
Are you saying that, that’s how much voltage your amp puts out?
In that case, in bridge mode, your amp will have a slue rate of 5 volts.
Also, your amp most likely, will be able to handle a 1.5 ohm load.
But as for the operational part of your amp, that’s not a class H, it is a class AB operational amp.
Slew rate isn’t voltage it’s amplifier speed. I was just wondering if a low slew is typical of a class H amplifier and how a low slew rate of 2.5 effects sound quality. I believe a class H amplifier is basically a switching class AB. The Proton and NAD have what’s called dynamic power on demand and are switching amplifiers that give them an unusually high dynamic headroom which I believe are class H. Maybe Paul can chime in here.
Slew rate is the time it takes voltage to rise. 1vuS means it takes one microsecond for voltage to rise to a predetermined point.
A class H amplifier refers only to the power supply not the amp, though it is typically used on class AB amplifiers. The H means the power supply has levels that can be activated. So, imagine for most signals the power supply voltage is rather low, say +/-20V DC. Since most signals are low that works well and keeps the amplifier’s heat low. But now a big bass note is coming, so in an H amp the power supply voltage will jump up to the next level to accommodate the bass note. Maybe it now jumps to +/-40V. Once the bass note is played, it reverts back to 20 volts.
Thanks for the info Paul. Basically they are class AB amps with trick power supplies to enable very high headroom to take place. An AB amplifier with H power supplies.
Operational amplifiers with rail-to-rail output stages achieve the maximum output signal swing in systems with low single-supply voltages. They can generate an output signal up to the supply rails. A large output voltage swing results in increased dynamic range.
Rails refer to supply voltage levels. An upper rail on the voltage output of an op amp refers to the highest voltage level that it can reach, which is limited by the supply voltage powering the op amp
Hi Paul, about pro audio versus audiophile equipment, once somebody told me that “pro audio they just work audiophile equipment they preformed to the highest degree”. So I totally agree with you about pro audio .. don’t bother.
Sam
I don’t really understand this comparison. Pro audio uses the recording venue and equipment as part of the process. The studio is used as if it was another instrument. They choose guitars, guitar strings, keyboards, amps and even the effects are all part of the choices they make until you hear what they want you to hear.