Just when I thought audio made sense.....

dorokusai

It's a neat idea, hardly groundbreaking but I love the verbage used in the writeup. Imagine coupling this with an HSU product.

http://www.musicalfidelity.com/products/supercharger/index.html

Gaara

Thats the thing I saw on the cover of this month's Stereophile.

Bumps any 50wpc+ amp up to 550watts? What if you already have a 550wpc amp?

disneyjoe7

Gaara wrote: »

Thats the thing I saw on the cover of this month's Stereophile.

Bumps any 50wpc+ amp up to 550watts? What if you already have a 550wpc amp?

Buy that and place it behind a 550w amp YOU'LL GET NOTHING MORON.

Gaara

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Buy that and place it behind a 550w amp YOU'LL GET NOTHING MORON.

Maybe you get a superdupercrazy charge...like 5Kw output, now that would be something. Real men have amps in the quadruple digits.

dorokusai

It shunts the power from the incoming signal. It doesn't add anything but 550wpc.

Systems

Its just a power amp that has a special input to accept speaker level inputs just like many sub amps.

RuSsMaN

I think it's cool, and I also think Jesse needs a pair. Of course, he will want to get some speakers from the past decade also, but that's another thread.

Cheers,
Russ

Midnite Mick

Would it add some of its' own sonic signature? Could it be used for tube amps?

Not interested, just curious.

Thanks,
Mike

Systems

Midnite Mick wrote: »

Could it be used for tube amps?

Yes but the tube amp would be basically just operating as a high powered preamp.

RuSsMaN

Any amp would be.

I think the feature is nice, but makes no sense at the pricepoint. Why add on, just replace?

dorokusai

I think it dumbs down the gear and I'm hoping that our resident MF owners will comment. MF is high end and this is just weird to me.

Systems

RuSsMaN wrote: »

Any amp would be.

Yes but he asked specifically so I answered thusly.:)

I think the feature is nice, but makes no sense at the pricepoint. Why add on, just replace?

Or just use a normal preamp,it has a standard line input as well.

F1nut

I think they are weird too. I read the promo info and just shook my head.

SKsolutions

Looks like you could hang it on a telephone pole without it looking out of place

What is that. . . a 5 Farad Cap with a plug and some LED'z.

VR3

A big waste of money comes to mind.

phuz

GV#27 wrote: »

Yes but the tube amp would be basically just operating as a high powered preamp.

But would you still get the tube sound from the tube amps?

I'm curious how well these would work with my ASL Wave-20's and if I'd loose the sound and fun of the tubes.

I didn't see an MSRP on the site? Anyone know the cost of those things?

heiney9

Could I use it on my car?

H9

PolkThug

heiney9 wrote: »

Could I use it on my car?

H9

This is old news in car audio, lots of car amps have been made with high level inputs.

Gaara

phuz wrote: »

But would you still get the tube sound from the tube amps?

I'm curious how well these would work with my ASL Wave-20's and if I'd loose the sound and fun of the tubes.

I didn't see an MSRP on the site? Anyone know the cost of those things?

$5000/pr according to the glowing stereophile review.

They also seem to say it makes the sound much more dynamic without changing the sonic signature of the amp being used, so it should be perfect for a tube amp.

Wow are they big, 16.75h x 8.4w x 8.6d, not sure on the weight as stereophile lists them as 75lbs while the manual states 27.

venomclan

It cannot be better than a 200 Watt+ Sunfire....:p

reeltrouble1

phuz wrote: »

But would you still get the tube sound from the tube amps?

I'm curious how well these would work with my ASL Wave-20's and if I'd loose the sound and fun of the tubes.

I didn't see an MSRP on the site? Anyone know the cost of those things?

Sorry, but you are definetely going to lose the sonic signature in the amp up the chain unless it is extreme and most likely is so colored it sounds like ****.

I am a bit ambivilent about them. Although I suspect they might work for someone who has a pre they really like....maybe a spectral.....and an amp they do not.....j/k......It would seem Antony is trying to reach a market of folks who want the power of the Kw but for a bit less dough. I see the power supply of the supercharger is smaller and suspect this is where the cost savings is.........

Like Russ for the dough I would wonder why not total replacement, unless nostalgia and all that......

My other theory is Antony has been perusing Frizz's posts and ensured a product where everyone could get to at least 200 wpc and beyond........

One wise ole Polkster has been oft quoted, "nothing like a large amount of power on a radiating surface" or something close to that.

RT1

phuz

Gaara wrote: »

$5000/pr according to the glowing stereophile review.

They also seem to say it makes the sound much more dynamic without changing the sonic signature of the amp being used, so it should be perfect for a tube amp.

Wow are they big, 16.75h x 8.4w x 8.6d, not sure on the weight as stereophile lists them as 75lbs while the manual states 27.

EFF THAT. $5k?? Yeah I'd just get new amps.

I was curious, but now I'm just confused. I don't get it.

blakeh

If this wasn't manufactured by Musical Fidelity, I'd call 'Bullsh*t'. Still, it reminds me of this little gem from late night infomercials:

mhardy6647

Think of it as a "linear" for your hi-fi, good buddy.

These are the same guys who sell a "tube buffer"... a little, unity gain distortion box. (and I say this as a fan of the vacuum state in hi-fi).

madmax

PolkThug wrote: »

This is old news in car audio, lots of car amps have been made with high level inputs.

High level inputs are not that far fetched in the high fidelity world. I've read of a few companies which use high level inputs on their subs to keep the character of the sound the same as the rest of the system. Some examples are the REL and Avantgarde subs. At first glance I thought it was somewhat low class (just to give an indication of my thoughts at the time) but my opinion was formed back when "booster amps" for cars were rampant, people wanted to add cheap subs to their non-audiophile systems and all amps sounded the same. I've changed my mind lately.
madmax

sucks2beme

Still, I have to wonder why? Adding down stream seems a bit odd
unless your speakers were widely spaced. Why not just go
amplified speakers? Makes as much sense. Better, since you could
actively drive bass, tweeter, and mids.

mhardy6647

well, you could argue it's just another gain stage, and pigggy-backing gain stages is a time honored tradition.

The only problem is that the speaker output of a hifi amp is designed for a very low impedance load; not the sort of thing (I would think) you'd design ab initio to feed into another active device.

I think it's just a bad, bad idea.

madmax

Oh, BTW, my comments were only on high level inputs for subs, not this particular use. Seems a little weird to me to do what MF did here.
madmax

phuz

Ok lets not forget that they are still some very nice, very powerful, monoblocks. They have line level inputs and can be used as any other amp can.

From what I've now gathered so far from online info and reviews they do indeed retain the sound of the upstream amp(s). So it's a new product that probably fills a small gap where one might have some classic low power or tube amps that they really love, but just aren't capable of driving a Dynaudio Evidence or B&W N800.

As long as they really do retain the sonic signature of the preceding components in the chain, then I can understand the need and I'd be interested in trying them out. I can see where they would add a little bit of "cool factor" to any system, and keep things fun since one could now try out any low powered tube amp or whatever without any power or speaker worries.

Like I said I'd love to have the chance to put them between my ASL amps and Contour S1.4. Lord knows the danes need it. Not for $5k though...

I wonder how long it will take for someone to hook them up to a $200 AVR from a big box store and complain about how bad it sounds....

cfrizz

See if I translated this correctly guys.

From what I gather, we shouldn't be talking in WPC. Instead we should be talking about decibel level since we hear in decibels & not watts. And the decibel level we like to hear things at is around 110 decibels? Which translates into how many wpc?

However, after reading your responses & seeing the outrageous price of the thing, it makes better sense (and a whole lot cheaper)to just get an amplifier of 200wpc or more & be done with it!

venomclan

cfrizz wrote: »

it makes better sense (and a whole lot cheaper)to just get an amplifier of 200wpc or more & be done with it!

LMAO, how did I know you were going to say that? I just got off the phone with the Psychic Friends Hotline.
V