I believe an audio revolution is at hand.  Gone will be the expensive heavy seperates and complicated systems that most of us have......please read this entire page.

Purity of sound is what most of us crave......we want it to sound live.....nothing in between us and the performers.......however, all components have a sound and all parts inside a component have a sound.  So the main trick is to eliminate most things in the way and then purify what is left.

There are four main areas that I feel need to be addressed in high end audio:

1. First is the AC power .  We have been playing with line conditioners, filters, and power regenerators for years.......but all these things are still connected to the distorting grid.  So, the first thing we need to do is use a low distortion battery powered inverter to create our own electricity that is completely off the grid......so nothing in your house or anyones house will effect the purity of your power.  The 5000 watt Giandel Inverter ($900) does its job well fed by LifePo4 batteries.  If you are using digital amps then one $800 battery will give you sound for 8 hours straight without charging .

However, even the 2% distortion of the Giandel is not low enough........adding a Puritan line filter afterwords lowers the noise further and it can be modded for even better sound.

Then you want a separate ground rod for your stereo so none of the noise from your house ground can enter the system.  A ground filter such as the one from Puritan will lower the noise further.

The combo of Inverter, Puritan filter and super grounding system gets the noise so low you can hear things you never imagined.  This combo of things has never been available before.  The Stromtank Inverter is just the same kind of thing as the Giandel but costs 20+ times more and probably does not sound as good and you still need a filter afterwords.

Here is a link to a page about the Giandel and Puritan....with a link to a page about modding the Puritan

 

2. Digital xovers and bi and tri and quadamping .  Passive crossovers in speakers are simply limiting the sound you get.  All parts are veiled.  Eliminating parts is crucial for super transparency.  It is not only the crossover parts but the binding posts, push on connectors on the speakers, circuit board traces, and lack of tweaking inside the speaker all lead to lowered sound quality.  If you bi or tri amp a speaker actively using normal digital or analog active crossovers you are going through way too many parts.......you have normal DACs, op amps and normal amps (class D or A/B).  By using a digital crossover you have no analog parts, no DAC ships and you can drive digital amps directly without a preamp.  You can easily set the crossover points, the slope, the type of xover, delay drivers to time align, equalize the speaker so it is flat as a pancake, etc.....all without loss.  When you bi or tri amp there is no interaction between the speaker drivers and the woofers are being driven directly from the amp without lossy coils in the way.  We are talking sound so pure you will go to heaven listening.  Digital xovers allow you to equalize your speakers any way you want and also get rid of all the bass nodes and also extend low frequency response.  All of this is available now but using the standard DAC/opamp/normal amp thing.  The digital path (all digital xover and digital amps afterwords) has none of these parts.....way more pure.

Minidsp makes inexpensive pure digital xovers that can be used between a streamer and digital amps (Minidsp Flex..$500...digital in and out version).....or if you are just using CD as a source you can use the Flex as your volume control and equalizer/room corrector for a single amp system or just add another amp and you can bi-amp any drivers.....So, a CD transport to Flex to digital amp.....or two digital amps for bi-amping.....will blow your mind.  Use a streamer to add other sources in front of the Flex.......the possibilities are endless.

3. Digital amps     What the heck is a digital amp?  Class D amps are NOT digital amps...they are analog switching amp.....no ones and zero in there at all.  A digital amp is a class D amp with a digital input stage (no analog stage whatsoever). Why would you want a digital amp.......Because, it is more simple, pure and has less distortion.  You no longer need a normal DAC, a normal Preamp nor the analog cables in between.  LESS IS MORE! 

I believe the first one made was the Tact Millennium back in the late 90s.  The PCM digital signal is changed in software to PWM (class D type amplification).  Tocatta Technologies (TACT) was headed by inspired people who now work for Purifi.  It seems odd that Purifi does not have a digital amp board.....prehaps soon...they will.  Peter Lyngdorf of TACT went on to sell digital amps under the Lyngdorf name (still being made today).  I imagine he is still using the software from years ago....but maybe it has been updated for even better sound.

Technics brought out a digital amp a few years ago that was big and expensive.....It is suppose to sound great and and its output stage switched at 1.5 meg.  Technics now sell digital integrated amps for $2700 and $10K.  They have very good reviews.

Elegant Audio Solutions is a company now making inexpensive digital amp boards that can be purchased by any OEM and one can make integrated amps, amps and powered speakers using their modules.  As far as I know they are the first and only company to make a digital amp module that can be used by any manufacturer.  They have a 200 watt stereo module (used in the Peachtree GaN 1 amp), a stereo 400 watt a channel board (used in the VTV D300 amp)  and a 400 watt mono board.  The stereo boards are actually 4 amps on one board.  They bridge two of them together to give 4 times the power in stereo: (The stereo 400 watt a channel board has 4 100 watt amps or can be bridged for 400 watts stereo).  However, you can do whatever you like with the boards.  You could use the board as a tri-amp mono board where you keep two channels 100 watts for your mids and highs and combine the other two for 400 watts for your woofs.  The EAS boards have a programmable processor inside that allows you to do crossovers, equalization, multiple inputs, delay, volume control....whatever.  The boards that are in the Peachtree and VTV amps are just programmed to have a coax input and bridged outputs....nothing else.

So, how good are the inexpensive EAS digital boards in the Peachtree GaN1 or the VTV D300?  A stock GaN 1 beat a Holo May KTE DAC with a Holo Serene Preamp and Kinki labs B7 amps and two really great interconnects ($13K total).  Of course, the boards can be modified for even better sound.....and all the jacks and wiring, etc. can be upgraded for better sound.  So, we have just begun with these modules.  Will it beat a $100K DAC and and 100K preamp and a 100K amp with $20K worth of analog cables?  Probably not.......but it might be closer than you think.....and digital amps will just keep getting better and better.

One of the main things that effects the sound is the software that converts PCM to PWM.  The better the software, the better the sound.  Will better software make the minor difference that digital filters make or way more difference?  If you use better coils on the output the sound would improve.....same with caps on the output...same with power supplies, same with switching frequency (maybe raising it to 700K), same with clocking, same with damping.....etc, etc. into infinity. As more manufacturers make their own switching amp boards (hopefully using the superior GaN transistors) then what can trully be done with digital amplification will be known.  I would say it will take at least 3 years for this to mature once several high end manufacturers join in.  But these EAS based amps are great and available now for very little.

Digital attenuation is an issue using a digital amp.  Is the digital attenuation lossless?  If not, will the slight loss of info in the attenuator be insignificant to the all the other gains in a digital amp?  The LEEDH digital attenuation software is totally lossless.  Lumin uses LEEDH digital volume control in all their streamers.  Some manufacturers claim their digital volume control is lossless......what is the truth?  We need the best sound....so we want everything done as good as possible. 

There will be resistance to this kind of amplification from the "old school".  A lot of people have their ego and money tied to what they already have or already "think" is the right way to do things. And dealers do not want anything to do with cheaper all in one products.....they want to sell you a bunch of heavy separate boxes.  Most companies that sell preamps, amps and DACs are not going to like this.  They have all that inventory or heavy things to sell.   So, it takes some forward looking small companies to start the ball rolling and then eventually everyone else will HAVE to join in once the value of digital amps (plus digital xovers) comes to light.

Here is an example of what can be made (right now): An integrated amp with four inputs....usb, coax, I2S and AES.......zero loss digital volume control (LEEDH), full DSP suite with four way xover, equalization, room correction. delay, etc. and 8 channels of digital amp output....so you can quad amp drivers directly.  A plain box version could be sold direct for $7K and for $10K you can get a sexy box version with all WBT jacks.  You need four sets of speaker wires and then it is rock and roll.  Of course, you have to make your own speaker or have a speaker already and you remove its analog crossover.  You could use the integrated amp for while driving your normal speaker while you gather the speaker drivers and make your baffle for your own speakers....what fun we will have!!!!!

Right now you can buy two Peachtree or VTV amps and the two way digital xover from Minidsp ($500).  You put one amp behind each speaker and run a coax cable from the xover to each amp and biamp the drivers of your choice or you can buy a Mofi speaker (or whatever two way) and remove the ordinary xover parts and biamp the thing.....will blow your mind.  Of course, you can make your own speakers and blow your mind more.....so, on to numero quatro which is:

4. Making your own speakers   I have been making my own speakers for years and it is simple as pie.....now it is even simpler using digital xovers and digital amps.  You do not need to know anything about crossover design as you just set the numbers in the xover and listen and measure till you get the response you want.  You do need to know about box size and ports if you are going to make a ported box......however, that is pretty easy too.  You just go online and there are places to put in the speaker parameters and what frequency you want the bass to go down to and you press a button and it tells you the cubic feet and also the port size and length. If you want a sealed box then you just make it as big as you can stand and mount the driver in it and then equalize it on the bottom for the response you want.  Sealed boxes do not generally go as low so you will have to equalize more.

The simplest speaker to make is an open baffle and it sounds the most "open".  You could mount two 12 inch woofs on an open baffle and above them you have a great mid/tweeter that you cross over around 400hz (easy to do with steep crossover slopes).  Would blow your mind.  A great speaker would have two 12 inch Acoustic Elegance dipole woofs (or cheaper but still great 
Beyma 12BR70 12 inch woofers) on an open baffle and right above those drivers have one or a stack of four of the $50 8 inch planar drivers from parts express (running open baffle, as well).  Such a bi-amped and fully EQed speaker would blow your mind!
 

How about a slim box speaker using a couple of Purifi 6 inch drivers with a beryllium tweeter or amt tweeter in between.   Cross over the tweeter around 1K......blow your mind.  Whatever speaker you make you want the baffle and box (if using a box) to be rigid as heck.  I suggest layers of baltic burch Ply and green glue in between each layer....The front baffle should be at least 2 inches thick. MDF by itself (no matter how thick) is not as dead as other materials.  You could use MDF as a middle layer to add a different cancelling resonance.

You time align the drivers in the digital domain by delaying the mids and highs relative to the woof.  You do not need to step back mids and highs.  You put felt around the tweeter and even the entire baffle around the tweeter (and midrange, if a three way.....and woofer....if a two way that is crossed over above 1K).

You wire your speaker wires directly to the voice coil wires in the drivers (if accessable).  Mount Ground Enhancers and Music Purifiers right on each driver (I make and sell these things....very cheap).  You can try Bybee Music Clarifiers on the magnet of the woofs.

Let's say you buy the new Mofi speaker......you simply remove the crossover and biamp it using two GaN 1 amps and a Minidsp flex digital xover......way, way better sound and you can lower the crossover point on the tweeter to get even more info.
Much more info coming on how to make and tweek speakers.

Powered speakers   This is where digital amps will end up mostly.  Imagine a Kef Blade 2 with digital xover and digital amps built in......or any speaker.  If manufacturers don't jump on this they are crazy.  Who will be the first?  The Kef powered speaker of today use ordinary DACs and amps inside......this would be worlds better.

5-30-2023 ...... yes, it has happened.  Buchardt is releasing a bi-amped speaker using digital amps (not regular class D as they used before but true POWERDACS) and using a Purifi woofer and newly developed tweeter in a waveguide.....Please read all about the Buchardt Anniversay 10 speaker.  They ship for free worldwide. This $4K delivered small monitor has bass to 30hz!!!!!  Look out world.....the revolution has begun.....I am sure they will bring out a larger version with multiple Purifi woofs and hopefully a Purifi midrange.....maybe $7-8K for a triamped super speaker.........

I will have way, way more info coming......

If you have info about streaming and hookup to digital amps, speaker drivers, best sounding coax cables, digital attenuation, or whatever might help then please send me links or sent me emails at ricevs42@gmail.com

I want this page to be a resource for everything digital amp/digital crossover/making speaker and getting off the grid.

Being updated all the time.....join the fun!

 

 

5-30-2023 .......update.....see bottom of page.....first speaker with built in digital amps!!!!!!