Why are amplifiers so expensive

In addition, tube amps are super heavy as they house more components making them less portable and a nuisance to transport. To sum it up, they are fantastic, as they are fragile!

Within the anatomy of a full tube amplifier, you will have preamp tubes and power amp tubes as the amps engine room. The function of the preamp tubes is to color the input signal which is how each individual tube amplifier acquires their signature sound. The signal, then, passes over to the power vacuum tubes which turbocharge the signal and transfer it to the speakers to blast out the sound, providing the mass volume. A valve amp again can have up to four of them installed if it is a high wattage amp.

So as you can see, an amplifier carrying four sets of pre and power tubes will not be a cheap amplifier to purchase compared to a solid-state amp. Besides pre and power tubes, tube amplifiers have other components that make them heavy on the wallet.

Let me explain…. Output transformers are a critical component within tube amplifiers. Not to mention that these components also require more fancy wiring to configure them compared to the simple circuitry of a solid-state amplifier.

Instead, they use transistors and diodes, which are dirt cheap compared to output transformers, thus making solid-state amps cost way less than a premium tube amplifier. Since a bigger chassis requires more use of raw materials, it incurs more cost to the manufacturer, which, in turn, equates to a higher retail value of the amplifier. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.

Previous Next. DesiPower Lifer. Nov 22, 15, I saw a 2 channel Audiosource amp, 40 watt each channel for a little over bucks, wow Now I can get a 7. Next question I have is, is it possible to use a AVR for amplification only? Some do come with AUX ports but that's gonna handle only 2 channels.

Maybe find a bunch of super olds ones with aux input or just use the RCA and 2 channels? Sep 30, 85, 9, NutBucket Lifer. Aug 30, 26, Basically supply and demand. Also, look for an AVR with a multi-channel analog input.

They exist. And finally even if their output power is inflated, who cares? You can to ear-drum damaging volumes in average setups with 20W. Last edited: Feb 12, NutBucket said:. DesiPower said:. How do i look for that? Dec 12, 26, Messages: 22, Location: Philadelphia PA. There are many books that can help those who are new to this.

JoeESP9 , Mar 8, You know, back in the early days of computers people were told that when buying a computer, to get the best one, they should insist that the computer comes with LRF support even if the machine seemed more expensive. If you're buying a Marantz especially starting out you should get the receiver. It'll give you everything you need to listen to music with in one box including a tuner If you're worrying about the 40 euro price difference between a receiver that has a tuner, pre and an amp in it and an amp which will require at least a pre and a source to be useful then your worries about CCNE are beyond the help you will get from this one thread it might take years and a thousand threads, and your worries will just get bigger Acronyms will cost you money BTW, welcome to AK - stick around and six months to a year from now you will be an "expert" and will have a stack of gear to prove it.

Messages: 30, Location: SW Missouri. Sam Cogley , Mar 8, Messages: 5, Amplifiers and seperates in general are more expensive sometimes because of the quality parts and implementation that goes into vs everything stuffed in oe box sold for mass market, these seperates also dont sell in the great numbers like recievers because they seem more complex to many consumers so there unit cost is higher to make it profitable.

Weps , Mar 9, If a reciever is a multi channel model many forgo balance because you can do the same thing with speaker level menu settings. Messages: Dedicated power amplifiers typically use more robust power supplies, along with more output devices per channel, which results in the ability to deliver more current when needed into low impedances. A result of this up-building is that the amplifier will generate more heat, which means more extensive heatsinking to dissipate the heat, and the associated stronger chassis to support the added weight of a large power transformer, the heatsinks, and all the other circuitry.

Typically, the mundane mechanical parts such as a 15 pound power transformer of an amplifier will cost a significant part of the parts cost, so such things as a thicker chassis adds significant cost. A very general figure of merit on a power amplifier is it's ability to deliver double the power for each halving of the load impedance.

An "ideal" watt amplifier would for instance deliver watts into 8 ohms, watts into 4 ohms, and watts into 2 ohms. If you see it again it's because something has changed so please set your preferences accordingly. Page 1 of 3. My Studio. Why are good amps so expensive? Aren't amps now commodity? Sorry, I'm just a fool who does not understand that much about electronics. But I hear that my high end devices have good amps somewhere The Real MC. Designing a power amp with excellent fidelity is no walk in the park.

I should know because I'm an EE who has studied power amps and used them in practice. Now maintaining that fidelity at high power demands and with reactive speaker networks - that separates the men from the boys.

You get what you pay for. Better parts don't explain such huge differences. Manufacturing costs between mass production and handmade exemplars differ dramatically. Good amps are so expensive because of common beliefs in what is good. As the result, mass produced amps contrary to common beliefs are bad, while really good amps are made in low quantities. And, if they anyway are costly to manufacture, it would be a shame to use mediocre parts in them. Francis Vaughan. Was the OP's question about power amps i.

Talking about those as commodity make more sense, as power amps haven't really changed that much over time.

Hard to get lower than a certain price here without serious compromises. Not that there are not a lot of very expensive power amps that cost not a great deal more in components than very similar lower priced designs. There is some magic in design, but not as much as the audiophile press like to believe.

If it is about op-amps and gain stages, it makes a bit more sense. You can pay even more than this for a slightly larger little box with a discrete op-amp inside it. So about a to one price variation. So 30c and 63c each op-amp for very commonly used audio grade op-amps. That is certainly commodity.