Steve Keiser, the legendary circuit designer, has asked us to share some of the stats of the forthcoming Luminance Monoblocks . . . to see if "we can entice some folks". Entice? We're going to have to ship a Luminance bib with these amps. There's also a VERY interesting tie-in to audio cable construction.
The highlights:
- Power Output: 450 watts into 8 ohms, 900 watts into 4 ohms, 1200 watts into 2 ohms. Able to drive 4 pairs of speakers per channel.
- Slew Rate: 600 volts/microsecond (um, wow.)
- Distortion: Less than 0.1% . . . at any power level, at any frequency.
- Frequency Response: DC to 1 Megahertz.
- Current Output: 40 amps peak to peak.
- Signal to Noise Ratio: 130dB below full power.
- Efficiency: 94%
- Damping Factor: 3000* ?!?
A damping factor of 3000? Here's the interesting tie-in to audio cable construction - the damping factor varies according to conductor. The amps measure 3000 . . . with a 6 gauge solid core conductor, which coincidentally is what we use in our Genesis Series cables. Using a 14 gauge solid core conductor, the damping factor drops to half of that, 1500. With a 12 gauge, stranded conductor, the damping factor drops to 250!
We're not surprised, you can watch a video about how Virtual Dynamics chooses conductors here.
Just what is "damping factor"? Here's a short excerpt from www.classic-audio.com:
"If you don't understand basic electric current and voltage, let's just say that damping factor is a figure of merit that tells you how good an amplifier is at controlling a speaker system. The larger the number, the better it is. At 100 or above, it's pretty darned good. Below 20 or so, it's pretty poor.
When one amplifier's damping factor is higher than another's, that tells you that the amplifier with the higher damping factor can better control the speaker systems, and all other things being equal (frequency response, phase shift, distortion, etc.) that it is a better amplifier."
Ok. So 3000 should be decent.
So when is this premonition going to appear on the scene, or better yet, in your listening room? At what cost? These are questions I don't have firm answers for. How "enticed" are you? If you are interested in getting your hands on some of the first, please give us a call or email and let us know. The more interest there is, the sooner we'll be able to bring them out. What will they cost? I can offer one guarantee, it's not going to be ridiculously cheap like the KST-150. What were they thinking with that one?? I hope by now you've had a chance to read Sam Tellig's article in Stereophile about the KST-150, and how it would receive the attention it deserves if it was priced at $18,000.
By the way, we still have a few remaining units of the loss-leader KST-150 if you're in the market for the world's best stereo amp under $3000.
If you're on the geeky side, you'll enjoy reading about Steve Keiser's design philosophies at Dagogo.com.
-Jeff
