gocubs42 said Paul I just can't do 7k for an amp. It just doesn't fit into my budget. It really was a stretch for a modified PWD to Directstream. Is there anything else in play in the amp category between a 7k amp and a Sprout. I currently have the HCA-2 that has been in your shop twice for repairs over its lifetime. i was hoping for a PS audio replacement but I just can't do the 7k.You'll have to give up those season tickets! I agree though...Go Cubs!!
I’m certainly not against PS Audio going for the best, and if they can do it for $7K that’s pretty impressive. It’s just that Paul has been talking about this amp for a long time and was originally projected to be $3K (Class D amp), which turned into $4K because the front end needed more work, then I recall reading it went to $5K (which may have been after Class D was scrapped), and now as it is closing in on a finished product it’s $7K, and that’s not guaranteed by any means. I was really on board when this was a Class D, mainly because it could be left on continuously without spinning the electric meter out of the park. I like to go in and out of the listening room through the day and hate turning my tube amp on and off multiple times a day. Now the amp is a MOSFET design with tube input stage. Certainly a tempting combination but not the kind of amp that should stay on continuously as I dreamt of. Is this bad/wrong? Absolutely not, just not what I was expecting and getting into a different financial strata. I applaud PS Audio for trying to produce the best, I just (probably) won’t be a customer.
George Moneo said My point is that $7,000 -- while out of pmotz's price range (and certainly mine, as well) -- is not unreasonable for a dual-mono amp. I wish it would be less expensive but I know exactly what Paul is saying about "mission creep" and pricing. I greatly admire the "I am all in, go strong or go home" ethos. It's what makes great products that folks like us will buy again and again.You nailed it, George.
A $7,000 amp which truly can play with the big boys would be a gift. And I certain very exciting to design and build.
gocubs42 saidPaul I just can’t do 7k for an amp. It just doesn’t fit into my budget. It really was a stretch for a modified PWD to Directstream. Is there anything else in play in the amp category between a 7k amp and a Sprout. I currently have the HCA-2 that has been in your shop twice for repairs over its lifetime. i was hoping for a PS audio replacement but I just can’t do the 7k.
On a totally unrelated yet related note, I was a Cubs fan from the tender age of nine in 1966 – I had the complete 1966 roster on baseball cards – until they broke my effing heart by losing the NL championship game against the Florida (now Miami) Marlins, my “home” team, in 2003. I lost $50. The divorce is final.
pmotz said I like to go in and out of the listening room through the day and hate turning my tube amp on and off multiple times a day. Now the amp is a MOSFET design with tube input stage. Certainly a tempting combination but not the kind of amp that should stay on continuously as I dreamt of. Is this bad/wrong? Absolutely not, just not what I was expecting and getting into a different financial strata. I applaud PS Audio for trying to produce the best, I just (probably) won't be a customer.That's a good point and here's what we're doing about that. Because I am the same way. The standby button will turn off the input tube but nothing else. The MOSFET section and main power supplies will be able to stay on, warm and ready to go, like you'd want any amplifier to be. The last thing you want is a cold amp, plus, even if it warmed up quickly, you still lose the benefits of a long many month burn in - as we all want to have.
The tube needs very minimal break in, relative to the power supplies and solid state stages. So this scheme works quite well and I am excited to implement it.
pmotz said I like to go in and out of the listening room through the day and hate turning my tube amp on and off multiple times a day.You're lucky. My McIntoshes have to physically plugged in and then unplugged. I salivate for an on/off button...
Paul McGowan saidThe tube needs very minimal break in, relative to the power supplies and solid state stages.
And a tube warms up very quickly so it need not be powered up all the time.
These smallish input tubes last thousands of hours and even good ones are not that expensive. One could reasonably leave the amp on all day and just put it into standby for the night.
Elk saidAnd a tube warms up very quickly so it need not be powered up all the time. These smallish input tubes last thousands of hours and even good ones are not that expensive. One could reasonably leave the amp on all day and just put it into standby for the night.
That’s what I do. Until the heat in the room gets to be too much.
That’s one thing I envy all of you in cold climes…
Yup. At least you’d have the choice. I do, however, use these same tubes in my preamp now and turn them off at night and when not in use. They tend to lose some of their magic after being on too long I find, so with careful use I can easily get a year, maybe year and a half out of them.
As a feature tip for the new amp you might look at Electrocompaniet.
They use what they call SPAC Serial Power Amp Control to invoke bridge mode amongst other things.
It would be nice if the new amp has some kind of diagnostics built in via an Ethernet interface.
To bring it over the top you might even look at IPMI and/or SNMP messages.
Here is what their owners manual of their Remote say:
'Amp data
Use the wheel to choose between AMP STATUS and BIAS CURRENTS.
Press OK to confirm. Press EXIT for the previous page.
Amp data: shows ampere, temperature and connection status of connected power amplifiers.
Bias currents: shows the actual bias current of the connected power amplifier.’
I’m begging you, please please PLEASE put in a 5VDC trigger to put the amp to sleep mode. You never did this with the DS/PWD and it drives my wife nuts to have to hit multiple power buttons to turn things on and configure inputs per the checklist that’s as complicated as the 787 pre-taxi procedure.
Make it simple. More users will buy when you branch into separate markets. Really.
–SSW
Xmas is xlose! 
My lovely PassLabs amps (x1 + x250) are almost packed to be sold off eBay or aGon. And after the recent DS firmware upgrade the sound is begging for some extra dynamics and liveliness. Any hopes? Or am I better of with a new photo camera and old trusty x250 (I do not use the x1 since the DS is introduced in the chain)? 
Sure. We’ve now passed the design threshold on the new power amp where I’ve made the commitment to go forward. In our process that’s a big deal and this is where we start to spend all the money to bring a product to market. Over the least several years I have not been happy enough with the sound of the prototypes I’ve designed to take this step and kept searching for a better amp. Now it’s hear. We’re moving forward and committed to producing this amp.
Current schedule has it being released in March. Next step in the process is we have to approve some design changes engineering has asked for. Arnie’s coming over this week to help me listen and approve or deny those changes. Based on that outcome engineering will redo the PCBs, design round two of the units and we move to Alpha stage. That we should see in November. Hopefully there’s no further changes needed and we then commit to production and order the first round. Production rounds take about 12 weeks for all the parts and processes to get to a point where they’re walking out our back door.
We’re ‘close’. I might add that the process is a long and slow one, and it’s terribly hard for me to sit on my hands waiting, but doing it this way, with real process in place and systems that actually work produce far better, more consistent results when products actually launch than the panic mode production we used to employ for many years.
Paul, you’re going to bring these monos to Denver? Based on what you’ve said here it sounds like there’s a little ways to go before the design and sound is optimized.
They are not monos. They are stereos. And yes, I am bringing both, one for the main panels the other for the subwoofer towers. Oh, the design’s done and locked in. What’s happening now is getting it production ready. Can we reduce the number of transformers? Consolidate regulators? Move this over here, feed that off of this rather than that? Taking a hand built prototype and getting it production ready is a big exercise and one we carefully evaluate on a step by step basis to make sure the sound is not harmed and only enhanced.
Will it have a tube hour meter? Or do I have to make my own using the 5VDC trigger?
–SSW
Sorry Paul. Why on Earth did I think they were monos? Oh well.
Streets Still Works said Will it have a tube hour meter? Or do I have to make my own using the 5VDC trigger?–SSW
No, no display of any kind.
These small signal tubes last many thousands and thousands of hours. And are inexpensive.
If one is truly concerned. Just replace it every two or three years and forget about it.
Streets Still Works said Will it have a tube hour meter? Or do I have to make my own using the 5VDC trigger?–SSW
Now I’m confused, does it have a remote trigger?