Increase Sound Quality XS Series Amps

[dwnrodeo]

I have been contemplating a project to increase sound quality in an XS6600 amplifier. I bought a piece of wall art a few years back which was a PG concept that never made it into production. It's a custom XS6600 size heat sink which came with XS6600 end plates and a blank XS6600 board. I was thinking about purchasing a working 6600, replacing some of the components to increase the sound quality and placing it into the custom heat sink. The problem is, I don't know enough about amplifiers to know which components to replace or if I can replace them at all. I see people doing Burr Brown upgrades to MS amplifiers and was curious if I can do something similar with an XS amplifier. Is this possible or am I asking too much?

[knightrider358]

Interested in seeing where this goes............and the opinions some will give too.......can be a VERY subjective subject......

[ttocs]

xs was a good board. Watch out or else suddenly the old ultra disks sound good and ya doint know why whispering to yourself "THESE SPOUND BETTER" AN SUDDENTLY $80 FOR A DEF LEPARG ALBUM LOOKS LIKE A GREAT DEAL!!! IS THAT REALLY A $500 HEWEY LEWIS SPORTS NEWS?@! Well it is the Japanese gold disk still sealed...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HUEY-LEWIS-SPOR ... 0705185494

[vwdude]

Not sure if the power supply uses opamps in that amp but if so then yes you can upgrade to burr brown. Also you can upgrade the audio processing caps,to audio grade caps. I'd do a full recap while at it. I'm sure it'll sound great when done but I'd be curious if you'd actually hear a difference.

[dwnrodeo]

I'll be the first to admit that I don't have "golden ears", but when I switched my old XS setup for a Xenon I swore I could hear an improvement. Maybe it was because the Xenon had over twice the power as the XS I replaced, or maybe it was a perceived improvement, I can't be sure. Either way, I thought it would be a fun project to try. I'm planning for my new install which won't start until next year, and tinkering with an amp sounds like a great winter project. XS amps have always been a favorite of mine and the 6600 would fit the bill. I plan on using my pioneer P99RS to control all crossovers and processing so upgrading those components in an amp are not a concern.

Don't worry ttocs, I don't think I'll slide down that slippery slope that many claimed audiophiles do. I'm not looking for 24/192 music or vinyl rips. CD quality 16/44 works just fine for me.

[Eric D]

Years ago I did an A-B comparison of a Tantrum amp vs a ZX amp. Keep in mind the Tantrum is a MOSFET design and the ZX is Bipolar. That in itself is a huge difference.

At the same level I could hear no difference. So, two totally different components sounded the same to me. I then did an A-B comparison between a Rockford Fosgate (again MOSFET), and ZX amp and the ZX blew it away. I ran other people through the test and they all agreed.

So my findings were that one company can use very different parts and still acquire their "signature" sound. I don't know for sure, but I would guess the same engineer for the ZX also did the Tantrum. This is likely why they sound the same.

I never did A-B the XS, but I have worked on XS amps and they sounded great. I am pretty confident an XS and a Xenon will sound the same at the same level. Having so much more power is one way the Xenon tends to sound better.

I also am against upgrading internal parts with the expectation of better sound. A lot depends on the design of the amp itself, but any amp with a lot of global feedback is not going to benefit from changing parts to higher grades. The use of feedback pretty much negates this. If you had a feedback free design, then yes, going with a Burr Brown over a jelly bean op-amp would be improvement, and some people might even be able to hear the improvement.

[dwnrodeo]

Thanks for the reply Eric. I've only ever owned PG, with the exception of one Pioneer Premier amp my brother gave me, so I can't comment on the sound of other amps. I guess upgrading parts is not a worthwhile investment.

[kg1961]

Great info