New range of pioneer Amps damn good

@SoundMaster

please arrange an 8601 for me.. coming to pindi tomorrow and will be there till Monday agar ho sakay to in dino me ker dein so that I'll pick it up from you

8604 hands down

If can get an original SS REF it would be far better than pioneer. Just look at the specs for REF 4.400. SNR > 110dB vs 95dB for pioneer and Damping factor of > 1000 vs not mentioned for pioneer lol Soundstream REF4.400 4 Channel Amplifiers at Onlinecarstereo.com2

I once bought a Pioneer PRS 4 channel amp for my Focal KRX2. IMHO these components deserve better amplification.

These GM series are good amps for a budget setup and much better than the so called Koren or China amps. Having said that I simply won't recommend them to be used along with hi-end speakers or components.

oki I might pick it up from maddy bhai on sat.

Ha ha.....Well in that case atleast pioneer is built under license and is CEA 2006 compliant......unlike others (H)

Haha kia yaad karwa dea 14k new amps sold for 22k used.

Yes you are right, these are much much better than Solidaudio and cheap china brands. Thanks God people are now over with "SOLID AUDIO" aik zamana thaa jab sab solid audio ka danka bajatay that and branded stuff ko farrigh samhajtay thay, SALUTE ! I still remember those threads LOL. Also true that since price is almost same everywhere so choona lagnay ka dar kam hay.

Anyways
Talking about THD and SNR

1. Pioneer Premier PRS-D2100T:

• SNR 100db
• THD 0.005%

Pioneer PRS-D2100T (prsd2100t) 600W Max, Premier PRS-Series 2-

VS

2. Focal FPS 2300RX

• SNR 89db
• THD 1.0%

FPS 2300RX

VS

3. Audison LRx 2.9

• SNR 82db
• THD 1.0%

Now considering THD and SNR value Pioneer scores much better than the Focal and Audison, but does that really make Pioneer PRS a better amp than Focal FPS and Audison LRx ?

The above graph is for Focal FPS 4160, as you can see in the graph, the distortion varies with the output and power applied. See THD is different at 1 Watt whereas different at 100 Watts. It varies with power applied and also keep in view that this specific graph is measure by a signal of 1KHZ. Will at be same a t 2Khz? NO.

So the crux is, not all the manufacturers specify the exact numbers. So unless you don't know how it was measured and at what instance of frequency or power, then it will be misleading.

Also THD and THD+N are two different things. While measuring some manufacturers take sum of 4 HD's while some take 6 HD's. And Noise (N) can be obtained by eliminating a source (reference) signal from the measuremnt.

Same theory goes with the S/N ratio.

Rest @DrShaggy can elaborate it a bit.

Edit: Also the time interval "t" for the measurement (Length of measurement in time domain) changes the numbers as well

Aaalaa Taimoor bhai, replied like an engineer I dont think there is much left for me to add even if i wanted to. Kaisay ker letay hain aaaaaaap taimoor bhai..kaisay???

Just to make it easier for people like me to understand and imply it in real life, THD is the sum of the original signal supplied to the amplifier and the additional (sometimes wanted sometimes unwanted) noise added by the amplifier or any other equipment in the signal path for that matter. Ideally the perfect equipment, be it an amplifier, HU or a DSP shouldn't add any other noise etc to the original signal and thus have no distortion but as we know, the world isn't perfect :P So, each amp etc DOES add distortion or noise to the original sound. And THIS additional noise or THD or distortion is what gives each amp etc its own sonic characteristics. 

Another thing is what these numbers printed by the manufacturers mean in real life and how they should affect the decision to buy or not a specific piece of equipment. Most people believe that a lower THD number represents a better amp and mostly it is correct. Quality amps etc have THD too low to be audible or to be perceived. But, while THD is attributed one of the "measurable" aspects of a amplifier etc's sound quality, it however doesn't directly imply that an amp with a lower THD level is better than amp with a higher THD number (which is measured in percentage). Commonly the manufacturers are not too honest with their stated THD digits particularly they don't mention the measuring conditions and parameters as Taimoor bhai pointed out. The more meaningful number is THD+N which most manufacturers conveniently omit. Usually it is measured at 1khz frequency alone. And truth is THD is different at different frequencies and at different power levels. Another interesting fact is pertaining the human perception of distortion or THD. Listen to a 1khz tone with 1% THD and you can easily pick out distortion affecting the sound. But, turn on some music and you will have a hard time even pointing out THD levels upto 5% ;) In a car install environment particularly, HU, DSP or amplifier's THD levels should be the least of ones concerns distortion-wise. The most distortion inducing elements in any system are the speakers themselves! With the subwoofer being the most distorted element in the system, sometimes upto 15% even.

Rest if someone wishes to know more about THD in technical terms, @roms bhai can help them out by shedding light on the technical stuff because you know what they say about engineers, "they do it with precision" ;)