THX-AAA Technology - The Poor Audiophile Interviews Laurie Fincham

In a recent interview by The Poor Audiophile, Laurie Fincham, Vice President of Audio Research at THX, describes the 9-year process that led to the introduction of the revolutionary THX Achromatic Audio Amplifier technology used in the Benchmark AHB2.

"The first thing you need to know about Laurie is that he’s an audiophile’s audiophile. He’s an engineer, music lover, and also a musician..."

"Talking with Laurie was a bit intimidating. For those unfamiliar with Laurie’s distinguished background ... Laurie’s work has garnered him several industry awards including the prestigious AES (Audio Engineering Society) Silver Award..."

"Laurie and I spoke a bit about existing amplifier topologies. “The Class A analog amplifier is a luxury,” he said. “Big, expensive, beautiful, but hot.” We talked about other topologies including recent moves to make audiophile Class D amplifiers. “Most people think Class D is a recent innovation,” Laurie said. “Class D is, in fact, as old as solid state and goes back to the late 50s or 60s.”"

"Instead of building upon existing technologies, Laurie and his team decided to design a better amplifier technology from the ground up. Laurie was quick to point out, “We didn’t invent or reinvent the amplifier. Instead, we looked at the shortcomings, the physics, and developed a technology to deal with that. We were motivated to do better. We didn’t stop.”"

“We’ve been working on the amplifier since 2006 ...

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