A long ...listening story

[sakis]

READ IF YOU HAVE THE TIME ......ITS LONG ....

all this is a listening test between 3 amps all of them with the same source same cables same music and same speakers

source is a sony CDP XE320 5532 UPGRADED muting circuits replaced with relay and some upgrades in the power supply

speakers are near field monitors made by visaton 6.5" woofer and vifa tweeter 18db/4300 hz

standard amplifier was a P3A dual mono/ @120ma bias /1302-3281 outs / @40+40 volts dc ( as in the original schematic no inductor in the out )

DUT #1 accuphase E205 integraded amp ( preamp included ) selectors and all is mechanical but the device is made with extreme care inside

DUT#2-3 tuner preamp HAFLER SERIES 945 ( all selectors is electronic toshiba tc 91xx series ) + transnova 9300 2x250w hafler amp


ok.... for starts and for the reckord i will say that the 945 tuner preamlifier is a terrible device the input selectors have a terrible crosstalk between sources plus that the all device is too complicated to be quiet (even though recaped and op amp upgraded ) .... so i removed the preamp from my tests since it wasnt the DUT anyway

also since amplifier was my issue ocassionally i try between a 5532 based buffer ( alps blue line equiped ) and a totally passive "preamp" made of a good quality switch ( SHUNT CONFIGURATION ) and alps blue line 2x47k pot/ultimax plugs and canford cables ...

basically my tests were based in the passive preamp except the accuphase tha features his own preamp

Please notice that all units are in perfect shape most of them recaped and pretty sure to be very balanced ( performance/scope readings between ch A_B is the same ) scopes and gens agree with that


Starting with my favourite P3A what a get from it is rich, warm , sweet, everything is there regarding the midle , soundstage is perfect , also extended in the back ,and stereo image is very detailed .... the only negative is high that are very detailed ,many ,clear and crisp .... but just a bit .... bit messy the mess i locate somewhere arround 6-7KHZ but its nothing realy i would worie about . ( cables are kinda long and this amp doesnt feature a coil in the output and i think that this is the issue ... one day i will try )

compaired this with the hafler 9300 transnova i noticed that except the power and dynamics ( which of course is not the issue since you cannot compair a 2x72 W with a 2x250 W) but in low levels it seemed that the P3A had a better low end and bit more present midle ..... beyond that i couldnt find anything diferent and also i couldnt say anything about tests in much higher power since i curently work with near field monitors cause my shop is too big and too full of tiles and glass to have a proper listening area .

regarding the high issue it seemed to me that hafler was just a tiny bit less messy in the high but also left me with the impression that the ends generally were kind of limited .....it seemed that the P3A had a better band width in both low and high end ..... midle was just a tiny bit darker coming from the hafler monster


ok now here comes the accuphase keep in mind that the test is kind of unfair since integraded amps tend to be more noisy since way too many things happen arround there ....also accuphase has only mechanical switches and that is supposed to be a drawback and even more noisy than the hafler ...

on the contrary the accuphase is ultraquiet since its a device that is made with extreme caution and order is the first thing you see inside .

then compaired with the above the CD in the cd input the first thing you notice is that the amp is ultraquite and you may have connected more than one active source in the amp but even at full volume you will here absolutelly nothing from it

then listening tests appear to have no bandwidth limitations in the low end but compaired to both i found that sound stage together with the midle area where more compressed and things that happend in the rear of the stage were more dark ...the strange thing actually happend in the high and appered to be much more diferent from the above

it seemed like someone inserted a high Q filter in the amplifier ....upsidedown T with the notch arround 6.500 hz so all the mess from there completelly vanished .One could expect that with such a behaviour will also have some effect in the upper high area .... but it doesnt ...the rest of the high is crisp /crystal clear/plenty and you get also the feeling that is a short of emphasis in the area of 8-9khz and above
( notice that in the outs of the accuphase there a quiet large inductor )

also notice that sound was too perfect so i didnt bother to seperate pre and main amplifier thus was anable to find out if this was a pre or main amp issue

results
1) it seems to me that big part of the game is arround inductors
2) i am bit puzlled up since i am scope guy and i dlike to see diference like that in my scope and be able to determine if all this diference ( though tiny bits and fragments of small details is something that i can control with my tools

thank you for you time

[fotios]

Come on bre Saki.
You wrote a whole sentoni. Suppose that many people here, suffers from afragia (afragia = the new H1N1 virus)
To me, your article is very interesting but i am in "my down" to stilo gramma in you. I preffer a little havale to enjoy you.
How is going familly? Your son? Hope all of you to be entaxi. And please, don't sell pedi to buy Datsun like the citizens of Santa Barbara-Athens (not Callifornia!)
Ante, tell me your news.

Fotis

[sakis]

thanks for join in fotios

i am fine hope you are too !!!

expensive equipment makes a parade in my shop .... my reputation as an excelent repairman grows day by day ..... probably the same high grows my ego also ha ha ha !!!

i am fine baby is also very fine ...beyond that i feel very happy and privilidged to learn explore ( make some money also ) from the wonderfull world of audio ....

best regards sakis