That's only because they're hooked up to junk power supplies, if you junked the PS in a Krell amp, and inserted what the chip amp is relying on, instead - guess what the Krell would sound like ...
We could do a little experiment, get a Krell and an el cheapo amp using chip amp, with PS's of compatible voltage - and do heart transplants. a.wayne gets the main Krell circuitry, with el cheapo PS implanted, and I get the Krell PS, with the chip amp almost invisible instead ... could be interesting ... 😎
A long way from that - that unit has a pretty miserable PS, and the circuitry is still discrete ...
As for what we (I actually) would recommend, indeed it has been posted a few pages back.
As to what I listen to, on and off as the feeling takes me:
Harman/Kardon 6550 integrated (2x50/70W 8/4 Ohms)
Harman/Kardon 680 integrated (2x85/139W 8/4 Ohms)
Harman/Kardon Citation 24 power (2x100/150W 8/4 Ohms)
Marantz 170DC power (2x85/105W 8/4 Ohms)
Marantz 1152 DC integrated amp (2x65/85W 8/4 Ohms) - 2 pcs
Toshiba/Aurex SB-420 (2v42W 8 Ohms)
Philips Black Tulip AH-370 power (2x60W 8 Ohms)
Sansui AU-D701 integrated (2x100W 8 Ohms)
Karan Acoustics KA-i180 integrated (2x180/260W 8/4 Ohms)
Philips Black Tulip AH-280 preamp
Marantz 3250B preamp
Luxman C-03 preamp
Harman/Kardon Citation 21 preamp
My own
Revox B760 tuner
Philips Black Tulip AH-180 tuner
Technics ST-G570 tuner
Dual CS604 DD TT, Ortofon LM30 stylus, Ortofon F15 Mk III (high output)
Sony TC-K 808 ES cassette deck
Yamaha CDX 993 CD player
NAD C 565BEE CD player
Real Time DAC, DIY Australia, 8 Philips 1453 DACs in parallel, no oversampling
B&M Acoustics 1041 monitor
JBL Ti600 floorstanders
AR 94 floorstanders
B&M Acoustics 18 floorstander
Sennheiser HD 598
My own all solid state headphone amp DMD HPH-01
My own FET/MOSFET headphone amp DMD HPH-02
My own tube, zero feedback headphone amp DMD HPH-03
van den Hul cabling
Neotech cabling
My own power line filters, DeZorel and DMD
It would be too elaborate to explain why for each and every item, so I'll comment just the few perhaps odd choices here.
The Aurex/Toshiba is my yardstick on just how far the economy class can reach. It sounds as you would never expect an El Cheapo amp to be ever able to sound, and all I did was to change the electrolytics and clean it up. It is ALWAYS a shock for High Enders, I love it.
The Karan Acoustics is my High End yardstick. To this day, the best integrated amp I have ever heard, although pricey, I imagine its US price will be around $7 k these days. Not perfect, but damn near to it.
The H/K Citation 24 amp is the most neutral amp I have ever heard, and trust me, I've heard many of them. Love it.
The ancient (cca 1977 or 1978) Dual CS604 TT, the shortes lived model ever from Dual, didn't make 6 months on the market. It all but killed off Dual's 70x higher range, a case of a manufacturer shooting his own foot. It was replaced by CS606, which doesn't compare on sound basis, but got things back in line for Dual.
The Sony cassette deck. I had 8 of them at home for 3 weeks, including Nakamichi, TEAC, Denon, etc. This one was the best to my ears, built like they don't build them any more, a fabulous machone. I had sold off my tape deck, after 30 years of owning one, but this one filled the empty space exceptionally well.
The B&M Acoustics 1041 monitor. Initially, it was my idea, a 3 way classic monitor type (10 inch bass, 4 inch mid, 1 inch treble, hence 1041). Effective enclosed volume 70 litres, net weight cca 28 kg (app. 62 lbs). Upgradeable in steps to bi-amping and tri-amping, or ultimately fully active. I developed it with much help from a friend, then Chief Engineer of B&M Acoustics. To date, this is the easiest load I know of regarding dynamic speakers, but more than that, it is tonally very neutral, hitting 36 Hz at -3dB anechoic.
Note: I may have misquoted some model designation by mistake.
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Sheeesh!! Only listing the stuff in the bedroom, for late night listening! How about a rundown of what's in the main listening area, ehhh ...? 😛, 😉
I posted that already, Frank.
Room is app. 4.2 x 3.5 m, or about 14.7 m2 (app. 160 ft2), 2.7 m high. My speakers are about 2.5 m away from me, with about 1.8 m between them. In addition to this, one wall is all woodwork, broken planes, the other is 2/3 glass. My bed, one armchair, my computer table with enclosed shelves, one chair, one armchair and one TV/Cable/printer stand.
Just about the opposite of what it should be. Far removed from ideal, yet I have no problems discerning what's what, I suppose I'm used to it.
I guess the brand has good reputation... however none of the "audiophile" shops in my city carry Cabasse. I think it's a bit idiotic that we have an excellent local manufacturer and they'd rather sell some B&W (which I personally dislike).
However you can find Cabasse speakers in the big box home cinema/hi-fi/high-tech general purpose stores where you can also buy a fridge and a huge TV, along with Jamo and other brands, some of them good.
Of course the "listening tests"... in those stores... forget it... all speakers lined 5cm from the wall, on shelves... blehhhhhhhhh
So I've never heard any of those, except the Io, they're not bad considering the form factor (very small "designer" speakers with high tech high sensitivity coaxial drivers + active sub), but of course, that involves some compromises (120-150 Hz crossover)... of course if you compare to their target competition (ie, Bose), well, what can I say 😀
Uh, yeah, actually I can say it's the only satellite+sub system I've heard that made music. But I haven't heard that many (and it's darn expensive at 3500€ for 5.1)...
Even today, a Cabasse Albatros set is worth quite a decent figure.(same same for the Goëland model)
In the late '80s, a pair of brand new 250ti's could be had for half price.
A comparison of Cabasse with JBL doesn't float, imo.
In the late '80s, a pair of brand new 250ti's could be had for half price.
A comparison of Cabasse with JBL doesn't float, imo.
... of what?
@dvv, apologies for my lame attempt at humour, thanks for the room info. Again, from my perspective, the nature of the room doesn't come into it if a system works well enough - this apparently occurs because the integrity of the low level information in the playback is sufficiently intact, audibly, and the acoustic of the recorded spaces then dominates the listening space.
Most systems give strong hints of this at certain times, with certain recordings - the aim is then to lift the quality standard of playback until the acoustic 'supremacy' of the recording space is always uppermost, at all times.
Indeed I am, I'm delving deeply into the workings of the output stage and it's a lot of one step forward, two steps back at the moment - I need to thoroughly understand what's going on at all times, and like most things in the electronics game it only gets messier the more you peer into it - in the beginning stages, at least.
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