I couldn't agree more with GR.
Room, speakers, amp and our taste or preference will form opinion. We also change our taste over time. When I was teenager I liked the bass that feels in stomach and highs that shatter glass. 20- 30 years after I couldn't stand something like that. Now I am much more after sophisticated detail and imaging (good looking companion and glass of wine as well) It is funny how we all link good memories to good equipment from the past. Well if we are pulling stuff from the attic let me throw a few components in the mix; Revox A77 reel to reel, Tundberg receiver and tape player, Quad amp...
Not being professionally, (but passionately) involved in audio I have limited options in checking various amps with various speakers. Problem is, certain amps are good for certain speakers - period. The very same amp will work very differently on B & W compared to ribbon, when we judge high freq. reproduction. Amps with more pronounced highs will sound quite awful on B&W and maybe perfect on ribbons. Tube and Mosfets are made for mids. When it comes to bass reproduction, I prefer Mosfets, with full capability of driving 2 ohms.
My experience is - smaller amps are best for mids and highs. Particularly smaller tube amps, or smaller class A Alephs or GC. My combo is Cary audio 2A3 amp for mids and GC for ribbons on top. It is deadly combo. Problem is if we need to drive complex full range three way speaker in a big room with small amp. It just doesn't work. That doesn't make small amp bad - just not suitable.
I am not engineer, just desperately hooked user, but I understand that designing the amp is compromise process. I compare it to the work in my profession which is photography and color. Fixing the color is like squeezing balloon with water. At one point in color space you will subdue certain color by squeezing, but equal amount of different color will pop somewhere else in the space. Translated in amps, so far in my opinion, more Mosfets = more power, more bass and warm mids = less highs and vice versa.
Anyways, to go back on the original question; most memorable listening and enjoyment I had was with big Aleph 1.2 mono blocks on bottom and Aleph2 on top of Apogee Mini Grands. I had opportunity to hear that in one store in LA. I went back several times just to listen to that and as far as I could recall that - one of the best sounds I heard. This was long time ago somewhere during 90's.
Another experience was big VTL tube amp with Wilson (do not remember what model) speakers I heard at SF Hi Fi show. This was only two years, ago so it is recent product - biggest amp that they are making. Outstanding sound with enough power.
Ar2
Room, speakers, amp and our taste or preference will form opinion. We also change our taste over time. When I was teenager I liked the bass that feels in stomach and highs that shatter glass. 20- 30 years after I couldn't stand something like that. Now I am much more after sophisticated detail and imaging (good looking companion and glass of wine as well) It is funny how we all link good memories to good equipment from the past. Well if we are pulling stuff from the attic let me throw a few components in the mix; Revox A77 reel to reel, Tundberg receiver and tape player, Quad amp...
Not being professionally, (but passionately) involved in audio I have limited options in checking various amps with various speakers. Problem is, certain amps are good for certain speakers - period. The very same amp will work very differently on B & W compared to ribbon, when we judge high freq. reproduction. Amps with more pronounced highs will sound quite awful on B&W and maybe perfect on ribbons. Tube and Mosfets are made for mids. When it comes to bass reproduction, I prefer Mosfets, with full capability of driving 2 ohms.
My experience is - smaller amps are best for mids and highs. Particularly smaller tube amps, or smaller class A Alephs or GC. My combo is Cary audio 2A3 amp for mids and GC for ribbons on top. It is deadly combo. Problem is if we need to drive complex full range three way speaker in a big room with small amp. It just doesn't work. That doesn't make small amp bad - just not suitable.
I am not engineer, just desperately hooked user, but I understand that designing the amp is compromise process. I compare it to the work in my profession which is photography and color. Fixing the color is like squeezing balloon with water. At one point in color space you will subdue certain color by squeezing, but equal amount of different color will pop somewhere else in the space. Translated in amps, so far in my opinion, more Mosfets = more power, more bass and warm mids = less highs and vice versa.
Anyways, to go back on the original question; most memorable listening and enjoyment I had was with big Aleph 1.2 mono blocks on bottom and Aleph2 on top of Apogee Mini Grands. I had opportunity to hear that in one store in LA. I went back several times just to listen to that and as far as I could recall that - one of the best sounds I heard. This was long time ago somewhere during 90's.
Another experience was big VTL tube amp with Wilson (do not remember what model) speakers I heard at SF Hi Fi show. This was only two years, ago so it is recent product - biggest amp that they are making. Outstanding sound with enough power.
Ar2
Schematic on page 11
http://www.abamps.com/pdfs/600lx-man.pdf
The AB 400 is about half the power, but not seen very often on eBay.
http://www.abamps.com/pdfs/600lx-man.pdf
The AB 400 is about half the power, but not seen very often on eBay.
I still use my Southwest Tech. "Tigersaurus" that I built back in 79. I know there's much better amps out there, but it's never let me down, and I've been pretty hard on it.
"I still use my Southwest Tech. "Tigersaurus" that I built back in 79. I know there's much better amps out there, but it's never let me down, and I've been pretty hard on it."
Replace the input coupling cap with a good film type, Replace the cap in the feedback loop to ground with a good quality one and bypass with a small film cap, and add a good 22µF 100V electrolytic to each of the main filter caps.
You will be stunned with the improvements in the sound.
Replace the input coupling cap with a good film type, Replace the cap in the feedback loop to ground with a good quality one and bypass with a small film cap, and add a good 22µF 100V electrolytic to each of the main filter caps.
You will be stunned with the improvements in the sound.
BFD..
you've discovered that yer 'Dynaudios' suck Current.
There are several Amps that can deliver serious current.. and not all of them have a large 'wattage' output.
Some are even surprisingly Cheap.
Yer Name sez it all, lots to learn yet Mate🙂
you've discovered that yer 'Dynaudios' suck Current.
There are several Amps that can deliver serious current.. and not all of them have a large 'wattage' output.
Some are even surprisingly Cheap.
Yer Name sez it all, lots to learn yet Mate🙂
Amps
I've owned dozens of amps over the years. Like many, my tastes have changed. I initially liked the Carver M1.0t, M2.0t, the big Yamaha's, the big Denons, driving the heck out of Klipsch speakers so loud you could feel the music going through you. 80's rock baby.
Then moved to Adcom, NAD and other "mid-fi" amps with a pair of Vandersteen 2ce's, still cranking but having much more finesse and much smoother. At this point I discovered Ebay, and moved through amps from Counterpoint, Hafler, Nakamichi, tube amps from Audio Research and Antique Sound Labs.
Then got a real job, bought a super expensive stereo, including amps like the Pass Aleph 3 and Balanced audio Technology VK-200, and got rid of the rest, keeping the ARC D-76A.
I like these the best. After spending some time in DIY, I found its not cheaper and easier to make your own, and a challenge to get something as good sounding as a high end amp. Hopefully my Krell clone will work and sound good, but its more for the fun of it than any other reason, if it lasts I'll be happy. My GC was fun and I still use it almost every week; looking foward to building at least 4 more amps of different types over the next 4 years.
I've owned dozens of amps over the years. Like many, my tastes have changed. I initially liked the Carver M1.0t, M2.0t, the big Yamaha's, the big Denons, driving the heck out of Klipsch speakers so loud you could feel the music going through you. 80's rock baby.
Then moved to Adcom, NAD and other "mid-fi" amps with a pair of Vandersteen 2ce's, still cranking but having much more finesse and much smoother. At this point I discovered Ebay, and moved through amps from Counterpoint, Hafler, Nakamichi, tube amps from Audio Research and Antique Sound Labs.
Then got a real job, bought a super expensive stereo, including amps like the Pass Aleph 3 and Balanced audio Technology VK-200, and got rid of the rest, keeping the ARC D-76A.
I like these the best. After spending some time in DIY, I found its not cheaper and easier to make your own, and a challenge to get something as good sounding as a high end amp. Hopefully my Krell clone will work and sound good, but its more for the fun of it than any other reason, if it lasts I'll be happy. My GC was fun and I still use it almost every week; looking foward to building at least 4 more amps of different types over the next 4 years.
Greetings, Years ago I had one of Sonys' V-FET amps. I think it was only 150 watts per chanel but it was a real dutch oven! Boy did it run hot, which probbably led to it's demise a couple of years after I bought it. What a sweet sounding amp. I see them go for outragous prices on Ebay and Iv'e always wondered how it would stack up against todays amps. PS, I understand if the output transistors pack it in,replacments are rare as hens teeth and cost a kings ransom!
Hello again, I'm suprised that no Adcom amps were mentioned in this thread. I've found the GFA5500 to be a sweet sounding and under rated amp. I've been using mine to drive my Spica TC-60 speakers these last couple of years and they make nice music together.
Fav: Krell KAV-250a
Honorable mention: An 80's integrated. Kenwood KA-3300D
Did'nt like: Carvers like the M-500, etc.
Honorable mention: An 80's integrated. Kenwood KA-3300D
Did'nt like: Carvers like the M-500, etc.
Creek 4330 is a great sounding little amp & hard to beat anywhere near its used price range of $300 or so.
Interesting things being said in this thread. I'm in there as a cross between thylantyr and grey - more power, with less volume. More power to take more control of the voice coil and tell it exactly where to go and after that you don't need it to go that loud.
In fact, I have a problem in that the cleaner my system is, the louder I can play it - it just doesn't sound as loud when there's very little distortion. I can end up with a bit of a headache if I'm not careful.
Currently, a favourite is an old Sansui AU-X1, modified to avoid the oscillation problems that plagued this model. It drives Elac 510's with authority. And a Behringer A500 drives the Lambda PB12 bass bins with the same authority. They are so closely matched that the only time you can tell whether the Elacs are running fullrange or actively crossed at 120Hz is the change in bass below the cut-off of the Elacs (drops off somewhere below 35Hz).
Least, an AMC that couldn't handle driving my Elacs, and a Pass Aleph 3 (because I never owned one 🙁).
But, don't all SS amplifiers sound the same?
In fact, I have a problem in that the cleaner my system is, the louder I can play it - it just doesn't sound as loud when there's very little distortion. I can end up with a bit of a headache if I'm not careful.
Currently, a favourite is an old Sansui AU-X1, modified to avoid the oscillation problems that plagued this model. It drives Elac 510's with authority. And a Behringer A500 drives the Lambda PB12 bass bins with the same authority. They are so closely matched that the only time you can tell whether the Elacs are running fullrange or actively crossed at 120Hz is the change in bass below the cut-off of the Elacs (drops off somewhere below 35Hz).
Least, an AMC that couldn't handle driving my Elacs, and a Pass Aleph 3 (because I never owned one 🙁).
But, don't all SS amplifiers sound the same?
Re: Amps
Innaresting observation... always thought the D76 was something out of the ordinary.
No.
Regards, Mike.
lgreen said:
Cloth Ears said:
Innaresting observation... always thought the D76 was something out of the ordinary.
No.
Regards, Mike.
I agree Mike... The D-76 is definately still something special, If it didn't make anyones list of classic power amps those anyone's sure made a mistake!
Mark
Mark
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