What amp kit to power BBC style ls3/5a clones?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jump to Latest
#22
sunvalleylaw said:
@Galu, I would love to visit your country someday, and bring my mountain bike. Looks like some really nice biking up there.
Click to expand...
My memories of cycling in the billowing hills of Perthshire with only Golden Eagles for company will never fade, unlike the muscles in my creaky old legs!

Glad to have been of help on your audio expedition. Hope it doesn't turn out to be an uphill struggle!
 

Attachments

  • Perthshire.jpg
    Perthshire.jpg
    84 KB · Views: 392
#25
AkitikA GT-102 power amplifier Page 2 | Stereophile.com

With KEF LS50 and... Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a
With the Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a

Just when I thought I'd found the perfect amp-speaker partnership, I discovered an even better one: the AkitikA GT-102 driving Falcon Acoustics' revealing LS3/5a ($2995/pair). I judge all audio components by how they play solo piano. For piano, I need solid but not hard. I need delicately insightful reproduction that allows acoustic forces and rhythmic shifts to be marvelous to behold. I need to hear the keystrokes, pedaling, wooden soundboards, and microphones on stands. I want to be in the presence of a big, expressive music machine. I want to sense the spirits of pianist and composer. With the AkitikA driving the Falcons and Samson François playing three CDs' worth of Debussy's music for solo piano (Erato 638754 2), I got all of that—especially the rhythm shifts and a feeling for the composer's intentions.

Playing a variety of solo-piano discs, I compared the GT-102 with the less powerful but sevenfold-more-costly PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium. The AkitikA seemed to emphasize the extreme ends of the keyboard; the PrimaLuna emphasized the presence region.

The AkitikA and PrimaLuna sounded a lot alike driving the KEF LS50s; they sounded a lot different driving the 15-ohm Falcon LS3/5a's. The GT-102 made the Falcons sound fatter, deeper, fuller; the PrimaLuna made them sound leaner, brighter, more transparent—but also more taut and solid.

I suspect the main reason the ProLogue Premium and GT-102 sounded so different was not an issue of tubes vs op-amps, but the way their power supplies interacted with the Falcons' impedance, which is far higher than the norm...
Click to expand...
LM3886 LOVES speakers with high impedance.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom