Soulution Preamp with Non Soulution Amp

Skanda said:

Hey sharks,

Just wanted to start a discussion on interesting amps to pair with a soulution pre. I have a 721 running into an odyssey kismet feeding some s5 mk2s.
I don't _think_ i need a new amp, but it's an interesting topic to muse on

Would love to get ideas on possible pairings to try out. No worries re budget etc as I don't intend this to be a purchase advice thread

Happy Friday!

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Soulution seems to like Soulution meaning they seem to work together better than with others I have a solution amp and a ayre pre and will change to a solution pre when I can.
very low noise floor just got the amp so still working it all out and breaking it in.
I would get a solution amp if you can swing it

what soulution amp did you pick up? iirc soundstage review of ayre kx r/kx r twenty were on a soulution 710 or 700 monos
which pre were you planning to pair with it?

I am not ready to buy any thing yet the 725 with phono is what I would look at.

I have the ayre MXR 20 pre now and had the ayre monos 20s great gear

I got the 701 still breaking it in is it better yes by a lot can not say much more till it is broke in and I get use to it

The pre is a ways off I am using a Burnmister 100 phono which I like a lot

Main problem with Soulution is cost for me I like the sound it is very hard to hear the top brands in my area or any area .

I can not see tubes coming back into my life they sound just fine they are not trouble free

Garth said:

I am not ready to buy any thing yet the 725 with phono is what I would look at.

I have the ayre MXR 20 pre now and had the ayre monos 20s great gear

I got the 701 still breaking it in is it better yes by a lot can not say much more till it is broke in and I get use to it

The pre is a ways off I am using a Burnmister 100 phono which I like a lot

Main problem with Soulution is cost for me I like the sound it is very hard to hear the top brands in my area or any area .

I can not see tubes coming back into my life they sound just fine they are not trouble free

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Hi Garth, congratulations on the soulution 701's. A true destination monoblock amplifier. I have been enjoying the 725 pre and 711 stereo amp for the last 4 yr.s and I am extremely pleased by the combo.

Please tell us more about the 701's as they break in.

I love your CLX's too.

i could be amicable to selling my 721 pre...they can be sent to the factory to be upgraded. i don't want to turn this into a buy/sale thread so just shoot me a PM if interested - maybe we can work something out

i was thinking of giving soulution + vitus a try or possibly soulution + luxman m900u. maybe mike has had a chance to try these pairings

Skanda said:

i could be amicable to selling my 721 pre...they can be sent to the factory to be upgraded. i don't want to turn this into a buy/sale thread so just shoot me a PM if interested - maybe we can work something out

i was thinking of giving soulution + vitus a try or possibly soulution + luxman m900u. maybe mike has had a chance to try these pairings

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Definitely the Luxman!! What an amp! Doug’s review nails it.

How long has it been since the Kismet was biased? It’s not hard to accomplish and can be used to really dial in the sound. They don’t normally drift much but if it has been a while...

Klaus will do it for you at Odyssey, but he is really backlogged so it would take a while. I can share biasing directions but I would call Klaus first to make sure he is ok with it. (Keep that 20 yr warrantee going)

Welcome to the forum, thank you for joining.

Dishman442 said:

How long has it been since the Kismet was biased? It’s not hard to accomplish and can be used to really dial in the sound. They don’t normally drift much but if it has been a while...

Klaus will do it for you at Odyssey, but he is really backlogged so it would take a while. I can share biasing directions but I would call Klaus first to make sure he is ok with it. (Keep that 20 yr warrantee going)

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my kismet was made brand new last summer. i will probably have a year on it in a month or so

Klaus would normally bias it based on a conversation with you and voltage reading from your house, but of course you don’t know whether it was correct for you until you heard it in your system. (Plus you may have changed components). Point being, there is always the option to re-bias to push your happy button.

Note: he is so busy, getting re-biased can take forever. I just bought a pair of used mono Khartago/Kismet he told me not to bother to send in for biasing as they would just sit on a shelf for a couple months.

My thought would be to be to call him for advice. (Evening is best) with his permission, re-bias them yourself or have someone local do it for you.

Whatever you decide, good luck in your pursuit. Happy listening!

James

Dishman442 said:

Klaus would normally bias it based on a conversation with you and voltage reading from your house, but of course you don’t know whether it was correct for you until you heard it in your system. (Plus you may have changed components). Point being, there is always the option to re-bias to push your happy button.

Note: he is so busy, getting re-biased can take forever. I just bought a pair of used mono Khartago/Kismet he told me not to bother to send in for biasing as they would just sit on a shelf for a couple months.

My thought would be to be to call him for advice. (Evening is best) with his permission, re-bias them yourself or have someone local do it for you.

Whatever you decide, good luck in your pursuit. Happy listening!

James

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thanks, yep, we went through the process before the build. i took measurements for about a month and found my median and average to be roughly 124v
there's really nothing wrong with the sound - just that i'm always slightly curious about upgrading and what possible amps would pair nicely. you know how it goes

I didn't reply to this thread when it originally appeared because it seemed to become sidetracked. Considering how excited everyone was about Soulution a few years ago, the silence in this forum has been deafening. I would chalk it up to the close connection with Raidho, which had been on the outs for a while, even though Soulution continued to show with the likes of Magico at major events.
Anyhoo, in response to the original topic, I found the 520/Hegel H30 combo extremely copacetic with Revel Salon2's. I never tried the combo with another speaker, but if I remember correctly the dealer who sold me the (demo) 520 used the combo with Raidho for customers who wanted to save a little money from an all-Soulution set-up. Musical with a solid bottom end, the 520's most pronounced characteristic in my system was the way it raised the layering of the soundstage to an astonishing level. Some dismiss this as audiophile artifacts, but I believe this is something engineers often strive to capture in recordings (not just a side effect of the recording process). And it sounds cool. Plus the remote was ergonomic, simple and had a nice feature that allowed you to lower the volume 20 dB at the press of a button. I got sidetracked trying to pair the 520 with the 501 monos -- not enough oomph for the Salons, kind of boring with the YGs. Should have kept the 520 (and the Hegel), but threw out the baby with the bathwater in pursuit of different.
Parker

pdub said:

I didn't reply to this thread when it originally appeared because it seemed to become sidetracked. Considering how excited everyone was about Soulution a few years ago, the silence in this forum has been deafening. I would chalk it up to the close connection with Raidho, which had been on the outs for a while, even though Soulution continued to show with the likes of Magico at major events.
Anyhoo, in response to the original topic, I found the 520/Hegel H30 combo extremely copacetic with Revel Salon2's. I never tried the combo with another speaker, but if I remember correctly the dealer who sold me the (demo) 520 used the combo with Raidho for customers who wanted to save a little money from an all-Soulution set-up. Musical with a solid bottom end, the 520's most pronounced characteristic in my system was the way it raised the layering of the soundstage to an astonishing level. Some dismiss this as audiophile artifacts, but I believe this is something engineers often strive to capture in recordings (not just a side effect of the recording process). And it sounds cool. Plus the remote was ergonomic, simple and had a nice feature that allowed you to lower the volume 20 dB at the press of a button. I got sidetracked trying to pair the 520 with the 501 monos -- not enough oomph for the Salons, kind of boring with the YGs. Should have kept the 520 (and the Hegel), but threw out the baby with the bathwater in pursuit of different.
Parker

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thanks for sharing this experience. very interesting to read that the 520+501 was not as enjoyable for you as 520+hegel. this is making me think i should upgrade my 721 to a 725 or maybe trade down to a 520 even. did you find that soulution hegel combo lacked any of the speed of the soulution stack?

At least I am very happy with the 520, can only recommend it.


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Kuoppis said:

At least I am very happy with the 520, can only recommend it.


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did you try other amps with it?

I tried several preamps with the Soulution 511, but the 520 ended the search.

But I have not tried the 520 with other power amps.


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Skanda said:

thanks for sharing this experience. very interesting to read that the 520+501 was not as enjoyable for you as 520+hegel. this is making me think i should upgrade my 721 to a 725 or maybe trade down to a 520 even. did you find that soulution hegel combo lacked any of the speed of the soulution stack?

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I’m not sure what is meant by speed. With the Salons I had a hard time finding a listening level where acoustic music sounded full and live — big room + difficult speaker load = not enough oomph. Kept raising volume, Salons would just yawn. With the YGs, albeit in a smaller room, I rarely found myself drawn into the music. Sorry, I have no idea why, and by this time the Hegel was long gone and I had no other amps on hand to try with the 520.
Parker

pdub said:

I didn't reply to this thread when it originally appeared because it seemed to become sidetracked. Considering how excited everyone was about Soulution a few years ago, the silence in this forum has been deafening. I would chalk it up to the close connection with Raidho, which had been on the outs for a while, even though Soulution continued to show with the likes of Magico at major events.
Anyhoo, in response to the original topic, I found the 520/Hegel H30 combo extremely copacetic with Revel Salon2's. I never tried the combo with another speaker, but if I remember correctly the dealer who sold me the (demo) 520 used the combo with Raidho for customers who wanted to save a little money from an all-Soulution set-up. Musical with a solid bottom end, the 520's most pronounced characteristic in my system was the way it raised the layering of the soundstage to an astonishing level. Some dismiss this as audiophile artifacts, but I believe this is something engineers often strive to capture in recordings (not just a side effect of the recording process). And it sounds cool. Plus the remote was ergonomic, simple and had a nice feature that allowed you to lower the volume 20 dB at the press of a button. I got sidetracked trying to pair the 520 with the 501 monos -- not enough oomph for the Salons, kind of boring with the YGs. Should have kept the 520 (and the Hegel), but threw out the baby with the bathwater in pursuit of different.
Parker

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Hegel H30 is an awesome amp and miss mine too. If it wasn't built in China, probably 3X retail.

alright it's time to bump an old thread. bit of background, i demo'd the s5mk2's with a 530 integrated and it was fantastic and as i had mentioned earlier, i have a 721. i ordered a symphonic line kraft 300 as an upgrade to my odyssey kismet and it finally arrived and i got it set up and singing yesterday.

firstly, the magicos are really loving the extra power. my room isn't that big so i wasn't sure what to expect here but the speakers are completely disappearing and the room is saturated with sound. the soulution is still imparting it's beautiful tone, speed, and drive and the sl kraft is allowing everything to play with more headroom and there is a touch of bloom making the soundstage more expansive and just the slightest extension of decay that makes vocals just haunting.

i would not call this euphonic, it's still very accurate to the source but from my audio memory, granted we know thats limited, i am preferring this to the incredible accuracy that was on display with the 530 integrated. i am curious to see what will happen as the amp breaks in more. i have read that fm acoustics and soulution live in a similar family of tonality and sl and gryphon are slightly richer, slightly slower - not slow, just comparatively, a little more relaxed. i don't have experience with gryphon so maybe someone else can comment but so far i am getting that vibe as well.

my current conundrum: i have the opportunity to pick up a 710 at a good price (yes, the one on ag) but having just deadlifted an amp accross my room i'm not sure i'm in a hurry to buy another one. i'm also not sure if it could possibly be _that_ much better as i feel that at this point i'm being limited by room acoustics and recording quality. i listen to alot of modern music - i'm a huge fan of the weeknd ever since his first mixtape and i have been playing his new track heartless on repeat. not the most amazing recording but this system is allowing me to transport myself deeper into the mix and the emotion of lyrical delivery than i have ever experienced before.

sorry for the long post! not trying to turn this into an sl thread but i will follow up as the amp breaks in more.