beginner needs help!

Bob

Depending on the load the speakers present, I have yet to find better than my Devialet D400s. I prefer them to the Soulution series 5 gear and the comparably priced McIntosh amplification.

If you can find a single Devialet 200 to try or a pair of 400s if your budget allows, you will be hard pressed to beat it/them.

Kerry
 
Bob, while I might be late to the party here's my two cents ..................dollar value and made HERE in the good ole US of A ......................Rogue Audio

http://www.rogueaudio.com/

I currently use a pair of M-180 monoblocks and love 'em !!
 
THANK YOU! music first, and mikado! i ALWAYS want to receive ideas and advice! planning to hear some Prima Luna amps this weekend at a store in new hampshire. do either of you listen to vinyl records? i have not played them in ages, use only CD's.

best,

bob
 
Bob...are you going to Fidelis AV in NH? If yes, they are very good although wasn't aware they carry PL amps and B&W speakers. If not, I would check them out if you can. Yes a 13' x 13' room will not require a big old amp with tons of wattage and amperage unless your speakers are highly inefficient or present a very difficult load to your amps which the B&W speakers do not (they are of average efficiency and nominally rates at 4ohms impedance I believe). I think the PL Dialogue HP will be more than plenty to drive your speakers in your room at deafening levels with much headroom to spare. Let us know how you make out.

The other thing I would say is that the high priced equipment often gets all the media coverage and headlines but there are amazing brands putting out great gear at very affordable prices and PL is one of them.
 
I am also late to the party... but another one to consider... hand made in the USA.... even the circuit boards are made by them... comes down to price for performance..

Please do yourself a favor and research Wyred 4 Sound. The owner is considered one of the most brilliant young engineers in the audio industry. EJ Sarmento worked for Cullen Circuits. They built OEM for many companies including the likes of PS Audio.

Now he builds all of their products in his California facilities. They are very industrial looking gear but are usually considered one of the great giant killer brands.

They also own and build a second line, SST... the famous Ampzilla!

They still current continue to OEM build for other companies such as Genesis, Peach Tree, and I think they still do some work for PS Audio.

They win many awards including five more Editor's Choice Awards this year from The Absolute Sound.

Oh, by the way, they back all of their equipment with five year warranties! Check out their equipment if you are looking for value for the dollar...

https://www.wyred4sound.com/
 
THANK YOU CMALAK AND RANDY MEYERS! I ALWAYS want new ideas! my speakers say 88 decibel sensitivity, and suggest 30-120 watts into 8 ohms.
this saturday. going to AV therapy in Nashua to hear prima luna. I absolutely agree I do not have to spend a million dollars to have a GREAT listening room! I will check out wired for sound.
I may say that the pair of bowers and Wilkins "bookshelf" speakers I got for $2000 a pair make AMAZING sound, especially from a small box! wow!! the B&W bookshelf speakers for $6,000 were out of this world. I played Berlin Philharmonic, LOUD, and it was amazing. absolutely worth the price.

thanks! keep the ideas coming! bob
 
Don't be too concerned about power ratings on speakers is my view. I have KEF speakers that are 85db sensitivity and 8 ohms. My current speakers a MC and they are also 85db but are 4 ohms, a harder to drive load. A good amplifier can driver a difficult load without issue. Quality small speakers usually say 100-125 watt handling but trust me, it is not power that hurts speakers, but instead low quality amplifiers that pass distortion. Or of course, abuse :)....

My current amplifier is rated at 250 wpc into 8 ohms and 460 wpc into 4 ohms. I do not worry about hurting my speakers. My ears would bleed long before the amplifier would over drive. The speakers have no problem handling any amount that I personally would ever drive. It gets loud, very loud, but for the most part I do not listen extremely loud.

I also like that you are happy with B&W. They are part of what I call the European sound which is very much my preference. KEF and B&W are two of the long standing famous British engineered speakers. MC is engineered and built in Germany, with similar sound designs.

By the way, EJ is one of those young genius types who loves to play word games. Therefore the company is actually Wyred 4 Sound... and several of the models have a play on words.
 
hi randy! I took some time to look up your system. I think your REL T zero is a sub woofer. when I get to that stage, I am thinking to add a subwoofer to my system.

CM6 S2 bowers and wilkins speakers are what I have. very nice sound, small box.
dumb questions
1. would I add ONE sub, or TWO?
seems to me it would be funny to just have it on ONE channel, like left or right!
2.do I connect to the "speaker wire", or an output on the preamp? my current OLD SAE preamp likely has no such output.
I have heard great things about REL. is the crossover in the speaker itself? does that mean all the bass goes to my B&W and also to the REL?
thanks, have a great day, you have a super system! bob
 
Hey Bob, Yes the REL is a subwoofer. It is their very basic small sub. They make several higher models. I have heard very good things about their higher models and about the JL line of subs as well. Also, I believe Mike is a REL dealer!

I am only using one subwoofer. I have heard both that you could/should use two, and that one is just fine. One does work, and I assume two would be better. I wanted it to add a little more low end fill. For me one seems to do the trick. I am not a huge bass guy though; I prefer a tight bass, not so much of the boomy stuff. Therefore I have always preferred smaller, faster drivers. The KEF Reference series, for example, use 6.5" bass drivers and give a ton of bass.

The TZero is also a 6.5" driver. If I had my dithers I probably would get a model of two up, but it was more of a financial decision for me.

The sub has a built in amplifier, level and crossover controls built in. It can take both low level (pre-amp level) input of high level (speaker) inputs. REL very highly suggest using the high level inputs. They include a connector that goes to your speaker outputs on the amplifier. It is a three wire connector. You hook them along with your standard speaker wires on the amplifier. I personally have mine going to the positive lead on both left and right and to a chassis screw for the black (negative) lead. This is their recommended hook up when using a fully balanced system. I then have my MC speakers hooked to the speaker terminals of the amplifier (I use banana connectors for my MC's as I have always been a fan of banana connectors).
 
morning Mike! may i have your address at sun coast audio? i see 2 different ones. want to send you ONE CD

best regards

bob
 
THANKS EVERYONE!!!! i just heard my speakers with the $2400 prima luna integrated amp, and a parasound solid state amp, same price. both good, i DID prefer the tube amp, so i think you all are right! ha! very warm, rich sound. i will save up and buy that, and then save for a quality subwoofer. i am thinking of the REL T zero, seems nice.

THANKS GUYS!!! so far, so good.

best

bob
 
bzr said:
The PrimaLuna HP Integrated is a seriously good integrated that punches way above it's weight. The tubes can be changed from EL 34, KT 88, KT 120, KT 150 & the int. will do all the bias work for you etc, thats right, they are plug & play, so easy.If you have a tube go bad there are lights on the tube base panel that light up & all you have to do is swap them out one by one to find it. The int is very kind on tubes & as such doesn't run at extreme hot temperatures that some tube amps do, as here, you have to remember that they are basically light bulbs so yes they get hot & put out heat. When I had one I paired Mullards with the KT 150's & really liked it, even the wife gave it her approval which is rare & mentioned it just made her want to dance.
If you have a small room with poor ventilation tubes can be a real pain unless you have an air conditioner, then it's better to go with solid state. Tubes bring something to the mix that very few audiophiles can live without once they have experienced them.

http://www.audioshark.org/amp-revie...e-magnetic-219ia-ayon-audio-epsilon-7682.html
Click to expand...


Funny you should say this, an amp designer friend of mine , Designed and built an 5 watt SET amplifier and i went by to give it a listen last week. never once was i really impressed with his 3way Horn system before , regardless what we threw at it , well with his little SET playing classical music it was on a different level , never heard cello and violins played thru an hi fi system sound so rich and realistic , it was really fantastic sounding the way it captures the soul and body of the recording and the symphony, i have heard this speaker on other toobs , class-d , SS , chip amps et al before , but never ever anything like this and i was never enthralled by the sound of his horns prior, as always , SET's are special, the dynamics was to die for ...

Stayed away from horns for decades , strongly thinking of designing one for his SET ...


.:)
 
a.wayne said:
Funny you should say this, an amp designer friend of mine , Designed and built an 5 watt SET amplifier and i went by to give it a listen last week. never once was i really impressed with his 3way Horn system before , regardless what we threw at it , well with his little SET playing classical music it was on a different level , never heard cello and violins played thru an hi fi system sound so rich and realistic , it was really fantastic sounding the way it captures the soul and body of the recording and the symphony, i have heard this speaker on other toobs , class-d , SS , chip amps et al before , but never ever anything like this and i was never enthralled by the sound of his horns prior, as always , SET's are special, the dynamics was to die for ...

Stayed away from horns for decades , strongly thinking of designing one for his SET ...


.:)
Click to expand...

SET's and Horns are like peanut butter & jelly!

Love my 300b SET amps and Avantgarde horns.
 
Can imagine them with 300b's , this one uses 6b4g's , he has a supplier in the UK for NOS , he usually grab a few on his yearly UK trek ...
 
Old Bob said:
THANKS EVERYONE!!!! i just heard my speakers with the $2400 prima luna integrated amp, and a parasound solid state amp, same price. both good, i DID prefer the tube amp, so i think you all are right! ha! very warm, rich sound. i will save up and buy that, and then save for a quality subwoofer. i am thinking of the REL T zero, seems nice.

THANKS GUYS!!! so far, so good.

best

bob
Click to expand...

Bob...good to hear. Which PL integrated did you listen to? I think the one we were referring to is the Dialogue Premium HP (High Power) which retails for $4,399, which delivers 70wpc using the EL34s, 80wpc with KT88s, 84wpc using KT120s, and 96wpc using the KT150s. Just curious.

Thanks,

Cyril
 
a.wayne said:
Funny you should say this, an amp designer friend of mine , Designed and built an 5 watt SET amplifier and i went by to give it a listen last week. never once was i really impressed with his 3way Horn system before , regardless what we threw at it , well with his little SET playing classical music it was on a different level , never heard cello and violins played thru an hi fi system sound so rich and realistic , it was really fantastic sounding the way it captures the soul and body of the recording and the symphony, i have heard this speaker on other toobs , class-d , SS , chip amps et al before , but never ever anything like this and i was never enthralled by the sound of his horns prior, as always , SET's are special, the dynamics was to die for ...

Stayed away from horns for decades , strongly thinking of designing one for his SET ...


.:)
Click to expand...

Mike said:
SET's and Horns are like peanut butter & jelly!

Love my 300b SET amps and Avantgarde horns.
Click to expand...

It's a whole new world to explore indeed. That is my next venture, high efficiency speakers & tubes.

Bob!, great to hear we could help.
 
thanks Cmalak. it was the prologue premium for $2400. currently trying to decide on it, or $3400 or $4400. i want this to be the last amp i buy for 10 years. thanks bzr. so much to learn! bob
 
I have a personal preference for lower efficient speakers; which is more in line with then European designers. More specifically the British and German designs tend to lean toward lower sensitivity, higher accuracy type speakers. KEF, B&W, MBL, MC, among many others...
 
I have a personal preference towards systems with realism and good sound , somehow , no matter how long i look or how Hard i try , its never as simple as you say ...
 
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