SET amps

Mike

Mike

Audioshark
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Two questions:

1. If you could own just one SET amp, what would it be?

2. Are there any SET amps with XLR/Balanced inputs that you can think of? Allnic is one....any others?


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1. This is question you won't get an answer :)

2. I like to know that too...coz I really don't want to change my cables .
 
Allnic is the answer to both Paul? ;)


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1. you already know my answer, but you may not know im undecided, allnic a-5000dht's, allnic a-6000(50w 300b's) or raven spirit 300b monos
also add wavac ec300b(little pricey for me)

2. all of these have xlr's im not sure of the wavacs
 
L3000 with an A6000 on speakers under 95db, and the A5000 DHT's for the big boy speakers like Paul's.

Allnic baby.....
 
Tough question Mike and not very easy to answer. Of course I would need to hear a pair of these but the Shindo D'Yquem would be near the top of my list. Art Dudley liked them better than his CC's.

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Ive tried a few with Zu- Audion Black Shadows are probably the best Ive heard. They are very fast amps. Lamm is quite good, but depends on the speaker as they can be dark.

that said, i prefer my Dart to all SET amps in my system- have you considered a CTH8550? I find most SETs lacking in the bass as they distort down low.

balanced SET is kinda an oxymoron :)
 
dlb2 said:
Did somebody say "Allnic Forum!" ;)
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:hi:

KeithR said:
Ive tried a few with Zu- Audion Black Shadows are probably the best Ive heard. They are very fast amps. Lamm is quite good, but depends on the speaker as they can be dark.

that said, i prefer my Dart to all SET amps in my system- have you considered a CTH8550? I find most SETs lacking in the bass as they distort down low.

balanced SET is kinda an oxymoron :)
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i guess it depends on the system. i hear clean tight accurate bass and hear every note. and it goes as deep as my speakers will allow it with absolutely no distortion, of course it not going to be window shaking like a ss amp. but not everyone is looking for that. and alot of recordings were not recorded that way. its the amp coloring the sound.
ive heard that dartz integrated, its very nice and sounds great, but its the opposite side of the spectrum from an set amp.
this is just my observation and totally my own opinion but ive been buying and selling speakers and amps going on 20 years and listening to everything i can, and set>efficient speakers is hands down the best sound there is. to me of course. and i did not like the lamms that much , was very .... i dont want to say dark but the music didnt pop like my amps make it pop(bad analogy). and mine are less than 1/4 the price.

i do agree with the balanced into set's i tried both on the allnics ive heard and think the rcas are better. the xlrs seem to give it a more analytical sound which is definitely not what your looking for if you buy sets. sets are for smooth beautiful music, and to make you forget about what gear your listening to, and also makes you stop testing your sound and trying to figure it out and just enjoy what you are hearing. the xlrs change that a little bit.
300b's 4 life!!!! :audiophile:
 
If balanced on SET's isn't the best, then I might have a challenge. My sources/preamp are a good 30 foot run from my amps. I'm not keen on sticking a rack of gear up front. Thoughts?
 
I get what you mean about RCA vs balanced Steve, I actually liked the 1500 through the balanced input, seemed to offer the right "balance"!!!!

Next week I will experiment with the L3000 and A5000 combo used in both RCA and balanced and report back my findings
 
Mark Jones said:
I get what you mean about RCA vs balanced Steve, I actually liked the 1500 through the balanced input, seemed to offer the right "balance"!!!!

Next week I will experiment with the L3000 and A5000 combo used in both RCA and balanced and report back my findings
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Cool. Thanks Mark.
 
Mike said:
If balanced on SET's isn't the best, then I might have a challenge. My sources/preamp are a good 30 foot run from my amps. I'm not keen on sticking a rack of gear up front. Thoughts?
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the allnics i heard were also far away not 30ft but maybe 15-20ft away from the amps. the integrated was on the rack and were a run of long speaker cables. the rcas run at that distance were not a problem like some people say they are at long distances .and the cabling used for xlrs was definitely not tara labs omegas. so i should have put ymmv on that. we werent using the best cables. you have awesome cables and i would run a tara lab xlr over the rcas we were using anyday. id be curious to marks results. dont forget i dont own this gear, few pieces i heard twice, some of it i only heard once.
so my opinions are based on that few hours,
my manley snappers everyone said run them on xlr's. when i did i didnt like it. so it could just be me.lol.
 
RCA's pick up so much noise - even going from 3 feet to 6 feet is noticeable. Also, the longer the run, the more feedback you get. I might be able to get away with 25 feet....but that even seems too long. Looks like a rack at the front (even a low one) is the only option. That in turn creates center imaging diffusion issues. I can't put anything behind the speakers because of their dipole nature. Hmmm.....


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Mike said:
RCA's pick up so much noise - even going from 3 feet to 6 feet is noticeable. Also, the longer the run, the more feedback you get. I might be able to get away with 25 feet....but that even seems too long. Looks like a rack at the front (even a low one) is the only option. That in turn creates center imaging diffusion issues. I can't put anything behind the speakers because of their dipole nature. Hmmm.....


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i always wanted to try this, so is all your equip that far away? and all your running is the one set of inteconnects to the amps and a short run of speaker cables? that is very interesting. have you ever tried long speaker cables and shorter ic's? just curious, i dont think id like not looking at my tubes glowing while listening if they werent in between the speakers lol . because i though the t1500 integrated was incredible and that was run to monitors off like 5-6 meter sc's. im seriously thinking of a room change and moving my equipment out from in between the speakers and im just curious to your experience when doing this. sorry if its off topic.
 
Mike said:
Two questions:

1. If you could own just one SET amp, what would it be?

2. Are there any SET amps with XLR/Balanced inputs that you can think of? Allnic is one....any others?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Maybe a Lamm ML2.1 but I think the ML2.2 is out. No XLR's but why ?

Don't forget the Quicksiliver Audio SET (if they still make it) I heard this unit playing with Von Schweikert Db99's speakers before I purchased my current Quicksilver mono's. NO XLR's but very nice

Another SET comes to mind, the Manely Labs Neo-Classic a 300B at 12w no XLR's

Another 'deHavilland Aries 845 18-watt SET' no Xlr,
 
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