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Farlowe exposure amps incoming

The Finisher

The Finisher

Must have shot a robin
Hi gents .
I was about to dip my toe into the world of Naim ( doesn’t everyone? ) but then I changed my mind and went for a pre & power exposure pair and then when chatting to the owner of the pre & power he explained that he also had one of these and one of these and so on , to cut a long story short I’ve bought the lot .

III preamp ( the purple one )
IV power amp ( purple one )
Both serviced recently

XX super regulated integrated

VI
VII
VIII
All boxed and I think serviced and with power supply unit

IV Dual with remote control ( serviced )
XXI
Power supply unit

and all connection and power cables plus a bunch of the original speaker cables.

Which of the above will suit my Ruark crusader II’s best ? 88bd 8Ohm

All for less than the price of one Naim integrated.
 
It probably sounds like I’ve lost the plot but I’ve never heard anything Naim either so both were a risk , that’s what makes it fun .
 
Old Farlowe stuff looks great....a bit 'steam punk'. Will all look great on a rack.
I ran the VIII with a QED passive for twenty years. It was an enthusiastic and slightly rough amp. I loved it.
 
The thing that started all this was the recent purchase of the HD audio pre and monoblocks that since using them with my Ruark crusader II’s I’ve been in music heaven which led me to exposure ( very musical ) thinking can I better it or find something similar.
 
I own both Naim and Exposure and they are very similar in their presentation with a lot of PRaT.
I would jump on the IV dual amp, wonderful monster that can put to shame many amps no matter the price and/or year of fabrication.
I have a IV dual mono unregulated driven by a XX1 and it’s a bliss, can listen to it for hours and hours………
If I take time to listen very attentively, I would say Exposure is bit more musical and Naim is a bit more punchy on snare drum but it’s rather subtle. I would also say Naim sounds truer on piano and Exposure is a bit more 3D but again, not a night and day difference.
No matter what, all of these Exposure listed here are wonderful machines.
Oh, and the IV will drive your speakers effortlessly, no worries.
The only downside is if they are due for a recap, rather easy to perform but also costly if you don’t do it yourself.
 
Farlowe-Exposure amp's are low power - if you like things LOUD, and/or have low(ish) efficiency speakers, they will over-heat and trip out (they do have internal thermal cutouts, so no harm done to the hardware).

Speaking from experience............................
 
True(ish) but you need low impedance speakers to experience that IMHO.

Just steer clear of anything Linn made and you'll be fine - even at quite high SPL.

The trouble is they sound completely clean and totally in control until the thermal trip actually trips.

They certainly do produce the rated power but they don't do 200% overdrive without a grump as some other amps do.
 
Years ago a friend of mine ran an Exposure pre/power & PSU. I went over one night for a listen and I told him the system sounded off. and did not have its usual Prat. He sat there for a while pondering what he had changed in the system recently. (those were the days of endless fiddling and poncing around trying to get that last ounce of sound quality!) Eventually he went over to the equipment rack and changed something and normal service was resumed. OK I thought what has he done. It turned out he reversed the cable between the Pre Amp & PSU - go figure! It wasn't the funny fags we were smoking because I could replicate the same thing when I borrowed the amps and put them in my own system.
 
Gervais Cote said:
I own both Naim and Exposure and they are very similar in their presentation with a lot of PRaT.
I would jump on the IV dual amp, wonderful monster that can put to shame many amps no matter the price and/or year of fabrication.
I have a IV dual mono unregulated driven by a XX1 and it’s a bliss, can listen to it for hours and hours………
If I take time to listen very attentively, I would say Exposure is bit more musical and Naim is a bit more punchy on snare drum but it’s rather subtle. I would also say Naim sounds truer on piano and Exposure is a bit more 3D but again, not a night and day difference.
No matter what, all of these Exposure listed here are wonderful machines.
Oh, and the IV will drive your speakers effortlessly, no worries.
The only downside is if they are due for a recap, rather easy to perform but also costly if you don’t do it yourself.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your input.
I have seen the invoice for the service and can confirm that the recap was done at the time of the service ( £380 ) .
 
rabidlistener said:
Years ago a friend of mine ran an Exposure pre/power & PSU. I went over one night for a listen and I told him the system sounded off. and did not have its usual Prat. He sat there for a while pondering what he had changed in the system recently. (those were the days of endless fiddling and poncing around trying to get that last ounce of sound quality!) Eventually he went over to the equipment rack and changed something and normal service was resumed. OK I thought what has he done. It turned out he reversed the cable between the Pre Amp & PSU - go figure! It wasn't the funny fags we were smoking because I could replicate the same thing when I borrowed the amps and put them in my own system.
Click to expand...
Been there done that
 
Warning thread drift.... and learning question what were the last Exposure integrated amplifiers that Mr Farlowe designed... was it The X by any chance?

@The Finisher Well done on finding that Exposure haul!:)
 
Currently have the 3 & 4 setup and boy am I happy with my decision.
So much low volume grunt

I’ve still got to unbox the 21 and 6 , 7 , & 8
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