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SS Power Amp suggestions.

11k for SS. wow
if people knew that you can build yousrelf a pass lab amp diy that will sound equally as good for 1k.

11k for anything ss is ridiculous
Always the way with footballer priced stuff. Either diy or used, or for £10k you can employ someone to build bespoke. But £10k shoppers don't want to dlo that. They want to buy a reliably excellent item and take it home.

Case in point, the man is prepared to spend £10k but not to drive to Liverpool to see something similar. A day out and a tank of fuel, to research a ten thousand pound item? I'd be in my car, like a shot. Maybe my free time is cheaper than that of the OPs brother.
 
I was going to suggest this, or even the M100 monoblocks, 800W into 1ohm! They are P/P class A mosfet amps.

The designer (Colin Wonfor) is near the docks in east London, I'm sure he would happily demo.
How about one of the new EWA Class A amps like the M50.
 
Always the way with footballer priced stuff. Either diy or used, or for £10k you can employ someone to build bespoke. But £10k shoppers don't want to dlo that. They want to buy a reliably excellent item and take it home.

Case in point, the man is prepared to spend £10k but not to drive to Liverpool to see something similar. A day out and a tank of fuel, to research a ten thousand pound item? I'd be in my car, like a shot. Maybe my free time is cheaper than that of the OPs brother.

I am sure he will have to travel, I have checked with a couple of distributors, and the nearest options to dem are 80 and 120 miles away. It would be highly unlikely you would allow him to take your amp away for a home dem if it was liked, and also how many amps can you dem? I would assume a bespoke made amplifier, no matter how good it was, would have a large depreciation attached to it. He would certainly purchase used or ex dem, but reliability is high on his list of priorities. As to your next post we can agree, it does stink. :)
 
You really have to hear an amp driving your loudspeakers , listening to an amplfier in an unfamiliar system in an unfamiliar room will tell you absolutely nothing.
Keith
 
I'm not sure my contribution will be welcome, but after a lifetime 'in' HiFi, one thing is sure. Of all the components in the chain, SS class A/B amplifiers make the least sonic change when swapped about, and, the changes one may hear are forgotten after a week of ownership. Secondly, the law of diminishing returns is never more evident than in amplifiers above £3000 in value. Maybe being wealthy makes these things less important, but why waste money, especially when one could use the change to upgrade a transducer and hear a significant change? Sorry for the lecture but that's my experience.
Anyway, if the priorities are, impeccable sound, power, and total reliability, then I'd be looking at Japan's finest myself.
My first choice would be Luxman's M700u.
The spare 4000 odd would buy a nice cartridge if he does vinyl.
 
but after a lifetime 'in' HiFi, one thing is sure. Of all the components in the chain, SS class A/B amplifiers make the least sonic change when swapped about,
Opposite experience. Having to use some small 2 way speakers temporarily, there was very little bass, as expected. My wife even complained! But getting a very large Vincent power amp, after using a pretty good Parasound HCA 1205-A (140w), suddenly I had big and controlled bass. Astonishing, really. The amp had an intermittent fault so it went back, otherwise I would probably still have it. The Halo A21 I now have is a similar beast.
So the amp basically gave me new speakers.
 
I'm not sure my contribution will be welcome, but after a lifetime 'in' HiFi, one thing is sure. Of all the components in the chain, SS class A/B amplifiers make the least sonic change when swapped about, and, the changes one may hear are forgotten after a week of ownership. Secondly, the law of diminishing returns is never more evident than in amplifiers above £3000 in value. Maybe being wealthy makes these things less important, but why waste money, especially when one could use the change to upgrade a transducer and hear a significant change? Sorry for the lecture but that's my experience.
Anyway, if the priorities are, impeccable sound, power, and total reliability, then I'd be looking at Japan's finest myself.
My first choice would be Luxman's M700u.
The spare 4000 odd would buy a nice cartridge if he does vinyl.
Completely agree as long as the amplifier is capable of driving the loudspeakers in question, that’s why you have to think of speakers and amps as one.
Keith
 
My brother would like to change from a valve power amp to ss. He has no intention of changing his DCS Rossini or Estelon XB speakers. His VTL 200 has had to go for repair and has purchased a Quad 909 on here as a temporary measure, so is in no rush to get a replacement. Easy to get a dem would be Vitus, T & A, and Constellation, but also considered Pass Labs and Boulder. Has many know, getting dems is the biggest problem. Has anything passed him under the radar which would be a good match. The Estelons are not a difficult load and budget would be £10k with a little flexibility.

I haven't found too much info on these speakers but I would say from the little that I have found that these speakers will need a beefy SS amp to drive them at their best. A valve amp from what I can see just wouldn't be able to cope. First off these speakers are less that 0.2% efficient so thats 99.8% of the amps power going into heat rather than sound. Then there is the phase angle that hits 60 degrees so of that 0.2% of power that ends up as sound around 87% of that will be cooking the output transistors in the amp and only around 13% gets into the speaker at this phase angle. Lastly the speaker impedance swings from 2.9 Ohms to over 20 and that will cause a valve amp to distort over some of that range due to the anode impedance changing and shifting the operating point.

These speakers need a good beefy amp in order to get the best out of them. I would recommend the s/h route as he can audition amps like the big Class A Passlabs and move them on at little or no loss if the amps don't float his boat. I use a pair of Meridian 559s that weigh in at 42Kg apiece and are an absolute bargain if you can find them. Meridian have released a new flagship amp that I haven't heard that was £5K on launch last year but now seems to fetch £6K! Until I saw the new price a pair of these configured in bridged mode would have been worth trying.

Think big beefy amps.

Cheers,

DV
 
You really have to hear an amp driving your loudspeakers , listening to an amplfier in an unfamiliar system in an unfamiliar room will tell you absolutely nothing.
Keith

Couldn't agree more Keith, although a quick listen before asking for a home dem doesn't hurt.

I'm not sure my contribution will be welcome, but after a lifetime 'in' HiFi, one thing is sure. Of all the components in the chain, SS class A/B amplifiers make the least sonic change when swapped about, and, the changes one may hear are forgotten after a week of ownership. Secondly, the law of diminishing returns is never more evident than in amplifiers above £3000 in value. Maybe being wealthy makes these things less important, but why waste money, especially when one could use the change to upgrade a transducer and hear a significant change? Sorry for the lecture but that's my experience.
Anyway, if the priorities are, impeccable sound, power, and total reliability, then I'd be looking at Japan's finest myself.
My first choice would be Luxman's M700u.
The spare 4000 odd would buy a nice cartridge if he does vinyl.

I know where you're your coming from. I have seen a Luxman M900u used at a dealer and that is certainly a possibility, he isn't wealthy but being single and having no children does leave him with a certain amount of disposable income. He doesn't do vinyl. :eek:
 
DV, thanks for that, I'm not a technical person so a little bit lost on me, but I can understand the need for a beefy amp. His VTL gave out 200wpc. The new Pass Labs XA30.8 [https://www.passlabs.com/amplifier/xa30.8] was one that a demo would be sought, although are you saying something beefier. Meridian 559 are rarer than rocking horse poo, although did not know a new product is out now. Will google to find out more.
 
If the speakers are a difficult load, ie low impedance or with low dips in the impedance curve then look at amplifiers whose output doubles at impedance halves.
Keith
 
DV, thanks for that, I'm not a technical person so a little bit lost on me, but I can understand the need for a beefy amp. His VTL gave out 200wpc. The new Pass Labs XA30.8 [https://www.passlabs.com/amplifier/xa30.8] was one that a demo would be sought, although are you saying something beefier. Meridian 559 are rarer than rocking horse poo, although did not know a new product is out now. Will google to find out more.

If the VTL was used in triode mode as previously said then I very much doubt it gets anywhere near 200W.
 
Meridian 559 are rarer than rocking horse poo.
The 557 is easy enough to find. DV will tell is that the 559 is far superior, it may be, but a 557 is a very meaty and powerful item that will drive most speakers you can think of.
 
It's not that he dislikes the sound of his VTL, its a very good match for his speakers and was certainly a step up from his previous Audio Research. The problem is they keep breaking down, the AR Ref5se pre was used for 3yrs 2mths, (£9k when new) and Ab Sounds want £4.5k to repair. Now his VTL has gone, yet to find out how much this is going to cost. I know nothing about valves but seem to remember seeing 6500 printed on the valve. If it's any help he always used the VTL in tetrode rather than triode.

gosh i am shocked , actually the ref5se was 12k new , i had one from the dealer after a huge stink over a ref 5 they lost in the courier system . it took fellow audiophiles a lot of effort to intercede with the head of absolute sounds himself and i travelled about myself . it was hugely stressful and upsetting . i did see a ref 10 at the repairers a few months ago and i know it was a long repair . another fellow audiofile got a ref 110 repaired at much cheaper cost after exorbitant parts quoted

that said i would consider a ref 6 in the future
i have stuck with modwright as its excellent support [ needed support twice] , prompt reply from dan of course and that is very important . their modwright power amps are another cheaper option in the future and i have no doubt jack at bd audio in malvern would help a lot . [ he loaned me 3 amps to try when mine in for repair earlier this year]

of course music first have just released some lovely power amps at 5k a pair i think and i know jonathan would be there in a shot to demo them
 


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