I spend too much on gear, sometimes frivously. In latter months 2 amps, a dac and a pair of speakers. I only post here when something of interest is discovered. The first amp an Arcam A20 being knocked out at £499 by Tyson. Superceded model now priced at £699 presumably because stocks are appropiately reduced. Infuriating behaviour for customers who have recently paid close to rrp. Thoroughly decent amp, I thought it would be, engineered to run in class A at less than 20 watts.To my ears it doesn't have the character of a class A, it's decidedly neutral and none the worse for that. So don't go buying it thinking it will warm things up a bit. It sounds a bit beefier compared to an Audiolab 7000 and a little less boisterous than a Rega elex Mk4. All decent though except the factory sent out the Rega with the wrong fuse fitted which soon blew and an optical input that didn't work at all. Quality control ?
The 2nd amp was a new WD designs kel84. Now that does have a warmer nature reminding me of an Audio Note Oto se. This is all to my ears of course but the WD sounds less coloured and less 'lush' than the Oto. It's also a quarter of the price, thorougly recommended.
The new Dac was a JDS labs element, does the job, nothing else to say.
The speakers were Falcon Q7. These are the latest deal at £1650. Cripes they used to be £1200. But to be fair they are factory built with the liquidamber veneer and the gold badge crossover. Still a leap of faith to buy blind at that price. In context I know very well the Stirling ls3/5a V2 and the Graham ls3/5. The Stirlings for me are the star performer, so sweet and engaging as well as being accurate. The Graham's (without that 100hz hump) are less engaging focusing more on accuracy. Both very fine speakers though. I had to use them with a sub. The Q7's I could use without a sub but it's not a night and day difference. First impressions on the Q7's, killer top end, in a good way. I guess that's the crossover doing its bit. One has to grab them at the moment on value grounds alone. Essentially though all the ls3/5a's are a cracking good speaker.