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Albarry monoblocks

J

johnny nocash

pfm Member
Afternoon folks. I know a few on here have used Albarry monoblocks. Do any of you have an opinion about using them with a valve pre-amp. Maybe it's a mismatch... I don't know, so any opinions would be appreciated. Thanks
 
Never tried it but I don't see why not. I'd love to hear the results, I imagine the right combination could be a real winner.

The Albarries are all about energy, timing, speed, and stuff like that, so you'd want a pre- that gave you plenty of that. They're not very demanding as to input, so I don't foresee any particular issues with compatability. The later Albarry AP11 preamp was very good, at its price (around £3k), but not world-class, so it's not as though the pre-power Albarry combo was the last word and I'm pretty sure plenty of folk have used the monoblocs with a better, or different preamp. Indeed, I've recently sold my M1108s to a guy who's using them with a big Gryphon preamp, and he reports that the combination is amazing. I can well believe it.
 
I did see that sale thread SuperTweeter and good to know the new owner is very happy.
I appreciate that according to reviews the 1108's had a bit more of everything but as I use efficient speakers I'm hoping that the 608's will suffice.... please advise.
I'm very happy with my pre so I'm hoping it would be a good match. I'm trying to get hold of the specs, should get em soon. This is regarding gain really as I'd like fair control over volume.
 
The 608s are fantastic amps, I loved mine. If you can find a pair of 1108s, they’re definitely better, but I’d take 608s over most current Naim stuff nearly every time :).

You haven’t said what the pre is, I’m curious to know.
 
I used a pair of M408 monos with an Audio Research SP8 back in 1981 and it worked well. I sold them and moved on to a Krell KSA100, but I always thought the upgrade cost was considerable at the time considering how good the Albarry's were to start with. Yes, the Krell was better but not by much. In their day the 408s were astonishing value for money.
 
Some valve pre-amps can have an output impedance high enough to be affected by that. The sensitivity may be less of a problem, although it is high.
But I do like Albarry amps, I was tempted by a couple not long ago. But the lack of output protection was another concern, as I have* QUAD 2805s with crowbar input protection.
* For sale on May 17th!
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
According to the Albarry M608 (and M1108) manuals:

Input impedance ………………5K1 Ohms
Input sensitivity ………………..500mV 0dB
Click to expand...

That input impedance (5k1 ohm) might be a little challenging for a lot of valve preamps. Ideally anything over 10K ohm input impedance and over 1 volt input sensitivity is best with active preamps including valve designs with anything producing 12dB of gain and above. IMO, anything more than 15dB of gain is going to cause gain issues unless the power amp is designed to have switchable gain adjustment. Best results would be achieved with 50k to 100k ohm input impedance (power amp) with a valve designed preamp and an input sensitivity of 1 to 3 volts. Having said that you could get away with a valve cathode follower or buffer stage which would give a low output impedance (around 600 ohms) and no gain.
 
awkwardbydesign said:
But the lack of output protection was another concern
Click to expand...

The original M408's did have protection. I can't quite remember how it was implemented but there was a reset button on the rear panel to reset it if a short existed on the speaker outputs. If I remember correctly the 408's did sound sweeter than the more powerful version (M1008).
 
G T Audio said:
The original M408's did have protection. I can't quite remember how it was implemented but there was a reset button on the rear panel to reset it if a short existed on the speaker outputs. If I remember correctly the 408's did sound sweeter than the more powerful version (M1008).
Click to expand...
The same (optical, incredibly quick) output protection is used on all Albarry amps, including the later 608 and 1108 designs.
 
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They had an optoisolator which was lit by excessive output current and triggered a pseudo SCR made from two BJT's which then removed the tail current from the input LTP.

Good though the M1008 monoblocks were they were well beaten by my MF A370 when I compared them.

There are reliability issues with the big 'un's and they are one of the very very few amps I will not service.
 
I considered the sound very similar for the 408 and 1008... as it should be as they are pretty much the same apart from paired output devices and higher rails on the 1008's
 
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