Best solid amp for AUDIO PHYSIC
- Thread starter yamuling
- Start date
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
The OPs speakers are nominally 4 Ohms and I bet go below 2 Ohms at certain frequencies. These need a powerful amp that can drive such low impedance. You need to look at the likes of Krell, Bryston, Passlabs etc or even dare I say it the Meridian 559s yup a pair in bridged mode.........and for those with short memories thats what I use.
I found the same as the OP but with different speakers. Naim just couldn't drive them properly.
Cheers,
DV
I found the same as the OP but with different speakers. Naim just couldn't drive them properly.
Cheers,
DV
JTC
PFM Villager...
I don't think that's true. I had a pair of AP Avanti mkIIIs for a couple of years and found that they sounded not too shabby on the end of a Nait 2 (albeit a bit ragged around the edges) and really great when bi-amped with an 8w valve for mid+hf and Electrocompaniet SS for bass...
It's hard to obtain so called punch from speakers with such narrow front baffle and small midranges . It's a trade off between solid "punchy" sound of wide-er baffle speakers and spacious but rather anemic in the midbass narrow towers and no amount of side woofers will correct that. Rgrds.L
PS My friend is using Audio Research Classic 120 monoblocks with his Libra.
PS My friend is using Audio Research Classic 120 monoblocks with his Libra.
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
That NAD M2 can deliver peaks of 600W into 2Ohms and 60A current and thats why it sounded better than Naim when the OP tried it.
My speakers have 7 drivers plus a passive and I drive them with bridged 559s and those babies can deliver 1600w into 4 Ohms and 150A into 1Ohm so I've done the hard long climb. You see speakers have a complex electrical behaviour and these big beasts of an amp seem to tame and handle them very well.
One of the first things I noticed going from Naim to the 559s was a simple bell that sparkled like the real thing. I now have a very dynamic sound fantastic realistic timbre. Bass goes deep and even at low volumes causes the concrete foundations of my room to vibrate. A pedal drum hits you in the gut........
By comparison my Naim 135s that I then had Avondaled to stage 3 lacked real timbre and were relatively undynamic and dead. If I tried to make a piano have the same volume as my joanna bext door then turning up the wick resulted in a dead thick mess.
I suggest that the OP at least tries to audition some of the s/h amps or similar that I have mentioned above as he has already had a taste of what power can do. Perhaps class A or AB rather than a D (I am guessing from the bit I have seen that the M2 is class D).
Cheers,
DV
Audio Physic, the original anyway, are a funny brand. Damned difficult to set up properly, but if you make the effort, they pull a dissappearing act second to none. The first designer of the brand, Joachim Gerhard was charmng, dedicated to his craft, and mad as a brush. He would talk about sitting in a room, endlessly listening to speaker cone material falling against his work surface, to decide which one had the best sound.
And those original AP's were something, fast, effortlessly musical, fantastic with voices. I had the second pair of Steps imported into the US, and they were the best speakers I ever had.
They're a little dry so they sounded best with tubes, but with a 4ohm impeadence, they really liked more power then your average tube amp could give. Even my McIntosh MC40 mono blocks struggled with them when you turned up the wick.
For a SS amp, I think you need a minimum of 100 watts for any of them, preferably something like a Pathos Logos.
And those original AP's were something, fast, effortlessly musical, fantastic with voices. I had the second pair of Steps imported into the US, and they were the best speakers I ever had.
They're a little dry so they sounded best with tubes, but with a 4ohm impeadence, they really liked more power then your average tube amp could give. Even my McIntosh MC40 mono blocks struggled with them when you turned up the wick.
For a SS amp, I think you need a minimum of 100 watts for any of them, preferably something like a Pathos Logos.
I still use original Virgo's. Despite trying many other speakers, I still like them.
About 8 years ago I replaced my Naim amps with a YBA Passion integrated, that is supposed to put 150W into 4 ohms, which is their nominal impedance. It still sounds good and that's what I use. Sometime's I wish I had bigger drivers, etc., but usually I'm just happy I have any music with 2 kids in college.
Any decent amp with some power should be fine. The concept of which amp is good for speaker brand x seems silly. Unless you compare it to world's best speaker concepts, in which case it sounds like particle physics.
About 8 years ago I replaced my Naim amps with a YBA Passion integrated, that is supposed to put 150W into 4 ohms, which is their nominal impedance. It still sounds good and that's what I use. Sometime's I wish I had bigger drivers, etc., but usually I'm just happy I have any music with 2 kids in college.
Any decent amp with some power should be fine. The concept of which amp is good for speaker brand x seems silly. Unless you compare it to world's best speaker concepts, in which case it sounds like particle physics.
Electrocompaniet works really well IMO.
I now use small bel canto which I good too but lower on prat but very even handed across all volumes and sweet.
I may be shot for saying this but if the digitizing is done at 24/192 on a digital amplifier the nuances IMO appear to stay in tact and digital amplifiers can be used with analogue inputs.
Lyngdorf 2175 also works really well on Scorpio.
I now use small bel canto which I good too but lower on prat but very even handed across all volumes and sweet.
I may be shot for saying this but if the digitizing is done at 24/192 on a digital amplifier the nuances IMO appear to stay in tact and digital amplifiers can be used with analogue inputs.
Lyngdorf 2175 also works really well on Scorpio.
Jonathan
pfm Member
a bit late on the commentary - but i'm really surprised that anyone finds the audio physics to be lacking in the dynamism department. I'll admit I've only ever heard the Tempos - but they were quite SHOCKINGLY dynamic and had incredible depth to them. I think these were the rev. 2 Tempos - I heard them attached to a small Krell integrated. I suspect the Electrocompaniet would do the job too. I'm quite suprised by the failure of the NAP250 to drive them though - perhaps the big APs are a weird load to drive...
as an aside - I listened to about seven speaker kits that day. Some medium sized Dynaudios, Hales, Vandersteens and a few others I forget but all well-regarded loudspeakers for 1998... and they ALL sounded FLAT compared to the Tempos... I regret not buying them that day. I also regret not auditioning the Steps...
as an aside - I listened to about seven speaker kits that day. Some medium sized Dynaudios, Hales, Vandersteens and a few others I forget but all well-regarded loudspeakers for 1998... and they ALL sounded FLAT compared to the Tempos... I regret not buying them that day. I also regret not auditioning the Steps...
My Virgo 111s which lasted here for nine years sounded great with a Musical Nu Vista, even better with a Pass Labs X 250 and not to shabby with a pair of Audiopax monoblocks.
They like grunt but one had to be careful with the Pass Labs putting 500 watts into them, dangerous to ears but never harmed the drivers.
They like grunt but one had to be careful with the Pass Labs putting 500 watts into them, dangerous to ears but never harmed the drivers.