advertisement


System Pics 2021

Status
Not open for further replies.
Thetiminator said:
Sorry if I’m butting in but I’ve recently aquired one and I find it truly superb. Of coarse system matching will be key but I don’t find it dry or bright at all. It sounds very similar to the Boulders I had but sweeter and if it’s possible...quieter. My speakers are 106db though so the lack of noise is a huge factor for me.
In my time I’ve had exotic valve amps of every variety, excellent class D’s and big money Class A & AB’s from Sugden to Boulder.....the Benchmark has ended my big money power amp purchases for good...
Click to expand...
Appreciate the comments, Boulder and Sugden Masterclass are in the running too but having read a few posts and reviews the AHB2 they look like a must home demo to me. Speakers are Logan 11a but likely go to the 15a - 92db, impedance drops to 0.5Ohms (91/0.6 for my 1a) but am lead to believe they are not amp killers and anything half decent with some welly is gonna be OK. Current amps are Bel Canto Ref600M. Do you run a stereo or a pair in Mono? My room is in a total upheaval at present, I’ll post a pic once it has settled down and halfway tidied up.
 
Amber Audio said:
Is this the only floor based system on PFM (?) ... by orders of SWMBO in my case(!)​
Not seen many expensive rigs on the dog shelf ...so long as you have tunes, nice system, I was gonna ask what after the first pic but you beat me to it

How would you describe the Benchmark amp? I’ve had the 804D2 with a load of Naim/Teddy gear in the past. My dealer sells Benchmark but would have to order in for me to demo and I think was trying to put me off a bit, says they are “dry sounding”.
Click to expand...

Amber Audion

The Benchmark AHB2 usually gets rave reviews - although had a thumbs down from HiFi Critic.
Perhaps it is polaring, as it is such a small unit.
I am thinking of buying a second one and either hozizonatlly or vertically bi-amping the 804d

The AHB2 replaced a Nap200, so was a big step up - much more definition , better bass, lower sound floor and more three dimensional sound.

It may be that the AHB2/804d is a bit 'dry' - but the clairty and is fantastic , and with these cables I haer genuinely lifelike voices and individual instruments. I only feel that mid bass is possibly missing, but that maybe due to my room (and the 804d)?

I have heard the Teddy monos (at a show) and was impressed with the 3-d sound they produced

I did try a valve amps including an ARC ref 110 , and there was more body but less defination, and I concluded that this was due to my passive pre amp (the sound was great with an ARC pre amp...)
 
Amber Audio said:
Appreciate the comments, Boulder and Sugden Masterclass are in the running too but having read a few posts and reviews the AHB2 they look like a must home demo to me. Speakers are Logan 11a but likely go to the 15a - 92db, impedance drops to 0.5Ohms (91/0.6 for my 1a) but am lead to believe they are not amp killers and anything half decent with some welly is gonna be OK. Current amps are Bel Canto Ref600M. Do you run a stereo or a pair in Mono? My room is in a total upheaval at present, I’ll post a pic once it has settled down and halfway tidied up.
Click to expand...

Just run the one stereo amp as I wanted to reduce the amount of boxes, but I’ll probably try a 2nd one at some point. Funny enough the two most disappointing amps I have tried were Bel Canto (walloped by the £1000 Temple Audio monos and Sugden (just flat as a fart with rubbish bass). The big Musical Fidelity amps can be very very good. Boulder will get harsh as the power required by the speakers rises...once they come out of class a they get harsh. The best amp I ever had was the Musical Fidelity Titan but you won’t find one of those...think it was the M800 or one of those that were essentially 95% of the Titan for 50% of the money...

Oh another thing, the Benchmark is very sensitive to cables and siting. On glass and granite it was a bit sterile, spikes on wood was way better but on Townsend pods it’s sublime..
 
Thetiminator said:
Sorry if I’m butting in but I’ve recently aquired one and I find it truly superb. Of coarse system matching will be key but I don’t find it dry or bright at all. It sounds very similar to the Boulders I had but sweeter and if it’s possible...quieter. My speakers are 106db though so the lack of noise is a huge factor for me.
In my time I’ve had exotic valve amps of every variety, excellent class D’s and big money Class A & AB’s from Sugden to Boulder.....the Benchmark has ended my big money power amp purchases for good...
Click to expand...

The AHB2 was meant to be a stop gap, but has stayed with me for several years. Have you an experience of bi-amping them ?
 
Thetiminator said:
Just run the one stereo amp as I wanted to reduce the amount of boxes, but I’ll probably try a 2nd one at some point. Funny enough the two most disappointing amps I have tried were Bel Canto (walloped by the £1000 Temple Audio monos and Sugden (just flat as a fart with rubbish bass). The big Musical Fidelity amps can be very very good. Boulder will get harsh as the power required by the speakers rises...once they come out of class a they get harsh. The best amp I ever had was the Musical Fidelity Titan but you won’t find one of those...think it was the M800 or one of those that were essentially 95% of the Titan for 50% of the money...

Oh another thing, the Benchmark is very sensitive to cables and siting. On glass and granite it was a bit sterile, spikes on wood was way better but on Townsend pods it’s sublime..
Click to expand...
I used to have some breathed on Musical Fidelity 308s tri amping Kef Ref 205 then went off on a few tangents, the Bel Cantos were bought on a whim but are actually doing a decent job with the Logans. I have Townshend podiums and will get the corner pods for my Quadraspire SVT once the kit is finalised. I do use EQ/DSP and have with various systems, the Logans have Anthem ARC built in. I will talk to the dealer next week and arrange a loan of a AHB2.
 
Rosie said:
hi , Gazjam ,

What's the plinth thingy that the Regas standing on ?
I think one of the Rega feet is in hiding on the bottom shelf
Click to expand...

Well spotted!
When I took the stock feet off to fit the IsoAcoustics Orea (nice tweak btw) I couldn’t find the 3rd foot, assumed it’d fell down the back of the system rack?
Hadn’t even thought about it since, was surprised to see it again when I looked at my photo in the thread! :)

The plinth is one handmade by myself,
Started out life as an Ikea Apptilig bamboo chopping board. Rega on glass table isn’t the best support, but with stone floor and walls no real advantage to a wall mount.
But wanted to get it up off the glass surface.

Cut the bamboo plinth in such a way that the deck is supported at 3 points directly under the feet, and it sits on 3 SoundDampedSteel constrained layer damping plates, which is the best way I’ve tried to isolate my kit on my glass shelf Hifi rack.
The plinth now matches the contours of the P10’s skeletal plinth, which looks a lot better than a rectangular brown board under it!

dfC3Ckn.jpg


Didn’t suit the look of the P10, so during 7 month lockdown got the coping saw, 40mm hole saw drill bit, Dremmel and black spray paint out.

d2r1uEJ.jpg


OpzXWte.jpg
 
Thetiminator said:
Just run the one stereo amp as I wanted to reduce the amount of boxes, but I’ll probably try a 2nd one at some point. Funny enough the two most disappointing amps I have tried were Bel Canto (walloped by the £1000 Temple Audio monos and Sugden (just flat as a fart with rubbish bass). The big Musical Fidelity amps can be very very good. Boulder will get harsh as the power required by the speakers rises...once they come out of class a they get harsh. The best amp I ever had was the Musical Fidelity Titan but you won’t find one of those...think it was the M800 or one of those that were essentially 95% of the Titan for 50% of the money...

Oh another thing, the Benchmark is very sensitive to cables and siting. On glass and granite it was a bit sterile, spikes on wood was way better but on Townsend pods it’s sublime..
Click to expand...

I concurr - my Benchmark sounds better on three Isoacoustiscs, and 'better' input and output cables alos help. Try replacing both fuses (its a bit of a faff) - with Synergistic Oranges - another big change (for the better)
 
Have SR Blacks and Blues in my system at various points,and know the improvement they can bring.
Have you compared the Oranges to them yourself?
Could be a future upgrade..
 
andrews said:
I concurr - my Benchmark sounds better on three Isoacoustiscs, and 'better' input and output cables alos help. Try replacing both fuses (its a bit of a faff) - with Synergistic Oranges - another big change (for the better)
Click to expand...

I’ll do that for sure, thanks for the tip!
 
Hi Gazjam ,

Your plinth looks sooo much better snaded and painted . .Thanks for the photos . I have four Custom Desigin constrained layer square Plinths under my rega CD player which is on a bamboo shelf . I have a set of both both SoundDamped Steel and Custom Desigin Plinths , the Custom Desigin are better and have relegated the SDS one's to our dinning room where they now do good service under my Yamaha Midi System .

Martin
 
Last edited:
Rosie said:
Hi Gazjam ,

Your plinth looks sooo much better snaded and painted . .Thanks for the photos . I have four Custom Desigin constrained layer square Plinths under my rega CD player which on a bamboo shelf . I have a set of both both SoundDamped Steel and Custom Desigin Plinths , the Custom Desigin are better and have relegated the SDS one's to our dinning room where they now do good service under my Yamaha Midi System .

Martin
Click to expand...

Interesting Martin!

Got a link to the Custom Desigin Plinths plates please?
 
gazjam said:
it’s a Head Crab from the PC game Half Life (also doubles as a Wireless access point) :)
Click to expand...
Way off topic but I just recently played through "Black Mesa" which is a fan made remake of Half-Life. It a really amazing game compared to the original, and Valve ended up licensing it and put it up for sale on Steam. I'm still toying with the idea of getting a VR setup just to play Half-Life: Alyx. Looks amazing!
 
gazjam said:
Interesting Martin!

Got a link to the Custom Desigin Plinths plates please?
Click to expand...

Hi Gazjam ,
The Custom Design web site needs work it's a pain . Try
www.customdesign.co.uk
go to Products scroll down to Hi Fi solation Platforms and then to Hi Fi solation Acoustic Plinths

They make a huge range of products , their speaker stands and i-rap speaker stand top plates are excellent as are the Acoustic Plinths , not tried anything else .

Martin
 
booja30 said:
Way off topic but I just recently played through "Black Mesa" which is a fan made remake of Half-Life. It a really amazing game compared to the original, and Valve ended up licensing it and put it up for sale on Steam. I'm still toying with the idea of getting a VR setup just to play Half-Life: Alyx. Looks amazing!
Click to expand...

Never completed the original Half Life,
Bought Black Mesa on Steam and it’s Effin Stupendous!

Alyx does indeed look amazing, sold my GTX 1080TI based on what I saw the PS5 could do though...
4K @ 60 FPS is the magic number for me..in the living room kicking back on the couch not in the Office cramped over the desk...
Hopefully PSVR 2 will have Half Life Alyx on it!
 
Rosie said:
Hi Gazjam ,
The Custom Design web site needs work it's a pain . Try
www.customdesign.co.uk
go to Products scroll down to Hi Fi solation Platforms and then to Hi Fi solation Acoustic Plinths

They make a huge range of products , their speaker stands and i-rap speaker stand top plates are excellent as are the Acoustic Plinths , not tried anything else .

Martin
Click to expand...

Thanks Martin,

will take a look.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.


advertisement


Back
Top