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Thread: Croft Series 7 monos

  1. #11
    Join Date: Nov 2010

    Location: Yorkshire

    Posts: 9,302
    I'm Andrew.

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    Joe answered my question. Thanks mate.
    SS
    CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10

    VALVE
    PRE
    Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker



  2. #12
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: United Kingdom

    Posts: 2,302
    I'm Richard.

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    ABD.

  3. #13
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Birmingham

    Posts: 6,772
    I'm James.

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    Quote Originally Posted by REXTON View Post
    I await this thread with baited breath as I'd like a set!
    Hi Rexton,

    Are you still deciding wether to plunge into the Croft pool or are you undecided what Croft combination to buy?
    Main system : VPI Scout 1.1 / JMW 9T / 2M Black / Croft 25R+ / Croft 7 / Heco Celan GT 702

    Second System : Goldring Lenco GL75 / AT95EX / Pioneer SX590 / Spendor SP2

  4. #14
    Join Date: Nov 2010

    Location: Yorkshire

    Posts: 9,302
    I'm Andrew.

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    I'm already in the croft pool mate I own the micro basic preamp. Im still pondering trialling the top end two box pre-amp, the escapes me A friendly AOS member has offered a trial of his. What makes you ask?
    SS
    CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10

    VALVE
    PRE
    Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker



  5. #15
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Birmingham

    Posts: 6,772
    I'm James.

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    Quote Originally Posted by REXTON View Post
    I'm already in the croft pool mate I own the micro basic preamp. Im still pondering trialling the top end two box pre-amp, the escapes me A friendly AOS member has offered a trial of his. What makes you ask?
    I saw a post a few weeks back you mentioned trying a Croft pre and was just interested to find out if you had gone any further with Croft stuff.
    Main system : VPI Scout 1.1 / JMW 9T / 2M Black / Croft 25R+ / Croft 7 / Heco Celan GT 702

    Second System : Goldring Lenco GL75 / AT95EX / Pioneer SX590 / Spendor SP2

  6. #16
    Join Date: Nov 2010

    Location: Yorkshire

    Posts: 9,302
    I'm Andrew.

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    Well if the the micro basic is anything to go by then I should presume the top end stuff should be bloody fantastic
    SS
    CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10

    VALVE
    PRE
    Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker



  7. #17
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Birmingham

    Posts: 6,772
    I'm James.

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    The Micro 25R is fabulous, not really sure need to go any further with the pre. I have been told that changing some of the resistors to non inductive types almost brings this up to the RS level.

    However I think I could do better than the standard Series 7 power amp but not sure what would best way to go, hence my question about mono blocks. I have efficient speakers so power is not an issue but control and SQ might be bettered with mono's?
    Main system : VPI Scout 1.1 / JMW 9T / 2M Black / Croft 25R+ / Croft 7 / Heco Celan GT 702

    Second System : Goldring Lenco GL75 / AT95EX / Pioneer SX590 / Spendor SP2

  8. #18
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Birmingham

    Posts: 6,772
    I'm James.

    Smile Croft Series 7 monoblocks amplifier update February 2017

    Back in June 2014 I put this post up as I wanted to know if I should move from a Series 7 Croft to the monoblock Series7 power amplifiers. Not that many people have heard the Series7 monoblocks so I was always keen to scratch this itch and try for myself.

    Rewind 15 years or so and I remember sitting in a house in Bridgnorth listening to the then purveyor of Croft gear demonstrate to me the Croft Cypher OTL monoblocks with a vinyl front end and a pair of SP2 Spendor speakers. I was astounded at the sound I heard so much that it remains embedded in my memory as a benchmark all these years later. For Croftophiles who have not heard of the Cypher these were a rare pair of monoblocks using the 6As7G valve rated at 7W output that I think retailed at about £4,000. Not many people heard those either!

    Anyway back to the present and having the urge to try some current Croft mono blocks I decided to investigate purchasing a pair. It then struck me that I would have to sell my Stereo Series 7 and buy a pair of 7 monos or have mine converted. However I then enquired about using my Stereo 7 with another Stereo 7 as
    Monoblocks not in a bridged form but just using a single input channel on each and corresponding speaker output. This would utilise a dedicated PSU and transformer from each amp in a similar way to a monoblocks 7. Enquiries were made and the big thumbs up was given with a suggestion that using 2 x Series 7 Stereo amps would give very good results indeed!

    So I purchased another Stereo Croft series 7 power amp and hooked this up to with my other Croft series 7 and Croft 25R+ Preamp. After a suitable power cable was found I ran it in for a day and then spent last weekend listening.

    So how did it sound? Well I am not sure if anyone else has done this so it may well be a first but by the end of the weekend I found it difficult to stop putting vinyl on up until midnight last night. Rarely do i put something in my system that makes me want to play my entire record collection but this combination did!

    I will try and convey the improvement this combination made to my system compared to a single power amp. The entire exercise was also witnessed by my 'golden ears' partner Helen who has a much more down to earth approach than myself to Hifi but by the end it even captivated her so much she didn't want to stop listening.

    I spoke to a friend this morning and gave an example of the experience when you used to go to the cinema and you watched the ads and then the screen curtains would open wider and the full sound system kicked in and you went to the main event. The soundstage is not particularly deeper but certainly wider and fuller. Information that was just perceptible at the extremes in each speaker was now much more vivid and pronounced. Stereo effects were now precise and obvious where as with the single amp they were a bit hazy. But the biggest differences were the vocals and scale and timbre of instruments. The two amp configuration simply expanded what was there in the recording sometimes to an awesome degree.

    Vocals seemed compressed before but now had a depth and fullness to them that was fabulous and were portrayed in a holophonic and very transparent soundstage. Instruments, especially stringed instruments had a bite and timbre that plumbed a few octaves lower. Take a steel stringed guitar (Ry Cooder) or electric harp (Andreas Vollenvieder) and the harmonic bloom and dynamic abilities were now astounding. The power and dynamics simply opened up as if they had been held back before. My single Stereo 7 sounded as if it hardened up when very dynamic stuff was played but the monoblocks were effortless and totally unconstrained. One other observation was the smoothness and lack of grain or distortion to everything. I wasn't aware of it before but switching to the monoblocks it became apparent there was something less refined with the single Croft 7.

    The way in which I had connected the two Series 7 amps meant I was still only getting 45w per channel so there was no extra power but the complete separation of the signal going in and separate transformer and power supply allowed the amps to deliver each channel with so much more dynamic clout. Honestly some of the stuff I listened to and knew really well was at another level altogether, almost like another recording!

    Having dual volume controls on the Croft pre also meant any imbalance between the two amps could easily be dealt with, not that there was much at all. I now get totally why Glenn likes separate volume controls and why in the past mono configurations of his amps was always the preferred route. It brings about a profound improvement over a stereo amp set up that has to be heard to be believed.

    After two massive listening sessions of about 15 hours I decided in order to check and validate what I had heard I would directly A-B the single Stereo Amp against the mono configuration. I picked three tracks from different but excellently recorded albums and played them first on my single stereo Croft 7 then on the monoblocks.

    The difference was stunning and absolute, there was no way back. The sound and aural presentation of the Croft monoblocks was so addictive and wonderful there was no way I could go back to a single stereo power amp.

    All my music has now taken on another lease of life and I only wish I had gone down this route earlier!
    Main system : VPI Scout 1.1 / JMW 9T / 2M Black / Croft 25R+ / Croft 7 / Heco Celan GT 702

    Second System : Goldring Lenco GL75 / AT95EX / Pioneer SX590 / Spendor SP2

  9. #19
    Join Date: Oct 2012

    Location: The Black Country

    Posts: 6,089
    I'm Alan.

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    Just what I found when I scratched the itch to make monoblocks

    It is definitely the reduction of inter-modulating distortion from one channel to the other, something you think beforehand that surely can't be much of a problem.
    Now you know that removing this low level 'hash' just reveals what is there to really get the passion and enjoyment flowing

    Excellent result.

  10. #20
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Birmingham

    Posts: 6,772
    I'm James.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Firebottle View Post
    Just what I found when I scratched the itch to make monoblocks

    It is definitely the reduction of inter-modulating distortion from one channel to the other, something you think beforehand that surely can't be much of a problem.
    Now you know that removing this low level 'hash' just reveals what is there to really get the passion and enjoyment flowing

    Excellent result.
    Probably even more so with an OTL design.
    Main system : VPI Scout 1.1 / JMW 9T / 2M Black / Croft 25R+ / Croft 7 / Heco Celan GT 702

    Second System : Goldring Lenco GL75 / AT95EX / Pioneer SX590 / Spendor SP2

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