Croft Amp

[Antinchip]

I have recently taken delivery of a new pair of Croft 7R mono power amps (with thanks to Adrian Parsons at Audioflair and of course Glenn Croft).

These have replaced a pair of Avondale M130 monos and are used with a Chevron Audio Paradox pre-amp. This has full remote control and HT pass-through, which are important to me, so Croft pre-amps are not on my radar. The amps are driving a pair of Tannoy Turnberry SE's.

I can happily say that my system sounds the best that it ever has. It is very easy just to sit back and enjoy the music. The sound is very natural and everything just sounds “right”. It is very clear with plenty of detail and ambience, with great scale and dynamics from the delicate to the slam. So very pleased and looking forward to continuing to enjoy my music more than ever before going forward.

I think that the Crofts are a better match to my Tannoy Turnberry’s than the Avondale M130’s. The sound before was just a little strident and I had to reduce the treble energy on the Tannoy’s to a minimum. I am now able to up the treble energy a notch and will experiment a bit more with this. Otherwise I will let things settle in and will leave tube rolling for the future.

Cheers

Anthony

[StanleyB]

Congrats on your new amp Anthony. As far as I understand it, Adrian is the exclusive dealer of the Croft amps with a remote. The other dealers only sell the non-remote versions.
For testing of my own designs on valve based amps I tend to borrow and use Crofts amps from Audioflair. I like the way that they do not bottom out or lock up on the low bass, which in turn gives me a chance to detect if there are any issues with the bass from my own products. The mids and treble response on the Croft amps need no repeat comments or praise since many have already written about them in the past.

[Antinchip]

Stanley, thank you for your comments. All is sounding good including with my Bushmaster II with (I think) latest firmware.

Yes, I saw that Adrian could provide remote, but volume only I think. I am very happy with the Chevron Paradox that Colin built for me earlier in the year with HT pass-through since I use my "proper Hi-Fi" as part of a surround system. It has remote volume and source selection as standard which is also useful.

By the by I have also just dropped in a Series 7 power amp configured for mono to drive the centre channel for multi-channel/movie use. Good for the odd DVD-A and SACD in the music collection.

Cheers

Anthony

[Ninanina]

Well the Croft is really 'growing' on me....

It certainly is very musical and I have noticed that it is very easy to hear the words being sung

I am really looking forward to trying it out on the LS3/5a's

[Frazeur1]

Will be interesting to hear your thoughts on the differences between the Croft and your Oto, Nina. Have fun and enjoy your music!

[Ninanina]

I really should learn to listen better to you chaps..

I had it confirmed by Glenn himself that the speaker terminals should be reversed

I have now swapped them and I think the slightly 'hot' nature of the amp has gone

It is quite a different sounding amp than the AN.. but I like it, it's just different

I have a sneaky suspicion that if I swap back to the AN it might sound a bit 'dead' compared to the Croft... I will be doing this though in the next couple of days

I can definitely say one thing for the Croft though and that is I reckon for the money there is probably not much to touch it...

[Ninanina]

Well I now have a 'handle' on the Croft Integrated Amp

It is a very very good amp indeed for the money

I thought, when I put the AN back into the system, that I might miss the rather lively Croft but I don't

The Croft somehow misses the 'texture', 'feeling' and 'expression' that the Oto has in spades. The Croft kinda glosses over these qualities somewhat

I think if I am going to go the Croft route I would need to move up the range to the Series 7R power and Micro 25R pre and then I am pretty sure the difference would swing it for the Croft amps

It has been a very interesting experience with the Croft and it is seriously a very good amp indeed and I think within it's price range a real bargain buy

I think it has just confirmed to me how good the AN really is

However the Croft, with the LS3/5a's ,was very good indeed and certainly the AN cannot drive them properly...but I 'missed' my Rega speakers and was only really happy once the AN went back in driving them and the Croft was just too 'hot' with the Rega's... blimey I hope that makes some sense...

I will be sticking with the Oto for a while yet as it does do what I want it to and has absolutely no 'nasty' edges and with the Rega's it seems to be very happy indeed

[Ninanina]

I guess I may be sad SET amp convert after all ...

[Frazeur1]

Interesting Nina, the Oto is indeed a very fine amp, and not to short the Croft either. Could be one of those things that is system dependant as well as "ear dependant" too.

[Firebottle]

I guess I may be sad SET amp convert after all ...

What's so sad with the SET conversion anyway

I think your 'handle' on the Croft is spot on, with definite benefits accruing from moving up the range.
To compete with a good Class A you have to look further up the range, IMO.