Deaf Row!

[Macca]

what's your tuner? And what are the two gizmos on the top shelf?

[walpurgis]

what's your tuner? And what are the two gizmos on the top shelf?

A cheapo Marantz ST385L that I got for about a fiver (works & sounds just fine), The white things are the satellite speakers for the TV 2.1 subwoofer/multimedia system (very effective Cyruslink job). In front of them is a dinky Blaupunkt DVD player.

[walpurgis]

Amp shootout?

My best mate dropped by today and brought some goodies with him.

When he arrived I was using the NAD 3130 driving the KEF Corellis and it was sounding very decent.

The NAD was disconnected and next up was my friend's Rega Brio R, this sounded very detailed and transparent, possibly not as beefy as the 3130 but nice though.



Followed by his Townshend Allegri + autoformer preamp feeding a Pass Labs Aleph 3 Class A power amplifier. Now you're talking, long warm-up to come together though but the wait was worth it. I couldn't point a finger at anything I didn't like about this combo, it just sounded rich and beautifully balanced and clear with great depth. And it suited the Corellis amazingly well, they just sounded like LS3/5a's on steroids .



I briefly rigged up my pot passive pre-amp in place of the Allegri, It sounded pretty bad, weedy and too bright. A definite mismatch.

As was the introduction of my Quad 306 on the end of the Allegri, that also sounded weedy and thin. Another mismatch.



I know though that the pot passive and 306 sound great working together. It's all a case of mix & match, you never know how various combos will work out.

Anyway, to round off, I dug out my 4 watt Class A 6V6 Raphaelite integrated valve amp. This is a very nice sounding unit and drove the Corellis surprisingly well considering their low sensitivity and the limited amp power. A nice beefy sound that was very transparent and detailed and just kept getting better and better for some time. The first time I'd tried it with the KEFs. The Raphaelite didn't like the big Tannoys I had a while back.



The Aleph/Allegri pair were probably the best sounding setup, but the Raphaelite was so good after coming on song, I'd be hard put to pick a winner.

I'm hoping for a listen to his Lavardin IS Reference next time he drops by!

Source today was my Trichord Research 'Digital Turntable' CD transport via the Musical Fidelity V-DAC through the MF X-10D buffer stage.

[Jimbo]

Some nice old gems there.

[Macca]

tidy little valve amo that, I don't remember you mentioning it before.

So what was the best combo on the day then?

[Puffin]

You should build yourself a Pass Amp Camp Amp. Seriously good for silly money.

[Firebottle]

What a great shootout with very varied kit.
I recall you showing that little 6V6 amp before, a bit of a gem.

[walpurgis]

tidy little valve amo that, I don't remember you mentioning it before.

So what was the best combo on the day then?

I had shown the Raphaelite before quite a while ago. I'd sold it to a mate for a while, but bought it back as he'd not used it (too much gear ). I originally ordered it from China, as Raphaelite although not well known here, make some extremely decent equipment to a high standard and I wanted a 6V6 amp. There's something a bit special about 6V6 sounds.

As to the best combo? As I said, the Aleph 3 and Allegro + probably just edged it, but the 6V6 was close enough for the jury to be out for a long time .

All I need now is a pair of big BLH speakers to do the Raphaelite justice!!


Later, I'll bung the 306 and pot passive back in the system together as I'm sure they deserve another bash at showing what they can really do.

[walpurgis]

Later, I'll bung the 306 and pot passive back in the system together as I'm sure they deserve another bash at showing what they can really do.

Well that rather confirmed my thoughts. The 306 & pot passive sounded crap in isolation yesterday, now I have them in the system together again and sounding amazing! Rich, silky smooth and very transparent, lovely! Plenty of poke too. Not inferior to the Pass and Townshend combo in any way that jumps out at me, nor the 6V6 either.

The 306 really is as good an amplifier as most systems could need. I'm no Hi-Fi snob and if something cheap(ish) sounds great, I'll say so. That's why I keep using the NAD 3130 as my main amp .

[Macca]

The only problem with 306 is inability to drive some speakers. Surprising how many speakers present a difficult load for the amplifier. I think it accounts for most of the differences between amplifiers and why some people will love a particular amplifier and others think it is junk.

With pre-power matching I find my Krell power amp sounds best with the Pass passive buffer pre-amp, but my NAD power amp sounds best with the Philips active pre-amp. I suppose it is a question of output/input impedance and sensitivity. Which is 'best' is so often circumstantial rather than absolute.