New addition

[steve-z]

Just ordered one on eBay. Delivered from the UK, £399 listed, although, for some reason I got a discount.......£333!

Be interested to know how you’re getting on with it.
Since my original post I have moved on the FHLs and now have a pair of Mission QX2 standmounts which have 3dbs higher sensitivity so I don’t have to drive the amp as hard.

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[steve-z]

Just thought I'd revitalise this old thread of mine with some continued observations on my Reisong A10 which I've now been using for a little over 9 months. The amp has been used every day and has been utterly reliable apart from a noise problem when I switched to the Voshkod Rocket pre tubes which reared its head after a couple of months use so the originals have been put back which sorted the problem out. The sound quality driving the 88db Mission QX2 is certainly better than it was with the less efficient FHLs but with the small amount of top end sweetness I think it would be a better match with brighter and more efficient speakers particularly as my (69 year old) ears are now rolling off at HF too. As an experiment I tried the A10 briefly in my main setup driving my 90db Q Acoustics Concept 40s and the combination proved to be excellent producing a very balanced sound with a more than acceptable volume level from its 6 wpc.
I've investigated possible modifications and there are several suggestions online and on Youtube with regards to component substitutions which are inexpensive and are supposed to give audible improvements but having no DIY skill in that area it's not something I think I'd want to attempt.
Much as I do like many of the amps attributes, midband clarity, solid punchy bass and stereo imagery the main drawback for me how my system is set up is the lack of remote control and I get the feeling that I will shortly be tempted to move the A10 on and get a different and probably more conventional amp with a remote. The prime candidate will probably be the Rega Io, I have tried the setup with the amp from my main system the Rega Brio and the results were extremely good as I would have expected but there's no way I could justify spending £600 on an amp for a second tier setup. Apparently there is little loss other than lower power and less inputs going down to the Io and at under £400 it's a lot more in keeping with the rest of the setup so it seems a sensible move. Certainly one thing the the Io can't match is the physical beauty and presence of the A10 which I'll certainly miss a lot. Still conjecture currently though.


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[Macca]

The Io won't be a good match for those Mission speakers. You need speakers with 8 ohm or higher impedance for the Io. Even Rega say that.

Brio should be okay though and always some for sale used.

[steve-z]

The Io won't be a good match for those Mission speakers. You need speakers with 8 ohm or higher impedance for the Io. Even Rega say that.

Brio should be okay though and always some for sale used.

That's interesting and frankly a little surprising, I would have expected the Io to have similar characteristics to the Brio with just less power particularly as these days there seem to be more 4 ohm speakers around than 8 ohms. I wonder if the compatibility issue relates to heat dissipation when driven hard, in my situation I doubt the speakers would get even close to 1 watt at my listening level, probably quite a bit less.


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[Macca]

It's not watts but current, the IO is not able to sustain voltage into a low impedance load.

I hardly ever use more than one watt continuous (I know because an LED lights up if I do) but if I swap the Krell for a NAD I notice the difference, mostly in the bass performance, because the speakers drop to 2.2 ohms, but the whole sound is just not as 'good'.

Both power amps have similar power rating in watts but I can pick up the NAD in one hand whereas picking up the Krell is like doing a deadlift.

[hifinutt]

could you get a volume controlled dac to act as volume control and keep the amp , which obviously you enjoy . like a rme or a dac1 perhaps

[steve-z]

It's not watts but current, the IO is not able to sustain voltage into a low impedance load.

I hardly ever use more than one watt continuous (I know because an LED lights up if I do) but if I swap the Krell for a NAD I notice the difference, mostly in the bass performance, because the speakers drop to 2.2 ohms, but the whole sound is just not as 'good'.

Both power amps have similar power rating in watts but I can pick up the NAD in one hand whereas picking up the Krell is like doing a deadlift.

According to Mission the minimum impedance on the QX2 is 3.6 ohms which I wouldn't have thought was too drastic as no doubt the rest of the impedance curve will be comfortably over 4 ohms, mind you I wouldn't want to shell out the money and find the combination was problematic.


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[steve-z]

could you get a volume controlled dac to act as volume control and keep the amp , which obviously you enjoy . like a rme or a dac1 perhaps

It's not just a move towards a remote controlled amp but one that puts back some of the top end sparkle that my ageing ears are missing with the A10, particularly as I do get that sparkle with my main setup which throws the difference into sharp relief.


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