bryansamui

I'd be keen to hear the Nelson Pass designs(First Watt) . SS but Single Ended as opposed to Push Pull. Almost all Class A designs in solid state are Push Pull Topology. The article on his website is a good read.. His favourite Topology is Solid State ' Single Ended. 2nd favourite is actually SET (which he doesn't manufacture) followed by Push Pull designs which he does make under his Pass Labs Brand.. He is less inclined to Advocate Solid State over Tubes than he is Single Ended Designs over Push Pull designs. He believes Single Ended is where it is at musicality wise.. .. I think he only produces those whopping big Pass Labs amps in Push Pull for difficult load speakers, Which are heavily biased into Class A anyway... His personal amp in his house is a small 25w 'First Watt' i think.

Here's another swerve ball... Nelson Pass /First watt amplifiers:: Single Ended Class A Solid State. About 25 watts Not speaking from 1st Hand experience but they sound extremely close to A SET amp, they will confuse many in a blind test.. He controversially "adds" 2nd harmonic distortion to the circuit which as it does in a SET amp is pleasing to the ear, makes music sound 'beautiful' if you will, and puts air and space around instruments. This happens with 'Single Ended' designs and much less so with push pull AB amps. He purposely builds them to measure bad ( Like a SET Amp) and ironically that's why they sound great... He goes on to say "Every time a new benchmark in a Lowest Distortion Amplifier has been achieved, NEVER EVER has that amplifier become a 'Classic' or a great selling amplifier. He uses a particular mosfet which gives him more power but emphasises it is the 'Single Ended Topology' rather than the output device that gives that organic tone we love . In other words A Single Ended SS design ( very rare) would sound much closer to a Single Ended Triode design that say a Push Pull tube amp... What fascinates me is that 'Colour knob' on a few of his amps to add 2nd harmonic distortion ( salt & pepper to taste) and how he emphasises an amp without distortion sounds soulless and clinical.

Tubes will reproduce guitar just fine but could be possibly not taut enough in the bass.. As a side note i notice you talk about Zeppelin.. I played Jimmy Page's parts in a Zeppelin Covers outfit. A lot of those Marshall Amplifiers used EL34 Tubes.... Well guess what. The best amp to reproduce it is an El34 amp. Similarly I had a VTL Hifi amp running EL34's.. It was beyond awesome when reproducing the AC/DC Back in Black album. Pefect repro of Angus Youngs Marshall. Don't be afraid of tubes when reproducing guitars.

Tubes will reproduce guitar just fine but could be possibly not taut enough in the bass.. As a side note i notice you talk about Zeppelin.. I played guitar (Jimmy Page's parts) in a Zeppelin Covers outfit. A lot of those Marshall Amplifiers used EL34 Tubes.... Well guess what. The best Hifi amp to reproduce a Marshall sound it is an El34 Hifi amp. Similarly I had a VTL Hifi amp running EL34's.. It was beyond awesome when reproducing the AC/DC Back in Black album. Pefect repro of Angus Youngs Marshall. Don't be afraid of tubes when reproducing guitars.

Hi Suopermanni, My one were a custom 'one off' 3 way (M853SQ) Large like a Spendor Classic 100 Size or Harbeth HL5. Hooked them up 5 mins in and I thought they might be too big for my 5 x 6 M room which isn't small. A bit much bass. 20 hrs in it changed a lot changed. The bass wasn't so overblown. I put some foam plugs in the rear ports and the balance now is perfect . Amazing speakers. Wouldn't trade them for the world... Realism is fantastic. Piano sounds like a real piano . You can hear "The Wood" on woodwind instruments etc. I know about timbre as I am a professional musician. They are unfatiguing to listen too . You can turn them up loud, yet they don't appear loud.. There is none of that dreaded "Ice Pick in the ear" that i get from Some B&W, lean speakers and some Horns.. They are fat. Plenty of meat on the bones but at the same time agile and display great PRAT. The Bass is Fast, Deep and Tuneful. You can follow bass lines really clearly with those Transmission lines.Edward has nailed this topology and i believe the reason other manufactures don't use it ,is they just don't have the 'know how' and use the Bass Reflex design instead as the 'soft option' because its Cheap, highly profitable, and easy to implement for average designers. Calling Edward "Average' is like calling Michael Angelo "An Average Painter" . He is truly talented. Mid is clear, organic and pops out of the mix. That SB acoustics driver is great. The Treble is sweet and extended but doesn't have either the ultimate speed or ultimate extention of my $8500 Martin Logan Electrostatics but is still excellent nevertheless . I still prefer these Ascencions over the Hyper detailed Logans due to their less fatiquing nature and easier long term listen. I consider these as good as the M Logans which were 5 times the price. I want to buy a Solid State Class A Single Ended Pass Labs / First watt type Power Amp. Maybe a J2 or Similar . Sort of like a Solid State version of a Single End Triode Amp.. Can't Wait to hear my speakers with this. You'll like your speakers I'm sure.. They do need a bit of running in from new imo. Best of luck.

The volume is generally dictated by the 'efficiency' of the Speakers. Using a particular speaker you need 10 times the the amp power to double the volume. So a 1800 watt amp is only twice as loud as 180 watts which is in turn only twice as loud as 18 watts. I used to run Marshall 50 watt and 100 watt guitar amps in a Heavy Metal Band. No perceivable difference in volume between the 100 and the 50 watt. Both were so loud they could peel paint off walls. No HiFi amp can compete volume wise to a Marshall Stack because of the speaker efficiency of guitar cabs... You probably only need a high powered amp if you have inefficient (Hard to drive) speakers.

Volume (decibels) is not solely related to wattage... Other factors dictate as well... 5 watts of power could be 'ear shattering loud' and 500 watts not that loud.. Listening at a given volume level probably gives us no indication of the size of amplifier.

Well done to the buyer.. Really happy with with my Custom Size Ascension Stand Mounts.. I don't know how much id have to spend to better them. Speakers to $3,500 didn't rate against the Ascensions with my auditions so it would be north of that price point.

Heres something the Reel to Reel crowd can blame the Vinyl enthusiasts for:: One of the reasons for Compression is that if the tracks were uncompressed, the Vinyl Grooves were far too wide and the Turntable Stylus would not track properly..

Some remasters sound better than the original recordings and many sound s whole lot worse... A real mixed bag(pun not intended) there.. Don't know how all that works.

Spot on DrSK.. Just to add.. a lot of these metal/rock recordings get tilted up in the treble & bass at the desk to counter for the poorer audio gear they are generally going to be listened on, thus when listened to on systems which don't have those sonic shortcomings will sound bright or bassy.. Speaking from 1st Hand experience, not easy for the poor old engineer. Has to try and get middle ground and sound acceptable on Car Audio, shitty home audio, retail ceilings, ear buds, radio etc... Not easy.

My friends room sounds better than mine. It has carpet and curtains and is better damped. It doesn't mess with the sound. My room presently is tiled leaving what would be considered a bit too much ambience and on complex recordings the early reflections are not ideal and they can smear detail and mess with the sound.( albeit not as bad as some rooms) However, I have noticed that this becomes less of an issue or non issue of smaller groups eg Jazz Trios etc and sometimes the room is imo better than my friends carpeted environment . Last night I was listening to a Solo Guitar Album (Tommy Emmanuel ) and the sound was more akin to hearing him as it is in concert. It was more alive and there was more "Air " around his instrument than in my friends room which sucked more life out of the performance. My room this time sounded better than his.. (Tommy E is a personal friend of mine and was a customer of my guitar store) This phenomenon but to a greater extent is known when Saxophone players for example 'Sneak' solo into a church with a wooden floor and high ceiling to hear the beautiful sound their instruments make with the the Long reverb tails that those acoustic environments provide. They can't get that sound at home . That same church will sound horrible if a brass band were to play due to the reflections. My room sounds nothing like that reverberant church of course , but with small scale performances like quartets , trios etc the minimal reverb often puts the performers right in the room... That said, if my room had treatment ,no doubt it would be a better allrounder.

I've got probably the same or similar drivers in mine ( SB NRX) claimed 91.5db.. Cheers for your reply. That was the answer i was hoping for. Would be going down in power from 100watt class AB. The 25 watt Pass/ First Watt Class A amps are physically a big amp.... Really happy with my Ascensions.

Interested in opinions of what the 'Regular Sensitivity' Ascensions are like with low(ish) wattage amps?(25 watt) I am thinking going from a 100 watt Mosfet Push Pull design to a Nelson Pass 25 watt Class A Single Ended JFet. These amps being of course well up the ladder in terms of refinement,musicality etc. On paper 25 watts should be a ton of power for the claimed 91.5db efficiency.. I have heard some users saying maybe the speakers are a bit less than the claimed efficiency. I know Edward does some Valve Series speakers for small amps but these Nelson Pass Solid State designs (25watt )are far from 'Flea Powered Amps. People have used them with speakers as low as 86db. How do you think the 25watt JFet will pair with Edwards Regular speakers at average listening levels? Cheers. Bryan.

I received my custom order larger stand mounts 1 mth ago. While impressive fresh, they improved even more with 20 or so hrs on them. More cohesive, drivers integrated better.. They are better than speakers I auditioned 3 times the price.. Mind you they would be 3 times the price if they were imported via a distributor and retailer.. Enjoy your new speakers.