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THAT is where MOST subwwoofers fall down...thump,thump...that's not bass in the real world...go to a unamplified classical concert and when that big drum gets hit so hard it moves the air , that you feel it in the middle of the concert hall and than wonder how that is possible...bass is not always bass...it has to be musical...

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I think you're assuming that people are talking about one kind of bass. Many on this forum have bass setups that I have yet to hear replicated in any high-end demo rooms. They just dont' have the time or inclination to get things setup right in my experiences. That can't be said about setups such as spearmint's or norpus which are truly musical and incredible bass experiences.

Anyway I applaud LD for responding on the valve(ishness) being expressed in earlier posts.

I've heard Halcro's quite a few times now and have not hear a valve amp come close to the amount of detail and accuracy that they can produce across the entire frequency range. I guess I'm lucky as one day I might run valves on my mid-range however all I've ever heard of valves amps has not impressed me other than the mid range which they do add a magical air to the music.

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So, now, how about someone really contributing on ss. I forgot, Kevin already has, with the Plinius. Will need to investigate that.

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SS equipment and actual listening experience - in my home with our equipment and listened to for an extensive period with Osborn and Martin Logan Monolith IIIp and in past on Quad ESL63 Krell KSA l50, Krell KSA 200,Classe 400, Krell 200c, Plinius l00 Mk III in stereo and mono, Plinius SAl02 in stereo and mono. Best of these is the Plinius. Plays music. I still find the older Krell KSA l50 superior to many of Krell's later amplifiers. The first sliding bias ones were a disaster emphasising the greyest aspects of the Krell sound. I have not had a good listen to the most recent versions.

Sound I have heard elsewhere for a reasonable length of time ie several hours and would pursue further if in the market. Herron l50 monoblocs and YBA Signature l000 monoblocs both with Herron preamp Sony SACD into FS Acoustic speakers (Audiophile Utopia, Chatswood Sydney). I find a lot of upper end systems tick the hifi boxes and get the separate bits right but fail to play music. Herron and YBA do. I can't believe I'm agreeing with the Linn philosophy but they simply play the tune.

I strongly suspect (SET amplifiers aside) that the vast majority of people could not readily identify a well designed valve vs a well designed SS amplifier of appropriate power for the speaker. There is something special about SET's but you buy into a whole series of compromises regarding speaker selection, valve life, heat, a presentation of bass that a lot of people do not find helpful with rock music in particular.

Valves are very fashionable. Listen carefully. I have been playing this game for twenty years now. The first valve amp I heard was a Leak of ?60w driving ML Sequels (Elgar Cello Concerto, Du Pre, Barbirolli) and it sounded terrible - flabby bass and no high end. The dealer is telling us it sounds magnificent. Shocking amp and speaker matching looking back - mind you the dealer was on the ball and knew the wave was coming - this was early 90's in N.Z.

Kevin

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My perception of KR Audio is based on commentary at the Audio Asylum particularly in the tubes section. I was very clear in stating I have no personal experience and have absolutely no reason to disbelieve your stated opinion regarding the quality of the sound. The warranty as stated on the KR Audio site would be near impossible to fulfill with plenty of potential for "discussion" as is clearly reported on Audio Asylum.

We run a reasonably esoteric valve amp (Audio Aero) and people need to understand that a full revalve of these amps can be very expensive as it is for the Kronzilla. The amps run very hot which does preclude us from using them for quite a few days over summer. [/b]

I had a look at Audio asylum and found the last negative comments there in 2003...hardly recent stuff...maybe I did not find the "recent " comments which led to Kevin's post...the Audio Aero I have not heard,but believe that it is very good...it runs very hot ??...the Kronzilla does not,it's designed to run cool and it is designed to have a long valve live....I still have the original valves here...one did get damaged in transit and has a slight tube rush...

But Kevin,is it ethical to rubbish other valve gear, when you sell such a good one ???

Does SS look better??? :wink: ....I think Keith and alebenau answered all that correctly...I have no more to add to that...

and "YES" I have also heard good subwoofer systems...I am glad that people are not scared to hook them onto a 2 channel set up and are getting it right... :) ...there I am progressing...at least the thread did get a bit of live in it...

Enjoy.... :)

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I had a look at Audio asylum and found the last negative comments there in 2003...hardly recent stuff...maybe I did not find the "recent " comments which led to Kevin's post...the Audio Aero I have not heard,but believe that it is very good...it runs very hot ??...the Kronzilla does not,it's designed to run cool and it is designed to have a long valve live....I still have the original valves here...one did get damaged in transit and has a slight tube rush...

But Kevin,is it ethical to rubbish other valve gear, when you sell such a good one ???

Does SS look better??? :wink: ....I think Keith and alebenau answered all that correctly...I have no more to add to that...

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I am withdrawing from this discussion. I do not and have never intimated that I sell audio gear let alone Audio Aero. Go to tube asylum type in KR Audio in the search and there is a thread from 2004 January with a lot of unhappy people with faulty valves. Ther is also positive commentary regarding the sound but this is almost evenly balanced by neutral or negative commentary. The other thing that comes out is that these valves are not direct replacements - they run with higher plate voltages and are best utilised in a circuit specifically designed with the KR tubes in mind I am not rubbishing the sound of this equipment but the business practice of KR Audio is scarecly best practice.

I am perfectly entitled to bring peoples attention to commentary on othe forums.

Kevin

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We run a reasonably esoteric valve amp (Audio Aero) and people need to understand that a full revalve of these amps can be very expensive as it is for the Kronzilla. The amps run very hot which does preclude us from using them for quite a few days over summer.[/b]

Kevin ,that statement read to me as if you are selling the amps....if you own it,I misunderstood and will withdraw my statement....my apology...I believe that KR Audio has a Australian Distributor now,so hopefully the Audio Asylum remarks of bad customer service stays put at 3 years ago....2004...

Enjoy the music....

:wink:

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With all this talk of hi-end amplification it's interesting to note that no one has mentioned devices from Linn or Naim, both manufacturers offer some very high quality amps and the Linn stuff in particular is both warm and musical.Has anyone tried any of their top end gear recently?

Gordon

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With all this talk of hi-end amplification it's interesting to note that no one has mentioned devices from Linn or Naim, both manufacturers offer some very high quality amps and the Linn stuff in particular is both warm and musical.Has anyone tried any of their top end gear recently?[/b]

Hey Ozcal. Perhaps it's just the Linn and Naim dealers which i've visited, but neither brand has particularly impressed me. I can't remember which Naim system I listened to, but it was all Naim - CDP, preamp, power amp, and speakers. The dealer back in Perth had the system right up against the wall. Beautiful tone, with a nice fat midrange. Rather lacking in the bass (but I have said elsewhere that I don't really mind a lack of bass). Rather disappointing that the speakers were right up against the wall and there was still no bass - one could only guess how gutless they would sound if they were pulled out into the normal position. The imaging was very poor - 2 dimensional and flat.

As for Linn, a friend of mine ran a Linn preamp, Audio Innovations valve monoblocks, and Linn Ninka speakers. He just got rid of all the Linn stuff and now runs Quad 2905 and got the guy down in Mornington to make him a new pre and power. I suppose it wasn't fair to judge Linn on the strength of their $2000 speaker when I am used to listening to speakers that cost at least twice that ... but once again the system didn't really do anything for me.

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Hey Ozcal. Perhaps it's just the Linn and Naim dealers which i've visited, but neither brand has particularly impressed me. I can't remember which Naim system I listened to, but it was all Naim - CDP, preamp, power amp, and speakers. The dealer back in Perth had the system right up against the wall. Beautiful tone, with a nice fat midrange. Rather lacking in the bass (but I have said elsewhere that I don't really mind a lack of bass). Rather disappointing that the speakers were right up against the wall and there was still no bass - one could only guess how gutless they would sound if they were pulled out into the normal position. The imaging was very poor - 2 dimensional and flat.

As for Linn, a friend of mine ran a Linn preamp, Audio Innovations valve monoblocks, and Linn Ninka speakers. He just got rid of all the Linn stuff and now runs Quad 2905 and got the guy down in Mornington to make him a new pre and power. I suppose it wasn't fair to judge Linn on the strength of their $2000 speaker when I am used to listening to speakers that cost at least twice that ... but once again the system didn't really do anything for me.

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Hi Keith , the Naim speakers are designed to be used against the wall but I do know the room you would have listened to them in and the acoustics are appalling , as I used to work for that company.More likely than not you listened to the then entry level Naim speaker ,the IBL if I remember correctly, which is a small speaker and not particularly potent in the lower registers .More than some other speakers the Naim's require good set-up practice to perform well and I am afraid this was seldom the case in that shop at that time.

I prefer the Linn stuff over Naim as it offers the same level of musicality but with a warmer overall presentation to my ears.

I am just somewhat surprised that neither manufacturer seems to get much of a mention on the Forum given products like the Klimax pre and power amps from Linn ( http://www.knekt.com/spec_sound/product_di...FTOKEN=11971939 ) and the equivalent models in Naims range

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Guest alebonau

hi gordon, probably understandable with a thread like this people will post from their frame and reference and what gear they had opportunity to experience. unfortunately naim and linn dont really get much of an airing here as some other brands. I was fortunate enough to experience some trully cracker naim systems over hte years one. the first a full naim setup in electronics wiht TT as source(not sure of brand) hooked to some snell speakers. sounded fantastic it was $8k of amps 20 years ago? was beyod my affordability. I was demoing a naka tape deck at the time in the system which ended up buying. the other naim was more recently a full naim setup pre-power wiht naim cd source and fully naim optioned with all the add on boxes hooked up plain and simple to a b&w 805s again sensational and well beyond what I could afford. btu again a sound I beleive is in the ultra high end teritory if there is such a thing.

alas if wanted to demo naim these days say in melb woudnt know where, would take some searching, same with linn jsut not a brand with much profile unfortunately but know the linn unidisk is a top flight player and the linn lp12 TT I heard of fatgens was one of hte best vinyl rigs I've heard reaffirmed my faith in vinyl :)

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hi gordon, probably understandable with a thread like this people will post from their frame and reference and what gear they had opportunity to experience. unfortunately naim and linn dont really get much of an airing here as some other brands. I was fortunate enough to experience some trully cracker naim systems over hte years one. the first a full naim setup in electronics wiht TT as source(not sure of brand) hooked to some snell speakers. sounded fantastic it was $8k of amps 20 years ago? was beyod my affordability. I was demoing a naka tape deck at the time in the system which ended up buying. the other naim was more recently a full naim setup pre-power wiht naim cd source and fully naim optioned with all the add on boxes hooked up plain and simple to a b&w 805s again sensational and well beyond what I could afford. btu again a sound I beleive is in the ultra high end teritory if there is such a thing.

alas if wanted to demo naim these days say in melb woudnt know where, would take some searching, same with linn jsut not a brand with much profile unfortunately but know the linn unidisk is a top flight player and the linn lp12 TT I heard of fatgens was one of hte best vinyl rigs I've heard reaffirmed my faith in vinyl :)

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Well, anyone in SA has only to venture to Goodwood road to get the full Linn experience from Jim Tate. I've never really done so as the look he gave me when I mentioned that I had Klipsch speakers and liked them made me feel somewhat uncomfortable and I left as soon as I could. But that might have just been me being over-sensitive :blush:

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  • 9 years later...

A little bit irritating. The left channel heater circuit to the 813 valve has gone to sleep. I shall have to take it to Lake Bunga for repair. Really only matters when you want to make the windows vibrate - however we alll want that, don't we? The Audio Aero monoblocs are have now given years of pleasure and have thoughtfully not destroyed the old NOS valves in them.

 

And it is a nice drive to Lake Bunga, neh?

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This thread reads like rip van winkle and the longest sleep, most enjoyable reading some old name and surprising the amount of readable content vs fluff. Sorry to hear of your loss of heater but sure you will have satisfaction in the end. My regards to the nurse. Are you passing through on the weekend of the first?

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This thread reads like rip van winkle and the longest sleep, most enjoyable reading some old name and surprising the amount of readable content vs fluff. Sorry to hear of your loss of heater but sure you will have satisfaction in the end. My regards to the nurse. Are you passing through on the weekend of the first?

 

Hmmm....I do owe you a sip of old Macallan, don't I? I will see if I can get DIYNut or Wadiaman interested to come. Been a couple of years.

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Hmmm - only about 2 posts a year these days from you Mustud - I know only too well that age does catch up. :(

 

But bung heaters and Mt Bunga travelogues?  You can do better. ;)

 

Actually I blush at the title of this old thread, however it came up as the second hit in a google search on the Audio Aero monoblocs that I did out of interest after booking in a repair with Tony at Ambience Speakers at Lake Bunga. The fish and chips on the way back at Lakes Entrance will be nice. With a nice bottle of vintage Arras, of course.

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Hmmm....I do owe you a sip of old Macallan, don't I? I will see if I can get DIYNut or Wadiaman interested to come. Been a couple of years.

If you do, the system I'm bringing down has a sound to make the nurse purr very smoothly.

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Don't you think "Super Mustud" is a much better name than "Mustud52" :P

 

Hmmm - only about 2 posts a year these days from you Mustud - I know only too well that age does catch up. :(

 

But bung heaters and Mt Bunga travelogues?  You can do better. ;)

SM is back . Yay.

Now where is Mello Yello? ;)

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Guest yamaha_man

SM is back . Yay.

Now where is Mello Yello? ;)

MY was ostracised some time ago ad now resides on AV Forum/DTV Forum.

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MY was ostracised some time ago ad now resides on AV Forum/DTV Forum.

Yeah I know. We exchange the occasional PM over there . He said he is waiting for the Mods to invite him back.

( I believe all is forgiven only on the day when a Full Moon coincides with the Winter Solstice. ) :rolleyes:

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  • 2 years later...

I have spent far too much time in recent years contracting as a consultant when I was truly expecting to only listen to music and breed fuschias. Perhaps with a glass of Glenfarclas in hand. Well, how about an update on the AAs? Say, along the lines of an extended review? Have to say that high voltage Class A valve gear can be a little like one's loved one. Great comfort and pleasure however in need of unstinting care. In the 12 or so years I have had these I have replaced the main electrolytics  - after a battle with the French Felsic supplier, then later discovered that the original circuit boards did not adequately deal with the heat from a few power resistors. Plus a few diodes were under undue stress. However manufacturing and repositioning  new circuit boards (thanks Andrew) was a little like seeing one's loved one have a new hips installed. Why all the bother? Because I have never heard a system sound better, that's why. Certainly some systems have their advantages however for overall pleasure one often hankers after an aural experience of familiarity.  Had removed the Wadia 27 V3 DAC for a few months just to see how the Mack DAC sounded, but after putting the Wadia back in realised that the earlier arrangement was still the best overall set up. Will have to tell DIYNut (Mr Mack) this fact over dinner at the Pig in Olinda this weekend. His turn to pay, A double blow. Cheerio.

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On 27/03/2019 at 11:10 PM, Super Mustud said:

Certainly some systems have their advantages however for overall pleasure one often hankers after an aural experience of familiarity.  

So true.

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