Consonance (Opera Audio) Owners Thread

[markm1111]

I have been thinking about getting a nice integrated valve amp for quite some time, and the two I have mostly considered have been Consonance (based on very good feedback I have read over quite a few years) and Weston Acoustics (ditto as for Consonance). Has anyone had the opportunity to compare something like the Cyber 880 or 100 against equivalent Weston Acoustics amps? Or even the lower level Consonance amps?

 

 The comments about the Cayin and Prima Luna against Consonance were very useful.

 

@Willmax apologies if this is out of line - let me know and I will delete it.

[Willmax]

On 27/07/2020 at 3:31 PM, alanmeldrum said:

Love your set up; I have something a little similar and think it sounds pretty alright, cheers A

Great setup you have there as well Alan, interesting Red centre piece you have as a stand for your Macbook.

What valves are you using on your Cyber 800? How is the pairing with the big B&W speakers?

 

16 hours ago, markm1111 said:

I have been thinking about getting a nice integrated valve amp for quite some time, and the two I have mostly considered have been Consonance (based on very good feedback I have read over quite a few years) and Weston Acoustics (ditto as for Consonance). Has anyone had the opportunity to compare something like the Cyber 880 or 100 against equivalent Weston Acoustics amps? Or even the lower level Consonance amps?

 

 The comments about the Cayin and Prima Luna against Consonance were very useful.

 

@Willmax apologies if this is out of line - let me know and I will delete it.

Hey Mark, no problem at all posting here. There's been at least a couple Cyber 880i come up for sale recently, which was quite tempting, they look like a great integrated and Greg Osborn has sold a lot of speakers using the Cyber to drive/demo them. 

I don't have first hand experience with the Weston amps, by all accounts they seem like quality amps. It would be better if you could find a second hand unit as the waiting time for a new Weston amp has been quite long in the past couple of years.

[Mutatis Mutandis]

Hi Willmax; the 800s have KT 120 tubes.  They drive the B&W 803Ns really nicely.  I got the speakers off a fellow SNAer who recommended more than their measly 78 watts.  But there seems to be plenty of juice on board.   Listening now to the best of Tex Perkins and it's a nice way to end the working week.  BTW, the little red jobby houses the DAC and power (Giesler) and neat little switching box from Beresford that lets me switch between the Musical Fidelity SS and Consonance Tubes, as well as the B&Ws and a pair of Decware Erxx radials tucked in the corner.  Purist?  Nope.  But very convenient as no need for stuffing around with @%^^## cables.  Thinking of starting thread on the value of convenience as a factor in being able to listen and enjoy the tunes more .... Still, nothing to compare to that ethereal blue light thing you have got going.  Beautiful! ....Cheers

[Willmax]

On 31/07/2020 at 6:33 PM, alanmeldrum said:

Hi Willmax; the 800s have KT 120 tubes.  They drive the B&W 803Ns really nicely.  I got the speakers off a fellow SNAer who recommended more than their measly 78 watts.  But there seems to be plenty of juice on board.   Listening now to the best of Tex Perkins and it's a nice way to end the working week.  BTW, the little red jobby houses the DAC and power (Giesler) and neat little switching box from Beresford that lets me switch between the Musical Fidelity SS and Consonance Tubes, as well as the B&Ws and a pair of Decware Erxx radials tucked in the corner.  Purist?  Nope.  But very convenient as no need for stuffing around with @%^^## cables.  Thinking of starting thread on the value of convenience as a factor in being able to listen and enjoy the tunes more .... Still, nothing to compare to that ethereal blue light thing you have got going.  Beautiful! ....Cheers

Cyber 800 with KT120 do tell? AFAIK the Cyber 800 mkI only take EL34s.

 

For me, convenience and aesthetics play a big part in my ability to listen and enjoy the tunes more IMHO.

[Mutatis Mutandis]

Well that is interesting.  The Cyber 800s were one of my first purchases via SNA and the history of that seems to have been deleted.  But I was sure that KT 120s is what seller had stated.  And I never did check - just plgged in and enjoyed.  Now that I have peered at them intently I can see they look to be oldish EH tubes but can't see any reference to KT 120 at all So think you must be right - scratch that boast of mine then!.  Tres embarrassment....  

[Willmax]

On 08/08/2020 at 3:06 PM, alanmeldrum said:

I can see they look to be oldish EH tubes

They could be 6CA7EH which is the same ones I currently have in mine as well.

Apparently a little bit more power than EL34s. 

[Mutatis Mutandis]

Ah, Willmax now that is perceptive!  Think you are right too, despite the lettering being scuffed in various places on different tubes.  Either way - they are my main amps and very nice too (with the usual caveats of in my system, my room and to my less than golden ears.)  Sounds like you are similarly happy with yours - cheers A

[lemarquis]

Would be interested to hear any impressions of the Consonance SS integrateds. The Reference 150 looks interesting. Had some very good reviews here and there and at just under 2K is very tempting. If they outperform anywhere near as much as the other Consonance products I might give it a go.

 

https://www.osbornloudspeakers.com.au/r-150

 

Same goes for their DACs... 

[Willmax]

This thread has been quiet for far too long

Time to post some pics of your treasured Consonance gear!!! 

I'll start 

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Willmax

[graham121]

OK. I'll play along... Purchased from Greg Osborn about a month ago and close to being run in now.

 

 

And a week later, after discovering my existing phono stage was kaput, it was joined by the Reference 40 

 

 

Absolutely loving the sound, though I am curious... has anyone rolled the tubes on their 880i, and if so what to? (Obviously not the KT150's, but wondering about the 12AU7/ECC82's and the 12AX7/ECC83)

Edited December 18, 2020 by graham121

[KGJ]

On 17/12/2020 at 12:12 AM, Willmax said:

This thread has been quiet for far too long

Time to post some pics of your treasured Consonance gear!!! 

I'll start 

 

 

Nice photos.

 

The Cyber 800s really are terrific monos. They punch well above their weight and certainly take some beating at their original price point and beyond.

 

I didn't realise just how good they are until I was looking to replace mine and while others have come and gone, they've stayed and I can't see them leaving for quite some time, if ever.

 

 

[Willmax]

On 18/12/2020 at 6:22 PM, graham121 said:

OK. I'll play along... Purchased from Greg Osborn about a month ago and close to being run in now.

 

 

And a week later, after discovering my existing phono stage was kaput, it was joined by the Reference 40 

 

 

Absolutely loving the sound, though I am curious... has anyone rolled the tubes on their 880i, and if so what to? (Obviously not the KT150's, but wondering about the 12AU7/ECC82's and the 12AX7/ECC83)

Hi Graham, 

Welcome to the Consonance corner on SNA, thank you for sharing these great pictures of your system.

The Cyber 880i is a very powerful, I believe it is 100 watts per channel with KT88 tubes. Do you know what is the power rating with the upgrade to KT150? I'd be curious to know.

PS.: Great photography skills there by the way  

Cheers 

Edited December 20, 2020 by Willmax

[Willmax]

On 19/12/2020 at 12:11 PM, KGJ said:

 

Nice photos.

 

The Cyber 800s really are terrific monos. They punch well above their weight and certainly take some beating at their original price point and beyond.

 

I didn't realise just how good they are until I was looking to replace mine and while others have come and gone, they've stayed and I can't see them leaving for quite some time, if ever.

 

 

Thanks KGJ, the glowing of the valves helped with the mood lighting

What preamp/speakers combination do you use with your monos by the way?

[graham121]

3 hours ago, Willmax said:

Hi Graham, 

Welcome to the Consonance corner of SNA, thank you for sharing these great pictures of your system.

The Cyber 880i is a very powerful, I believe it is 100 watts per channel with KT88 tubes. Do you know what is the power rating with the upgrade to KT150? I'd be curious to know.

PS.: Great photography skills there by the way  

Cheers 

Thanks Willmax, photography is my other passion. In this day of phone camera photos sometimes a 30 second exposure on a tripod mounted full frame camera needs to be done, lol. 
As for any power increase with the KT-150’s I have not seen anything anywhere stating what if any difference there is. Let’s just say the output is ‘ adequate’ and the sonic delivery is outstanding.

Happy Days!

[lemarquis]

The M100 Plus who came in from the cold - again.

 

Purchased this baby on SNA a few years back.  Had the original tubes, a set of JJ KT77 that were in previous use, and a set of GL KT77s in situ. Put about 4000 hours on them before I acquired the Vincent (price too good to refuse and it felt like time for a change). 

 

Fast forward to April this year and for some reason I can't recall, I heard the sirens calling and decided to put the M100 back in. It occurred to me that maybe what it was missing was a set of new KT77s after 5000 hours. So ordered a new quad of the Gold Lions and wow! This was what was missing. Rolled the 12at7s for some nice NOS Philips and wow again! Happy days...until 5 weeks later pop! One of the GLs blew. Small puff of smoke. Asked around, thinking it might just be the failed tube.. was advised to get it looked at. Bummer! My tube rolling heavenly adventure had come to a rude end. Back to the Vincent.

 

It's been sitting here ever since and I finally called Greg the other day to get a recommendation for a tech. In describing the situation he said it's probably just the tube, happens to me all the time..he's seen a fair bit of smoke. If both channels are working OK it should just need a new tube. (On order). In the meantime I decided to just put the 4 JJ KT77s in and give it a try (no idea how many hours on these but probably a bit of life left). Nice! Great bottom extension and harmonics. War on Drugs A Deeper Understanding sounds as awesome as ever. Will hopefully have the replacement GL before Xmas  For now the Vincent has been silenced. 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2020 by lemarquis

[Willmax]

22 hours ago, lemarquis said:

The M100 Plus who came in from the cold - again.

 

Purchased this baby on SNA a few years back.  Had the original tubes, a set of JJ KT77 that were in previous use, and a set of GL KT77s in situ. Put about 4000 hours on them before I acquired the Vincent (price too good to refuse and it felt like time for a change). 

 

Fast forward to April this year and for some reason I can't recall, I heard the sirens calling and decided to put the M100 back in. It occurred to me that maybe what it was missing was a set of new KT77s after 5000 hours. So ordered a new quad of the Gold Lions and wow! This was what was missing. Rolled the 12at7s for some nice NOS Philips and wow again! Happy days...until 5 weeks later pop! One of the GLs blew. Small puff of smoke. Asked around, thinking it might just be the failed tube.. was advised to get it looked at. Bummer! My tube rolling heavenly adventure had come to a rude end. Back to the Vincent.

 

It's been sitting here ever since and I finally called Greg the other day to get a recommendation for a tech. In describing the situation he said it's probably just the tube, happens to me all the time..he's seen a fair bit of smoke. If both channels are working OK it should just need a new tube. (On order). In the meantime I decided to just put the 4 JJ KT77s in and give it a try (no idea how many hours on these but probably a bit of life left). Nice! Great bottom extension and harmonics. War on Drugs A Deeper Understanding sounds as awesome as ever. Will hopefully have the replacement GL before Xmas  For now the Vincent has been silenced. 

 

 

Great story Lem  thanks for sharing it with us. Those M100 look like great little gems.

I hope the replacement tube arrives in time for Christmas Celebrations!

Edited December 22, 2020 by Willmax

[KGJ]

On 20/12/2020 at 7:07 PM, Willmax said:

Thanks KGJ, the glowing of the valves helped with the mood lighting

What preamp/speakers combination do you use with your monos by the way?

 

Funny you should ask about my preamp and speakers as my preamp just last week went belly up after many years of faithful service. It's a Perreaux SM6. Pretty old but far too good to dispose of so I'll do some investigation over Christmas to work out who to entrust it to to bring it back to life.

 

In the meantime I'm planning to use my desktop dac, that has variable output, as a preamp until the Perreaux has been fixed. Should be interesting as I don't think I've ever experienced digital volume control before and there seem to many naysayers out there.

 

The Consonance amps are usually hooked up to my Osborn Epitomes (with bass units) and occasionally to my KEF LS50s, although I mostly use a Halcro MC 20 with those.

 

I have tried the Halcro with the Epitomes, but I prefer the slightly more spacious soundstage and the very slight, and it is only slight, smoothing affect of the Consonance monos.

 

I do have another Consonance amp, an integrated model that hasn't been used for many many years. I thought of bringing it back from retirement but it doesn't have remote control and I'm far too lazy to be without it these days.

 

[graham121]

On 21/12/2020 at 1:28 PM, lemarquis said:

The M100 Plus who came in from the cold - again.

 

Purchased this baby on SNA a few years back.  Had the original tubes, a set of JJ KT77 that were in previous use, and a set of GL KT77s in situ. Put about 4000 hours on them before I acquired the Vincent (price too good to refuse and it felt like time for a change). 

 

Fast forward to April this year and for some reason I can't recall, I heard the sirens calling and decided to put the M100 back in. It occurred to me that maybe what it was missing was a set of new KT77s after 5000 hours. So ordered a new quad of the Gold Lions and wow! This was what was missing. Rolled the 12at7s for some nice NOS Philips and wow again! Happy days...until 5 weeks later pop! One of the GLs blew. Small puff of smoke. Asked around, thinking it might just be the failed tube.. was advised to get it looked at. Bummer! My tube rolling heavenly adventure had come to a rude end. Back to the Vincent.

 

It's been sitting here ever since and I finally called Greg the other day to get a recommendation for a tech. In describing the situation he said it's probably just the tube, happens to me all the time..he's seen a fair bit of smoke. If both channels are working OK it should just need a new tube. (On order). In the meantime I decided to just put the 4 JJ KT77s in and give it a try (no idea how many hours on these but probably a bit of life left). Nice! Great bottom extension and harmonics. War on Drugs A Deeper Understanding sounds as awesome as ever. Will hopefully have the replacement GL before Xmas  For now the Vincent has been silenced. 

 

 

Great story. Must say I had never listened to War on Drugs before... well I have now and agree with you about the the bottom extension and harmonics on A Deeper Understanding. 

[lemarquis]

4 minutes ago, graham121 said:

Great story. Must say I had never listened to War on Drugs before... well I have now and agree with you about the the bottom extension and harmonics on A Deeper Understanding. 

Good to hear  I think the guitar solo(s) on Thinking of a Place are mind blowing, especially on tubes. I was also listening to Hendrix (Electric Ladyland) the other night on the JJs and the sound of Jimi's guitar reminds you why you love tube amps. The JJs are probably a little tired by now so I was mainly listening on that type of 'tube friendly' material until the GL KT77 replacement arrived.

 

The GL  arrived yesterday and is being gently played in. Looking forward to moving on to Beethoven by the weekend  

[graham121]

3 hours ago, lemarquis said:

Good to hear  I think the guitar solo(s) on Thinking of a Place are mind blowing, especially on tubes. I was also listening to Hendrix (Electric Ladyland) the other night on the JJs and the sound of Jimi's guitar reminds you why you love tube amps. The JJs are probably a little tired by now so I was mainly listening on that type of 'tube friendly' material until the GL KT77 replacement arrived.

 

The GL  arrived yesterday and is being gently played in. Looking forward to moving on to Beethoven by the weekend  

Along the watchtower also falls into the category as I have just found out..... What has just blown my mind though is the first Moody Blues concept album, Days of Future Passed. I listened to that extensively in the seventies and eighties but never on decent gear. All I can say is wow!, wow! and wow!

 

Edited December 24, 2020 by graham121

[graham121]

On 18/12/2020 at 6:52 PM, graham121 said:

OK. I'll play along... Purchased from Greg Osborn about a month ago and close to being run in now.

 

 

And a week later, after discovering my existing phono stage was kaput, it was joined by the Reference 40 

 

 

Absolutely loving the sound, though I am curious... has anyone rolled the tubes on their 880i, and if so what to? (Obviously not the KT150's, but wondering about the 12AU7/ECC82's and the 12AX7/ECC83)

So I am at about the 3 month stage now and everything is well and truly run in. And a little tube rolling has occurred too, courtesy of the the classifieds here.

First up was the 12AX7/ECC83 with the stock JJ  ECC83S  being replaced by a Brimar 12AX7  long black plate and this immediately gave the impression a veil had been lifted from in front of the speakers.

And just this week the supplied Electro Harmonix 12AU7’s made way to a pair of mid sixties Mullards. Wow! There is now a level of detail, crispness, subtle nuances in voices and instruments that has blown me away. Not to mention the increase in soundstage and placement of everything within.

Now to go back and replay everything I listened to on the original tube.... and rediscover my music collection for a second time!

Edited January 31, 2021 by graham121

[Willmax]

The Consonance amplifiers are hidden gems. 

My Cyber 800 drives my Tannoys with incredible composure, providing hours of endless enjoyment where I can't really fault them 

 

 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Willmax

[lemarquis]

14 hours ago, graham121 said:

So I am at about the 3 month stage now and everything is well and truly run in. And a little tube rolling has occurred too, courtesy of the the classifieds here.

First up was the 12AX7/ECC83 with the stock JJ  ECC83S  being replaced by a Brimar 12AX7  long black plate and this immediately gave the impression a veil had been lifted from in front of the speakers.

And just this week the supplied Electro Harmonix 12AU7’s made way to a pair of mid sixties Mullards. Wow! There is now a level of detail, crispness, subtle nuances in voices and instruments that has blown me away. Not to mention the increase in soundstage and placement of everything within.

Now to go back and replay everything I listened to on the original tube.... and rediscover my music collection for a second time!

 

Great to hear. Love a good tube rolling story 

[tszu]

ok - my first question on the SNF forum, sorry in advance if this should be easy to figure out for myself!

 

I'm currently putting together my first system and am considering the Consonance integrated amps (amp budget constrained to ~$2.5k) I purchased some Q Acoustic Concept 300 speakers on the weekend which are rated at 25-200w 6 Ohms.

 

My basic question (with likely a subjective answer) is, do you think the M100+ or Cyber 100 Anniversary would be a good pairing for these speakers? (I saw they have a user selectable setting for either 4 or 8 ohm) what info or personal listening preferences might drive a decision one way or the other?

 

Apologies if this is too vague to answer, listening to them is on the agenda but some feedback from people who have experience with the brand would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

Edited April 27, 2021 by tszu

[Willmax]

32 minutes ago, tszu said:

ok - my first question on the SNF forum, sorry in advance if this should be easy to figure out for myself!

 

I'm currently putting together my first system and am considering the Consonance integrated amps (amp budget constrained to ~$2.5k) I purchased some Q Acoustic Concept 300 speakers on the weekend which are rated at 25-200w 6 Ohms.

 

My basic question (with likely a subjective answer) is, do you think the M100+ or Cyber 100 Anniversary would be a good pairing for these speakers? (I saw they have a user selectable setting for either 4 or 8 ohm) what info or personal listening preferences might drive a decision one way or the other?

 

Apologies if this is too vague to answer, listening to them is on the agenda but some feedback from people who have experience with the brand would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

I've got no experience with the Q Acoustic speakers and no experience with the M100.... so I'm afraid I'm not much help

From a purely subjective and biased opinion I'd try and look for a Cyber 100 or Cyber 800i - if fitted with the KT150 tubes from factory even better