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Bladelius Tyr and other amps


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I have been searching for a new amp to use with a Sonos zp90 to Sonus Faber speakers. Looking for great sound for classical, jazz, Steely Dan, STones etc a bit of everything.

Listened to following:

Creek Evo 2- ~ $1400 - quite good sound

Audio Analogue Maestro ~ $3300 - very good

Roksan Caspian 2 ~$3200 - not bad Maestro was better

Cyrus 8xpdQX ~$4000 - pretty good on par with Maestro overall.

Bladelius Tyr ~ $3500 plus another $1000 for DAC/Phone stage - excellent sound.

Does anyone have any experience with the Bladelius or any other suggestions in the $2000 to $3500 range?

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Hi Glockers, I've had ownership of 2 of the above. They're all good amps but after hearing the Bladelius TYR then THOR it made my decision easy. Importantly though, the Bladelius' were sourced by a matching CD player which would've definitely made a difference. I chose to buy the Idun/Balder which is the pre/pwr version of the Thor integrated. A bigger sound than the Tyr but of course similar and a lot more expensive. They're wonderful sounding amps which seem to tick all the boxes. I have mine driving Pioneer S1-EX floor standers with superlative results. I know we're all entitled to our own opinion but the Thor is the best sounding integrated I've ever heard under $10,000. The Tyr itself is a ballsy little integrated and should match wonderfully with the Sonus Fabers. Glockers, were you able to audition the Tyr with your own speakers?

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Guest Bodhisattva
Hi Glockers, I've had ownership of 2 of the above. They're all good amps but after hearing the Bladelius TYR then THOR it made my decision easy. Importantly though, the Bladelius' were sourced by a matching CD player which would've definitely made a difference. I chose to buy the Idun/Balder which is the pre/pwr version of the Thor integrated. A bigger sound than the Tyr but of course similar and a lot more expensive. They're wonderful sounding amps which seem to tick all the boxes. I have mine driving Pioneer S1-EX floor standers with superlative results. I know we're all entitled to our own opinion but the Thor is the best sounding integrated I've ever heard under $10,000. The Tyr itself is a ballsy little integrated and should match wonderfully with the Sonus Fabers. Glockers, were you able to audition the Tyr with your own speakers?

If the Bladelius Tyr is the best sounding integrated you've heard under$10k, the Boulder 860 would be the best one under $15k!

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Guest Bodhisattva
Bodhi..you got the 'T''s mixed up. It reads Thor.

Err, you're right. Syntax error, but the last part was spot on (imho)

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Heard an I-5 with Colin Whatmough through his P33's. Very engaging and another fine choice. A little more forward than the Bladelius but you're right on the money Whatmore the Dacs' a huge bonus.

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Hi Glockers, I've had ownership of 2 of the above. They're all good amps but after hearing the Bladelius TYR then THOR it made my decision easy. Importantly though, the Bladelius' were sourced by a matching CD player which would've definitely made a difference. I chose to buy the Idun/Balder which is the pre/pwr version of the Thor integrated. A bigger sound than the Tyr but of course similar and a lot more expensive. They're wonderful sounding amps which seem to tick all the boxes. I have mine driving Pioneer S1-EX floor standers with superlative results. I know we're all entitled to our own opinion but the Thor is the best sounding integrated I've ever heard under $10,000. The Tyr itself is a ballsy little integrated and should match wonderfully with the Sonus Fabers. Glockers, were you able to audition the Tyr with your own speakers?

I did take my speakers in and listening to the Bladelius Tyr after the Caspian 2 was one of those wonderful moments that you dont get very often. The difference was palpable. Both my son (young ears) and I looked at each other and just said "wow". Wider, deeper soundstage. Beautiful tight bass to add to the SF's usually fine mid and highs.

I hope and imagine that the Thor is another step beyond - I say hope because I came across a runout deal on the Thor II that meant I could buy it for substantially less than the Tyr....and had to make a quick decision so jumped.

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Guest Bodhisattva

I'm torn with Bladelius gear; it's well built, sounds good & is great value, but their documentation/specifications are threadbare to say the very least. My Heimdal phono stage has no specifications whatsoever...even on their website. Requests to Bladelius fell on deaf ears (Hmm, great for resale value!). Secondly, the audio stop who are exclusive Bladelius distributors are Secher Audio. The proprietor of Secher (Dimitri) is a chameleon. If you have $15k + to spend in his shop, he'll be your best mate. If you want to spend $2 or $3k, be prepared to see his nasty side, or worse, ask for a $399.00 deposit to be refunded after being sold a load of crap by them, and be prepared to get banned from their store and your money disappear into the Abyss.

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Have to agree with you on dimitri in secher audio. Scary character. Cav to me are the only real hifi shop we have in Melbourne with normal sales reps who are very knowledgeable and accommodating. Pity everything there too is in Aussie prices prior to our aud running riot. Now I find so much better value buying out of the uk.

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Guest Bodhisattva
Have to agree with you on dimitri in secher audio. Scary character. Cav to me are the only real hifi shop we have in Melbourne with normal sales reps who are very knowledgeable and accommodating. Pity everything there too is in Aussie prices prior to our aud running riot. Now I find so much better value buying out of the uk.

Yeah I agree, I worked with Rab at Home Show years ago & he is a great guy. Tivoli are also pretty good to deal with.

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I ended up getting on to a runout deal on the Thor II in the UK which was replaced by the III in February so not that old. Landed cost $2500 compared to the local price of $7200. Figured it was worth the risk.....will let you know.

Next question is dac and speaker cables to do justice to the amp and my Sonus Fabers.

I've seen an rDAC on this site which includes an upgraded power source. I have listed to the rDAC with the Creek EVO 2 and it seemed to do a good job.

ANy input welcome.

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Be prepared to get blown away Glockers. Congratulations on the Thor purchase....massive deal. Huge step over Tyr. Headroom,soundstage,body,control you name it,it's got it. I admit it,I'm biased. Glad you enjoyed the SF/Tyr. I'm using chord cameleon into Rumor Biwire with my s1-ex's. I've just recently purchased a sony xa5400es from the states and am still running in(500hrs approx). Once reached I'll get voltage changed to Aussie 240 then look at copper based cables ie : Transperant,Harmonic Tech,Purist etc.. as system has a slightly foward presentation. CAV and Secher both use Chord amongst others. Plenty to choose from depending on budget. Why not give Russ a holler I'm sure he'll guide you in the right direction.

Cheers Maximus

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bladelius with my Sonus Fabers is excellent sound. Very happy. Then I started thinking about what else I need to improve in the chain.....

In looking at DAC's, I have seen good things about lots like Eastern Electric, Audio GD, rDAC etc but want to keep it simple ie integrated PS and also utilise the balanced XLR's on the Bladelius as I assume there will be some benefit. Have read lots about the Audiolab 8200C which has all this with the added benefit of including a CD transport.

List in Oz is about $1499 but it appears I can get one in London shipped for under $1k. Even less if I pick it up on one of my trips.

Any one know much about this device as a DAC?

Or whether balanced input/outputs is worth the effort?

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Buy a device that will synergise correctly with your setup. Stacks out there(DACS,CD,SACD players) but listen to cheap and expensive hardware just to see what you might be missing out on. Home demo if possible. Everybody has different needs..I was happy with Sony SACD player as no probs still spinning disks. The Bladelius is a fully balanced design top to bottom not sure if Audiolab is. BTW steer clear of What Hi Fi 5 stars. Let you ears make that decision. JD has comprehensive DAC reviews on his Web site(Takes the hard work out and minimises selection).

Cheers Maximus

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  • 8 months later...

Just to update the story so far...

I've added an RDac with teddy pardo ps. Decided that DAC technology was evolving so fast that it made no sense to do this as an integrated component. Better to retain flexibility. The recent release of the NAD M 51 being a case in point.

I then played with cables and ended up getting some OCC Neotech bi-wired cables for the speakers and a pair of silver occ neotechs for interconnects from a guy in Germany as the rdac doesn't do balanced xlrs... Nice sound and added some bottom end to the Sonus Faber Concertinos.

But not enough!

So went looking at speakers. Many moons later I hauled the Thor around to listen to B&W 805ds, Proac d28s, PMC OB1s and Spendor A9s. Decided that the A9s were the ones for me. But they each had their own sonic signature which would suit different people. A mate of mine who worked in hifi for decades loved the 805ds and adored the bass on the D28s.

Heard about a lot of other gear along the way but time and tide etc. Most interesting were the Pioneer S1-EXs that Maximus has. On paper they looked great but unfortunately out of my price bracket. Pioneer do have a demo pair down at heather ton Rd for anyone interested.

Very happy with everyone I dealt with, well with the odd exception (did I mention Mt Waverly)

The journey continues.

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Just to name names, at least on the helpful side..

1. Stan and Nick at Clef. Very knowledgable and patient.

2. Bo at CAV - really helpful, knew hs stuff and didn't rush me

3. Maximus - provided some excellent advice, mainly to keep looking

4. Don at neotec the PMC distributor. Open and helpful.

5. Xxx the guy t Spendor distributor. Happy to chat and very helpful.

6. Aris - ex owner of a pair of Spendors.

I have to say i was genuinely sorry I couldn't do any business this time around with them, particularly Bo. But I will be back!

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Well done Mark, fine choices all of them. Hope you settle on one of the aformentioned or does the journey continue? Gets very fatiguing and tedious hauling around 20kgs of gear after a while, still great insight to the different presentations each speaker brings to the table.

Cheers Frank.

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