Testing a few amps

[manisandher]

highend is a long journey and it will never end.

I wouldn't mind if I thought I was actually moving forward, rather than going around in circles all the time. I mean, am I really deriving more pleasure from my music today than I did say 20 years ago? I'm not sure that I am. Of course, a lot of this has to do with what's going on in our own heads... Maybe I need to start taking some 'substances' rather than getting new kit... it'd probably work out a lot cheaper!

Back OT, I really hope I've found a good amp with which to drive my electrostatics. If not, I will certainly look into the Dartzeel NHB-108B. Another amp that I have my eyes on (but can't really afford, unless I sell my car, my wife's jewellery, and hell, probably my wife as well) is the Berning Quadrature Z. If it's a high-powered version of my Berning Siegfried 300B, it should be very good indeed.

But I'd rather not spend too much money on an amp right now beacuse I have a feeling that ultimately, I'll end up with low-powered amps driving ultra-high efficiency speakers with active line-level crossovers.

We'll see...

Mani.

[Telstar]

But I'd rather not spend too much money on an amp right now beacuse I have a feeling that ultimately, I'll end up with low-powered amps driving ultra-high efficiency speakers with active line-level crossovers.

[christoffe]

highend is a long journey and it will never end.

But I'd rather not spend too much money on an amp right now beacuse I have a feeling that ultimately, I'll end up with low-powered amps driving ultra-high efficiency speakers with active line-level crossovers.

Hi Mani,

I do believe that there is a false interpretation of my post.
I recommended "to listen" to a Dartzeel amp and not to buy one. Tastes are different.
I buy most of the audio equipment second hand only. This is a reason that I did not have to sell my wife and the life insurance until now (maybe in the future).
The prices of audio equip. are not calculated on earth nowadays. You see it on the price tag of the Berning Quadrature Z.
The cheapest and major improvement of the SQ is an investment in the acoustic of the listening room. (the priorities are: acoustic first, acoustic second, speaker positioning third)


You wrote on July 28th, that speed is essential, and the Dartzeel (second hand: EUROS 7.000,00 - and I'm driving now a 6 year old Polo) is the fastest amp I ever listened to, and the amp has ULTRA strong 100watts/8 Ohms down to 1,6 Ohms.
Ken Kessler was driving the Quad ESL 2905 with a McIntosh 2102 / (http://www.quad-hifi.co.uk/downloads/HFN%20ESL%20review%2006.pdf)

We are eager waiting for your comments  / praise of your new Magtech Amplifier (the power of this amp is unbelievable, amazing).

kind regards

Joachim

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Windows VISTA SP2> XXHE 09z-2 - Adaptive mode -  Q1/2/3/4/5 = 1/0/0/0/0 / No Invert / Playerprio = Low / ThreadPrio = RealTime / Scheme = 3 @ UnAttended / Arc Prediction * > Acer , Intel i750>|- Weiss Minerva -|- Dartzeel NHB-108B > speakers: Anat Referenz II Studio>

[earflappin]

I owned the darTZeel amp and pre-amp for awhile.  Great products and fantastic customer support. 

I've also heard the best Boulder, Spectral, Halcro and Pass Labs SS amps in my system and a very special custom made hybrid (tube gain / SS output) amp.  IMVHO, the Atma-Sphere OTL (output transformerless) amps are a very audible cut above all of these amplifiers.  However, to use the lower powered S30 and M60 Atma-Sphere's you really need a high efficiency, 8 ohm nominal speaker with flattish impedance curve.  Personally, after having owned and auditioned many speakers, I  think high efficiency is the way to go anyway if your goal is to as closely reproduce the sound of live music as possible. 

So, if you have speakers which fit the profile I summarized above I would strongly recommend you audition the Atma-Sphere S30 (single chassis stereo amp with 30 watts Class A power) or the M60's (monoblocks with 60 watts Class A power).  They are reasonably priced used (at least here in the USA) and make every other amp I've listened to sound colored.  They do run hot, however.

[manisandher]

Yes, I've heard good things about the Atma-Sphere amps (OTLs, like the Bernings). I can imagine they sound great driving the Geddes Speakers...

They do run hot, however.

And that's the problem - I'd really like an amp that runs cool. This is the main reason I let the Pass Aleph 4 go - beautifully natural sound, but way too hot. Now, the Sanders Magtech amp runs totally cool. If it sounds half as good as its specs look on paper, I should be happy. I'll know for sure tomorrow...

Mani.

[manisandher]

If it sounds half as good as its specs look on paper, I should be happy.

Let's just say I'm NOT happy... I'm close on ecstatic!

Using XX's vol control (with QAP) and feeding my DAC (with massively fast output stage) straight into the Magtech amp, my Quads have suddenly come alive and are dynamic as hell... and yet totally natural-sounding. An acoustic guitar (I have a couple) really sounds like one... finally. You wouldn't believe this - I hardly can.

Roger Sanders gives a 30-day money-back guarantee, paying for shipping both ways if necessary. But let me tell you, he ain't getting this amp back... This was €3500 very well spent.

I'd like to thank Peter and Telstar for pointing me in the right direction - it is because of my search for speed that I stumbled upon this amp.

Mani.

[PeterSt]

Hey hey, good !!
And your Quads should be fast, out of anything ...

But please be VERY careful without the preamps. Your Quads me not survive it when something goes wrong. Actually, I think they just won't.
Only do this when you are very very sure all is right on the playback side (that would be me) and for the material you use. And, when there's a new version, thouroughly test all your material and "stuff" (like VolUp, Next) again. Maybe switch Off "Allow Format Changes" to avoid infite combinations. HDCD is part of it.

Good you are happy now !!
Peter

[Gerard]

But please be VERY careful without the preamps. Your Quads me not survive it when something goes wrong. Actually, I think they just won't.
Only do this when you are very very sure all is right on the playback side (that would be me) and for the material you use. And, when there's a new version, thouroughly test all your material and "stuff" (like VolUp, Next) again. Maybe switch Off "Allow Format Changes" to avoid infite combinations. HDCD is part of it.
Peter

Does this count for my ESl elements aswell Peter 

I was planning to do when NOS1 is ready.

 

[PeterSt]

Generally this counts for everything which isn't ready for a burst of the highest transients (static) in the more middle region. I count electrostats amongst that. A ribbon would be prone to break too, but it depends on the frequency they deal with. So a tweeter ? I don't think so.

But actually no one should have this through his/her speakers.

Maybe I overdo things with these warnings, but I just don't want to be responseable. I think I didn't encounter such a blast for over 18 months now, but we all know that some of you had it sometimes. If I only could guarantee it not happening ...

Peter

[manisandher]

Thanks for the warning.

For now, 0.9z-2 seems pretty stable to me. But I tend to load a whole album, set the correct volume at the outset and listen all the way through. Not a lot to go wrong really. But I will use a preamp before trying any new versions of XX.

Mani.

[manisandher]

Once I get my new 'white sheep' NOS1 for my office system, I think I will want to use my Sanders Magtech amp in my office driving my 'small' Quad 2805 speakers. I will then need a new amp in my main room with which to drive my 'big' Quad 2905 speakers. The obvious answer would be to order another Magtech amp. But I have one here already, and so it may be a good opportunity to test a few other amps against it before I make a decision.

I've recently been drawn to Soulution amplifiers - really too expensive for me, but still, I'm interested in learning more about them. I've attached the specs for their stereo power amp, the 710. They quote the slew rate as '330 nano seconds'. This means nothing to me... could someone help me out with understanding this figure (I'm sure it's very simple).

Does anyone have any experience with Soulution amps?

Mani.

[manisandher]

Once I get my new 'white sheep' NOS1 for my office system, I think I will want to use my Sanders Magtech amp in my office driving my 'small' Quad 2805 speakers.

I've currently got my 'Subaru' NOS1 in my office and have just replaced my old Rotel RHB-10 amp with the Magtech. I'm sure the Rotel was very good in its day, but let's just say that I'll definitely want the Magtech in my office when the new NOS1 arrives. I've said it before when I first bought the Magtech, the Quads just come alive with it. They now have real bass. And the sound is super, super smooth.

I'm happy to try a few others amps, but I really can't imagine any bettering the Sanders Magtech with either of my Quad electrostatics.

Mani.

[christoffe]

They quote the slew rate as '330 nano seconds'. This means nothing to me... could someone help me out with understanding this figure (I'm sure it's very simple).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slew_rate

[manisandher]

"The unit of slew rate is V/µs."

Hence my confusion...

Mani.

[PeterSt]

"The unit of slew rate is V/µs."

Think about rise time. Not in general (like how fast to reach your 43.834Vp), but how steep the upgoing (+ down) going line of the square can be. The steeper the better. The more V per us the steeper it will be (per time unit on the x-axis).

That in your case this is given in ns should harm you. That's just a matter of shifting some commas.