Acoustic Zen Adagio, How Good Are They?

For those of you asking me questions about the power requirements of the Adagios, let me first apologize for not posting a reply sooner. I spend very little time on the forums and in fact only realized there where questions pending because Bill at Response Audio let me know.

I have run the Adagios using the Grommes PH-26 integrated amp. It uses EL-84's and runs at 1.8 watts triode/6 watts tetrode. The Adagio's work at 1.8 and 6 watts, if you have a really small room and don't want to go very loud you'll be fine, especially at 6 watts. Just don't go into high levels with material that has wide swings in ranges such as symphonies or if your going too, keep the normal listening volume at a lower range. If you don't the amp will clip.
In my 16' L x 14' W x 8' H room the 6 watt setting plays at reasonable levels as well but with deep bass or again, major swings you may notice some issues with clipping if you push the volume limit.
My guess is that if you can control your levels and live with a volume that a spouse can still talk to you when your listening in a smaller room, and 8 watt SET amp would be fine. If you want to have more headroom to work with I think 15-20 watts would be a better starting point. The transformers on a tube amp will also play a role in what your SET can deliver in your environment.
I currently demo them in two configurations, 1)with a pair of Grommes 360's using KT-66's which output around 35-40 outstanding watts and 2) with the Red Dragon Audio Leviathans at 500 watts. I pair them with either the H-Cat preamp or the Heron VTSP-2.
FWIW and if you want to follow up with me on this off-line as I won't talk about the following on-line in a forum, I am one of the few dealers that have dealt with the Daedalus and SP Tech speakers. I've also had the chance to hear the Sason's so if you have questions feel free to follow up with a email or you can call me on our business number (www.jamnaudio.com for info).
I'll try to make it a point to check out the forum a little more often in case any of you have more questions for me.

Joe

Aggielaw,

I'm the dealer in Chicago so take what I say with a grain of salt and bias on my part.

That said, I've found the soundstage to be as wide and deep as some of the best speakers I've heard. The limitation seems to lie with the associated equipment that your using to drive the speakers. I've put several solid state amps in and while the sound is very good, the soundstage slightly clapses. I put a Grommes 360 monoblocks in and the soundstage becomes almost larger than life. The presentation becomes 360 degrees, almost like surround sound depending on the CD your playing and the way it was engineered.

I've also found that the best sounds with these speakers come from a combination of a solid pre and a tube amp. I've had the speakers at least 6 weeks now and they have 400 hours plus on them. It took around 100 hours to really get comfortable with them with minor changes over the next 100 hours.

FYI - the solid state amps/class D amps I've tested with include the Luminance KST-150 with some small upgrades and the NuForce Ref9.02's. Preapms used include the Modwright SWL 9.0 SE, H-Cat, Heron Audio VSPT2. Source equipment include a highly upgraded Gyrodec SE with ORBE upgrades, April Musics Stello DAC and CD Transport, Sony XA777ES SACD/CD player and the Modwright 3910 w/Absolute Truth Modifications. Cabling is Revelation Audio Labs for speakers and interconnects and some power cords, also, Virtual Dynamics David and Power 3 power cords.

Joe