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amp & preamp for acapella violon

I would appreciate your recommendations for an amp & preamp
to use with my newly acquired Acapella high Violons with the
sub active bass. The speakers are still breaking in and have about 40 hours on them. My initial impressions are superb (specially the midrange horns and the plasma tweeters). I have a problem with the bass as I am currently
driving them with the Audio Aero Prestige single ended mono
blocks which do not seem to have enough power to control the
lower frequencies. The rest of the system consists of:
DCS Verdi/Purcell/Elgar Plus all with the DSD firewire
Hovland pre
Kimber Select 1030 interconnects and digital cables
Kimber Select 3038 speaker cables
various Shunyata power cords

The amplifiers and preamps I have in mind are
Halcro dm58/68 and Halcro dm10 pre
Edge Signature mono blocks and Wyetech Opal pre
Chord SPM 6000 mono blocks and top of the line Chord pre
Audio Research ref 300mk2 and ref 2mk2 pre

If anybody has experience with tube amps like the Tenors or
Vaics or Wavacs or any other high powered single ended triodes (which I prefer) on these speakers pls respond ASAP

Likely additions to the system in the near future will be
either the Clearaudio Master Reference turntable (with the
Clearaudio arm) or the Simon Yorke turntable to replace my
current SOTA Star Saphire & Alphason arm setup. My cartridge
which is the Koetsu Onyx Saphire will stay with system.

Thanks and happy new year to all in advance.
jbaruh
fcrowder
191 posts
 
I own a pair of the Acapella Campanile Highs and have used a number of amplifiers with them, including the EL34 based Wolcott mono's @ 225 watts and more recently the Parasound JC-1's. The SEAS woofers require an extended break in period. Until they do so, they will lack continuity with the other drivers. As they break in, you will notice that the low end becomes more extended and dynamics improve. They are initially over damped. Even after break in you will have tighter faster bass with better control and extension with the latest very fast/ high damping factor/high current solid state amps. I think that 100 watts may be conservative. These speakers love power. You may prefer a good tubed unit on the horns/tweeter but there are a number of solid state amps that yield excellent results with the Acapella speakers, particularly the Parasound and the Edge. I have not heard the Goldmund but would predict that it would also be a good match. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of help.
jbaruh OP
5 posts
 
Thanks to all for your recommendations. The Acapellas are still breaking in ( mainly the woofers ) . So far I tried them with the Halcro and Chord combinations which were good but not extraordinary . I guess I prefer tubes to solid state although I have yet to try the Edge and Parasound amps. The last combination of Antique Sound Labs
Hurricane monoblocks with a Conrad-Johnson ART Series 2 preamp yielded fantastic results so far . I have yet to find a Wavac-833 nearby to be able to audition with the system. I fully agree with Fcrowder that 100 watts may be conservative as I tried the triode mode (100 watts) of the hurricanes and preferred the 200 watt mode because of some
loss at the low end and dynamics with the triode mode.
I will try to keep you updated once I try the other combinations. At present the ART and Hurricane combination is currently driving the system with the Shunyata power cords on the Hurricanes . The front end is still the DCS setup and cabling is Kimber Select as mentioned before.
jbaruh OP
5 posts
 
I also forgot to add that I have the Acapella fondato silenzios under the front end , preamp , amps and speakers.
They really make a lot of difference for the better.
audiofederation's avatar
audiofederation
69 posts
 
The Violon High Sub is an awesome speaker. We just got ours and are breaking them in with the 800 watt Edge NL Reference monoblocks. Yes, a little over the top - but it sounds *great*.

If you like tubed amplification - and you can afford it - then you might want to also try the Audio Note Kegon 22 watt Single-ended Triode monoblocks. They drove our Campaniles effortlessly (though the Campaniles are about 1dB more efficient than the Violons). You will think that you have died and gone to heaven.

I'm sure we'd all love to hear more about how the ASL Hurricanes sound on your Violons. I haven't heard of anyonme else trying that combination...

Oh, those Fondato's are addicting aren't they? Put them under something - and there they stay... :-)

Enjoy!
Mike
jbaruh OP
5 posts
 
There has been some changes for the better in the system.
First of all, the DCS front end has been changed in favour
of the excellent EMM Labs DAC6e & modified SACD 1000 transport. Then, the speaker cable was changed to Nordost Valhalla which was a big improvement.

Therefore the latest situation is as follows :

Front end : EMM Labs
Preamp : Conrad Johnson Art Series 2
Power Amp : ASL Hurricanes
Speakers : Acapella High Violon Sub Active Bass
Interconnects : Kimber Select 1030
Speaker Cable : Nordost Valhalla
Power Cords : Shunyata
Equipment Rack: Finite Elements Pagode Master Ref
Also Acapella Fondato Silenzio under the Speakers ,
Hurricanes and the front end components.

I am about to receive some NOS 6SN7 & Vt231 tubes to try on the Hurricanes. (Sylvania chrome domes as well as
RCA Vt231 grey glass) . I also have access to Electro Harmonix KT88 which I'll try after finalizing the NOS tubes.

Once I finish tube rolling , I'll try to post my overall impressions which look to be very favourable as the Hurricanes are proving to be an excellent match to the Acapellas.

I have yet to locate a pair of WAVAC HE833 in my location.
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