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An Audiophile's journey

Well, How do I begin? First of all you english teachers out there just don't read this and we'll both be the better off for it. English grammer and spelling is something that I'm not well educated in. I will tell you that I'm a business owner and at 45 years old I don't hit a lick anymore so, all you proper spelling and grammer people just eat your heart out! Now let's get to what I have to say. I've been an audiophile since I was a kid in the 70s. My parents used to punish me by sending me to my room. It was grounding me for being bad. I was bad a lot! My Realistic receiver, BSR turntable, Technics cassette deck was my best friend. Oh, I forgot to mention my Advent loudspeakers. Anyway, I went all these years with solid state gear. When I finally got old enough to not be punished anymore(at least by my parents anyway) I got some Martin Logan SL3 speakers and a Krell amp. I just thought I had arrived! Bring it on everybody! Several years went by. I ventured into trying a tube amp on my SL3s. WOW! What revelation! It was a Rogue M120 Monos. I remember thinking why can such an outdated technolgy be so right in my rig. Then as time went by I got involved in this new website called Audiogon. Audiogon made it possible to buy and sell stuff at a minimal loss if you didn't like it. WOW! What an Idea. Poor dealers! This was late 90s early 2000. Those were the good old days. There were just a few of us excanging ideas and information. It was like an audiophile AA! I bought and have tried so many pieces of gear that I've forgotten more than others know! Then the SET revoltution came. Man, I fell hard. I've since went back and forth several times from SETs to solid state or push/pull tube amps always trying to find that nirvanna or fountain of youth of audio. Fastfoward through the great Bill Clinton years, I tried my hand at being an in home dealer and found that dealing with audiophiles was worse than babysitting children. So, that didn't last long. I still have some connections but, recently I've been blown away! A couple years ago I had a friend that got some popular UCD digtital amps to try and I thought they had great potential. But, still weren't my SET horn combo. Now this SET horn combo was a biamped system with a digital amp on the bottom (600Hz and below) and a SET amp on the top. It was, what I thought, the magical audio reproduction machine. Then a friend got a Spectron Audio Musician III SE MK II amp for his Aerials. He was blown away. He kept after me to hear his rig. Well, to make a long story longer I gave in and listened. I'm as fimiliar with his rig as I am my own. We decided to hear it in my rig. I didn't habe speakers suitable for this monster of an amp. So, I got some Dali Helcon 400 MkII for audition and we went at it. Well, to say that history was made is an understatment. I've since been selling all tube gear and living in audio heaven. I can't beleive that there is not the first tube in my rig now. My take on this is that solid state manufacturers were resting on there laurels during the late 80s and 90s. That why a 300B SET amp came along and all the people were freaked out by the great sound an 8 watt amp could produce. That great midrange! It's what brought audio out of the dark ages. Solid state has gotten on the ball since then. Digital has come a long way and is now sitting in the catbird seat. Sorry for the ramblings this Monday afternoon but, just had somethings on my chest.
philefreak

Showing 13 responses by rwwear

rwwear
2,883 posts
 
Yes SETs have a very pronounced midrange and that's fine if it's all you care about. And I'm sure they could be as addictive as most sugary sweets. But there is more to music to me.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
I didn't say that Oem. I think Krell will work well with any speaker if it is a quality design. And we wouldn't want anything less. But I suppose you don't actually need 1000 watts a channel for Quads. I have close to 2000 watts per channel with my 4ohm speakers and it sure is nice not to have to worry about running out of power and destroying the drivers.

I worked part time for Finale in Cartersville Ga.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
If you say so. I want an amp that is not speaker dependent. When I don't, I listen to my modified Citation II. I'm going back to rehearsals.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
No. But some come mighty close.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
I sorry Atmasphere. I just don't agree with your accessment. My Krell 700cx will drive any speaker in production. And it does it well. It will drive high impedence speakers such as Soundlab and do it very well also. People in attendence when we were SoundLab and Fourier dealers were shocked at how well my KSA 250S drove the big SoundLab 16ohm speakers. Other amps such as the Aragon 4004 did not do well. Remember even though a high current amp may have less power at high impedences, the high impedence loads are almost always at the high frequencies which take much less power and are easier to drive.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
I have heard the Lowthers with SETs and thought they sounded great but only with a sub. I have not listened to the Lowthers with the Krell but am sure it would drive them well but would sound different.

I also have a modified Citation II that I use in a second system. But I know it's limitations and don't play it as loud. I do like it a lot. But when it comes to truly outstanding soundstaging and stunningly undistorted but delicate power the Krell is unbeatable. I am sure some will differ in their opinion but I have heard a lot.

I do like OTL amps and have had them in my system but in general they are too too fussy, too hot, have way to many tubes to replace and too speaker dependent.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
Shadorne, as much as I respect your opinion I have to disagree with you. An active speaker may work well with the proprietary internal amp but is even more dependent on the specific amp designed for it. Which is one reason such designs are unpopular.

As far as an amplifier not being speaker dependent, I have to disagree again. If an amplifier has enough current to drive the lowest impedence loads and supply increasing power into the same loads(usually lower frequencies)as well as having enough power to drive higher impedences then it will not be speaker dependent. In the same case the speaker will show it's true self whether you like what you hear or not is a matter of taste.

Complicated crossovers can also represent a difficult and power consuming load. Here again I find a high current/powered amp essential. Which is also the reason I used a Krell amp when I helped design speakers for an OTL amp company.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
Oem, my Krell can't make a bad speaker sound good. If a speaker has a screechy top end don't blame the amp, blame the designer or use a poorly designed amp with rolled off treble.

Again I disagree Atmasphere I and the Fourier builders were amazed how good the 250S sounded with the big Soundlabs. By the way we were also Atmasphere dealers.

I know I won't sway you Atma you like what you want. I don't need to convince myself. I have heard most everything and I bought what I liked best. I have a pile of different amps.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
Sorry Oem, you mentioned sound quality.
The Quads are very delicate and you should not overdrive them with any amp. The newer ones aren't as bad.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
((Rwwear, FWIW they were never one of our dealers.))

It's possible we weren't but had some of your stuff around. I only worked there part time.

((Another example is the Acoustic Research AR-1, the very first acoustic suspension speaker made. Acoustic Research specified that the amplifier output impedance should be high for best results (seven ohms).))

Hard to say because Krell didn't really exist at the time. But, I bet it would.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
Pubul57, with an attitude like yours I'm sure you wouldn't like Krell.

From Krell's manual:
Krell amplifiers are best known for their ability to drive any loudspeaker to sound
its best, without regard to impedance or efficiency. I believe that linearity, an
amplifier’s ability to output an exact duplicate of the input signal, is the ultimate
measure of that amplifier’s work. At Krell, I drive amplifier designs toward the common
goal of linearity, through the rigorous application of Krell design principles
that focus our efforts on four major performance factors: distortion, bandwidth,
output impedance, and current capability.

You can and should be skeptical of all things until proven.
My experiences have been very favorable so far.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
I like tubes also and have a tube amp in another system. Maybe you didn't read all of the above posts Pubul57. You are correct tubes can sound wonderful but cannot work well with a large array of speakers like a well designed high current amp. An output transformer with hundreds of feet of wire can cause muddy bass response, loss of transparency and a rolled off top end.

An OTL amp requires many tubes to get the output impedence closer to a speakers. Which is why they work better with high impedences. But many tubes are costly, hot and hard to maintain.

I think when you say your speakers suffer in bass when used with an amp with damping you are mistaking boominess for true bass response. The same thing happened when I used Audio Research Classic 120s with Mirage M1s. The bass was very bloated.

Krell does not claim a high damping factor and claims it is not needed. What they do is build an amp that not only is fully balanced on the input side it is fully balanced at the outputs and controls a speaker's drivers in both directions.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
I agree with the part about a stereo sounding loud. It's one thing the Krell really excells in.

I did say even a Krell can't make a bad design sound good.

I also agree wholeheartedly that belief and fact are often quite far from one another. Most people believe what they want. And most audiophiles believe all sorts of pseudo science.
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