Be careful what you wish for ...an upgrade that...


...wasn't

My old system consisted of a Linn LP12/Ekos/ArkivB/Lingo/Linto
Linn Ikemi
Harmonic Tech Magic Link/Magic Woofer
Sony SACD-1
Avalon Opus
Pass X1
Pass X250

Everything was fine - the Pass stuff was new- having recently upgraded from Rowland- until I listened to my friend's system - It was magical- all the detail and quiet of the Pass, with the musicality of Naim. He was using a VAC signature preamp and VAC 70/70 Renaissance.

I decided to finally take the plunge into tubes. I got rid of the Pass stuff, and replaced it with an Air Tight ATC-1 line stage and ATM2 KT88 based amp.

The result- LPs sounded much better- CD sounds much worse. First I sold the Ikemi- it sounded hard on top with the Air Tight stuff- but I cannot find a suitable replacement.

Now I am listening lesss and less to LPs. The system, while on the one hand more transparent and visceral- on the other hand has become harder in the 2-3k range with sibilance on vocals and definite loss of air- I'm tempted to go back to the Pass stuff- but lost a fortune selling the new Pass stuff to buy new Air Tight- I'm even tempted to chuck it all and buy a small all Naim series 5 set up with a small Pair of ProAcs or Spendors.

What happened?
Can anyone shed light on what I can do to get the "magic" back into the system? Separately they are great components- I have heard the Air Tight used my Avalons without any of these unpleasant artifacts ...
Please make suggestions......
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xsamuelg

Showing 1 response by marakanetz

Air Tight needs light speakers such as Coinsident that are friendly to OTL amplifiers. It's definitely clipping and OTLs clip very unpleasantly.
You can add integrated Plinius 8200 used for ~1.5k, keep your Air-tight preamp to adjust the level for tonal balance in bi-amplification setup if possible.
Avalons arn't best to be used with tube gear in general and like amps that could work as welding machines. If you look through the posts about Avalon speakers here you may find Tireguy's system with BAT VK500 which he believed is the "key-word" for these speakers.