Egglestonworks Andra II: How difficult a load?

I own Andra IIs and run them with a BAT VK600SE. I have also used a DNA 500. So my experience has been only with these high current amps but I know one Andra owner using Dodd monoblocs with his Andra IIs with great results.

Talon4 funny you say that about pre's and amps, I sold my CAT mono blocks (list $40K)and have not yet replaced them and have been looking but I wanted some music so I have put some mono blocks in place that I found barried away in a corner at my place and likely over 20 years old. I have to chuckle because my first thoughts were these are a joke and just didn't get around to chucking them out, you know the type that have two push buttons to insert cable so you then have to strip the wire. Darn I have two pairs of Stealth Dream speaker cables list at $8K a pair and can't even use them, never mind the Dream power cords as the amps have their own and pretty well the same size as a lamp cord.

Well I found some speaker cables that have 8 single runs inside and went through the effort of sorting and testing to confirm each one was in phase then tried to hook-up. Well that was a no go, remember the speaker cable plugins on the amps too small. Went and found some other cables and did the process over again and they barely fit in but ti was done.

I know this is going on and on but I had a laugh and figured I mise well share with others too. I can't believe the sound I'm getting, it's just absolutely unbelievable. Now you can't really crank it or it sounds not very good but at moderate listening volumes I have to say I'm just amazed and it is very listenable. A friend called me and we chatted for a bit and I told him I've got some new monoblocks in place so he says he wants to drop by for a listen so I cover up my mystery amps and keep the lights dimmed down so he can't see what they are along with the cables and all you can see is the little red light glowing. He own's a very serious system, anyways he listens and then I turn up the lights and uncover the amps and he says "you gotta be kidding me" and says "I was just listening to those" He goes to me saying "you pulling a fast one on me" and thinks I have something else hooked up but then verifies himself after seeing the mickey mouse speaker cable set-up and just laughs.

These little Yamahahah's really kick but, so now I don't know what to think any more.

The system as it stands currently;

MBL101E speakers
Oracle 2000 trans
Accustic Arts Tube Dac
ARC REF3 pre
All Stealth IC's

I have been interrupted by others who have been calling while doing this thread as my friend is a real prankster and has put calls out to others we know, now he has not told anyone what the amps are but said ***** got a sweet deal going on with some mono blocks he is demoing right now.

Six individuals so far all asking what's the scoop bla! bla! and wanting to come over for a listen, now is this just too funny or what. Tomorrow is the day for the prank on everyone but I gotta say it sounds pretty darn good.

Most everyone is mentioning amplifiers. I think that the preamplifier is just as important. I own a pair of Egglestonworks Andra II's, which are being driven by a pair of Pass Labs 600.5 monoblocks. When being driven directly by my Wadia cd player or with a former Pass Labs X 0.2 preamplifier or with a former Audio Research Reference 3 preamplifier in the chain, the speakers can sometimes be slightly "bass shy", unless driven above about 87db as measured on my Radio Shack db meter. However, I'm starting to think that the preamplifier matters as much or more than an amplifier. I have a new Pass Labs XP-10 preamplifier in the system now and I have never seen my bass drivers move as much as they do now, even at lower volumes. Just a thought, but changing to a different preamp may help as well. Disclaimer: I am a Egglestonworks, Wadia and Pass Labs dealer. Best regards, Stan

I always found that Cardas is boring and sluggish. About amplification....Ayre makes some super fine amps.

Dev, this is a very subjective hobby. But, the most critical link, according to my opinion, is to find the right amplification for a given speakers. That is where the crucial synergy necessary. If one does not have the right synergy, no source or cabling or any other typical high-end sound treating tricks helps. My goal was to support Kurt-tank opinion, and warn Robal that he may need to invest heavily into amplification, especially if he likes blues/pop and not lush and romantic sound of violin sonatas. Actually, your example is also underlines this opinion. I am sure that with 600 watt monoblocks you also don"t not have any problem to drive these speakers. But may be there are some differences between a 100 watt tube amplification and 600 watt solid state monsters.

Ajahu, I never had the problem you were describing in your post. It most defently is not a speaker issue, I would look else where within the set-up, or possibly it could be a room issue. Now I'm not saying that they are not a easy speaker to wake up to get the best out of them. What has me puzzled is that you mention after inserting another Spectron amp "1800 watts" he finally arrived to same level as your old active speakers. What active speakers are you speaking of. I was over at a person's home who had Cardas speaker cables hooked-up and the sound was boring, sluggish but after just making this one change the system did a 360.

It is very difficult to give any opinion in these principally individual and perception based hobby. What is dynamic for one, could be sleepy and boring for other. A friend of mine has the Egglestonworks Andra II. He was really struggling to kick out dynamism and attack from these monsters. These are very difficult speakers. He had first Antique Soundlab 600 watt tube monoblocks, recommended by Salvatore, for difficult speakers. He had a nice flowing musical soundprint, but with somewhat pompous, slow bass. Whenever he came over to hear my old and outdated active speakers, he went home saying that his system is just not up to the task to deliver dynamism and attack. He changed his power amps to Spectorn Musical IIISe. Still, he felt that the Andras still were sluggish and boring. Finally, adding an another Spectron and converting them into monoblocks and thus pumping whopping 1800 watts he finally arrived to the same level of dynamism what an old active speakers could deliver. Rest of his gears are a nice vinyl rig and EMM Labs digital rig. I hope this helps.

I use to own these speakers and they are marvelous, I originally had them paired up with McIntosh 501 mono blocks with great results. I then got some Pass X600.5 mono's and prefered this combo, I also tried CAT JL2 Sig. stereo amp and this sounded great also. I never got around to trying the Lamm's but they were on my list also to do. You can't go wrong with these speakers and they will work very nicely in the room size you have mentioned so just build around them. If your amps work out that will be a bonus, should be no issues at moderate volumes but more demanding I see your amps running out of steam.

Regarding set-up in my place, these were one of the easiest I have ever owned. Prior to these I owned W/P7's and then Revel Salon's.

Put them onto Sistrum Platforms and everything with be improved.

I think you might have enough power if you run the amps in A/B mode, as your amp has 100 wpc that way, right?
In pure Class A mode, you only have 70 wpc, which I think would not quite be enough to get the full bass response you can obtain from these speakers.

I am using Lamm M2.1 monoblocks, which have 200 wpc. I have plenty of power, and the bass response is incredible. (In fact, I think there is slightly too much bass for my room, and I am getting ready to start installing room treatments to tame the slight mid-bass hump I seem to have. My room is 24' x 16' x 8', which unfortunately means lots of room nodes.)

I think having 100 wpc would be barely enough given the size of your room, which is slightly larger than my own. However, I think 200 wpc would be better, IMHO anyway.
(However, if you really want these speakers, you can always give them a shot with your current amp, and if it doesn't work out, you can always upgrade the amp at a later date. Been there, done that!)

I have recently upgraded to these speakers a few months ago. I like them a lot so far, and they have the potential to be my last pair of speakers. I will state that these speakers require a lot of work to get them to sound their best though, as they are much more difficult than any speaker I've ever had to set up before - well, at least in my room! I have tweaked their position, and toe-in, several times, until I have them where they sound very good. And, I think I might be able to tweak them some more to get slightly better sound, but I am having too much fun listening to them now to bother! (They are much more finicky than my Revel Studios were, or even my Martin Logan Sequel IIs, in terms of ease of setting them up.)

FYI: Take my last statement as a "heads-up" word of advice, as I am not trying to put you off getting these speakers, as I think they have the potential of being as close to the Rockport Antares (my favorite, but out of my financial reach, speaker!), as I can afford. They have a great tweeter, with lots of HF extension, the mid-range is fantastic, and the bass response is very deep, quick and powerful. (They image and soundstage nicely too, and the speakers seem to disappear about as good as any speaker I've ever heard.) And yes, these speakers can play LOUD! (I too like rock, as well as Jazz and pop.)

My two cents worth.

PS Feel free to contact me with any other questions you might have.