not lush like a tube amp, but definitely not a typical solid-state sound. warm, w/the typical solid-state wirtues of detail & dynamics & frequency extension. i tink yule be quite happy... ;~) good luck, doug s. ps - my aw100 & aw75 (used in a biamp configuration) really came alive w/a tube preamp, currently a melos music-director. |
Sedond,thanks for the reply and just what i wanted to hear from an owner as opposed to what i picked up from audio rags.The previous owner talked of this amp as one would about the love of there life,and was replacing it with the 180 monoblocks from electrocompaniet. |
ears, well mebbe the p.o. was going a bit overboard, but i'm not interested in switching to any other solid-state amps. mebbe if i could afford a mondo set of melos tubed mono-blocs... ;~) doug s. |
I have heard what is likely an earlier version of the amp you bought in at least 3 different systems. It has a warm, rich sound, similar to Rowland or YBA, but the Electro seemed a little looser in the bass. I think I would be careful to match it with a tube preamp (I believe the Melos mentioned above is a hybrid design with a low output impedence). A friend of mine had one and liked it on his Magnapan's. I once heard the Electro in a biamped system with Thresholds on the bass, a Spectral preamp and it was probably the best sound I have ever heard but this was not an average system-the speakers were the WAMM's. |
when i 1st got my 1st electro amp - the aw75, it was driving thiel 3.5's full-range, w/no problems in the bass output. the thiels are also notoriously hard to drive, especially in the bass, as they employed an active equalizer to obtain flat response down to 20hz. currently, my aw100, which drives the woofer of my monitor, is cut-off at 60hz, as i have a subwoofer system w/a pair of bridged adcom gfa555's driving the subs, so i can't really make an accurate assessment - at least below 60hz. i *do* know that acoustic upright bass sounds like it's *there*, in the room w/ya! ;~) re: melos, at least according to them, my pre is *not* a hybrid, but all-toob. yes, it *does* have a wery low output impedence - 15 ohms single-ended, 30 ohms balanced. there's a www that's no longer valid re: contact info, but the info on their most recent product is still up-to-date, for those who may be innerested: http://www.bitstorm.net/sedrick/mindex.htm regards, doug |
Hey , it came early,got it today and i love it.I have a b&k reference 202 preamp, until i can afford a replacement,but i have to say this amp is better than haflers,b&k,adcom and classe that i have had in the past.It has no problems driving the 4ohm load on my diy speakers which are like proac 2.5's, but with revelator tweeters and hovland/alphacore xovers.I have tighter,faster and deeper bass,lightyears better midrange resolution and top end detail than with the previous b&k,but i expected all of this,what i did not expect is the difference in sound quality between ic's,either this amp is real sensitive to what ic's it likes or some of the "giant killer budget ic's" i tried are not as good as i thought,and to make matters worse i just had someone win my best ic's electraglide sigs,but while i am waiting for the winners money these sure sound smooth and fast.Sedond got any tips for ic's? I also have a new coincident pc on the aw100,and according to all the owners and the maker of this brand,all there stuff including cords takes 3-500 hours to break in.I will try the stock cord in the morning and see if there is any difference.With music sounding this good,i can hardly wait till i get the right cable match and preamp,allthough the b&k is no slouch for the time being.Sedond,ever run yours mono or with balanced xlr's,does it make a big difference? |
ears, the electro amps should have no problems w/wirtually *any* speaker loads, as the mfr claims they're stable down to 0.5 ohms. re: i/c's, i haven't experimented w/any of the spendy stuff, i'm happy w/the tara labs quantum iv, which i use between pre-n-crossover, & from crossover-to-amps. these seem to me to be wery neutral, which is what i like. at some point, i may try something like alpha-core silver or silver-plated copper - perhaps i may gain even *more* resolution, but i don't wanna lose the neutral tonal balance... to run xlr's, in a true balanced configuration, i'd have to send my marchand x-over back to have it set-up for xlr's. phil marchand sez the conwersion makes the x-over a true differential balanced unit instead of yust allowing the xlr cabling to be used in a single-ended circuit. but, he also sez that there will be no sonic benefits, even tho my pre is a true balanced design, & so are the latest electro amps. he sez the only reason ewe may get an improvement is if ya have an enwironment that creates too much noise w/single-ended cabling. i have also heard others who feel this way regarding balanced i/c's. i was interested in trying it, as the i/c between my pre & x-over is ~18', but it's wirtually silent - no noise issues in my enwironment. re: running mono, this is something i *have* wanted to try, unfortunately my aw100 is a bit older, & doesn't allow for bridging, even tho it's supposedly the same in all other respects - this according to heinz preiss, electro's n-american service technician. this is why i had it adwertised for sale - i was trying to locate a used aw75, which *is* bridgeable, to match up w/the aw75 i have. well, unable to find one after looking for over a year, i've found a good deal on two brand-gnu aw60's, which will get tried as bridged mono-blocs (good for 220wpc), *and* they will also be tried in a vertical-biamped configuration. ironically, yust as i thought i had the aw100 sold, & after i sent the funds for the aw60's, i got a response from someone w/an aw75 that wants to trade straight-across for my aw100! he's not interested in bridging, he likes the electro sound & yust wants a bit more yuice. if this pans out, i may ackshully be able to run all four amps as monoblocs - one for each driver of my monitors! ;~) should be fun! :>) good luck w/yer gnu amp, doug s. |
I got to tell you guys I find this dialogue interesting. I have an electro preamp. People are kidding it doesn't sound its best until it has 300-500 hrs on it. Sedond what cables and power cords do you recommend? By the way I think Electro pre and it is definitely tubey without their stereotype failings. Also the articles I've read suggest they didn't break them in long enough. |
danny, which electro pre do ya have? i have an older ec-1a, & while it's certainly a respectable performer, it doesn't hold a candle to my melos in terms of soundstage depth, dynamics & warmth. electrocompaniet has a discussion-line on their www; i asked about their latest pre's in comparison to mine - i got one answer, which seemed to indicate that the latest wersions are perhaps, even a bit more *toob-like*. re: cords/cables, i have good results w/tara labs quantum iv from the pre-to-crossover/crosover-to-amps. alpha-core has recently started invading the source-to-pre connections. speaker wires are a pair of tara-labs rsc prime 1000 to my bi-amped speakers, & a pair of 'em to my subs. no fancy power-cords. i feel that i really need to get the equipment to where i like it, before going over the deep-end, budget-wise, w/cabling. i tink cabling should be used to further tweek the system's sound that ya like - not to correct things ya don't like. if ya don't like the sound, change the component. if ya like the basic sound, but feel some minor improvements could be effected, then start playing w/cabling. i'm saving for what i hope will be my *last* speakers. (?!?) then, i will start seriously comparing speaker-wire/i-c's/power-cords. regards, doug s. ps - i bought a couple of those vansevers unlimiters that steve bruzonsky had f/s on a-gon - more for protection, than for any hoped-for sonic improvements, but mike v/e sez isle be surprised by the sonic improvements, so who knows! :>) |
I have an electro 4R. Currently it's all Mit with termination boxes, not the 350 or 750. If I remember correctly you also use a Marchand crossover, so do I. I am interested in trying the Alpha. I tried Audioquest with another pre I have and wasn't impressed. One dealer I know has talked me out of power cords twice. I do have dedicated lines and live in the outer suburbs.
In regards to the sound of the pre it sounds somewhere between what I'd call tubey and definitely not solid state. I keep feeling that it has more to give. I heard it in comparison to the Classe Cap 50 and they sound more alike than not. However, there definitely are differences. At first I thought the $R was missing leading edge transients. Then ater hearing the CD on other systems I realized it wasn't there. SOOO!!!
I'll check out the electro discussion. Thanks. |
Doug, would you be so kind to post the website for electro as the connection listed in the manufactuers list does not work. |
http://www.electrocompaniet.no/ |
Doug, iv'e been offered a good deal on some electro 180 monoblocks and if my aw100dmb sells,i am going for it.Can you say "broke" i will be saying it for months if this deal happens.I priced the aw100 to sell,now i just have to hope no one else buys the mono blocks first.If they do i will be taking the aw100dmb off the market as i am hooked on the electro sound. |
ears, i've learned this lesson the hard way - if there's any way ewe can swing it, get the 180 mono's now, & then worry about selling the aw100. if ya lose the deal, yule be bummed. the aw100 will sell; until it does, yule be eatin' macaroni & cheese... ;~) regards, doug s. |
Doug, because my wife insisted on me using one room for 2 channel and theater sound, i have lugged my theil 3.6's to my other room and hooked them to the aw100dmb and i got to tell you,i don,t know how hard these are to drive compared to 3.5's you had but the electro has no problem and does not break a sweat driving the theils.The only problem i have is my room is too small for the theils and the five kit speakers i built plus two subs.You were definitly right about this amps being able to drive any load, not that i did not agree but the theils were not in the same room until now. greg |
