If you have a digital front end with volume control, so can avoid a preamp in your price, consider the Valvet A3.5 solid state Class A monoblocks. They combine the attributes you cite for ASR, with an open, vivid presentation and exceptionally bursty speed. If you need to add an affordable preamp, the Valvet L2 is 6sn7 based and will retain and enhance the same qualities. The fast SET tube amp options that will put it all together will cost more.
Phil |
Check out the deHavilland 50A's. They have the qualities you are looking for. Our shop has shown with them at the RMAF for years so if you read the show reports on the deHavilland website or our web site, soundsrealaudio.com you can read what reviewers and show goers have to say. Very impressive.
Good luck.
Jim
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Zuio.
Your post is surprising,speed and openess are touted as an ASR strength. Are you certain the issue is the amplifier? This is interesting and in contrast to reviews and owner impressions.
Regards, |
213cobra: the valvets would be my first choice if they would have a standby or AB switching for low idle draw - like vitus and plinius.
soundsrealaudio: sorry - solid state only.
integrated or power amp |
I recommend VALVET A3.5 MkII monoblocks, 50 watt pure Class A. However, they do not have a standby option, either on or off. Valvet celebrates the 25th Aniversary in March 2012 and offer a 20% discount until March 31st (USA & Canada only). |
I agree with you Charles1dad, as a current ASR owner I think it has everything Zuio wants along with speed & openness. BUT, Zuio: you might try to upgrade the input OPAMPS to the Burson discreet - I think that may just give you what you want - I'd never go back to the stock OPAMPS. The replacement is any easy unplug/plug in. |
I'll second Mantis007's post above, ive yet to hear a more open sound than from my Burson equipped ASR. |
Which model Burson did you use in the ASR? Was there any soldering involved? |
Zuio, what vintage ASR do you own and what is the rest of your system, incuding the efficiency of your speakers? The older generation units possess a little more of a vintage tube sound. Cables (IC, SW, PCs) can make a significant difference as can a non-current limiting conditioner (despite what the manufacturer says). I use Dale Pitcher's latest "conditioner" and it took the ASR to another level altogether. The Burson mod is a great idea but after talking to Tony, it is not something for the technically challenged. Another tweak to consider is changing out the stock fuses. I put in silver HiFi tuning fuses and that made a noticeable difference. |
The ASR has all the speed and openness you could ever ask for.
If you power/wire is not up to snuff it will slow/close your sound.
What year Emitter?
Cables?
Front end?
The Teo cables I have gives my Emitter a fuller/less open sound than the Stage 3 Magnus Prime. A simple wire change may be all you need. |
The ASR has all the speed and openness you could ever ask for.
If your power/wire is not up to snuff it will slow/close your sound.
What year Emitter?
Cables?
Front end?
The Teo cables I have gives my Emitter a fuller/less open sound than the Stage 3 Magnus Prime. A simple wire change may be all you need.
Z,
Below see the 7 threads you have started about amps for your speakers from 2010. In all those start up threads you never once responded to questions asked. Maybe can the speakers?
Zuio's Threads Last word Posts
Faster alternative to the ASR Emitter? Glory 10
SS amp with high tone density + great separation ? Roscoeiii 2
Champions in microdynamics - your pick 0
Solidstate king of immediacy for ceramic drivers ? Highend_cc 7
Anyone heard Resolution Audio Cantata C-50 amp ? Casaross 3
Low damping factor but fast& high current SS amps? Bwcanuck 26
Low powered & warm sounding class D amps ? Goldprintaudio 3
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Swapping opamps is only slightly more challenging than changing fuses. |
Wilsynet, have you tried it on an ASR? |
Opamps is a great upgrade on the phono. I suppose the same benefits for the Emitter. |
Interestingly, Friedrich at ASR has tried the Bursons and still preferred the 843s. To each his own. |
Agear, I don't remember saying it was difficult? It really is easy, I just recommend using some DIP adapters to lift the Burson away from the cap right behind it. the swap takes less than 10 minutes - you should try it ;-)
Tony |
Tony, I love to experiment and may take a crack at it at some point. I am having a sound room built in my basement, and thus there is so much flux in my system that other smaller "changes" may get swallowed. I surmised a certain degree of complexity not from our conversation but from other reviews of the mod:
03-26-11: Casouza
I have upgraded to Burson op-amps in as ASR Emitter II amplifier and a high-end CD player.
This is a very worthwhile upgrade, better than monolithic op-amps in every aspect of the audio checklist. Give them a couple of hundred hours to break-in and have fun!
I have about 15 years experience in tweaking electronics. This is a winner, probably one of the best electronic tweaks.
Warning: pay attention and make a note of the location of pin 1 in order to avoid mishaps. You may need to solder a short ground wire between the op-amp and the component's circuit board. I had to add a ground wire on the ASR Emmiter, though I do not recall the reason anymore.
Enjoy!
Casouza (Threads | Answers | This Thread)
Furthermore, I wonder what you are "hearing" given ASR's analysis of the Burson (slow and dull)? Another friend of mine tried the Burson opamp in a dac and came to similar conclusions. Some folks on the DIY forums were mocking the Burson experience as purely anecdotal. The Burson apparently generates more distortion, but maybe that's part of its magic...like a tube.
What I DO KNOW is that the ASR is sensitive to associated equipment, and its "sound" can change dramatically. Mine went from rather pedestrian, 2D sounding to 3D with the addition of a "conditioner." Go figure. |
It does not seem credible that one would add a ground wire without recalling the reason for doing so. As Casouza is a self-professed 15 year compulsive tweaker, I might venture that there was in fact no verifiable reason to have done so. |
True, it does not. I asked Burson for specs on their opamp and got no response. Got feedback from another manufacturer who is an OCD tweaker at heart, and he did not like the Burson opamp either. The arguments swirling around discrete versus monolith opamps are intriguing but not compelling. The real question is that if you did a blinded A+B, would your wife or non-audiophile "hear" the difference? |
I don't own an ASR and I have no experience with Burson opamps.
What I do have direct experience with is:
- I generally have preferred discrete output stages to opamps. So if I were game for rolling opamps, I would certainly consider what Burson, Dexa and Audio GD call "discrete opamps".
- I have indeed swapped opamps before and it's sort of a YMMV thing. But a number of various opamps are available for $20, $50, $100. And in a hobby where a cotton covered cable costs $1000, and people shell out hundreds for a power cord, I think opamp rolling is one tweak which is quite high value by comparison. |
Wilsynet, I agree. I will try it when the time is right and the dust settles in my system. I am also tempted to try the silver WBT RCAs and SW posts as Friedrich and others claim they have quite an impact as well. |
Wilsynet, I do not understand your aggressive post. Any gripes ?
I did not write that I am a compulsive tweaker. I did only ONE tweak to the ASR amp, listened to it for several weeks and found it worthwhile.
The ground wire is required by the op-amp to reference the positive input to ground...OK, now I remember it. Satisfied ?
I will not discuss matters of taste. I like the Burson op-amp better than the one that comes installed by the factory.
BTW this tweak is not open-heart surgery, my ASR amp came with op-amp sockets, so it is just a matter of unplugging the old op-amps, plugging the new ones and adding a ground wire, if one chooses a Burson op-amp.
Take it easy |
I have one emitter II of 2006 and he have the new golden board and I allways think that the sound of ASR is a litle bit dark but now I want to try other rca cable to solve that problema. I have cardas Golden cross for speakers and a few days ago I switch for direct input and the sound gets better. I intend to change rca for a better one up to $400 in used market. |
Bras:
The Emitter 2 exclusive ( or any of the Asr units), is not dark in the sound at all. They are drop dead linear, and doesnt add anything, it simply shows what is there in the system..You probably have a cable, power line or something else which colors the sound so you feels its dark. The pricier the gear, the more it reveals your weak spots or links in the system, and asr shows no mercy when it comes to this sort of revealing:) |
