Have You Tried One Schiit Aegir with LRS


I’m looking for any real-world experience with this combo, as I have (way too many) hours of reading opinions of better and best options.

I have a curiosity about a single Aegir because I currently use an original Freya with a vintage EL34 Marantz 8b to power the 2022 LRS (not +). The 35wpc gives me the 65-90db I listen at in my 10x15’ studio and sounds gorgeous on the jazz, pop, rock I listen to – except where music gets very dense (e.g. Maggie Rogers "That’s Where I Am.") I compared it to my NAD integrated with nominal 80wpc. I can barely turn up the volume before I get to the level where I’m listening. The NAD sounds better with the dense passages, but less silky everywhere. The Schiit amps fit my budget nicely, and I’ve heard one or two reviews say they enjoyed the single Aegir through LRS. Lots of others jump right to using 2 as monoblocks or complain that they clip or trip protection. No one says what kind of SPL that’s happening at. Is anybody using this combo in a similar use case to mine? Or have monoblocks and want to try it out for me? If it’s a bad combo, I will move down my list of amp options. Actually, if anyone tried the Aegir and ended up with Vidar at lower SPL, that would be helpful. Thanks for sharing.

Peter

peterf6

I'm replying to my own post in case someone is searching for real world experience with this combo. 

I decided to satisfy my curiosity and buy a single Aegir. It benefitted greatly from about 30 hrs of settling into the system (though I have no idea why equipment needs this, I hear it). I'm listening in a bass and vocal sweet spot 7' from the LRS in a 10x15 room. They are 3' from the rear wall and just under 2' from the side walls. The room has some GIK corner bass traps and absorption at first reflection points. The sound is rich and dynamic, with clean high end and solid bass. For this note I measured db(z) to gauge power demand for a couple wall-of sound tracks, plus a couple of the more spacious tracks I have in heavy rotation. My conclusion is that you can likely get higher volume slam from more watts, but this setup offers a lot of clarity, soundstage, and punch in a small room at modest levels. Calculated draw for my listening is from .1-11 watts, which leaves 70 watts headroom (theoretically). The amp isn't even warm. The Vocals are gorgeous, bass guitar and upright satisfy me (I'm a bass player), and the mid-highs offer lots of clarity on drums and guitars. I don't listen to a lot of classical so shouldn't comment on the needs of that genre, but for what I'm playing, it's a keeper and so  nicely in my current budget. For context, here's a listening session.

Impossible Germany, Wilco: Avg 70, peak 80. Handles the dueling guitars perfectly.

Come As You Are, Nirvana: Avg 70, peak 73

Feel the bass drum, hear (isolate) multiple guitars, hear decay on cymbals, space around smack and tone of snare.

That's where I am, Maggie Rogers: Avg 73, peak 82

Easy to single out Octaves in fuzz synth bass, pulsing piano notes, extra vocal rhythms, autoharp, great lead vocal tone.

Baker street, Shawn Colvin and David Crosby: Avg. 69, peak 79

Lots of vocal tone — especially nice to hear Crosby in this sparse setting, lush reverb guitars and pedal steel, clear brushes on the snare drum

NASA, Adriana Grande: Avg 69, max 80. Able to isolate so many vocal layers, rhythm sound effects, distorted synth bass

You Go to My Head, Julie London: Avg. 64, peak 77

Spacious jazz session, soft sexy vocal textures, she overdrives the mic on a  note.

Birds, Dominique Fils-Aimé, avg 68, peak 80

Pinpoint soundstage on vocals, double bass tone, hand claps timing all so clear.

 

I'm using a first gen Freya in tube mode and a Modi multibit with Tidal and a zen stream. Also a REL T2 (turned off for SPL readings above) that definitely helps the LRS, but they also sound respectable on their own.

You may also want to look at the Van Alstine SET 120 amp. Over on Audio Circle, there is a thread where Frank has tried that on LRSs and said it was good to go.

@jjss49 thanks for the advice and the suggestion about the Magnepan thread. I took a look and will consider it all. 👍

@peterf6 

see another active thread talking about amps for maggie 3.6's... much useful discussion there you may benefit from

to your specific question, unless you listen very softly, i would not use aegirs (mono pair or single stereo unit) with lrs's - just not enough current capability, they will easily shut down due to the built in protection circuitry

the vidar is the right answer for maggies in schiits lower end amp lineup

I believe that using a stereo amp having the needed power for a set of speakers having a low impedance is a better option than using using two stereo amps in bridge mode to obtain an increase in power for the same speakers. While bridging may benefit a true 8 ohm speaker, not so much a speaker demanding current do to having low impedance dips.

As I also had interest in the LRS speaker I have followed many threads addressing them. The Odyssey Khartago with increase capacitance often came up as a great pairing for them.  

 

Thanks,@decooney, another recommdation for watts, and I might go that used amp route too. The Freya has pre outs that are balanced and also SE, so works either way...

I have a powered  REL T2 now, and it helps with low end extension with more modern production music. I'll look at the Odyssey. Thanks for the insights.

@peterf6 I was close to buying a single Aegir as a small backup lower power stereo amp to my tube amps on rotation duty, then discovered several references through various sources about how running TWO Aegir amps (XLR/Balanced) is reportedly "so much better", functionally, musically. And, I don’t run an XLR capable preamp, RCA single-ended only - so the idea stopped there. My 6SN7 tube preamp isn’t going anywhere, so back to RCA cable options only for me.

Ended up going for purchase of a used higher power stereo amp that I’ll upgrade, similar to what @jl35 did with the Odyssey situation. Would love to have sprung for a pair of Schiit Tyr amps - but not worth the cost to me as backup amps. However,  IF two of the Aegir amps could function in RCA/Single Ended cable mode instead of the XLR-only requirement, I might have tried a pair of Aegir amps. No dice.

on advice from John R , I'm using a pair of REL T/Zero lll subs with LRS+ and sounds great..would that combo work with a single Aegir ?

almost kept the Vidar, could not be happy with single Aegir, didn't want to risk Aegir mono...found an Odyssey Khartago Extreme SE and very happy; better sounding than the Vidar and seems more powerful though not sure specs are higher...though some I know are very happy with Magnepans and lower watt amps...

@jl35 did you feel the need for more power than the Aegir so got the Vidar, or ultimately you wanted more power than the Vidar? Thanks.

I was very happy with Vidar, Freya S and Saga+, and LRS in a room a little smaller than yours...many are concerned with bridged amps at 4 ohms as Schiit gives 4 ohm specs only for single amp...but ultimately felt I needed/wanted more power...