Hegel h200 low level listening

"Its my experience that some speakers have a problem maintaining their full range (ness) at low volume and not the electronics."

That actually hadn't dawned on me but seems like it could make sense to me.

I also agree on the line level outputs but that's something I can live without. I'm really surprised Pass omit them.

Thanks Ghosthouse. I truly understand why this integrated gets so much praise. It's the first ss integrated I've heard that makes me want to unplug my Rogue and put it back in the box. With better case work they could fetch $10k for H200.

I agree about keeping the Rogue. I love the Rogue and by keeping it, I can get a new top plate and KT120's for a mere $300 and then I'll have several options available for my listening pleasure.

Thank you. I don't listen too low and prefer to listen at higher levels as yourself. We have similar taste in music. I just get a little grief from my wife occasionally and wanted to make sure something like a channel didn't drop out at very low levels.

My dealer is close friends with another dealer within the state and I'm pretty sure he's going to be able to get the amp for me. The guy dropped one off for a week this past Spring and I went to hear it when the store was closed on a Friday night. I had a great time and absolutely loved the sound through the same speakers I own (Harbeth C7es3). My dealer is a great guy and has been trying very hard to get me set up. He's a big fan of Ayre and loaned me the AX7 but that amp just didn't do it for me. I'm used to sitting 14 feet from my speakers with a room filled with music and the Ayre just couldn't pull it off. It couldn't even get a grip on these speakers.

If you've ever read any of my posts on the Hegel, you'll know I can't stand the casework. It's taken me a long time to tell myself that's not important. I've listened to integrateds that are amazingly well engineered with 5mm thick aluminum casework and not one of them made my toes tap like the Hegel. I can always put up my old poster of Farrah Fawcett in front of it.

Guys and gals, I pulled the trigger on the H200 today. Now the wait. To say I'm excited would be an understatement. I've been trying to find an ss integrated that I liked more than the H200 for a long time now and it never came along for me. The musicality of the Hegel is just flat out amazing. I'll follow up with my impressions of the H200 after I put some hours on her.

My plan is to keep my Rogue Cronus Magnum and possibly order the KT120 kit from Rogue later in the year.

Thanks everyone. I'm stoked. I'll surely keep you posted. I don't change out gear very often so as you can imagine I'm rather critical of my system. I was the guy that wanted eye candy plus a great musical experience. I didn't like the looks of the Hegel. After a dozen auditions with gear up to $10k I couldn't find anything that I liked the Sound of better. I know I made the right choice.

Hi everyone. It's going to be official tomorrow afternoon. I pick up my spankin' new Chuck Hegel H200. I'm looking forward to first impressions as well as the break in period. Once I connect Chuck, I'm turning it on and letting it get to temp for a half hour and then it's all over. Nothing but tunes and leaving it on in mute when not in use for a long time. I'll keep you posted.

Don

Okay, so here goes after 24 hours in comparison to my Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum which I will always love.

I let the Hegel H200 warm up for 45 minutes before I played a CD (I'm CD only right now). Slightly wider and deeper soundstage on Ms Gradenko off of the policy's Synchronisity album. Greater detail and separation of instruments with an airy texture. Bass control is noticeably tighter and theres a lot of it. Midrange is as good as the Rogue but the highs aren't quite there yet. I do hear more detail on everything I've listened to so far.

So far both my wife and I are pretty much awestruck by this amp. I started playing music this morning before breakfast and we haven't stopped at all today. From Mozart piano concerto's to Eddy Vedder, Cassandra Wilson and Bonnie Raitt, it's all been amazing. I can't imagine what's in store after this breaks in.

I'm not running balanced right now because the Rogue didn't have that option. My plan is to get a good XLR as soon as I can. I also need to add banana plugs to the amp end of my Audioquest Rockefellers. I've decided to order some Oyaide Rhodium banana plugs for both ends of my AQ speaker cables. The spades don't bottom out on the lugs. I figure I'm looking at another grand for the Oyaides and XLR and I'm good to go.

I'll keep you posted as the weeks go by and I get my new XLR's and bananas. I'm really looking forward to running balanced and hope I hear a substantial difference although I can't imagine this sounding a heck of a lot better. There's some music we've been playing that revealed some instruments and notes we've never heard before. That's always a good
thing.

Ghosthouse, my CDP is the Audiolab 8200 CDQ. I biught this because of the reviews and the flexibility it offers me. Im staring to mess around with computer audio (slowly). Speakers are Harbeth C7es3 monitors. I'm going to be going balanced by this weekend. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go for the Nordost Red Dawn LS xlr interconnect. There's also the possibility I may put Oyaide Rhodium banana plugs on my Audioquest Rockefeller speaker cables. Then there's also the possibility of a subwoofer but who knows.

One thing I've noticed thus far which is in comparison to my Rogue Cronus Magnum. Bad recordings sound bad and good ones sound great. With the Rogue, everything sounded pretty good but I felt like I was missing out on the finer details. With the Hegel, I do hear a lot of details I was missing out on but some of those details are bad recordings.

I'm going into this as slowly and with a positive attitude as I can. It's funny because I thought I would just buy the Hegel and be done with it. Once I got it, I realized I had to run balanced. Then, with the amp not being as deep in length as the Rogue, I couldn't effectively use the spades on my speaker cables. Then I found out how revealing this amp is and although good bass, I could probably throw a subwoofer in the mix and be very happy. I guess sometimes you think you're about to jump off the merry go round only to find out the rides only half over.

Once I get this dialed in I know I'm going to be very happy and broke. Although I'd prefer to run the tubes this winter, I think I'm going to use this indoor time in Upstate NY to get this up to par.

Were you leaving the Hegel turned on 24/7? If so did you mute it? Hegel told me to turn it off but every review I've read says leave it on.

It sounds fine at low levels which is what I do when the wife goes to bed. Occasionally if I'm not in the mood to turn it down, I have a Schitt Lyr headphone amp with AKG K702's to fill the need.

Thanks for checking in. I'm glad you said that one helps you appreciate the other. I've found that to be the case as well. I really thought for a moment that I would sell the Rogue. I don't think I can. I also don't think ill be parting with the Hegel for many years.