It's been a number of months since I've come back to the thread. First things first:
DMG. As Lush stated, Krell and Totem do not go together well at all.
MxWizard. I'm not positive if you're situation is... what amp you've ended up with or if you still even have your Totem's, but if you do - I made a recent discovery; the Vista Audio i-34. Man, this thing is absolutely unreal (on the both Sttaf and ML Vantages). I've got it next to two integrated amps in excess of $8000 and the i34 does not sound far outclassed at all. In fact, it's doing some things even they cannot do. Call it synergy, call it whatever, but for just under $1000 USD - it's stellar. |
I actually settled on the Cambridge 840A v2 after the dust settled from my initial transaction. It is nicely paired with my Sttaf's. |
hi, my two cents is the rogue audio intergrated, it sounds killer for the dough and has more power than you could want with this speaker, good luck , chris |
OK, I've had an opportunity to listen to the Naim Nait 5i, Creek 5350SE and Simaudio Moon i-1 through the Totem Sttafs since my initial post in December. Although the Naim was clean and articulate, it lacked any low end extension. Bi-wiring improved the situation, but I knew the Sttaf was capable of providing better bass without tweeks. Both the Creek and Simaudio provided tight, extended bass, and you'd be hard pressed to say one was better than another in this area. Overall, the Creek is extremely neutral and easy to listen to. Mids and highs are clean, and it is laid back in it's presentation. The Sim is a bit more forward so I felt it was more dynamic and engaging. The dealer who staged the audition had never heard the Sim before and said if he could take the low end from the Creek and the highs from the Sim that would be the ideal $1500 amp. Although there were some slight differences between the two, we both felt that for the price you couldn't go wrong purchasing either unit. The Creeks warranty is 2 years, while the Sims is 10. The inside of the Sim is extremely efficient and very well laid out. You get the impression that very little could go wrong. On the other hand, the Creek is more complex and not as well laid out. The Creek supports two sets of speakers, while the Sim handles one. The Sim has a convenient MP3 jack on it's front panel, but the compressed format of MP3 didn't sound very good through this high end gear. At this point, I'm leaning toward the Simaudio Moon i-1. For my taste it just seems a bit more musical. I'll keep you posted. |
I have biwired my Sttafs with Tara Labs Prime 1000, courtesy of Zieman, and mass loaded them. Paired with my new Cambridge Azur 840A V2, the sound is everything I hoped it would be. |
Dmg,
I have heard good things about the 840A v2, and my earlier comments in the thread about this amp not quite being up to the level of similarly priced Naim and Sim products was based on experience with the first version. Cambridge has been incredibly aggressive recently about rethinking and improving products, and apparently they have applied that approach to the 840A.
I am Curious what power cord are you using with this amp to achieve such positive results? |
I am using the power cord that the amplifier comes with. I have not yet addressed that issue and won't for a while. I am however, always open to suggestions.
By the way, I have failed to mention that I am using the Sony C555ES SACD player with the Sttaf's and Cambridge.I have had it for a while now and it still performs quite nicely. All in all, quite an enjoyable listening experience. |
Dmg,
Nice player. How do SACDs sound on your system?
I have some suggestions to dabble your toes in the power cord pool without shocking your wallet. I was agonizing a bit recently over the purchase of a "budget" cord for my CD player and ended up purchasing a Shunyata Diamondback at a discounted price because it would bend around the tight places in my cabinet. I was so impressed with what that did for my CD player, I made a 12 gauge wire for my integrated amp out of parts purchased from Home Depot. Without going all mushy about it, my system really sounds a lot better after adding the two wires.
In purchasing a Power Cable for the 840A, I think you should take a few things into consideration-
1. How much space do you have at the back of your system? If your amp is more than a few inches away from the wall, then you can use a stiffer cable and not have to worry about kinking it. If your amp is fairly close to the back wall or back of the cabinet, then you will need a more flexible cord, and that will limit your options.
2. How long is the run to your AC source? If you are using the stock cable, then you are probably 6ft. or less away. If you can use a shorter cord, you can save a few bucks on each foot of wire you don't buy.
3. Shielding - for an amplifier, you don't really need a shielded cable. In fact you may not want it.
Some suggestions:
Stiff wires-
Signal Cable MagicPower, $59.00 for 3ft.
http://signalcable.com/magicpower.html
VH Audio Flavor 4 Power Cable, $169.99 for 3ft.
http://www.vhaudio.com/flavor4.html
Voodoo Audio Mojo Power Cable, $175.00 for 3ft.
http://www.thecableco.com/product.php?id=6385
Not so stiff wires-
Audio Art Power Cable, $145.00 for 3ft.
http://www.audioartcable.com/Articles.asp?ID=131
JPS Labs GPA 2 Power Cable, $199.00 for 6ft.
http://www.thecableco.com/product.php?id=1136
Kimble Kable Powerkord 10, $210.00 for 4ft.
http://www.thecableco.com/product.php?id=1633
Shunyata Research Diamondback Platinum Power Cable, $250.00 for 5ft.
http://www.thecableco.com/product.php?id=6049
Many of these cables (and many, many more) are available from one vendor, the Cable Company (http://www.thecableco.com/index.php). The nice thing about them is they allow you to borrow and try cables before you buy.
All these cables are considered budget wires - if you can call a $250.00 wire "budget". For this level of product which mostly use similar grade connectors, cable gauge, conductors and geometry, any real differences are usually in the insulating material and any cryogenic treatment. Given the general similarities, I would try the Signal Cable first to see if it does anything for you. $59.00 is a nice dinner out these days - for one.
|
Thank you very much for this thoughtful reply. Right now I have just separated my audio and video, so my Cambridge and the Sony are resting upon a marble end table, side by side, in my living room. They are about one foot from a wall of glass behind them. That will not change for awhile. I will try the Signal Cable soon for that price.
As for the SACD's, it is much like the difference between HDTV and regular programming. Nothing short of amazing for my ears. I rarely listen to anything but SACD's anymore. They are quite reasonable on Amazon. |
Nice choice on the Cambridge 840 integrated. It's an excellent unit and I've heard the combo personally; it was very nice. A reasonable powercord option that performs well with the Cambridge is the Shunyata Venom cord. It's 12ga with good copper, shielding and ends for $99. |
Audiobroke,
Thanks for this response. I have looked at the Venom. May I have your opinion on this issue? A friend of mine sent me his preferred method of upgrading, which is a three step process. Here is the cut and paste from his email in response to my saying that I had looked at the Venom and Signal Cable, among others, and would like to stay around $100.00:
First we need to get power to the wall. Forgoing that, I like to begin with an Audience Power Conditioner. Feeding an A Plus 4 square box. Now we can use much shorter cords, and you will find they make little difference if upstream is A Plus, to borrow the term.
I trust this person completely, just want another opinion.
Dmg |
After starting this post, i am happy to report that i have purchased a used Simaudio I-5 from the dealer i bought my Sttafs from. I have had the I-5 about a week, and hearing things i didnt notice before. A wonderful experince...Once i fix the buzz from my Denon ( it is the unit, it buzzs at my friends house as well )...ill be selling that. Thanks for the help! |
Mxwizard,
Wow - what a great buy - much better piece than the amps you were considering when you first posted. I am sure this will be a fantastic match for the Sttaf speakers. Enjoy!
PS - now you can start looking at new sources to feed your new amp and speakers... HA! |
Dmg,
My twenty five cents.
I still think you can derive benefits from a stand alone budget power cable for your amp. If you want to and are able to spend the money on the gear your friend recommended, then that would likely provide greater benefits. More details below.
The Venom is much less accomplished than Shunyata's better cords - the Diamondback and up. I would say I noticed less than half the benefit from the Venom compared to their better cords for my budget CD player in a back to back test. Is the Venom better than your stock cable - most likely. Can you do better in a cost effective aftermarket cable for an integrated amp - most definitely - especially if you have no constraints in terms of the suppleness of the cord used.
Now to the comment: "First we need to get power to the wall. Forgoing that, I like to begin with an Audience Power Conditioner. Feeding an A Plus 4 square box. Now we can use much shorter cords, and you will find they make little difference if upstream is A Plus, to borrow the term."
I assume your friend is talking about the $495 Audience Adept Response aR1p and not the $3800 multi-plug conditioner, and that the "A Plus 4 square box" is a $350-$450 Analysis Plus Power Oval 10 with 4 Box. If that is the case - then that is about $900 worth of power conditioning and power distribution gear between your wall and your power cable to your amp, and a far cry in terms of investment from a $100 power cable.
With that said, putting these quality pieces in the front end of your power chain should have a positive overall effect on the sound of your system, and the amount of that effect will depend on how dirty your household power and the amount of junk coming back from your electronics is in the first place. For example, this set up may help protect your amp from digital grunge from your SACD player, even though the power conditioner is at the wall and not being plugged into directly.
But, I think you can't necessarily say that you will hear less of an effect from an upgraded, albeit shorter, aftermarket power cable used to connect your amp to pre-conditioned 4 box. If you are cleaning power upstream, the benefits of an aftermarket cable may actually be even greater since you are now protecting the integrity of higher quality power. Remember, the biggest impact from better power cables are 1) more efficient power delivery from larger cable gauge and better conductors, and 2) reduced EMF, EMI and RFI in the proximity of your electronics gear, speaker and IC cables due to better dielectrics, geometry and shielding (if applied) in the aftermarket cables that finally deliver the power to your source, amp, etc. I find it is all about system synergy, where appropriate improvements one place generally amplify or enhance the benefits of improvements previously made elsewhere. If the high quality cable on the 4 box stops three feet from your gear, then you are not applying the benefits described above nearest your equipment and other cables where they will do the most good.
Often, as your equipment and accessories get more sophisticated, "synergy" can become more elusive as changes in one piece may make your system sound different, but not always better. Experimentation and willingness to reject trial solutions that don't result in real improvements is key. That should not be the case here where you would be going from stock cables to power conditioner, high quality power box and better cable to your gear. I would guess in this case, the changes you would realize for an investment of about $1000 would be quite astounding - on the same order as upgrading your amp or source.
To summarize, while simply adding an inexpensive aftermarket cable to for your amp would likely provide improved sound, the set up described above could provide significant added sonic benefits to your system by delivering cleaner power to all of your gear conditioned at the wall and distributed via the 4 box. Even with the Conditioner and 4 box in the power chain, I think your amp would still benefit from an upgraded power cable, if only to provide 12 gauge or larger wire for the last little bit of supply (although other benefits related to reduced interference would also likely accrue). And while I really like Shunyata products, I would not recommend buying the Shunyata Venom power cable for your application, as I think you can get better performing (and shorter) amp cables for less money from Signal, Zebra and other Internet cable distributors.
Good luck. |
