My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!
Well, i have been talking to several dealers and people with plenty of experience and i have heard that the issue my boulder has is that it has massive power demands and my standard 120v outlet isn't cutting it. I was told (read this somewhere as well) that the boulder 2060 sounds DRAMATICALLY different when using 240 volts. Long story short, i have been told by a few people i am starving the amp of power and i need at least a power regenerator like a ps audio p10 or p20 at the very least. That i can't expect the amp to show me what it can do when it does not have the electricity it needs. I am not going to lie, this definitely makes plenty of sense and i would not mind giving it a shot. Yes, i have not given up on things yet with this amp. I want to part ways with it after i have tried all imaginable with it. I still CAN NOT accept that such monster of an amp sounds so lifeless. |
@whitecamaross , if I recall from earlier in this thread, the electric power topic came up when you were thinking of a particular Plinius amplifier. It has been my experience, that when someone spends this much money on equipment, the electrical power source ( dedicated, higher amperage, etc. ) should never be overlooked. I believe much of your listening has been done while starving many of these products, not just of amperage, but of cleanliness. Just my observation from reading through this entire thread. I will say, you have a lot of patience and determination. Always, MrD |
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I just read an Absolute Sound review of the 2160 and 2110 Pre-amp and initially the reviewer ran into similar observations as you. Here is what he found: Boulder 2150 Mono Power Amplifier and 2110 PreamplifierSo Close to the Musical TruthEquipment reportby Anthony Cordesman | Jan 21st, 2015Categories: Solid-state power amplifiers, Solid-state preamplifiers |Products: Boulder Amplifiers 2110, Boulder Amplifiers 2150 http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/boulder-2150-mono-power-amplifier-and-2110-preamplifier/ |
The PS Audio P10 will not help. My Mark Levonsion 335 shut it down. The Boulder needs to be on a 20 amp line at least. More power will make it sound better. The P10 is a nice unit, but not for a hungry power amp. The P20 may not be suitable as well (no experience with it) but that would be my guess. Boulder should be plugged direct to wall. |
that absolutely sound review of the 2110 and 2160 is exactly how i feel about my boulder. It is not a bad amp, but it will demand outstanding upstream components. It won't forgive any crappy cables or sources. That said, i decided to pass on the boulder 2010 preamp at this time and bought back my 350.8 again so that i can use my reference 6 preamp with it and see how things sound with those 2. Will it best the simaudio and luxman? we shall see... |
Alright guys, so after deciding to pass on the boulder 2010 preamp, i decided to go back to pass labs in order to try its synergy with my preamplifiers and revel salon 2s. Long story short, i just bought a 350.8 and a pair of 160.8s!!!! The madness continues and i think i will soon be parting ways with the boulder amp. |
An Audio Research Ref 150 SE, which sells for around 14K, is much better than any of the amps you reviewed and IMO is the best power amp you can purchase under 30K. I have an older ARC Ref 110, which you could buy used for around 5K and that would also sound better than any of the amps you reviewed. Both amps have plenty of power for your speakers. |
Jafant, i am keeping the luxman set up because it really does NOTHING BAD. I like its musicality, but maybe i am keeping it simply because i am going to go monos with it? i am going to bring amps for my audio research preamp and pass labs will be excellent. I am receiving wireworld gold eclipse 7 xlr cables and speaker cables this Friday in order for me to try. Will the boulder react better with a better cable? will it beat my other set ups by using these superior cables? or will the simaudio distance itself even more ? we shall see :) |
@whitecamaross This is such a great thread. Maybe one additional item to add to your reviews would be speaker cables and interconnects? I don't really know if that would be feasible but they have such and pact in our system that it would be great to hear several different models and how they impact each new amp in your system. Maybe this is the next logical step to your reviews. Keep up the good work. Thank you! 👍 |
@whitecamaross For the Boulder electronics, you might want to have cabling with a little bit of a warmer signature - Kubala Sosna or some of the Cardas, for example. I've heard that WW cabling can be on the bright side of neutral (slightly cooler), so you might be continuing to go the wrong direction, if you wish to use it with the Boulder stuff. Dave |
OK, every time I tell myself to ignore or simply lurk, this insane thread draws me back in. I feel like Al Pacino in Godfather II. I will echo the previous thread. If you are going to keep the ARC Ref 6-and I fully endorse doing so-you have to experiment heavily with XLR cabling from it to whichever amp you choose. See for yourself-each set of XLR's will sound different. One or two will place you in audio-Nirvana assuming the right amp for your speakers. |
Jajaj yes I know a lot of people are following my thread. Let’s face it, I’ve read other threads and nobody has the amount of gear that I constantly play with unless they’re a store. I am just thrilled each week to see fed ex come drop off something new. Next Wednesday I have the 160.8s arriving and next Friday the 350.8. I’m almost sad when I don’t have new gear arriving ;) |
whitecamaross Go for the WA Sasha 2, I purchased mine more than a year ago and have been very happy with them, with a wide range of Amplifiers. I also considered Rockport and Magico, but found the Wilson to be the better value. The Revel Salon 2 are very good Speakers and also a good value, but not quite at the level as Wilson, in my opinion. If your listening room is large, consider the WA Alexia series 1, a great deal right now, with the release of the series 2. |
Since the WA Sasha 2 is mentioned above....Here is Mike Wright @mykeryte of Stereotimes, a Wilson Sasha owner who loves his Sashas, from the Stereotimes review of the Tekton Double Impacts (linked below). Posting this since many reading may not have the deep pockets to reach for the gear discussed on this popular thread. One doesn’t necessarily need to spend ’big bucks’ to get favorable performance. And those that do, may of course want to spend it elsewhere. "Being a Wilson Sasha owner I was quite happy with my speakers and never gave listening to another speaker any serious thought..... I also had three Sasha vs. DI speaker shootouts because that is what friends wanted to come by the house and hear. Initially, the Sashas sounded better because they were setup optimally to perform in my room. The Sashas were more musically involving and articulate. As I mentioned above, when I began to put in the time and effort to get the best I could out of the DIs, my labor yielded some impressive results. The next two shootouts came after I leveled the playing field to make sure both the Sashas and DIs were setup optimally. I had no other choice but to admit that the DIs were the better “sounding” speaker. Not the better built, or the finished, but sonically, it did sound better. The DIs were the more musically involving speaker; more captivating and did a better job immersing me in music. Personally, I was in disbelief. It hurt and angered me to admit it but I had to be honest about what I was hearing, especially when others were present and were hearing the same thing I was. All of my friends would ask me if I would get rid of my Wilson Sashas for a pair of DIs and I would tell them “no.” Why should I, or anyone else who has a pair of speakers you like or are proud to own and enjoy listening to. At the same time, if the question was if I were shopping for speakers, which would I choose between the Sashas and DIs, I can wholeheartedly recommend getting the DIs and buying a car, or whatever your pleasure, with the money you’d save." The review in full is here: http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/tekton-designs-double-impact-loudspeakers/ Should you want to read Clement Perry’s as well as Mike Wright’s full take on these speakers. |
Guys, I just purchased a game changer piece of equipment.... I want to say that this piece has made THE MOST massive improvement I’ve heard aside from speakers. This is just shocking and right now I cant get out of my couch. It’s just magical and really the most special component already for me. It took me 3 seconds before my jaw dropped. |
Alright guys, So as many of you know by now, i have been through a tremendous amount of gear which i originally did not intend to do when i first started this hobby. I simply wanted to get better speakers and amplifiers and well this continued week after week and month after month. I can honestly say that throughout the past years i have had big surprises on my journey: 1. pass labs xs150 2. Martin logan 15a 3. Martin logan clx 4. Pass labs 200.5s 5. Luxman combo 6. Audio Research Ref 6 7. Monitor Audio Pl500 8. Belcanto Black System These pieces of equipment certainly left me with a long lasting impression which is why i am able to bring them back and mention them. This does not mean that everything else i had wasn’t awesome in some sort of way, but these listed above just dug deeper in me. That said, i had a chance today to do business and pick up a component that i had thought about in the past few weeks, but i simply couldn’t get the right deal until this afternoon. Anyhow, i came home today with it, got on my knees, began to plug in all the cables, power cord, etc and fired it up. Within the first 3 seconds and with me STILL kneeling and only with one ear facing the speakers, my jaw dropped instantly. I did not have to sit down, get up, or anything. It was THAT DRASTIC. You must be wondering, what did you hear? well, i heard a massive soundstage that felt as if my surround speakers were on. A bubble of sound. I heard high frequencies that had the most relaxed yet refined sound signature without being forward or sharp in any way regardless of the volume. I heard as if my entire system now had new cables, new speakers, new source, etc. Long story short, NOTHING had made such a drastic improvement here before. It feels as if now i can’t move forward in this journey without this piece (and i won’t move on without it) because it is just too intoxicating. With that said, the component that i place as the NUMBER ONE best component i have ever owned (except for speakers) is the AUDIO RESEARCH REFERENCE 10. |
