Naim or Octave with Dynaudio Confidence C1

You will have no issues driving the Dynaudio Confidence C1 with the Octave integrated amplifier. In fact, Octave has been using Dynaudio speakers to demo their products in many of the German audio shows I have attended. See this link for a review of one of their products:
http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews/octave/octave_4.html

Compared to solid state amps or even other tube amps for that matter, the Octave products will showcase their ability to convey the emotion of the music in an ejoyable manner with a unique quietness. I have heard some top line Mark Levinsons and Krells not sound as good as my Octaves (MRE 130).

I even took my Octave MRE 130's to a Mac dealer to compare to the MC501's, the Octave won hands down, driving the same speakers, the B&W N800's, that I own at home. Many suggest that you might need a lot of power, watts or current (amps) to drive speakers with difficult loads, below 4 ohms. Based on my experience, the Octaves can drive almost anything you plug into them. Granted the V70 only has 75 watts per channel with 80 watt surge capability, but they will drive a 2 ohm load easily.

I am pretty amazed that the Octave products are built so robustly and are very easy to adjust tube bias. I mean, anyone can adjust the bias for each tube on an Octave amp in a matter of minutes with just a screwdriver, while it is on.

The only way for you to really know if you like them is to listen to them and make that decision on your own.

Ciao,
Audioquest4life

Handsomeck,

Sorry, I have not had a chance to audition Naim separates. I have owned in the past a pair of Bryston 4BSST's to drive the B&W N800's and although it was a good combination, it was not as musical as the Octave was on those speakers. I am pretty sure that almost any Octave speaker combination will yield the same results. The Naim products do look like they are reliable and are built to last. I highly suggest that you do a comparison of the two if possible.

Ciao,
Audioquest4life

That is too bad. It would be great to hear some comments from others who have heard each of these products. Usually, that is very rare. The Octave line is very new in the Unoted States and thus unfortunately it will be hard to find dealers with the products.

Ciao,
Audioquest4life

I think I can answer that question. As you move up the line in the integrated and into the MRE 130 mono amps, the designer has chosen to step up the plate voltage as you step up into the bigger models. I have the specs for the integrated's, I will post later, however, I believe the MRE 130 has a plate voltage of 530 volts. I measured the output in milliamps of the recommended bias settings on the amp using the Tube Amp Doctor Biasmaster and measured .38ma for the desired bias setting according the manufacture. I was using KT88's. That seems to me a conservative reading. Of course, I can go higher in regards to milliamps, in fact I have, using KT120s in an experiment running at .65ma with no problems.

This is my belief, Octave uses a stepped up plate voltage approach as you go higher in the lineup, always taking into consideration tube life, equipment usability and robustness and ease of use. Essentially, plug and play concept of use. Perhaps the V40 is measured using the EL34 tubes and not the optional 6550 or KT88's. I do know that the plate voltage is a big factor and therefore as you move up the line, you get higher output. The two EL34's on the V40 do not output as much power as a pair of KT88's on the V70.

Ciao,
Audioquest4life

If you are going to the CES in Vegas, I just read that Octave is doing a demo of the V40 and the MRE 130 with the Saphire speakers.

"Octave Audio will be exhibiting in Venetian Suite 30-230, and company founder and chief engineer Andreas Hofmann will present the company’s MRE 130 monoblock amplifiers, Phono Module phono-preamp on the Sapphire loudspeakers, as well as the V40SE integrated amplifier on the limited-reissue
Dynaudio Special Twenty-Five.
For all of you attending CES, we look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas."

Ciao,
Audioquest4life