Roger West, the owner of Sound Labs, thought Atmosphere MA1 (140W) was powerful enough for room 9x11. Because of lack of space, I was thinking about AudioResearch 150SE stereo. I think heat generation will be similar to X250.8 but will it reach thermoequilibrium by 1-2 hr? |
As @decooney indicated, the heat is not my biggest issue. It is the time to warm up. My logic is that tube amps will reach the optimum temperature more quickly than Pass Labs or other SS. Tell me if I am wrong. |
@ozzy
I tried going direct from Lumin X1 to X250.8 and it never sounded as good as inserting BAT rex2 preamp between them. May be it is the tube goodness. If M350 really works for me, I can save a bundle of $. Can you tell me how you like M350? How about reliability, service from Carver? |
@arcticdeth
Which amp do you have? |
@welcher
What kind of preamp did you have? |
@Iwin
I think expecting 1 1/2 hr for warm up is something I can live with.But not 6 hr.
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The dynamism of X250.8 is unparalleled. With drums in Angela Brown's band, the SMACK is incredible. As I get older, I feel like I wouldn't mind with a bit less SMACK.
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@twoleftears
I think I need at least 150W for my 86db speakers, even in my tiny room. Linear Tube only goes up to 40W? (ZOTL40?). |
@zavato
Do you leave your X250.8 powered on all the time? |
I tried to speed up the warm up process by putting a towel over the amp. This is what Kent English at Pass does before shows. It does get the temperature up much quicker. However, it still took another 2 hr of music playing to sound GREAT. Kent thinks it is the diff pair in the input stage which runs at a constant current and it can't be fooled. |
@azarya12345.
Your Vitus runs class A up to 25W. Doesn't it generate a lot of heat if you leave it on all the time on idle? |
@azarya12345.
Your Vitus runs class A up to 25W. Doesn't it generate a lot of heat if you leave it on all the time on idle? |
I am very surprised that ZOTL 40 is powerful enough to drive Maggies. For Soundlab panel speakers, they recommend >200 W, like Atma-Sphere MA-2. |
Sound labs are not bi ampable. Anyone have experience with high end D class amp?I know they are generally poo pooed, but who knows-may be there has been sufficient progress recently. |
decooney,
Thanks for the info. I will look into it. Since last night, I left my X250.8 on. This afternoon, it started sounding good around 2 hr mark. Less sibilance and harshness. |
I leave my Pass amp on all the time now and still warm up for a couple of hours to sound GREAT. But, I still hear sibilance in Diana Krall's tracks and some others. As I get older, this sibilance thing bothers me more and more. At my volume of playing, I am still deep in Class A, and yet still sibilance. Does this mean I have to bite the bullet and go for a high end tube amp? This review on Conrad Johnson's ART150 sounds good: inner detail but smooth. Of course, it is close to $20,000. Do you think the reviewer is exaggerating and do you think CJ is worth the price? |
Yes, I am running BAT rex2 tube preamp with my Pass Labs. It sounds better with it than without it when I go direct from Lumin X1 streamer/dac which has outstanding LEEDH volume control. One option is to get rid of rex2/Pass and go directly from Lumin X1 to a tube amp, to get the tubes smoothness. If I do this, I can go for a much more expensive tube amp. |
Ray
One option I was thinking is to take out the expensive tube BAT Rex2 preamp and connect Lumin X1 streamer/dac directly to a high gain tube amp, using the LEEDH volume control on X1. However, I found with my Pass X250.8, which has gain of 26, some albums weren't loud enough at LEEDH max volume. I was thinking that 3 db additional gain would be just enough. Well, MRE220 has 29 db gain and got good reviews. There is a used one on the market (without SBB) at around $10,000. It should have plenty of power to drive my SL speakers.
1.What is the power consumption at idle? My Rex2/x250.8 combined put out 900W of heat at idle.
2. Sibilance and edgy sound bother me a lot. How does MRE220 do on this?
3. How do you like Jubilee vs. MRE220? The person selling MRE220 is also moving to Jubilee. |
Oh, I haven't checked the heat sink. Last time I got inconsistent results. But, after constant idle and then playing for 3 hours, the top and front plate reach around 110-115 F and stays there. |
