Preramp for Adcom GFA 565's

Noble100,

Well, I did it.

Ordered Wyred4Sound SX1000 and STP SE preamp. Should arrive this week.

Hope I did not make a mistake!

Dsper

Thank you for the good suggestions.

This is hard - I keep thinking of reasonas to not pull the trigger on the amps.

Am I nuts for wanting to move to the Adcoms from a new Krell S300i? I would be picking up another 150wpc into 4 ohms, and a lower noise floor.

Noble100,

I want to power Maggie 1.7's. Some of what led me to the Adcom's was that they are supposed to be good in the bass and I thought that might help the Maggies. I also feel that the Krell is a little bit...uninvolving. Want a weightier "richer" sound.

Dsper

Hi Noble100,

Thank you for your comments. Being able to hear it before you buy seems to be the rub.

I am also considering the Wyred4Sound mono blocks and I see that on Audiogon there is a pair of Cary 500 MB monoblocks that are supposed to be pretty good as well.

I have heard good things about the PrimaLuna Prologue 3 preamp. Do you know anything about those?

Thanks again,

Dsper

Hi Noble100,

Supposed to deliver today so I will keep you posted.

I heard a big difference when I went to the Krell from a Mac amp. Much more dynamic and cleaner sounding for the Maggie 1.7's to my ear.

I suppose that a lot of what I heard was the doubling in wpc to 300 from 160. I cannot imagine what it is going to sound like going to 1100 from 300.

I am hoping for more detail and better soudstage and not just "louder".

Hi Noble100,

My two boxes of Wyred4Sound arrived two days ago and last night I finally got to open both boxes and set up the Wyred4Sound components. Well packaged in double boxes with no UPS shipping damage.

Everything works and the only hot flash of "what is wrong?" occurred when I started the CD player and no sound came out of the speakers (the volume was turned to zero!).

My initial impressions are compared to the KrellS300i integrated amp with 300 wpc/4 ohms and about 300 hours on it.

Generally speaking, to my ear, the Wyred4Sound and the Krell have a similar overall sound. The difference is not as dramatic as when I upgraded to the Krell from a McIntosh MA6300 integrated at 160wpc/4ohm. The change there was very dramatic as the Mac was definitely warmer sounding but with a lot less dynamics than the Krell.

Right out of the box, I can hear more detail with the Wyred4Sound. For example, individual instruments are easier to hear in a mix. Also, it is easier to recognize individual voices in a multipart vocal harmony.

The soundstage is improved. It is wider and better front to back. I often felt while listening to the Krell that the lead vocal and the drums were coming from the same place. With the Wyred4Sound, there is now a separation with vocals in the front and drums in the back.

I am not sure what I am hearing regarding the bass. It seems to be fuller, but with perhaps bit less slam. Krell is noted for their bass so this may take some time to determine if there is an improvement.

The edges of the treble with the new Wyrd4Sound are a bit sharp and initially it is not as musical as the Krell. I hope (expect!) these to improve with time.

The W4S owner manuals advise that there will be a major improvement after about 100 hours of operation and another level of improvement at about 200 hours of operation.

ALSO, the manuals make a point to advise strongly that the power should be disconnected before anything is plugged into or out of the amp and pre amp.

Will follow up in a few months, but my initial thought is that I have made a positive change but I wonder about the bass.

Dsper