questions for georgehifi and others about powering my Wilson Sasha2s
George, I read a thread you commented on about amps for Sasha 2s, but the direction got derailed when Troy came in and it deteriorated into the merits of Troy providing insights rather than the content of the insights. I have seen other posts by you and I respect what you have said. I have been flailing around with my system the last two years. I've been doing my best to ferret out gear that makes sense, and I have made great progress, but its been messy. Synergy though reading reviews is elusive!! I ended up recently with Sasha 2s, sourced only by a Vivaldi Stack, Modwright LS300 (had to get tubes to tame the dCS and Sasha 2 combo) and JC1+ amps, Everest with all Shunyata Sigma V2 and V1 and Alpha V2 power cords. Some gear sits on Townshend platforms, Sashas on Podiums, and IC and SC loom is Townshend F1s. My Sasha 2 amp journey started with the amp I had which was a Naim DR300 NAP which was not very detailed and not powerful enough for the sasha 2s, but a fun amp on my old B and W 801s. I then bought the JC1+s and was very impressed. Wife finally loved the sound of my system again. I did think the JC1+ lacked a bit of resolution, but it was a sweet and powerful sound with a strong lower foundation that was a joy in musical terms to listen to. I then got weak and started to give in to the dogging on the JC1+s that is quite easy to come across. Last Friday I took delivery of a NIB Luxman m900u. Figuring if it was as musical as everyone claimed I'd buy a second one and be done with my amp search. It's been burning in for about 100 hours now. It's got more resolution, and a deeper soundstage, and while it's bass is musical it's bass light. The real problem is that in my system its too bright on female vocals, strings and piano. Wife wants the JC1+s back but I've heard that resolution and depth and I can't unhear it. Guys a know on line now say its a bad match for Sasha 2s, two guys say I need Ampzilla 2000 V2s, some say Modwright KSE 150, others say the Modwright or two are not good enough. I have avoided tube amps my whole life, but? My budget is around 22K for amps, so two used m900us were perfect. Do you think the Luxman will burn in/burn burn/off the brightness? I am over using cables as tuning devices, but It did occur to me to roll the 7308 Amperex USN in the LS300 for some British warm tubes to compensate. Can you shed any light on my situation? I'm pretty beat up and disappointed right now. Often on this forum I hear about all these product recommendations for products and companies I have never heard of. I don't want Macintosh like brands but also not any tiny start ups that are not even fully rolled out. Thanks for any help.
wokeuptobose OP Pass amps are complimentary push/pull Mosfet output stage, generally they don’t do very low impedances as good as equal in size complimentary push/pull Bi-Polars (BJT) can eg: Gryphon,Krell,D’Ago etc etc. Cheers George |
It was once said, I "think" by John Atkinson, Wilson in the early days voiced their speakers with big ARC tubes, but in the last 15 years they’ve been voicing them with D’Agostino designed amps Krell and then D’Ago’s own when he left Krell. That’s why when I hear my friends Alexia and another last model Watt/ Puppy "8"? They both sound stunning wi the Gryphon’s as they are in the same vain as the Krell’s and D’Ago, wattage doublers right down to 2ohms except I believe even the big Gryphon’s even better, as they have even more fixed bias Class-A. Cheers George |
I want all the class A I can get. I ran my Krell KSA turned on for 28 years straight!!! Bite the bullet. I think your ready for the Gryphon Antillion Evo driven direct from your Vivaldi. My friend Edgar has it with his Total dac driving it direct and it’s magnificent. There’s the Gryphon on the floor. https://www.soundstageaustralia.com/images/stories/equipment1/201711_wilsonalexia1.jpg Cheers George |
wokeuptobose OP I take it wokeup you used the JC1+’s in high Class-A bias mode??, Because in normal bias mode they won’t be as sweet sounding. (to your wife) As they get a more etched (can be described by some as more detailed) Class-B sound to them then . ******* Also this is a big one for me, if you have a volume control on your Vivaldi dac, try driving the JC1’s direct with it. (no Modwright LS300 preamp you can sell it) I always find this so much better (unless the dac is tube output, then there can be an impedance mismatch.) Just checked yes it does! and you can set the dac max volume level, so the volume at near max is for the very loudest you will listen to, that way there no chance of "bit stripping" DCS Audio:After doing this, I’ll be surprised if it’s not the best you’ve heard. And your dac has a wonderful low output impedance at 52ohm, so it can drive long interconnects to your amps if you want them next to your speakers with short speaker wire. Cheers George |
I think George is suggesting that my complaint about the Luxman (bright sound on female vocals, strings and piano is caused by the Luxman not being able to drive the 2 Ohm load of the SashaSorry, what I means is that the JC1+ can push more current than the Lux and has more Class-A, therefore filling out the lower registers more than the Lux, that's probably why your wife likes it more. As for getting another Lux and bridging it I said don't, as when you bridge amps the first thing you loose is stability into low impedances (Sasha has 2ohms)!!! So don't bridge is what I say. But vertical bi-amp instead. https://imgbb.com/M8gRTS3 Cheers George |
wokeuptobose I then bought the JC1+s and was very impressed. Wife finally loved the sound of my system again.Good amp for the Sasha’s as they dip to 2ohms around 100hz (and make sure they are switched into high class-A bias on the back for the best sound) https://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/710Wilfig1.jpg Last Friday I took delivery of a NIB Luxman m900u. It’s got more resolution, and a deeper soundstage, and while it’s bass is musical it’s bass light.Do you plan to bridge these amps into monoblocks if you get the second one? then don’t!!!, with 2ohm load of the Sasha they will probably oscillate and blow up. If you do get a second one, then vertically bi-amp them https://ibb.co/M8gRTS3 My budget is around 22K for ampsSeriously look at Gryphon Antillion Evo, they have switchable Class-A bias on the run from the front panel to suit all tastes, my preference with Wilson Alexia is high bias, but medium is also very good. https://gryphon-audio.dk/shop/power-amplifiers/antileon-evo-stereo/ Cheers George |
