Raven Osprey Sonics But With More Power
I am looking to the wisdom of the crowd to help me narrow my options for a more powerful tube/hybrid integrated. This is my first post so be gentle.
I am very happy with the sonics from my Osprey 3.1 with its tube and fuse upgrades. Where I am looking to make a change is instances - 5% of listening, where head banging volume is called for. My wife is finally understanding what great sounding audio is all about and if she wants to rock out to the Stones on 11, I want to give her that joy. She notices the distortion and depth compression and is asking what's wrong....Speakers are Fine 703's and streaming to Aurender N100 via Pontus II is the source when we have our dance parties. Listening room is an open plan living/dining room that flows into the kitchen and den.
I am thinking hybrid but I have an 80wpc Unison Unico in another rig that I subbed in but it was too much of a letdown from the Raven to be a permanent solution. Would the BAT 3500 be a better substitute? The other consideration is the all tube Audio Hungary x200 = KT120/150 100wpc. Others I should look at, VTL possibly?
I find it pretty senseless to go and demo a piece of equipment at a dealer as the ancillaries make any meaningful comparison impossible, hence this reach out to those with hands/ears on experience.
Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.
Not a bad idea@willgolf although I am not there yet on parting with the Osprey. Its performing beautifully in my second rig in a much smaller, dedicated room. I'll give Dave a call and see what he proposes. I have four full sets of NOS tubes so if he offers to take them back in an exchange, that might very well sway me. |
I would still talk to Dave at Raven and ask him about the new MK4 Reflection. Maybe you can do a trade. I used to own the MK3 Reflection in a room the size of 45''L x 32'W with 20'H ceilings. My Reflection at 65wpc drove that room effortlessly. Others to consider would be the Gryphon Diablo 120 or 300 used or the Luxman 509 |
Yeah, I know it might appear that I'm bonkers...The space is large and can't be isolated beyond what I now do: close doors to bedrooms and bathroom in the hallway. At ~ 92db as read from a Decible X app; everything go to shite... I had a REL T/9x in the system with the Raven but different speakers and I could not get it to blend from a timing standpoint; the REL was always ever so slightly behind the main speakers ...I am also space constrained as far a placement goes, so 2 subs are not an option. The 80wpc Unico hit the mark on volume but SQ was just not good enough IMO. |
