My first pair of Acoustats, was the model thre with the Medallian mod.I powered it with a Conrad Johnson MV75A-1, and the CJ Premier 2 pre amp.
I have fond memories of that system, my first foray into Highe end audio which included the Oracle Dephi table ,FR arm and cartridge,and the huge Fulton Gold speaker wires and interconnects from Audio technica and a nice Janus sub.
You could walk thru the soundtage.
Never before nor since have I had the same magic, not even with my present set up -SME 10, Steelhead, Esoteric,Nordost, Shunyata, dedicated lines blah blah.
But my present Acoustats are the original model X, and I use the srvo tube amps.
Granted they have been tweaked and modded and most of the cheap parts have been replaced with better ones from Furutech,but the tube amps should not be dismissed.
If anything they are THE perfect amp for the Acoustats, because they were made just for the Acoustat panels.
All the other Acoustat speakers that use the transformers, medallain modded or DIY, share the common probelm that transformers bring to the party.
They add something to the sound.
Also, pairing up the panels and transformers to just the perfect power amp can be hit or miss.
The problem is, that, the Acoustats sound good no matter what you power them with, so the search seldom gets too elaborate.
Good enough rules the day, but great sound could have been just around the corner if only one had soldered on.
The servo amps, when modded and backed up with a nice supply of power tubes(no failures 2 years later)I feel is better than my old non powered 3 panel Acoustats.
The rest of my gear is also better now than before, but somehow that 3D eerie illusion has vanished somewhat.
Perhaps it's age related hearing issues, perhaps it's some magic that was in the old pre amp,or perhaps I've just had too many decent systems over the years and the novelty just wore off.
I miss those golden days of audio discovery.
I have fond memories of that system, my first foray into Highe end audio which included the Oracle Dephi table ,FR arm and cartridge,and the huge Fulton Gold speaker wires and interconnects from Audio technica and a nice Janus sub.
You could walk thru the soundtage.
Never before nor since have I had the same magic, not even with my present set up -SME 10, Steelhead, Esoteric,Nordost, Shunyata, dedicated lines blah blah.
But my present Acoustats are the original model X, and I use the srvo tube amps.
Granted they have been tweaked and modded and most of the cheap parts have been replaced with better ones from Furutech,but the tube amps should not be dismissed.
If anything they are THE perfect amp for the Acoustats, because they were made just for the Acoustat panels.
All the other Acoustat speakers that use the transformers, medallain modded or DIY, share the common probelm that transformers bring to the party.
They add something to the sound.
Also, pairing up the panels and transformers to just the perfect power amp can be hit or miss.
The problem is, that, the Acoustats sound good no matter what you power them with, so the search seldom gets too elaborate.
Good enough rules the day, but great sound could have been just around the corner if only one had soldered on.
The servo amps, when modded and backed up with a nice supply of power tubes(no failures 2 years later)I feel is better than my old non powered 3 panel Acoustats.
The rest of my gear is also better now than before, but somehow that 3D eerie illusion has vanished somewhat.
Perhaps it's age related hearing issues, perhaps it's some magic that was in the old pre amp,or perhaps I've just had too many decent systems over the years and the novelty just wore off.
I miss those golden days of audio discovery.