SW-800 Subs & CLS's

I have used the Audio Research Classic 60 tube amp for the CLS II's with great success... with Straight Wire . Large Nakamaichi AmP dedicated to the Subs, perhaps a bit overkill. Am thinking of selling the whole setup, as the wife continously gives me flack about my investing in stereo equipment rather than .... her verbal yaking ruins the beautiful music this system creates... Tom Bradford

The Kinergetic subs are the prefect match for the CLSZ, and my system was designed to be bi-amped. Dont go over board on a very large or powerful amp for the subs (they
are very efficent). The CLS Zs eats up all the power of my ARC CL150 (150W) ,but does some thing very impressive with vocals and acoustic music not heard with any other speakers. My choice of ARC D350 for the subs is what i regret because it tends to quickly overwhelm the output of CLS'S it is hard to find the right balance. A very high quality hi current ,low powered amp ( 100w-150w)is what i would recommend if your are matching it to the Martin Logans

I think the Adcom amplifier will not be capable of driving the woofer towers. The load is just too low 1.6 ohms. The amplifier you should get would be a Levinson 23.5 the crossover is very good from the factory. Can be improved with XLO internal wires and better binding posts.

I happened to run across your various mini-statement discussions from 2001, so I'm probably late to the party.

If you are still using a m-s speaker setup let me know. I have a lot of experience with it and I'm willing to share.

best,

Neil

hi mig, i never said anything in my post about using the adcoms to drive loads like the martin-logans, but when the gfa555 1st came out, a hi-end retailer in my area was amazed that they could drive the notoriously difficult apogee scintillas, that would destroy *better* amps. anyway, all i said here is i tink adcom amps wood be fine for driving the kinergetics sub, & i still do...

regards, doug

ps - jim, as ewe know, i came *wery* close to purchasing a pair of cls, but dint, mainly cuz even martin-logan said i woodn't be happy w/their 93db max output, even when crossed-over to subs, in my large listening room. i tink the cls' are the greatest thing going for small-scale music, but there are times i want to *crank* it... ;~) thus, i'm saving for the newforms... dunno anything about the kinergetics' x-over, but i *do* know the marchand is wery flexible & wery transparent - i tink it wood be a great match for the cls'.

Thanks, guys. I think I have to take the plunge with this combo. Doug, you know I've been noodling with this for a quite a while, going back and forth on how to best intergrate the panels and the subs. The SW800 was actually designed for my speakers but I know that I'm still in store for a lot of tweeking regarding setup and other things, but I feel that the end result will be worth it. Mig, you are the only person I've run into who is currently running the CLS/SW800 setup -- any advice on positioning? I went back to the reviews, which suggested keeping the subs in the same position as the panels (one inchto the side) with exactly the same toe in and a listening position slightly farther back than with the CLSes running by themselves. Currently, my speakers are 9 feet apart (center to center), about 20 degrees of toe, 5 feet from the rear and side walls with a listening position 10 feet from the speakers. I have them on the Arcicci stands so there's not much (if any) back tilt. Maybe move the speakers slightly closer, put the subs just outside as a starting point? What do you think? Thanks, again.

I have the same setup as you with the one difference being i use the crossover in my meridian 568 instead of the kinergistics one; i cannot comment on the question of construction material, but i do disagree with the 1st response; i never found adcom amps adequate for driving difficult loads such as martin logans; i would suggest an amp known for that trait like arragon, or mccormick dna's; i'm using an aragon 4004 mk ii for the subs and mccormick dna 1 monoblocks for the cls; by the way, i believe cls and sw800 combo is as good as it gets as far as the sound and cost

gfa-555 should work yust fine w/those subs - bass response is a strong-suit of these amps. i use a pair of 'em bridged, to drive my vmps subs. at the very least, you could ry 'em, & if yure not happy, get something else.

sorry i can't help ya w/the kinergetics, other than i've heard these are excellent subs, & i've never heard of any cone deterioration problems w/em...