I building an Arros based 2-channel system for my 16 x 13 x 8 room. My listening position will be like 10 feet from the Arros. I listen to vocals, instruments, jazz and pop. This is what I am going with: Arros and REL Strata 3 (or) REL Stadium 3. But for building this set-up, I need some guidance from you.
1. I am thinking of using a Cary SLI-80 in the future. For now I want to go with either Jolida 302b (or) Primaluna Prologue 2. Which one would you recommend for better system synergy ?
2. Can the 40 watts from Primaluna drive the Arros to sufficiently good volume levels like 90 dB ?
3. Do we need to Bi-Wire Arros ?
4. What Speaker wire (or Bi-Wire) works well with Arros ? I am looking for reasonably priced ones as my budget is limited to $150 MAX for wires.
5. Can I Bi-Wire if I use Jolida 302b or Primaluna prologue 2 ?
6. What Interconencts are recommended between CD Player and Primaluna / Jolida ?
7. What power Source is reasonable choice ? ( $200 MAX )
I will highly appreciate your valuable input and will immensely help in setting up my 2 channel system.
i use these in a second sys.c.j.sonographe amp,tad-150 pre.these are excellent spkrs.,but will not play loud.if pushed,the woofer will hit travel limits,with a loud pop.but for low to mid level,they are hard to beat.machine
I've owned the Arros and 10Ft. from the speakers is fine. In fact, the Arros can go very, very wide and that will not be an issue.
As for synergy, all three of the amps you are considering would drive the Arros without any problems up to your specified 90db.
Bi-wiring is not necessary and something to experiment with on a try before you buy basis.
If you find the Arros a bit too hot for your tastes, Tara, Cardas and Audioquest each offer some rather mellow cables. I suspect the Audioquest Type 4 would mate well at an affordable price.
You can bi-wire easily by using the spade terminations on one set of cables and bananas on the other. At least at the amp end...the speaker end doesn't matter and can be all spades or bananas or a combination.
I like the Audioquest King Cobra and Kimber PBJ interconnects for their high performance to value reasons. The Cobra might be the better choice for the tube amps because it has a strong bottom end and is shielded whereas the PBJ is not shielded...but is my preferred IC when shielding isn't an issue.
Mike, you have some good ideas for amps and cables above. While I haven't heard either the Jolida or Primaluna with them, I have Arros and so can comment on how they may perform for you. I've run them on a 6550 based PP amp, and they sing!
Only issue I see is potentially not enough volume before the woofer bottoms out, like Machine says above. The sub will help, but you don't want to run your signal through the subs high pass circuitry as it'll muck up the Arros ability to dig out tiny detail. Your room is probably at the top end of the size the Arros will work in, even with a sub.
As for cables, I'd suggest the Speltz Anti-Cable. The Arro can be incisive to the point of overly bright, so if you go with a tube amp and mellower cables you'll help to avoid the nasties. Don't biwire until you're ready for a change.
I am not sure what you mean by "you don't want to run your signal through the subs high pass circuitry as it'll muck up the Arros ability to dig out ". Do you mind explaning it a little bit....particularly from the perspective that REL connections are made directly to the AMP terminals.
Not that familiar with the REL, my suggestion for sub hookup doesn't appear to apply. If your sub doesn't have a xover to filter out the bass from the Arro, please disregard my comment. When I ran through my sub -- not as well regarded as the REL, btw -- I found a general loss of detail the result.
Simply didn't want you to have the same thing happen and not get the full enjoyment from your Arros.
The only thing I'd add is to skip the power enhancements and put the money into better speaker cables. Totem's own speaker cable is excellent, priced nicely, and very compatible with their speakers.
Can you please suggest me any other sub ? I am thinking my other option will be a ZU Method. Does ZU Method provide the option of "High Pass" out puts to connect to Arros ?
I have a Totem Lightning that was an excellent match to my Totem Hawks, and it can do everything you want it to. It's now paired with a Rainmaker system in my Home Theater and is also wonderful there. Full, deep, tight, and very musical (i.e. not boomy or slow)
How did you connect your integrated amp with Sub and Rainmakers ? Are you running your rainmakers full range or you are crossing them over ? I Know that this is not an issue at all in HT applications as the reciever / processor can do all the separation of low freq. I am coming from 2 channel perspective with Primalula Prologue II (or) Jolida 302b being the candidates.
What you are recommending by saying "With the ACI Speaker Level Converters you run RCA interconnects to your sub and the speaker cabling directly from your amplifier to your Totems. I think I'd prefer this since it would keep the signal to your Totems purer"
is exactly what REL subwoofers are suggesting me to do. In this case Totem Arros recieve full range signal and the concern is full range to a 4 1/2" woofer may not be good. That is the only concern I have with using REL.
So the alternatives I am looking for is to feeed crossedover signal at say 52hz to Arros and all the LFE beloew 52 hz goes to sub. I dont know how to acheive this with Primaluna Prologue II (or) Jolida 302B
Assuming it is Creek 5350 SE which has both pre-Amp out ad Power Amp in...can you please detail the way you will set up the connections so that Arros will recieve High Level freq ( > 52 hz) and any freq below 52 hz goes to subwoofer. You can assume a HSU subwoofer or ZU Method or even a REL subwoofer ( in-case of REL we can send full range input from amp speaker terminals to REL through Neutrik Speakon connector and set-up the crossover in REL for LFE ).
I will highly appreciate if you can please explain this to me ?
When running my Lightning sub in two-channel mode with the Hawks I simply used the external output (not tape loop, mind you) on my Exposure 3010 integrated, then later my Audio Research preamp had dual outs. I have never felt the need to use the speaker-level inputs and outputs on the subwoofer, although REL claimed that to have the advantage of the subwoofer assuming the sonic characteristics of the original amplifier when their products were hooked up that way.
In my HT setup I'm running the Rainmakers full range and not using the crossover. They can handle the complete signal, and sound better that way.
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