abecollins
Responses from abecollins
| Best amp to replace my Classe CA-100 There is no "best". What do you prefer soncially and what are you willing to live with? I've owned Classe CA-100/200/300 and found that in my system, the CA-200 was a big improvement over the CA-100 mostly due to its ability to drive my speakers e... | |
| Best Remote $1,250 used preamp? Of the preamps in the ~$1000 range the BAT VK-20 is the best I've owned. I have owned the following preamps and liked them in the following order regardless of price: BAT VK30se, BAT VK20, CJ PF-R, McCormack TLC-1, ARC LS16, CJ PV-14L, Classe CP-3... | |
| Tubes plus SS I prefer it the other way around... Solid state preamp and a tube power amp. I'm using the CJ PF-R ss preamp and the CJ Premier 11a tube amp. I have tried CJ PV-14L, CJ PV-12, ARC LS16 tube preamps but prefer the solid-solid state preamp in my sys... | |
| CJ 17ls vs CJ 16ls Mk II What price range for your CDP? I like Cary 303/200 ($3000-LIST) or Cary 306/200 ($5000-LIST). I have the 306/200 along with a CJ PF-R SS preamp and CJ Premier 11a tube amp driving Tannoy D500 speakers. | |
| Amp opinions- ATI-B&K-Pass Labs I would love to own a pair of Vienna Acoustic Beethovens! If you can afford it, go with a quality amp like Pass Labs but don't skimp on the preamp. I was not impressed with the so called Stereophile "class A" rated Adcom GFP-750 compared to many o... | |
| PreAmp shortlist:ARC LS8MKII, BC BC21, Rogue 99? Regarding noise floor.... was it background hiss with your ear up to the speaker and no music playing? If so, this is very typical of many tube preamps but usually not noticable while playing music. | |
| Placette pre amp I have owned the Creek OBH-12, McCormack TLC-1, Adcom GFP-750, Classe CP-35, CJ PF-R, CJ PV-12L, CJ PV-14L, ARC LS-16, and BAT VK-20. My CD player is the Cary 306/200 and my amp is the CJ Premier 11a tube amp.Of the passive preamps, I like the McC... | |
| Please explain what balanced out puts are. There's some incorrect information in one of the posts above and I'll also attempt to clarify situations where balanced interconnects might be useful.First, in a truly balanced circuit with XLR connectors, there is one common/shield pin, a positiv... | |
| BAT VK-200 vs Classe amps in general? Thanks everyone. Since I have owned a number of Classe amps over the years, I thought it was time for a change and I'm seriously thinking about trying a BAT ss amp.I have a CJ Premier 11a tube amp that I'm using at the moment and I plan to keep it... | |
| If you had 10k for pre and power amp but you had If I had to allocate $2K & $8K then I would pay closer attention to the preamp. I've gone through 5 preamps in the past year all of which were in a similar price category (~$500 to $1500 used) and they all had their own distinct character, str... | |
| Tube reliability in amps I've been very happy with CJ tube amps for reliabilty, sound, and ease of tube replacement and rebiasing. I'm running the CJ Premier 11a as it does a fine job with my Thiel CS 1.5's. I'm not familiar with your B&W's and if they are in fact "di... | |
| Good upgrade amp for my Thiel 3.6s Frogman makes a good point but in general, a bit more power might give you better defined bass and that over all effortless feeling like the amp isn't constrained at all. This was very noticeable for me when I went from my Classe CA-100 to the CA-... | |
| Integrated tube amps that have CJ CAV50 sound? Tough call... If the dealer is helping him out, it would be fair to buy from the dealer, but if it were me, I would at least ask for a discount. | |
| McCormack preamp upgrade, Is it worth it? Bob, do know what the actual upgrade consists of going from TLC-1 to a Deluxe TLC-1? I'm actually very impressed with the modest base TLC-1. I picked one up used here on Audiogon. Thanks, ...Abe | |
| Matching tubes on the Audio Research VT 100 mk II Each side of the amp should get "matched quads" for the power tubes. You can buy matched quads from http://thetubestore.com Power tube rebiasing is quick and easy. Its a lot more involved for the driver tubes. |