madisonears
Responses from madisonears
| best amp for rinning 802n under 1200 For speakers as nice as 802's, you should be willing to spend more than $1200 for a SS power amp. Adcom is not the way to power these speakaers. I used the 8008BB with my 802's and the sound was far too bright. A $1200 tube amp will sound better t... | |
| Worst speakers at Stereophile show There is no such thing as "good value" in a pair of speakers that costs $6000! The price of speakers is getting as obscene as that of cables, with outrageous mark-up on equipment which requires only modestly complex technology to develop and produ... | |
| IS TARA LAB "THE ONE"? Who put the nut in Avnut? Good one! You had me going for a few seconds, though. Yes, of course, Tara Lab is "THE ONE". Since you're already listening through "Number Two", you might as well take the final step up. | |
| Warm sounding ss power amps BAT VK200 is very warm, musical, accurate, open, powerful. The presence of instruments and voices is very realistic. Space is very well presented in three dimensions. | |
| Assemblage 3.1 or MSB platinum Amazing that I also am running the 3.1 into B&W 802's with North Creek outboard Xovers, and I find it very musical, with not a hint of brightness. I upgraded the cheapo standard opamps to the far more expensive model (part of the PLATINUM upgr... | |
| Need SS preamp that sounds like tube . I recently did a showroom comparison between Sonic Frontiers Line 2 and Bryston BP-25, using SS Classe power amp and Martin Logan electrostatics. SF pre was slightly more 3D, but Bryston had better tonality, sounded far more musical and less analy... | |
| Holographic Imaging- Cable suggestions? I have just heard and then purchased a pair of Siltech's, and they are very nice cables, with beautiful, open highs, lots of air around instruments and 3-D presentation. Smoooth on top and a robust bottom end. Not inexpensive, but worth the musica... | |
| Aragon Amps I owned an 8008BB for about a year. It was very powerful, with authoritative, deep bass, very crisp (somewhat bright, perhaps) highs, and decent mids for a SS amp. Threw a huge soundstage with good images. The amp seemed indestructible, built like... | |
| Why so many Plinius for sale lately This may also be a reflection of the popularity of the amp a couple years ago when it first became critically acclaimed. A lot of people who bought them then are ready to move on to something else or have tired of the sound. | |
| Sonic difference Vk200 vs. VK500? I haven't heard the 500, but I own the 200 and it delivers all the musical power I need for my B&W 802's. You will not regret buying the 200. I do not understand why people sell them! | |
| BEST brand for Classical Recordings? I can't believe no one has mentioned Philips, which has some truly stellar performers and performances, recorded with true concert hall perspective--no artificial emphasis on any instrument or section of the orchestra as in many Decca, DG, Sony, e... | |
| Coltrane. Can we talk? Well I won't pretend to have assimilated Trane's work to the extent that some here have. I have only ten or so Coltrane out of a couple hundred jazz CD's. One of my favorites is a two disc set containing the complete Coltrane / Wilbur Harden recor... | |
| XLR for BAT VK-3i and VK-200? I am using Van den Hul The Second between Bryston BP-25 and BAT VK-200, and the results are very musical, with good detail but no harshness, lots of air, three dimensionality. | |
| Harmonic Tech Pro Silway Mk II comments? If you are interested in buying a pair to try, I'll sell you mine. They were far too bright and didn't sound at all musical in my system. | |
| Which DAC? Bel Canto? Assemblage? EVS? I just got an Assemblage 3.1. I bought the upgrade opamps ($100) from TPC and installed them in about fifteen minutes. What an incredible sound! I haven't heard the other DAC's, but this one is astounding--so smooth yet detailed, so much air yet s... |