2. amps-preamps
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the best amps for bass, best for the rest?

hullo fellow beardies!

i'm building a system that requires two power amps, one for the main speakers and one for the subwoofers.

the speakers are the Nola Baby Grand Reference, combined with the two seven foot bass towers from the Nola Grand Reference, c/w their electronic crossovers.

so one power amp will drive the baby grands, while the other the sub towers (coming in below 40hz)

which would be your nominations for best amps for bass, and best amps for everything except bass?

the obvious choice is to use valve power amps for the babies, and solid state amps for the subs.
i lean towards monoblocks.

current leading contenders are a new vtl 7.5 pre with 450 monos for the babies and a used pair of krell750mcx monos for the bass.

another option is to mate a used boulder 2010 with the vtl 450's and krell 750's.

a rather more expensive option is the boulder 2010, a used boulder 2060 and then either a second 2060 or another amp to complement the boulders. the 2060 could either run babies or subs, do you guys have any opinions?
or the same model amp runs all frequencies (2 x 2060)
or alternatively something completely different...?

i will choose the power amps first then match with an appropriate pre-amp.

my room is 7m x 5.25m x 2.4m high, with a concrete floor. i prefer electronic dance music (drum and bass, hard / deep / banging house and trance), dubstep and reggae / dub.
i dj roots, rockers and dub, was part of an illegal sound system for a decade hosting regular parties and an annual festival, along with dub nights.
i reside in the uk (scotland) and have no neighbours to worry about
infinitelybaffled
infinitelybaffled OP
20 posts
 
thank you for your responses
the vac gear certainly looks good. i'm concerned the reviews speak of the signature pre-amp as being rolled off at the frequency extremes...otherwise i would have been sold on one of those. price is right also

are people of the view that krell 750mcx monos are inferior in the bass to the boulder 2060?
(there was a suggestion the boulder 2060 was wasted / overkill just for sub 40hz, and that a pair of krells could do the same job as well?)

i can't really afford the vtl's AND the boulder 2060, while still buying a pre-amp. krells are half the boulder's price..
..unless i went with the vac pre, that is...but while i don't mind rolled-off treble, rolled-off bass is unforgivable; i'm a bass freak

i haven't yet discovered local pricing & availability of passlabs, but my dealer has some of his gear, i will read up
infinitelybaffled OP
20 posts
 
thought a bit more about it.
i could go with a vtl 6.5, and that would enable me to stretch to both vtl mb-450 monos and the boulder 2060.
i could maybe trade up to a 7'5 later

do you think the boulder 2060 would be worth the extra stretch over the krells?
rcprince
3,068 posts
 
In the bass, I think you'd have a toss-up between the Boulder and the Krells. While the Boulder I heard was indeed exceptional in the bass, Krell has built its reputation in large part on its reproduction of the bass frequencies, and I've heard a lot of their amps and they do not disappoint in that area. I don't think you'd go wrong with either brand, so I'd suggest you get the Krells and use the money saved to get the VTLs.
icorem
149 posts
 
Look into Audionet Max amps from Germany - better prices in Europe that US made stuff. Tons of power.
infinitelybaffled OP
20 posts
 
thanks again for suggestions
perhaps i should also mention my current speakers...18 month old Focal Stella Utopia EM3. they are terrific speakers but i have failed to bond with them...i put it down to over 20 years listening to open baffle designs from Alon then Nola; my previous speakers were the Alon Phalanx.
the Focals are more musical, show extraordinary separation between instruments and vocals, and provide effortless room-filling bass as well as being very easy to listen to. they are a lot more forgiving than my phalanx was, seeming to pull off the trick of making all music sound good.
but to my ears now all closed baffle designs sound....wrong? closed in? i'm only hearing half the music;
i guess i've been trained for two decades to love a certain sound...

i think i may be at my final decision, amp-wise.
i am going to complete the deal i struck at the start of the year, trading up my yba passion 1000 monoblocks for a boulder 2060.
i will then look at vtl 450 monos or similar, so completing the power amp stage of things.
finally i will audition new pre-amps here in the complete system.

any further thoughts or suggestions?
btw i'm selling the focals, pm me if you are interested!
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