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What makes you build a system around an amplifier?

Serious question. I almost always care about the room and speakers first, then build around that. However, this is not the only way to do things.

If you have ever insisted on keeping your amplifier, but were willing to change everything else around it, please let us know why. What made an amp so outstanding in your mind that it was worth making it your center piece. Imaging? slam?

Be specific about the amp and speakers or other gear that you shuffled through.

Thanks!

E
erik_squires
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bdp24
9,907 posts
 

Me too Erik. If I still lived in the Bay Area (Cupertino for twenty years), I would go to Modjeski's new operation in Berkeley/Oakland (after being in Santa Barbara for decades), where Roger demoes the speakers.

maplegrovemusic---Modjeski is one of those guys who doesn't put a lot of effort into his company's website, and the speakers aren't mentioned or listed there. If you do a Google search for Music Reference, however, the first listing will be for Music Reference / Ram Labs. Click on the sub-listing of "Complete Price List", and you will see the speakers at the bottom of the list. $12,000/pr, including the integral 8" dynamic subs. I don't know whether or not that includes the direct-drive amps, but I suspect not.

While the regular Music Reference site lists only the RM-10 and RM-200 amps, the complete list has all kinds of other amps---2.5w, 5w, and 10w triodes, a couple of OTL's, 45 based amps, and some passive pre's. Roger is a very interesting, creative designer with a vast knowledge of tubes. Very over-looked by the rather cliquish high end, for some reason. Maybe for the same reason the Eminent Technology LFT-8b speaker is---not expensive enough!

Speaking of the ET's, VPI's Harry Weisfeld is of the opinion that the LFT-8b has the best midrange of any speaker he has ever heard. I don't know about that---the original Quad is hard to beat. But it plays louder, goes lower, and is easier to drive than the Quad. It's a nominal 8 ohm load, but if you bi-amp them the magnetic-planar panel (similar to that of the Maggies, but push-pull, not single-ended, a huge advantage) is an 11 ohm load, and mostly resistive. A great speaker for the Atma-Sphere M60! 

airairy
11 posts
 
Nori Komuro  SET
erik_squires OP
16,370 posts
 
@airairy

WHY?


seanheis1
630 posts
 
For me it was my first SET amp. It made my solid state amps sound grainy and etched by comparison. It's kind of like how I never noticed crossovers until I got a single driver setup. Nowadays, unless the crossover point is below around 1.5hz, I hear the problems with crossed over drivers. 

Back to the SET. There was a loss in slam, but this is a bedroom system so I don't play a lot of slammin' in your face kind of music there. The sound stage became deeper and wider and improvements in timbre & decay added up to a more musical presentation as opposed to analytical. Midrange magic with no fatigue. 


parsons's avatar
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parsons
149 posts
 
Great discussion with some really nice points made.

What I've found is, rather than anchor on a specific amp or speaker per se...for me it's turned into a particular sound-style and experience that I've "anchored" on.   Seems like others above are suggesting the same experience for them.

Of course this is a total personal preference thing....but I personally have found to be drawn to the high-efficiency, low-wattage tube amp combo.   On a relative basis, that style of combo seems to draw me emotionally into the music more (in top cases WAY more) than what I consider the even more ballsy (not necessarily more dynamic), close-to-ruler-flat-curve, multi-driver, multi-way crossed-over, 93 db and down speakers driven by ultra dead quiet, big wattage, total-control-of-the-situation amps (both SS and tubed).  Both styles can sound phenomenal, and often the latter systems are equally or more expensive than the former, so I think I'm fairly comparing like-quality and like-costing systems as I've drawn my own personal conclusions for what I'm craving and prefer.  And to be very clear, I've heard a number of super expensive high-efficiency/low-power amp combos that do NOT produce the emotional sound I crave, so there is absolutely still a "search" needed to determine what moves one the most, even within a particular design approach.  And this may be controversial, but I will say cost does play in here--in some cases a lot.  That's not to say that there are not some lower-cost sleepers (I own a few), but my most expensive stuff almost linearly produces more emotional sound than the more moderately (yet still costly) gear, when I truly want to sit inside rarified air.

I have been moved deeply by systems that involved Classic Audio Reproductions, Zu, Altec classic horns, and Auditorium 23 speakers, combined with Atma-Sphere OTL, Thoress 845 SET monos, Audion 300B Golden Dreams, and Melody 845 integrateds.  I have bought and kept many of these combos, and in a few cases they are on a short list for future purchase.  Will I keep it all?  I don't know, but for me I'm nearing points of emotional well-being in audio that I don't think I'd reached in previous years/previous systems.  I will be shocked if I'm tempted away from top-end SET, PSET, and OTL amps driving very high-efficiency speakers, although the combos and brands may continue evolve.

In summary, I think I've anchored on the "sound" I want to try to achieve, more so than a particular piece of gear or two, for what that's worth to the discussion.
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