Silverline Sonata III & McIntosh MC275?

I have a pair of Sonata Silverline III speakers for about 2 years. At first I had a pair of Cary 805 AV amps. The sound was excellent, I purchased these from Alan and he delivered them and helped me set them up. The Cary's were stolen and I replaced them with a pair of MBL 8011 mono amps. The MBL had deeper and firmer bass. The best improvement was to add bass traps in my room, this really brought out the deep bass that these speakers can produce. These speakers go very low. They replaced a pair of Focal Nova Utopia speakers that had a brutal tweeter and a fat bass. The Sonata's are keepers.

it seems if you buy them right from Alan, you should have no problems.

Tvad
have you heard the Ref 3a Vena? if so, think it's worth the $$$?

What Newbie said, and waht Alan said, led me to the IIIs... it was really a combination of the reviews & a filtering of info, along with another member who owned them for a goodly time, and ultimately the WAG theory led me to buy mine.

Unless BAT tube amps are vastly more powerful than McIntosh tube amps, I should think you will be fine with such a combination. A VK60 (60wpc) pushed them with ease. My preamp vol knob never got to the noon position.

With the Dodds, it doesn't get to 10.30 o'clock... and I have to use 21ft speaker cables currently.

With the Odyssey it's similar to the VK60, knob wise, and my SS Odyssey supposedly outputs 160 - 180wpc.

Power supplies are key. The dodd Tformers are about twice the size of the odyssey's, yet claim lower output. The BAT's too are quite large. From what I've seen of the Mac's, they're close to the BAT physically speaking.

Do get the biggest spikes though, if you pick the IIIs.

Tvad

RE what problems

Glad you asked.

Marty & my own IIIs were bought new... not preowned. Were your IIIs new, demo's, or used when you got them?

Both he and I found better bass response pretty easily and sooner than your experiences indicate. Marty tried only two sets of amps, I used 3, one being borrowed, and two receivers. in each of my own trials I found the IIIs to provide good to very good bass response. I’ve said as much many times in the past.

The consideration your own IIIs may have had internal issues could well be something to consider.

I don't expect speakers of this size to rattle the room all by themselves either, so my expectations of their bass production were elevated by their actual performance once they were entirely run in.

BTW What is your room size? Any bass or room acoustical treatments? Or do you think that plays a part here at all?

Naturally, as I was then quite pleased with any one of several amp combos.... until I added the DD15 sub... and let's face it, that sub addition is not a fair comparison for many floor standing speakers in general will benefit from such an addition. I mentioned it solely for disclosure.

I believe there are more factors to obtaining good bottom end sound than just the amp & speaker combo, as we all know now, or should.

Consequently, I feel somehow the non positive experiences you went through, using several amps, and transformers, says to me either your particular pair of IIIs had issues somehow, or the items you disclose are simply subjective more than any shortcomings of your Sonata IIIs.

Add in just the subjective aspect each of us presents to that equation and the actual synergy of each match becomes more so, an often diluded prospect. Then there's the room size (s) itself to consider which we have not thus far here.

If I were to fault the IIIs for any one thing, it would not be their bass response being flabby or loose... well not mine at least... nor would I say they are difficult to mate to an amp.

I'd more point to the mid range as not being quite as prominent as I would prefer, yet still very good in it's own right. AS it affords as much detail and resolution as I've heard with any other loudspeakers, but not quite as pronounced as my preffs generally are.

Lot's of people have bought these Silverline speakers, and I've noted only a couple who were disappointed or said they were difficult speakers to integrate into a system… and that’s one reason why I bought them myself.

I suspect that says something, when the majority of owners are satisfied, that’s a very good thing IMO.

I'd also re-itterate if at all [possible take your amp and listen to other speakers before hand... My best guess says the IIIs out perform the originals overall. The press online says that too.

The Mac 275 will drive them for sure, so it seems a safe guess that what ever is being obtained now with the Is, should be improved upon by replaceing them with the IIIs.

That’s the gist of this thread, isn’t it? Are the IIIs better than the originals, and will they do well with the current power train setup?

Regardless the actual choice for replacing the Sonata Is, and it doesn't have to be Silverline either, I hope it's a step up for the poster.