2. speakers
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I think I've made up my mind

After having auditioned the following :

1. Avantgarde Uno G2 + Audio Note SET amp/Pathos Twin Towers integrated amp
2. Magico V2 + Soulution 720 pre + 710 power amps
3. Sonus Faber Elipsa/Wilson Sasha + ARC Ref 3 + Ref 110
4. Thiel CS3.7 + Parasound JC1 pre + JC2 power amps

...and after weighing all factors like room interaction, degree of difficulty of setting-up, value for money, magazine reviews, and comments posted here and AVguide.com....

...the winner is: Thiel CS3.7 + Parasound JC1/JC2!

Now for the cables. MF and JA of Stereophile noted that the specs of Parasound show ultra-wide bandwidth and high-current capability which reminds me of Spectral amps. Therefore, would MIT Magnum MA speaker cables and interconnects be a good match? Anyone has any other suggestion? Thanks.
jtein
jon2020's avatar
jon2020
991 posts
 
Tvad and Madfloyd,
I used to have the ARC Ref 3 before I sold it for the dCS Puccini which doubles as a digital pre-amp. It was driving the Bryston 28B SST monoblocks and was certainly dynamic with huge dynamic contrasts. So if it sounds bland or dull, it is quite likely the impedance mismatch with your amps, as suggested by Pubul.
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mapman's avatar
mapman
22,406 posts
 
Tvad,

The match may be within range but 30K ohm is still towards the low end of the SS amp input impedance range from what I've seen, which seems to be around 10K ohm. I've seen balanced input impedances on SS amps up to 200K ohms or so.
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
Well, I guess we can say the ARC Ref3 may be dull and bland with Pass XA.4 amps, and that might very well be true with that combination. I've just heard the preamp sound anything but dull and bland which makes me think it is not an inherent quality, but like much else a question of matching components.
ack's avatar
ack
115 posts
 
Yes indeed you don't have to experiment with cables - it's done for you. What do you think we as consumers are doing by experimenting with cables? We try to find synergy. Well, synergy is also an electrical engineering science that can be calculated. It's that simple.
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