Devor - KEF - Vienna Acoustic – Wilson?

@blindjim 

To add to my prior posts, the room I heard the Sabrina's in last weekend is 15.5 wide, 25.5 deep, and 9.5 high. It was also very well damped and the power is also well sorted out. The room was fully pressurized while music was playing. In addition to the digital music vinyl was also played. It was glorious as well.

I was given the remote and pushed the Nagra Classic Amp and it never lost one bit of composure. The volume at times was turned up to the 2 O'clock position and there was no compression, breakup, etc. The amp has a small power meter "Nagra Modulometer" and an Orange LED, which "is also fitted to indicate saturations, excessive temperature." I had it turned up quite a bit to see how it would fair and the only indications I got for this is massive crystalline dynamics and the Orange LED blinking some times. Even when blinking, there was no change at all in the sound. After experiencing this several times I realized it was much louder than I initially thought. And it was oh so pleasant at any volume level. There was never any "crackle" as you mentioned above; but snap and pop were definitely there in the room. A very lively and invigorating sound. It never got boring even after four hours.

The amp runs fairly warm when in play and just warm to the touch when idling. The Nagra Classic Amp and Classic Preamp look to be fairly new products. I like them but in the end I think they are out of my range, at least new and retail. One great thing about these components is they aren't gargantuan in size or weight; amp is 40 lbs and the preamp is just 11 lbs.

I have read a lot good about Vienna Acoustics but do not ever remember hearing them. If I'm not mistaken, Guido Corona has The Music. The Liszt looks like a real deal at $15k.

I also have not heard the  Devore Gibbon Xs (at least as far as I can remember). But they, like the X, have an advantage of having several bass drivers - two nine-inch woofers in this case. Would like to hear them. $16k puts them right in there with the others mentioned. Do like they appear to be easier to drive.

Finally, as I've talked about before, I've been to many audio shows in the last 3-4 years. That to say that it is possible I've heard one or both of these speakers in the past. If I walk into a room and it makes my ears hurt OR conversely there's no snap, I don't hang around long. Just because all this high-end speakers are positioned in a room does not mean that they are paired with the right gear or that the person who set them up got it right. Maybe I'll get to hear them at some point.

And of course, YMMV. Have fun with the hunt.

anyone compared Harbeth 40.2 vs KEF Blade or KEF ref 3?

Twoleftears > VA Listz, In short, they checked all the audiophile boxes

Blindjim > Really great input. I deeply appreciate it. Very cool.

Hopefully, someone will chime in on the Gibbons, if only in general.

As well, how well do tube amps handle the KEF Blade’s and VA upper end speakers.

Each article I’ve seen indicates the VA Music and Listz were run by only SS power.

It seems to me, merely from my own EXP and specs of various speakers, tube amps will work yet the question remains therafter, how well with how little? How much will it take to get the larger bass drivers into the mix?

Since I found out about the facet of having enough watts on hand to actually control the drivers competently, it is an easy enough task to hear when a system would benefit from amps that could deliver more current. On the flip side, too much ‘control’, or too much power, seems to help dry out the tones or timbers of the notes. Albeit, its said frequently one can not have too much power as it aids shooing away possible clipping episodes which can really damage a driver.

Apart from the obvious issues in matching amps with speakers adequately, then appropriately, and in best case scenarios proficiently, nailing down   the right amount of power, consequent control and of course voice, for the speaker system has enough variables to confound many who are still awaiting the answer from the knife juggling constantly bickering squirrels in our heads.

Of course, this could just be myself that has a frantic furry colony of semi dangerous critters vociferously debating the route to audio paradise.

Just to expand on that point: I first heard the Liszt's driven by the solid-state 60W integrated from Ayre.  And they sounded great.  They sounded better, needless to say, when we moved up to the more powerful and much more expensive AX-5.  Now as it happens, I used to have the AX-7 in my system.  It was replaced not too long ago by a Cronus Magnum II, 100W tubed, which to my ears (both left) sounds a good deal better.  So yes, tubes may indeed apply, though probably not the flea-watt models (that I also love: a classic Cary owner for many years).

@blindjim 

Go to the thread  "Just retired and want to get back to vinyl listening" and see comments on 09-21-2017 1:35pm by Steventoney for a few comments as you read down on the Gibbon X.