Tekton Double Impacts

Hey everybody,

Just wanted to restate and clarify my past experimenting with amplifiers driving the Double Impacts and Ulfberhts and add on a new amplifier which has become my new solid state reference in my system.

First, it all boils down to a combination of synergy and personal taste of what we want our systems to sound like.  I have listened to three of the most highly regarded D amplifiers (Merrill/Mola-Mola/Devialent) and still am not impressed by what they have to offer.  I find them to be great Hi-Fi that does a lot of things right, except make music.  So, with respect to the many posters on this thread that love the sound of their DI's being driven with class D amplifiers, my amplifier list might not be your "cup of sonic tea".

All the amplifiers that I will list were driven with the LTA Micro-ZOTL preamplifier.

On the DI's, when I had them in for review, there is no doubt that my favorite amplifier was the Triode Lab SET 2A3 piece.  It offered the most beautiful combination of tonality, 3D imaging, sweet top end, and excellent bass. 

However, on the Ulfberht's, still don't really know why, the spatial aspects suffered when the Triode Lab amplifier was in the system.  It was if the music was "stuck" on the front of the speaker.  The DI's when driven by this amplifier completely disappeared in a giant sound-stage.  The two best tube amplifiers driving the DI's very big brother are:

1)  AricAudio's standard, with no upgrades, SET KT-88 amplifier is simply a superlative match with this speaker that does everything right across the sonic board. 

2) Canary Audio's M-80 SET 300b mono-blocks are another beautiful match with the Ulf's, driving them on all parameters to a reference level.

The very big difference between these two amplifiers is the price.  Aric's amplifier, retails for around $2,300.00 and the Canary Audio's pair, retails for $9,000.00.  That's way I consider Aric's amplifier, very much like the DI's themselves, one of the great bargains in high-end audio.  When you figure in build quality, performance vs cost ratio it's a terrific purchase.

Finally, I have had the great pleasure of auditioning for reviewing proposes, what I now consider the best solid state amplifier I have ever heard, driving the Ulfberht's the last two weeks.  The Pass Labs XA-25 is an amazing piece!  I would still swear that I'm listening to a great SET tube based amplifier based on how it renders timbres/tonality, the amount of air/space/3D-imaging it produces, and a sweet airy top end, but it's the quietest amplifier I have ever had in my system and is extremely fast and dynamic with great bass control.  My reference solid state amplifiers for the last four years has been the wonderful Pass Labs XA-60.8 mono-blocks.  However, for my tastes these great amps were out performed by the XA-25, which uses a very different design compared to the .8 series amplifiers.  Extrapolating from the Ulf's to the DI's this could be an amplifier you might want to hear in your system.  The brilliant Nelson Pass figured out how to use a type of transistor that had never before been used for audio proposes and the XA-25 delivers 50 Watts Class A into 4 ohms and it can drop 200 Watts Class A/B into 2 ohms.  The amp only uses two transistors per channel. It retails for $4,900.00.  My formal reviews on the Pass Labs XA-25 and the AricAudio SET KT-88 will be published on hometheatereview.com, hopefully before the end of the year.

@teajay - Pass Labs now has a designer named Jam Somasundram who designed the extremely well regarded HPA-1 and has been working on various "new" designs for Pass. I knew Jam when he lived in Charlotte, NC and worked for Cary Audio. He is a great guy and obviously very talented. Just a little FYI. 

Cannot classify all Class D amps as sounding a certain way anymore than you can say all tube, class A or Class A/B amps sound the same. Listening to 4 Class D amps, or even 10, and then suggesting no Class D amp is your cup of tea is not logical or correct.

The Lyngdorf 2170 is not a Class D amp. It is much more than that. It is a system and not designed at all like the other pieces you mentioned. Again, great big system world out there with possibilities you have not experienced. I have heard many Class D amps and digital systems including one in your group of three and they do not, cannot possibly, represent the complete population of digital system offerings.

I am fine with with you saying those three amps don’t float your boat. That is as far as you can or should go. The Lyngdorf is as far from Hifi sounding as I can imagine. The synergy with the DI speaker is amazing and while not perfect, no system is, it certainly makes music with the DI speaker in a magical way. Yes, I know an audiophile who sold the very Pass Labs amp you love Plus a preamp and dac for the Lyngdorf. Most who have experienced this won’t post here as they don’t want to deal with the Class D/digital system discrimation and fall out that ensues. 

I am sure there are other powered dac solutions with room correction that are also very special with the DI. I just need to experience them.

As a tube amp lover, tube system lover, I simply cannot let over generalizations about digital system solutuions go unchecked. Why? Because there are options out there, like the 2170, that actually please tube lovers more than many tube systems. We owe it to the community to not close the door on digital system possibilities with the DI speaker that are sublime.

Lyngdorf 2170 owners I have experienced an upgrade/modification that any good local tech can accomplish for you. The upgrade is not cheap, $350 in parts, but the result is stunning. I was so overwhelmed by it that I told the manufacturer. I would be happy to share with owners, but it will void your warranty.

It improves the resolution and all important “inner glow” of the piece.

The unit uses two .47uf caps at the output to filter out noise. These caps are not in series with the output, but parallel. However, they influence the resulting sound tremendously. Lyngdorf uses two Wima or similar quality caps in this key position. Replace with two .47 uf Jupiter copper foil caps and two .01 Duelund silver foil bypass capacitors. By bypass I mean just paralleling the two caps together. That’s it. Space is tight so some skill is needed to execute well.

The result is just wonderful 2170 owners. This upgrade impacts your sonic enjoyment more than a cable or even piece of gear upgrade. Very substantial.

I have done more to my unit, but this one is by far the most important.

It involves desolding/removing the Wima caps from the circuit board and then soldering in the new caps. It takes some time to disassemble the board from the chassis to access the bottom of the board. In fact, this step and reassembly represents the majority of the time and effort in this upgrade. Not that difficult at all however.

The unit sounds tremendous in every way without this upgrade, but reality dictates the builder must control costs to sell this unit through dealers at its reasonable price point. Adding $350 in parts cost would most likely increase the price of the unit well over $1000. 

It's been my observation that the Lyngdorf 2170 has been well received on this thread. It has been praised and certainly generated quite favorable responses and interest.  Where's the hostility toward it or its owners Bill? Just haven't seen this type of response here. I  haven't heard it but on several threads have suggested that others look into the Lyngdorf  based solely on the very positive feedback it has gotten form people whose opinion I respect. You seem very sensitive in defending this product. Again the talk about the Lyngdorf has been exceedingly positive IMO.
Charles