System synergies: Chaotic or predictable?

Yes Mike but other times not the case. Many years ago at SBS the combination of a Cat preamplifier plus a Vac amplifier was the amazing pairing. The CAT amplifiers altough they were expensive didn’t have the drive that the VAC amplifiers did and the VAC Renissance amplifiers driving the Wilson WP 3/2 or the 5 was just magical.

So just because you have an expensive power amp and preamplifier combo from the same company doesn’t mean that combination will work wonders all the time.

Some of the worst systems were made up of the same companies amp, preamp and cd player and or dac. Sometimes those systems sounded great. The all Krell systems of the 90’s for example the Krell amp and preamps were good, but you could find a more magical front end with the EAD dacs or the Audio Notes coupled with the same Krell gear.

Why because sometimes too much of one companies sound is too much in one direction.

For example: a clean sounding solid state like a Krell or a Levinson of yore type of amplifier, combined with a clean sounding solid state preamplifier, plus a clean sounding transistor based digital front end, plus clean detailed loudspeakers with metal or ribbon tweeters, the sound of that system will not be involving, you will hear everything but without any sense of warmth or body to the sound.

So in this scenario you would want to revoice the system with perhaps a warmer tube preamplifer, or a warmer tube or tube like digital front end.

Sometimes the combination of a companies amp and preamplifier does indeed sound better, Luxman and Luxman works well, T+A amp and preamp works well for example

We sold Bryston the 4B sst 2 series the last ones, and the Bryston amp plus the Bryston preamp the BP 26 was awful, howerver, change the Bryston preamplifier to a Conrad Johnson and the combo was magical as the Bryston power amplifer was clean, punchy, and had great bass control and when warmed up with a tube preamplifier the sound became much more involving.

We have sold BAT tube preamplifiers with Krell and Chord amplifiers and again that combo was great, same with a CJ GAT preamp and a Chord power amplifier.

So you actually have to audition the companies preamp and amplifier together with your intended speakers and then try a different preamplifier such as a tube CJ, or Backert, etc and see if the combination works wonders.

We have a Manley Labs 300B preamplifier and boy does that preamplifier make many a solid state amplifier sound fantastic, we have sold that preamplifier with the Electrcompaniet AW 250 and the sound is far superior than the matching Electrocomapniet preamplifier.

So the moral of the story is that you have to play and experiement until the system sounds the way you want it to. This does require more work but usally you will be rewarded with a much more captivating sound system.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

"Chaotic" is a poor descriptor, imo inappropriately applied to audio systems.  HiFi is not regimented like an army drill Corp, but neither is it a riotous mob. Lines form well at most venues predictably,  and audio systems are the same. When you work with gear enough and build hundreds of systems you know generally how it will sound. Much of it is dictated by the type of speaker and amplifier.  

The question was, can a person know how an unfamiliar system will sound? My answer is yes, if the listener has enough e perience,, and not in an absolute way, but generally. I does leave room for a surprise,  but seldom.

My answer may have been too widely applied, so I will narrow it down. Having built many systems with particular components and cables, they do carry a sonic signature, and typically perform similarly in all rigs. That is so consistent that, knowing the sonic character of the cabling I use I can select which cables to put into a system to change the sound as I wish. That cannot be done by someone who is unfamiliar with the components and cables. 

I don't know that anyone makes suggestions in an absolute sense as though their recommendation could not be "wrong" or unsatisfactory. It's based on the experience with the component they are recommending. If they have used it in one system, that's a pretty weak recommendation. If they have used it in a doze rigs, that's a much stronger recommendation. It does not address the uncertainty of comparison to another, unknown product, but it does lend more expectation as to the performance of the particular recommended component. 

Further, the speakers in my experience control the most profound aspects of a system's performance, and the rest of the components and cables the more intermediate aspects. There can be dozens of appreciable changes to a rig by swapping components and cables, and no one can with absolute certainty predict them. However, as discussed above, one can have a pretty good guess as to how to move the rig closer to a desired result IF the component or cable is well-known. 

Controlled chaos. You’re lucky anything comes out. The sound of YouTube on iPad with Sony earphones is generally better.