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Amps for Avantgarde

I recently installed a new set of Avantgarde Mezzo speakers. They have two horns for medium and high frequencies and a horn based woofer cabinet with its own 500 Watt amplification.
The speakers look great ( I have them in cherry with burgundy red horns), my wife likes them and the sound is GLORIOUS !
You can see my setup in Avantgarde-acoustic.de web page/gallery
Bass it has all you can take, the limit is your ears an the furniture trying to move around by itself. Even at low levels you get plenty of bass.

From my former setup with Aerial 8B speakers i had a C-46, two MC-501 and a MCD-205, all McIntosh.
With the Avantgardes the MC-501 were showing a watt usage of hardly over 0.5 Watts, at normal listening levels and no more than 5 Watts when really turniung the volume up to hurting levels. The sensitivity of the Mezzo is 107dB.
I thought that maybe I should try the real fine stuff, valves single ended, which have an output power handicap, but in this case with theses speakers not. 5 Watts is probably enough.
A friend of mine who is also audio dealer loaned me a set of Klimo Belataine Mono Valve amps, 5 Watts Class A, single ended, 300B, with automatic bias controll and choice of feedback or no feedback. The Klimos have a separate power supply for each mono amp and those are also valve operated.
He also gave me a Klimo Merlin valve preamp to try.
Ther hearing test produced the following results.
The Merlin with the Beltaines compared to the C-46 with the MC501's sounded more real, more detaild, more lifelike and maybe with a tighter bass. No distortion or noise was heard at any level.
But I did try another combination, and that was hooking up the C-46 to the Klimos
And I got an even better, more detailed and lifelike sound than with the Merlin Valve preamp.

I have never been really interested in valve amplifiers and considered well designed solid state the better.
Well, the Klimo Beltaine power amps are a joy, but the McIntosh C-46 preamp sounds better than the Klimo Merlin, which has had some good reviews, allthough it is not considered a preamp good for rock. Maybe that gives a hint.

Now here is my question, should I stick with the C-46 or can I get something much better, solid state or tube ?
stefanfad8
knghifi
1,668 posts
 

First watt is not soft to my ears and very musical. I think it's worth an audition.

If you want a detail, transparent and very neutral sound, maybe you should check out ASI Liveline cables along with a new amp.

Here's the 6moon review. I find the review very accurate from my own audition.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/acousticsystem5/liveline.html

I know several have changed from an all top of the line Stealth to ASI Liveline cables. It's crystal clear, very revealing but not bright or hard and very musical.
chadeffect
586 posts
 
Hi Knghifi,
thanks for the info. I will try to find and listen to a First watt. I would prefer a balanced input which I think narrows the models down. I like a good solid balanced connection, as long as everything else in the chain is balanced.

An interesting read regarding the ASI liveline cables. I stopped bothering with cables some time ago. My AP golden Ovals I like so much, and I felt I could forget all about cabling for good. Is it time to get back on the horse? My other cables are a left over from my old low sensitivity (Apogees) set up and were just the ticket. Incredible bass, dynamics and low noise floor. A nice match for the Trio.

Interesting that you say some people with Stealth cables (I assume indras) are changing for this cable. If thats the case I can only deduce that they must be very good cables or the bankers are still suffering and are down sizing.
rafaelbraga's avatar
rafaelbraga
11 posts
 
@clfcarney did you listen the Duos with other Shindo amps and how they were different from the Cortese (300B or F2A)?
piotrgt
1 posts
 
I see that it's been a while since someone made an input here!

Anyway I was thinking about buying the G2's and was not sure which amps to consider (tube and solid-state).

So, I was looking around the web and have compiled a list of such amps and will appreciate if you guys could complete and refine the listings.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T3Tyoz2pmJubdzZ3jWTGrOVERSMNDQXBC9M1E1PY0wA/edit?usp=sharing

I think a such chart will be very helpful in the community.
Once completed, we can shop around with the list and create something solid.

I think credit is important so if you made an input please put in your initial of your first name and your complete last name.

verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio
1,500 posts
 
@piotrgt I tried editing and think I got it right.  I am a new Avantgarde dealer just outside of NYC.  There are a lot of great options out there.  I added Jadis, KR and a couple other items from Art Audio that are brilliant.  Let me know if it didn’t update.  
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