Time for the Dynaco to go, Affordable Integrated or Separates for Wilson's Under $2.5K?

@johnwahl

Hi Everyone can it be done?

Sorry, the answer is no. Not within your budget, and even with a bigger budget, the combination of your listening environment (Condo) and Watt 3/Puppy 2 speakers do not complement each other.

My advice is to sell the speakers and start over, or continue with what have. Don’t waste your money chasing something that’s going to be next to impossible (within your budget).

I’ve owned these speakers for almost 25 years, and 2 of those years were in a Condo. I can tell you based on my experience, you will not make the Wilson’s sing, and especially at low volume listening levels. Think of these speakers as rock monitors. The louder you listen, the better they sound. Unless you live in a condo with a basement, I would assume you are limited to speaker placement if this is an apartment style unit. Wilson speakers are very sensitive to placement within the room and you may not be able to set them up properly.

The recommendation for the Raven Nighthawk is probably one of the worst I’ve seen on these forums. It’s a 20W tube amplifier, and Wilson Audio specs the Watt3/Puppy2 as 30W minimum. Check out Terry London’s review of this amp. He states it shouldn’t be used with low impedance speakers (" The Nighthawk only produces 20 watts per channel; however, unless you have very inefficient speakers (less than four ohms nominal/lower than 85-dB efficiency")) . These speakers dip down to 1.7ohms (check the frequency range where this is happening on Stereophile - not good for your needs). I’m not saying the Raven isn’t a great amp, but with these speakers, it’s not a good match at all.

John Atkinson says " But the Puppy is definitely a woofer rather than a subwoofer, to judge by these measurements". So you won’t get much punch out of them at low listening levels.

Thank you, everyone, really great stuff here as usual.. The Condo and set up are so important. And you are correct, these speakers sound great the louder you play them. I have a large listening room and plenty of space to move the speakers wherever I want. 23x26" open room with high ceilings. What type of speaker would you all recommend for low and medium listening levels in my environment? I sit 6-8 feet from the speakers. High Efficiency, Low efficiency, Horns, Magnepans, Towers, Large Bookshelves, Large Woofers, Small Woofers? etc...I would like to get a little bass and a nice full sound at the levels I can play (low-med) without a visit from the cops.  I don't know enough to pick the right type for my space.  If you recommend a specific brand,  Size doesn't matter and,  looks are important to me I like ZU?  And others with good materials and build quality.  Under $3,000 used, the less the better.  Buchardt?

Best,

John

The Dynaco mod you want is the driver board replacement from VTA.  Do the mod they offer and you'll be more than happy.  Much more.  And you'll be able to do it for a small amount of money.  Unless of course you WANT to drop thousand$ on something new and shiny.

Two updated driver boards and parts are around $100.  If you don't want to do the work, they can do it for you for $50 labor.  It's THAT easy.  They also have optional mil-spec caps if you want them, new speaker posts, etc.  An upgraded pair of Mark III amps would actually please you better than a Mac 275.

http://www.tubes4hifi.com/MK3.htm

Another option is restore the Dyna MK IIIs to their original schematic and specifications. I did that with my MK IIIs. All new resistors and caps but stock values. With the new higher quality parts it has several advantages. One of the main ones is that it will match the manual and published schematic drawings. I have owned my pair for 46 years and this is the second complete rebuild. I like this rebuild better than the original kit build or the 1990 rebuild. All parts are readily available. You can see details of  mine at  https://dynacotubeaudio.forumotion.com/t3641-kiwame-rebuild-of-my-mk-iiis 

If you decide to go this route send me a note and we can discuss the many options.

Another endorsement of the Yamaha integrateds if you're not married to valves. The A-S2100 is the sweet spot among Yammy's three higher-end integrateds. Although it had been a bit above the OP's budget, as @gemoody pointed out, there should soon be deals to be had with the intro of the new S2200. The 2100 is a beautifully engineered, rock-solid, sweet-sounding integrated which I owned prior to moving to a Pass. And at $3,500 vs. $9,000, the Yammy gives Nelson's wonderful machine a real run for it's money both in terms of SQ and value. Obviously, an audition would be called for to see how much joy it could inspire with your Wilsons and your room.