Are Monoblock s worth it?

I went from the stereo stratos to the monos and the difference it made with my Sound Lab Auras was incredible. The sound stage opened up and suddenly there was a lot more detail. This all happened before they were even broke in.

My Auras on the monos also put out so much more bass that I sold my sub that I had been using before, and they do all of this at low or high listening levels. It is well worth the extra money.

I have everything monoblocs after my preamp (and if I could afford a JP200, that would be monos too!), both amps and external crossovers. In addition to the benefits of the dedicated power supplies giving an ease to dynamics, the lack of crosstalk between the channels at the amplifier end leads to better stereo separation and imaging, and probably is part of the lack of congestion and more open soundstage that Paul and Tthomas refer to. In addition, although you may not listen loud, I think you may be able to notice the improvement in dynamics on the micro level even at low volumes. If you can afford it and have the space, my view is that it would be a worthwhile improvement.

hi sibelius,

as an aside, the position of yer preamps' wolume pot may not be indicitave of anyting, other than the gain of the preamp. i've *never* had my preamp past 11:00 for winyl, never past 10:30 for digital or tuna - i'd be blown outta the room! and, my room is ~25x38. my preamp has lotsa gain - supposedly enuff to drive many speakers w/*no* amps at all... ;~)

re: your situation, john meyer of newform, sez the r645's are better w/an outboard active x-over, bypassing the passive x-over. if it were me, i'd get a pair of the stratos stereo amps w/the upgraded caps, & run 'em in a wertically-biamped mode.

i actually *almost* bought this exact set-up from klaus cuz i was looking w/o success for an electrocompaniet aw75 to match the one i owned, so i could run these in this exact fashion, (*or* run 'em mono, as they can run either way.) yust before i took the plunge, however, i found a great deal on a pair of aw60's, so i got them instead, as i already knew & liked the electro amps. different amps, but exact same idea. i have great results running my bi-ampable speakers w/the electrocompaniet amps, wertically bi-amped.

while ewe won't get *all* of the power benefit of the mono's - the total power w/mono's is awailable to *any* driver - yule still have more power than running yust the one stereo amp, & yule still have a complete separate amp for each channel. plus, ewe get the added benefit of being able to have a true bi-amped set-up, w/one channel for the low-pass, the other channel for the hi-pass. i'd do this w/any bi-ampable speaker, but w/the r645's being able to use active x-overs, there's even *more* added benefit, imho. of course, if ewe can afford *four* stratos monoblocs... ;~)

good luck, doug s.

ps - i'd like to hear your reaction to the newforms - i'm strongly considering taking the plunge...

One advantage as yet unmentioned is shorter speaker cable lengths which can have a dramatic effect!