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Are Monoblock s worth it?

Would like your collective Wisdom on the subject of Monoblocks. I have a single Odyssey Stratos and the cost to convert to Mono's are not that much additional. However, I do not play my existing system at very high levels and almost never turn the volume beyond half-way (normally around 11:00). Is this an advisable upgrade? I know that I theoretically should have more dynamic headroom, but I do not know how this translates into real world listening.

System:

Maggie SMGa (soon to be Newform R645's in next week or so)
Morrison Elad pre-amp
Cambridge Audio CD500-SE

Musical taste - 50% Classical Symphonic, 30% Classical instrumental and 20% rock/pop
sibelius
bozo's avatar
bozo
93 posts
 
Can you say / hear 3D? It will offer more of a defined soundstage. I have mono VAC 160's and the difference over my ss Classe amp was well worth the investment.
sedond
1,387 posts
 
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...

musicslug
430 posts
 
One advantage as yet unmentioned is shorter speaker cable lengths which can have a dramatic effect!
tom_nice
387 posts
 
Now that I've experienced monoblocks, I'll never use anything else. I changed from 7' cables to 18" cables, same brand, and credit that with much of the improvement. Without trying to "talk the talk" about dynamic headroom and so on, I simply felt that the music was a lot closer to me. I could sort out instruments and focus on the ones on one side if I wanted to, even when they were playing quietly. Maybe that's a "no congestion" improvement. If there's any way for you to try it out, I bet you won't want to go back.
sedond
1,387 posts
 
yes, shortened speaker cables is important - i *gnu* i forgot someting.... ;~)

doug s.

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