2. amps-preamps
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the best amps for bass, best for the rest?

hullo fellow beardies!

i'm building a system that requires two power amps, one for the main speakers and one for the subwoofers.

the speakers are the Nola Baby Grand Reference, combined with the two seven foot bass towers from the Nola Grand Reference, c/w their electronic crossovers.

so one power amp will drive the baby grands, while the other the sub towers (coming in below 40hz)

which would be your nominations for best amps for bass, and best amps for everything except bass?

the obvious choice is to use valve power amps for the babies, and solid state amps for the subs.
i lean towards monoblocks.

current leading contenders are a new vtl 7.5 pre with 450 monos for the babies and a used pair of krell750mcx monos for the bass.

another option is to mate a used boulder 2010 with the vtl 450's and krell 750's.

a rather more expensive option is the boulder 2010, a used boulder 2060 and then either a second 2060 or another amp to complement the boulders. the 2060 could either run babies or subs, do you guys have any opinions?
or the same model amp runs all frequencies (2 x 2060)
or alternatively something completely different...?

i will choose the power amps first then match with an appropriate pre-amp.

my room is 7m x 5.25m x 2.4m high, with a concrete floor. i prefer electronic dance music (drum and bass, hard / deep / banging house and trance), dubstep and reggae / dub.
i dj roots, rockers and dub, was part of an illegal sound system for a decade hosting regular parties and an annual festival, along with dub nights.
i reside in the uk (scotland) and have no neighbours to worry about
infinitelybaffled
infinitelybaffled OP
20 posts
 
i did consider a pair of big brystons (28bsst), but my reading informed me that they might not be as good in the lower frequencies as the other contenders, krell and boulder. my dealer concurred they were not at the same level.

i am very intrigued by VAC. do any of you
(rcprince, i'm looking at you!)
have a perspective on the notion that the signature pre-amp is 'rolled off at the frequency extremes'?
this was the deal breaker for me, as extended bass is the most important single characteristic i aim for in my system. otherwise the signature pre-amp would be a shoe-in

i have pretty much decided to buy one component at a time as no price incentives have been offered to do a larger deal. so i will continue paying for the boulder 2060, then choose monoblock valve power amps, vtl 450 or similar, and finally the pre-amp, again leaning towards valves in the shape of vac or vtl
infinitelybaffled OP
20 posts
 
George-lofi i hear what you are saying about OTL valve amps. my big concern there is that the baby grands aren't the most efficient and i enjoy full-bodied sounds at high spl's, so fear they will lack the power i need for bass-orientated music.
i have never heard any of pass labs' offerings....would the x350.8 compare well with the boulder 2060?
i am inclined to let the boulder handle the bass, and drive the baby grands with valves

thank you again for all your helpful inputs
rcprince
3,080 posts
 
I can't comment much on the VAC preamps, as I use a Shindo preamp with my VAC amplifier. I had used VAC's Renaissance preamp (an older top-of-the-line model) in my old system for a little while a long time ago, which system went down below 20 Hz, and noticed no lack of bass, but I can't comment on their current models. I'm surprised by that information to some extent, given the fine engineering and power supplies in VAC's products. I would expect, unless the source you're referring to has measurements, that the VAC is at the worst fine to at least 25-30 Hz, which might cover a lot of the music you listen to unless it uses a synthesizer to go down to 20Hz and below. Rolled off highs don't bother me, I'm too old to hear them and I think the rolled off highs sound more natural and closer to what I hear in live venues anyway. Out of curiosity, what is the source of the rolled off comment? Were there measurements?
infinitelybaffled OP
20 posts
 
here you go:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/vac-renaissance-signature-mkii-preamplifier-page-3

i get the feeling that over the next year i will be comparing products from vac and vtl, to complement the boulder 2060's handling of the bass.

has anyone tried their respective power amps a to b?
i guess on cost basis the vtl mb 450-III would be equivalent to the phi300, i think it is?

and is there a more direct equivalent vac pre-amp to vtl's 6.5 series 2, cost-wise?
infinitelybaffled OP
20 posts
 
and rcprince i am deffo with you on the treble, i can live with a certain roll-off at the top end.
but i value the sub20hz region too highly to ignore it; that's where the fear factor comes in, and my preferred musical style has plenty of incursions into the sub-bass
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