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CAT or VAC for Shahinian Obelsik

I'd like to refute that prevailing wisdom that Shahinian speakers need high powered solid state amps and find a tube amp to drive my Obelisks. I was first considering the new VAC 160 Standard musicblocs - 160w per side using 4 KT88s. I've since found a possible deal on a CAT JL2 - my sense is the CAT would drive the Shahinians pretty well. Even though the CAT is rated at 100w I suspect it's a pretty imperturbable 100w. I'm leaning towards the CAT - seems like it would be a "last amp" purchase (actually very likely in this case). Any wisdom from the CAT and/or Shahinian experienced? System is Calypso, Modwright 3910, will have analog soon.
Thanks
samcclark
fjn04
1,561 posts
 
Hi Sam,

I am going to listen to a JL-2 on Monday June 5th. Even though
I am not planning on a return to Vac amps at this time, the dealer also has the Auricle 160 monos in his showroom. I may or may not get to hear the Vacs, but would be happy to report my findings to you. the Cat is a mark 1, but if all goes well
I expect to get the Mark 2 sigs.. I did own the Vac 220 Sig monos and although I did not find them to be deficient in their power rating, I expect the Cat to be capable of driving
more speakers. FYI, I will be driving Vandy 5a speakers.
gregm
3,397 posts
 
The CAt has hi bias (it's class partly/mostly?). It should be able to drive most modern speakers (i.e. +88 db spl)perfectly well.
That said, I don't know the vac or the new obelisks (if any different). A pair of old ones sounded fine driven by a jl2 -- not very balanced (positioning) but that wasn't the cat's fault.
hassel
248 posts
 
Sam,
as a fellow owner of both Obelisks and Diapasons, let me say a word of caution. I have found that the advice to use powerful SS amps, which can deliver a lot of current, to be correct, especially with the Obelisks. In my experience only SS like Densen, Naim or Plinius gets the Obelisks to deliver the strong, well defined bass they are capable of. A friend of mine, who lived in the same house and has Obelisks as well, bought a tupe amp which delivered close to 100 watts - it coul d not cope with the Obelisks. Nor could the McIntosh MA6500 integrated I first used. So be careful and make sure you have listened at least to one of the recommended combinations before you settle on a tube amp. Over on
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shahinianspeakerowners/
you may do a little search, the subject was discussed at lenght there.
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
powerful ss
samcclark OP
16 posts
 
Thanks for the responses. I know that people have found SS works. My thought was that the CAT JL2 is a different tube animal, that wattage doesn't tell the whole story - it's how stable the amp remains under difficult load. What I've heard is that the CAT is quite stable and may be more so than many SS amps. Any thoughts? Gregm - you heard an actual JL2/Obelisk combo? Very interesting. Any other description of how that worked? Thanks again for everyone's responses.
Sam
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