845s: To biamp or not

Tbg,

The main caps on my amps are Rubycon. I'm pretty sure *all* of them were. Maybe they are doing things differently now (mine are brand new) or maybe this is a difference between the 211 and 845 versions, though that seems unlikely.

Again, I thought chokes and oversized power supplies were more appropriate for non class A amps - but I am no expert...

My amps are indeed unusually quiet. The Art Audio Carissa may have been just as quiet but not more so. Talking about speaker hum as well as mechanical tranny hum. Absolutely none of the latter, unlike *many* SET amps...

Anyway we're both happy with them.

What are your "main" amps?

Paul, I saw some Rubycons in mine when I had it open, but I know that the big caps on the output are not Rubycons. It may be that they have changed this in recent amps as mine are from the first batch brought in.

You are quite right about the iron not vibrating. Many of the American made transformers do vibrate quite audibly. As I said, for the price I am very satisfied, but I did decide to not put an additional $750 in them to replace wire, inputs and outputs, and caps.

The amp that I have been using since I ran Beauhorn Virtuosos is the Reimyo PAT777. There is no question in my mind that this SET using WE300Bs is the best sounding amp, but it is very expensive (five times that of the Cybers) and only has 8 watts. Until I got the Cyber 211s, I was seriously thinking about limiting myself to 100 db efficient speakers.The Cybers, however, cause my Acapella LaCampanellas to soar.

I am in love with my H-Cat preamp and soon expect my 100 watt H-Cat amp. I have never heard one, especially the new one, but if it equals the line stage, I am done with both the Reimyo and Cybers.

Tbg,

As I had suspected, your budget is far beyond mine. :-} I think I did very well in the price range with the Cybers. Your system is a level beyond. (Meaning your 10x expendure of cash gets you... 10% further? :-})

Paul

Paul, obviously merely buying more expensive equipment does not assure an improvement, but the Reimyo is worth the investment if you can afford it and if you have efficient speakers or a small room.

I have never been comfortable with talking about percentage improvements, and I have not infreqently found less expensive components outperforming more expensive components.

I have been at this hobby for 45 years and well remember when I drove my $2100 new Mercury Capri to pickup my three ARC components (a SP3, Dual 75A, and Dual 51). The store manager noted that these three cost more than my car. I dearly wish I could buy at those prices and earn what I presently do.

I agree that you can't put a "price" on subjective improvements. If $20K speakers do it for you, and you can afford em, then buy em, of course. I didn't mean to suggest it's not "worth it" - it's all relative!

Cheers,
Paul