Sanders ESL Power Amp & Mono blocks

I have the ESL preamp, phonostage, esl amp and crossover/bass amp and Eros Mk II and think the sound is absolutely spectacular. Both digital and analogue sound awesome. I purchased my setup from Roger before the big reviews, and before he sold and moved to Colorado, so picked up the whole shooting match for a song. Tough to upgrade as I would probably need to spend $50k just for amps and speakers. I think the synergy of having all the same components may have something to do with it. I auditioned some pretty nice sounding systems (B & W 802, Classe amps/preamp and CD player; Dynaudio 25's, BAT CD player, amps and preamp) and Roger was recommended by a friend of his. Ordered the system from Roger solely based on the design, his buddies recommendation and the fairly limited press at the time. Once the reviews hit, it all became history. I am absolutely delighted with Rogers gear. He is a genius--and was easilly approachable. When my amps went into oscillation because of a speaker wire termination issue (not by him) he not only talked me through things--he gave me his cell phone number!

Ah, some more Sanders amp users...

Why? Well it has one of the purest mids-highs I've heard from SS amps, while retaining the grunt in the bass. Its like a marriage between v good SE tube w/o the euphony, and powerful clean SS bass.

What else? Nothing really. I only consider changing equipment when it is able to move me, draw me into the music. Otherwise I don't really bother. I'm mostly a tube guy, so getting this amp really speakers volumes about its musicality.

Opted for the ModWright SWLP with NOS tubes. Heard the Sanders pre, but I couldn't warm up to its sound.

I don't agree that this amp is meant for digital, that would be very obtuse. The amp is extremely neutral and clean. It would therefore reveil whatever warts or beauty there is from the source.

Hi Cmk,

I was particularly interested to read about your selection of the Sanders ESL PA - mostly because this product is a natural consideration for audiophiles with difficult speaker loads. Unless you've changed your main speakers recently, your Cabasse is quite efficient and certainly does not need the grunt the ESL amp can provide. How then did you end up with such a powerful amp.

Further, i'm also interested in your pre-amp choice. I've read lots of great things about the ModWright pre-amps. Did you try any other pre's with Sanders?

Thanks

Hi Kiwi

Well whether it is the Cabasse @92db/w or the much less efficient Vandersteen 2CE SigII @86db/w, the ESL stereo amp had the same basic neutrality about it. You don't get the "edge" or digititus when listening to CDs. While the 2CE SigII has the upgraded tweeter, it was a significant degree smoother and controlled with the ESL amp driving it. How I ended up with the ESL amp is because I loved the purity in the mids/highs, in many ways similar to the much more expensive Dartzeel amp.

I also had the opportunity to hear the ESL Monos driving the big Dynaudio Evidence Temptation, which aren't exactly easy loads despite the 90db/w rating. It handled these big speakers with ease and had tremendous control off the woofers. You can hear this when the music gets complex at fairly loud SPLs, and it doesn't break up, or show stress as in muddling of the soundstage.

The dealer which sold me the Sanders also carried the ModWright, so it was a natural choice. Perhaps I should have waited for the 36.5 with the separate power supply, but the price difference pushed that out of my budget. However with the NOS Amperex 7119 in place of the 5687 tube supplied in the SWLP9.0, this pre takes on a very special presence and transparency which is very hard to surpass.

Hi Cmk,

Yes, i was wondering about 36.5 ref but by itself its nearly double the price of the SWLP9.0. Still, other than the optional separate PSU [which looks pretty hideous IMO]but apparently meaningfully improve the audio quality it also comes with balanced connectivity which may float your boat depending on whether its true dual differential or if the rest of your system is configured this way.

Did you do a side by side comparison of the Sanders and Modwright pre? What specifically did you not like about the Sanders pre?