Dream Separates System

[STRONGBADF1]

He pretends to like us but...

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[MrBoat]

They now have the 1.6 version, for a little over $600 you can now build them as monoblocks to get up to 20 WPC. If I knew it at the time, I would have waited, though the 1.5's 5 WPC should make no difference for me as I typically use less than 0.25 W average where the LS50 are, moving them to the guest bed room would mean less than 0.1 W average, with almost 20 dB for peaks before the little thing clips.

The original had a 24v upgrade and the boards (v 1b) I got included this. That's what I am using is the 24v supply with the 12v bias compared to the original 19/10v setup. As per the Tempests 98db sensitivity rating, I might be using 1/4th of the amp's power on loud days.

I have also hooked them up to my JBL S38 (89db), JBL S312(92db), Nola clones(@90db, I think) and it was plenty powerful in this room.

Don't mean to interfere with the fun topic here, but in the past, there was always dream cars and boats I thought I wanted. Once everything moved over to CAD/CNC and once it took over and the custom world became 'bolt-on', I lost interest.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Is Bryston too ugly for most people?

Their 20YR warranty for their analog preamps and amps seems attractive.

$10K Bryston Analog Stereo Preamp, Power Supply, and Stereo 200x2 Amp.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

Ugly? No. And their products are well made.

Price? Too much for me I'm afraid.

20 year warranty? Nice. But you pay for it in the purchase price.

Sound? Naw, I'm not going to go there.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Ugly? No. And their products are well made.

Price? Too much for me I'm afraid.

20 year warranty? Nice. But you pay for it in the purchase price.

Sound? Naw, I'm not going to go there.

Well, come on now. This whole setup costs the same as that $10K Ayre (Oppo clone) Blu-ray player.

It's a bargain.

Yeah, you do pay for that 20YR warranty.

But a lot of amps cost even more and only offer a 5YR warranty.

I never considered Bryston as sexy.

But there is something sexy about that 20YR warranty.

Too bad their digital components ($10K Pre-pro) only have a 5YR warranty.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

"Too bad their digital components ($10K Pre-pro) only have a 5YR warranty."


I wonder why that is?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

"Too bad their digital components ($10K Pre-pro) only have a 5YR warranty."


I wonder why that is?

Processors are extremely complex.....

Wait, you're being funny, right?

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yeah, anything analog or passive (amps, preamps, speakers), Bryston will offer 20YR.

Anything digital with DSP, EQ, etc., or just putting amps inside speakers and subs, it’s 3YR or 5YR Warranty.

Wonder why that is for sure.

Big reason I don’t believe in putting amps, DSP, EQ inside speakers and subs.

But it’s cool regarding the Bryston 20YR Warranty on passive speakers and analog amps amd preamps.

The idea that your entire audio system is good for 20YR is nice.

 

[JDmsz]

I'll probably go with Marantz 8805 prepro with a Parasound Halo A51 amp as well as the A52 Plus in case I want to add more speakers (dobly Atmos)

Keeping my current lsim 707s though. Polk may be a cheap brand but those speakers are on a category of it's own

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

Acurus RL11 preamp
Acurus A250 power amp

This was once my dream system about 25 years ago. I managed to get there. They were both demos and they weren't that expensive (compared to Krell, Levinson, McIntosh, etc).

Did they live out the dream? Nope. They were nice, but they were not any better than my old receiver.

I sold them both.

 

[Mikado463]

Acurus RL11 preamp
Acurus A250 power amp

This was once my dream system about 25 years ago. I managed to get there. They were both demos and they weren't that expensive (compared to Krell, Levinson, McIntosh, etc).

Did they live out the dream? Nope. They were nice, but they were not any better than my old receiver.

I sold them both.

what was your old receiver ?

perhaps you need to improve your 'dreaming' !

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

My 'dreaming' was replaced by proven scientific methods and reality.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Yeah, anything analog or passive (amps, preamps, speakers), Bryston will offer 20YR.

Anything digital with DSP, EQ, etc., or just putting amps inside speakers and subs, it’s 3YR or 5YR Warranty.

Wonder why that is for sure.

Big reason I don’t believe in putting amps, DSP, EQ inside speakers and subs.

But it’s cool regarding the Bryston 20YR Warranty on passive speakers and analog amps amd preamps.

The idea that your entire audio system is good for 20YR is nice.

It's one thing with an amplifier to have a 20 year warranty against failure, but another thing entirely to have it meet its original specs after 20 years. Components age, sometimes a lot, and it can affect everything from frequency response to power output to distortion, though technically the amp still functions. For most solid state Class A or AB amps, if you want them to function like new after 20 years you need to send them back to the manufacturer for a bench check and possibly a component-level freshening.

Thinking back over several decades, the only product I've ever owned that I wished had a 20 year warranty was my old Levinson No39 CD Player / Pre-amp. I loved that thing. It made me smile every time I used it. When the No39 was new in the middle 1990s it actually did sound better than any other CD player I had heard, and for good circuitry reasons, but just as important it was an absolute pleasure to use ergonomically and functionally. Even after ASIC companies finally figured out excellent DACs at reasonable cost and line-level op-amps with really low distortion, high power, and excellent linearity (after about 2002), the No39 still sounded just as good as anything I'd heard or seen measured. When it blew its digital board several years ago that cost nearly $1500 to replace, I sold it for over 50% of what I paid for it new and said adios to Levinson stuff. (I didn't want to swallow Harman's larcenous repair costs again.) A Benchmark DAC that was as good for digital and driving the amps replaced the Levinson, but ergonomically it's not comparable. If Harman had repaired the No39 for free I'd still have it in my primary system.

But I can't think of anything else I'd miss, or that technology wouldn't have improved over ten years, no less twenty years. The Levinson amps I used were works of metal and component art, but the ATI replacement actually sounded better (no idle hiss at all - can't say that for the Levinson amps) and had 3db+ more power output at a lower price. Though the ATI amp is ugly, at least it's black and doesn't call attention to itself.

For speakers, I can't imagine keeping any for 20 years. Speakers are still improving too much for that.

So after thinking about it, I'm not sure that a twenty year warranty would be a deal-maker for me.

 

[Mikado463]

My 'dreaming' was replaced by proven scientific methods and reality.

LOL, you still didn't answer the question

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

LOL, you still didn't answer the question

My old receiver doesn't matter. What matters is truth.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Acurus RL11 preamp
Acurus A250 power amp

This was once my dream system about 25 years ago. I managed to get there. They were both demos and they weren't that expensive (compared to Krell, Levinson, McIntosh, etc).

Did they live out the dream? Nope. They were nice, but they were not any better than my old receiver.

I sold them both.

Oh, man, I was so enamored by Acurus for so long back then - yeah about 25 YR ago. I totally loved those big white round knobs.

I used to own 4 Acurus RL-11 and 200x3 Amps.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

It's one thing with an amplifier to have a 20 year warranty against failure, but another thing entirely to have it meet its original specs after 20 years. Components age, sometimes a lot, and it can affect everything from frequency response to power output to distortion, though technically the amp still functions. For most solid state Class A or AB amps, if you want them to function like new after 20 years you need to send them back to the manufacturer for a bench check and possibly a component-level freshening.

Thinking back over several decades, the only product I've ever owned that I wished had a 20 year warranty was my old Levinson No39 CD Player / Pre-amp. I loved that thing. It made me smile every time I used it. When the No39 was new in the middle 1990s it actually did sound better than any other CD player I had heard, and for good circuitry reasons, but just as important it was an absolute pleasure to use ergonomically and functionally. Even after ASIC companies finally figured out excellent DACs at reasonable cost and line-level op-amps with really low distortion, high power, and excellent linearity (after about 2002), the No39 still sounded just as good as anything I'd heard or seen measured. When it blew its digital board several years ago that cost nearly $1500 to replace, I sold it for over 50% of what I paid for it new and said adios to Levinson stuff. (I didn't want to swallow Harman's larcenous repair costs again.) A Benchmark DAC that was as good for digital and driving the amps replaced the Levinson, but ergonomically it's not comparable. If Harman had repaired the No39 for free I'd still have it in my primary system.

But I can't think of anything else I'd miss, or that technology wouldn't have improved over ten years, no less twenty years. The Levinson amps I used were works of metal and component art, but the ATI replacement actually sounded better (no idle hiss at all - can't say that for the Levinson amps) and had 3db+ more power output at a lower price. Though the ATI amp is ugly, at least it's black and doesn't call attention to itself.

Well, it’s just dream.

In reality, I agree with you about the 20YR warranty.

In reality, it’s a lot more cost effective to just buy mid-level AVR or pre-pros ($600 Denon X3000 or $800 Denon X4000 AVR or $800 Denon DN-700AVP Pre-pro) and amps (Monolith 200WPC amp for $1100 B-stock); and if they die in 7-10 YR, just buy new ones.

But that’s reality.

We’re dreaming here dammit.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Speaking of ATI, Theta Digital (American made by ATI ) and ATI are coming out with new Pre-Pros.

Too bad Theta and ATI are going with Dirac, not Audyssey XT32 DEQ.

But very pretty.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

Oh, man, I was so enamored by Acurus for so long back then - yeah about 25 YR ago. I totally loved those big white round knobs.

I used to own 4 Acurus RL-11 and 200x3 Amps.

Wow. That is great. That is beautiful. Their products were well made and far less in price than the 'bling' companies.