A review:
It's been 10 days since I powered this amp up and it's been running almost 24 hours a day since. Let's say around 150 hours or so.
Prior system: This is my secondary system and I had a Sansui AU-9500 with the TU-9500 (1970's vintage) in place. Music is coming from a Logitech Squeezebox through a Lite (Pacific Audio Modified) DAC. 75 ohm copper from Signal Cables between the DAC and Squeezebox. RCA cables are Groneberg Series 3 with Vampire Wire RCA's (my invention from a pair I bought from Klaus but with the cheap ends. I cut that one in half and [yes, Klaus, you were right again
] put on some better ends). Speaker wire is Canare 4S8 with ViaBlue terminations. Speakers are JBL L19's with rebuilt crossovers and Boston Acousting A60 Series I's with rebuilt crossovers.
The listening area is divided into two areas - the living room with the JBL's on either side of a couch and end tables almost right in front of them and in the dining room with the BA's facing 90 degrees towards each other in a corner with the amp stand in between them. Definitely not something that is optimized for listening but it keeps music in those rooms and the wife is ok with what is there.
I've pulled the Sansui gear and replaced it with the Khartago and an Etesian preamp. All other components stayed the same. In its day the Sansui gear was highly regarded but obviously very dated. I was happy with the sound that amp gave - no complaints.
In short the Sansui gear is going into storage. Even with these older speakers there is a very defined improvement in sound - one I had not expected to ever hear from them. One issue is that the BA's are much more efficient so the sound level in one room is higher than the other. Anyway...
Most noticable is the mid/upper clarity, just amazing. Instrument and voice seperation is greatly improved. Bass is clearly defined (with these small speakers you're not going to knock over furniture
). This is a very enjoyable listening experience!
I put the Etesian in my main system - replacing temporarily the Candela. It's an almost but not quite there type comparison. The Candela is definitely a notch or two better. The Etesian was just a bit constrained on the extreme ends of the sound spectrum with the bass and treble not quite as clear and defined.
I really can't think of what I would do to improve that second system. It's a fun listening time!
Klaus - one more time, Thank you!!
