Is Peachtree Audio Full of It?

ajzepp · « **on:** 21 Mar 2013, 12:34 am »

So I am a long time fan of Maggies. Started with the MMGs back in 2005 and it's been a beautiful relationship ever since. (Okay, so I cheated on her ONCE...sue me.) I've toyed with the idea of converting one of the rooms of my apartment into an HT room and keeping the big mama Maggie 3.6s in the living room for 2 channel only. Last Winter this came to fruition when I discovered Rogersound Labs speakers (www.rslspeakers.com) and knew that I found the perfect solution for the little HT. The only problem? I liked how my Butler 5150 paired with the RSLs so much that my Maggies were left all alone with no dance partner. I had already sold my Marchand crossover and my other Butler amp when I was on medical leave last year, so what am I to do? Should I sell Maggie? HELL no. Stick her in storage? She'd never forgive me. So I started looking around for options...

At first I thought maybe I'd just pick up a good used amp off Craigslist or something, and truth be told I did find some nice options, particularly from Parasound. Then I thought, I've been wanting to give Klaus at Odyssey Audio some business for a while now so maybe this was the perfect time. It was then that I happened to mention my predicament to our very own Steve Ford, who has (surprisingly!) proved very reliable over the years in terms of his recommendations. Since he's basically responsible for helping me find my way to Grado headphones, which are one of my true loves besides Maggie, I wanted to know what he thought. One of the suggestions he made was the Peachtree Nova. I already knew the Peachtree line, so this really made no sense to me at all. Everyone knows that Maggies need POWER, so what was he smoking? Does he not understand that up until recently, I had BILLIONS of amazing Butler watts pumping through Maggie to satisfy her? How the hell was some puny little Peachtree amp going to possibly be an option?

So I decided to send an email to Peachtree and tell them the funny story about how this guy Steve actually thinks that their products have any business being wired up to my 3.6s. I ended up speaking to a guy named Jonathan Derda, who apparently has appointed himself the "Ambassador of Awesome". He basically gives me the very same sales spiel that we've all heard a million times...."oh, of course that would be a great pairing...in fact, a short while back I was listening to big Magnepans with the Nova and it was great!" C'mon, Jon...of course you're going to say that...sorry bud, I'm not falling for this. So I hang up the phone after about a ten minute conversation and I hear the *ding* on my email go off. It's an email from Jon with a couple of links. He said, "hey AJ, just wanted to send you the link from the dealer I told you about where we auditioned the Nova with the big Magnepans...all the best, Jon" Okay, wtf....so I open the link, and I'll be damned if there wasn't a write up from the dealer in addition to pictures...here, take a look for yourself: http://www.pearlaudiovideo.com/blog/company-areas/peachtree-area/the-ambassador-of-awesome-visit/

So here's the real kicker...as it turns out, an audio guy locally here in Atlanta - the very same guy I bought the Butler amp from in 2005 - is a Peachtree dealer. I tell him what I've been told thus far, expecting SOMEONE to finally fess up that this was all one big sales ploy, and he pretty much confirms that the new class D amp modules in the Nova are the real deal. So now it's just too much...I place the order, and today I picked it up. On the way home I'm thinking to myself, "I bet that I'm goign to go through all this trouble to hook everything up, turn on some music, and I'll end up having to turn the volume up all the way, which will make everything sound strained and distorted, and probably the amp will explode before my eyes.

Well, here's what happened...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soHjuO12mmM

SteveFord · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 12:44 am »

"our very own Steve Ford, who has (surprisingly!) proved very reliable over the years in terms of his recommendations"

Wail you get your house, I have lots of good ideas!
I'm glad it's going to work out for you.

ajzepp · « **Reply #2 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 12:47 am »

NIGHTFALL1970 · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 12:52 am »

AJ,
Who was that you were playing and what song/album was it?

ajzepp · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 12:53 am »

That was an American Idol track that I downloaded off of iTunes several years ago (which makes it all the more impressive, now that I think about it). The artist is Adam Lambert and he's doing a cover of the song "Mad World", which is one of my favorite songs.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 01:00 am »

Interesting stuff. Though let's be sure not to confuse power with gain. An amp may have sufficient gain to achieve high volumes, but may not have enough power to keep the signal from being distorted at those high volumes.

That said, very impressive stuff. My buddy has a Nova (on my recommendation

) with his Wharfdales and loves the combo. A great piece of gear, worthy of the praise.

ajzepp · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 01:08 am »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 21 Mar 2013, 01:00 am

Interesting stuff. Though let's be sure not to confuse power with gain. An amp may have sufficient gain to achieve high volumes, but may not have enough power to keep the signal from being distorted at those high volumes.

That said, very impressive stuff. My buddy has a Nova (on my recommendation ) with his Wharfdales and loves the combo. A great piece of gear, worthy of the praise.

I'm definitely not expecting this thing to compete with 600 watts of clean Butler power per speaker in an actively bi-amped configuration...but I'm being as honest as I can possibly be when I say that I'm not hearing an ounce of distortion even when I turn the volume up past 11, which is when it begins to get too loud for this location. So far it SOUNDS like the Nova is driving the Maggies effortlessly...and I'm very accustomed to what Maggie sounds like at her best, cause that's how I've been running her since I bought them four years ago. I had HUGE doubts that the music would be able to get off the panels, but truly those doubts are fading away quickly.

Besides, these current version class D modules spec out pretty impressively. Stable into 2 ohms, over 200wpc into 4...this isn't a receiver from Best Buy hooked up here, you know?

Maritan · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 01:15 am »

I just wanted to say two things:

1. Congrats on making a good match for your speakers

2. I'm also a SteveFord victim.

ajzepp · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 01:16 am »

Quote from: Maritan on 21 Mar 2013, 01:15 am

I just wanted to say two things:

1. Congrats on making a good match for your speakers

2. I'm also a SteveFord victim.

1. Thanks!

2. LOL!

decal · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 01:28 am »

So why the negative sounding title to your thread? Just curious.

ajzepp · « **Reply #10 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 01:32 am »

Quote from: decal on 21 Mar 2013, 01:28 am

So why the negative sounding title to your thread? Just curious.

I didn't mean for it to sound negative...I just have a weird sense of humor and I thought it would get attention

roscoeiii · « **Reply #11 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 01:34 am »

It got my attention. And then the suspense of having to watch a video? Loved it.

ajzepp · « **Reply #12 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 01:40 am »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 21 Mar 2013, 01:34 am

It got my attention. And then the suspense of having to watch a video? Loved it.

Nice, that's what I was hoping

Looking forward to playing around with the headphone amp later tonight...this thing is like the swiss army knife of audio gear

OzarkTom · « **Reply #13 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 01:58 am »

Those Peachtree integrated amps look very more interesting since they have now switched to Class D. I had one of the earlier Nova's and it was very mediocre sounding. I am sure that the new Class D version is much better.

sfdoddsy · « **Reply #14 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 02:00 am »

I don't know why you're so surprised. I had a Panasonic receiver driving my Apogees to very loud, very good levels.

ajzepp · « **Reply #15 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 02:03 am »

Quote from: OzarkTom on 21 Mar 2013, 01:58 am

Those Peachtree integrated amps look very more interesting since they have now switched to Class D. I had one of the earlier Nova's and it was very mediocre sounding. I am sure that the new Class D version is much better.

This is my first experience with class D, and from what I understand these v.2 modules are a pretty significant step up from the last ones. I love that this Nova has pre-outs in case I ever want to upgrade to a beefier amp section, and one of the really interesting pieces I came across was actually discussed here in the planar forum when someone posted a link. It's the Audio-gd amps I think that are supposed to be really, really good. And I know Peachtree also has a more powerful stand alone amp that using larger class D modules than what are in this Nova.

One thing that is sort of confusing me so far, though, is that I'm not sure which aspect of this Nova is accounting for what. I'm used to being able to minimize the variables with separates...it's hard to make sense of what's going on when everything is in the same box lol.

ajzepp · « **Reply #16 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 02:05 am »

Quote from: sfdoddsy on 21 Mar 2013, 02:00 am

I don't know why you're so surprised. I had a Panasonic receiver driving my Apogees to very loud, very good levels.

I seem to remember people over at the Planar Asylum who were running those Panny receivers...I never knew much about them at all, but I'm sure taking an interest in this sort of technology now

Davey · « **Reply #17 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 02:09 am »

Volume control position has nothing to do with power capability. (You're just experiencing excess system voltage gain.)
Generally, it's not a good thing to be at such low positions of the volume control because left/right tracking is worse and S/N ratio is probably compromised. Up in the 12 o'clock nominal range is preferred.

However, it's not surprising an 80 watt amplifier will work well. I use a 75 wpc amp on my MMG's and it works great.

Cheers,

Dave.

ajzepp · « **Reply #18 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 02:27 am »

Quote from: Davey on 21 Mar 2013, 02:09 am

Volume control position has nothing to do with power capability. (You're just experiencing excess system voltage gain.)
Generally, it's not a good thing to be at such low positions of the volume control because left/right tracking is worse and S/N ratio is probably compromised. Up in the 12 o'clock nominal range is preferred.

However, it's not surprising an 80 watt amplifier will work well. I use a 75 wpc amp on my MMG's and it works great.

Cheers,

Dave.

Well, if this is how it sounds compromised, then I'm one happy camper! The volume at around 11 is about as loud as I'd want to listen during a weeknight in an apartment complex, but will definitely have some fun this weekend.

It's actually rated at 125wpc...220 into 4ohm.

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #19 on:** 21 Mar 2013, 03:56 am »

Well get this, I'm using a 20 watt amp with my MMG's and couldn't be happier. On another thread someone posted a link to an article about a reviewer testing low watt integrateds with Maggies, and started with a NAD 3020i and loved the sound. Since I had an old 3020B that has been recapped, I thought I'd try it. The result is glorious, beautiful music, albeit with a limited volume, something below lease breaking levels, but very satisfying and pretty close to the levels I listen to using a much more powerful amp. It got exponentially better when I bypassed the preamp section and went direct to the power amp, extraordinary detail, imaging, tone, bass. I've been very, very surprised. Lower level dynamics are great, however big, macro dynamic swings are a struggle, not terrible, just a limit to what 20 watts can do. Note that this amp is designed to go into very low impedances with no trouble and has a 4 ohm optimized setting, right in the Maggies wheelhouse, and it will swing up to 55 watts dynamically for short bursts.

You don't need massive power for Maggies, more accurately one could say you need an amp designed properly to drive Maggies.