[aceinc]

Not noisy, not muddled, extended as all get out, and definitely powerful...the M-1s blew the internal protection fuses on a set of Jeff Rowland 735 monos before a moderate listening level was reached...in other words, the M-1s are demanding!

The little digital amps will in this instance drive them to uncomfortably loud levels with no distortion.

The change from day one to day two was significant, stridency diminished and depth and image location improved.

It ha been my experience with digital amps (ever since the  Sonic Impact days!) that they take a while to fully settled down and show you what they are capable of, so I'll leave these guys running for a while and see how they progress.

So far the guy whom I bought these for just laughs because he feels like they are stupid good for chump change...

.

Hmm, Since my main use is as subwoofer amps, it seems like they may fit the bill. One of the main criteria is power, many people including me at the moment, use pro amps for subs. All I will need is a C&C 1 or 2 in, 2 out DSP.

If I use them for other purposes I might drive them with a tube preamp I have. I'm thinking I may test them with a pair of Carver ALS as they are demanding speakers as well. Carver recommends 800 watts I believe. I am currently driving the ALS with a 100 watt NAD amp.

[aceinc]

Got the amps unpacked yesterday and hooked them up to a pair of Soundlabs M-1s:

I pulled the trigger on the amps. How long did it take you to receive them after your order?

[RickB]

I pulled the trigger on the amps. How long did it take you to receive them after your order?

About two weeks is average for stuff from them, sometimes it comes sooner than expected...

I ordered a second pair of tubes for these amps I have that use paralleled 300Bs earlier this year with a two week shipping estimate, I had bought a pair previously and I was pleased with them so I ordered the second set...and after a month went by I inquired about the late shipping, etc., and they surmised they got lost in transit and gave me a refund...so, I ordered another pair that showed up quickly....nearly three months later the "lost" ones actually showed up...

I ordered a preamp for the guy I work for, and it ended up being delayed again and again, so I inquired about it and was given a refund without any problems...

Shipping is definitely not Amazon Prime level...well, I bought a WiiM ProPlus on Prime day and it still hasn't come, but that's an exception, and I quit worrying about ordering from AliExpress.

I just wait and I'm pleasantly surprised when the stuff shows up.


.

[aceinc]

Well, I got them in. Two comments about the packaging;

1) They are wrapped very tightly in plastic. This makes opening them difficult and I scratched the top of one.
2) They did not come with power cords. But they are standard NEMA 5-15P to C13 power cords.

Once I got beyond that, the fit & finish were good. Absolutely no manual or lettering on the amp other than serial number sticker and 115V sticker. But what do you need? It's a mono block a power switch on the front an RCA and XLR for input and binding posts on the back. The only thing they could use is a label on the switch between balanced & unbalanced.

Hooked them up between my WIIM Pro and Magnepan .7s and let them run for about an hour in another room, while I ate dinner and watched the doom & gloom news.

When I went to listen, I DB matched a pair of Magnepan 1.7is I just repaired which are hooked up to a NAD 2200 PE stereo amp.

It may be me and new toy bias, but the noname amps seemed to have better control of the bass and didn't seem as stressed at volume. The original purpose of these amps is to drive 18" Ultimax subs, so I decided to crank a few songs on my Maggies. I played some ZZ Top, Dire Straits, Cream and a few other classic rock tunes at 96 DB peaks with no strain or bass bloom.

So after my 1st hour & a of half listening I am quite impressed.

[RickB]

I, too, noticed the bass control on a set of Aerial 10Ts...

[RickB]

OK, another update on these amps....

The guy I work for has a set of Graham LS5/5F speakers: https://www.grahamaudio.co.uk/loudspeakers/ls55f

He had them at his home here in San Antonio after buying them new.  We tried many different amps on the things, the Pass XA200, the Rowland 735's, the Audio Research Reference 160Ms, Jadis i50, and nothing really brought the speakers to life...I personally would have felt like I blown all that money on something that was just mediocre...

FWIW, these speakers took a butt-load of time to loosen up and lose that cupped hands sensation in the upper bass/midrange, something on the order of 400 hours playing time...even then I thought they were the last speaker from his collection that I would choose.

So, he took them to his house up north where he ran them with a CAT preamp and Odyssey monoblock amps...he said they were OK...and had that setup for several months.

I ordered him a second set of the AliExpress mono amps that we are talking about in this thread and he replaced the Odysseys with them.

To say he was floored by the difference was an understatement!

The amplifiers brought the speakers to life, they gave them a tight, punchy, deep and controlled bass while cleaning up the midrange and extending the treble, all without making the speakers sound strident, harsh, or fatiguing...a complete transformation in his words, one that has to be heard to believed, according to him.

He was pretty shaken up that the cheapest amplifiers that he hooked up to the Grahams were the best match for them...

His financial situation is such that he can buy just about anything he wants...but, he has me now ordering preamps from AliExpress to compare to the Orsefon C22 clone and see how close we can get to the sound from the Rowland preamp or the AR Reference preamp, for use in secondary systems and just to play around with...

I thought I'd just report back on these things and tie a bow on the thread.

.

[RickB]

[aceinc]

OK, another update on these amps....

The guy I work for has a set of Graham LS5/5F speakers: https://www.grahamaudio.co.uk/loudspeakers/ls55f

He had them at his home here in San Antonio after buying them new.  We tried many different amps on the things, the Pass XA200, the Rowland 735's, the Audio Research Reference 160Ms, Jadis i50, and nothing really brought the speakers to life...I personally would have felt like I blown all that money on something that was just mediocre...

FWIW, these speakers took a butt-load of time to loosen up and lose that cupped hands sensation in the upper bass/midrange, something on the order of 400 hours playing time...even then I thought they were the last speaker from his collection that I would choose.

So, he took them to his house up north where he ran them with a CAT preamp and Odyssey monoblock amps...he said they were OK...and had that setup for several months.

I ordered him a second set of the AliExpress mono amps that we are talking about in this thread and he replaced the Odysseys with them.

To say he was floored by the difference was an understatement!

The amplifiers brought the speakers to life, they gave them a tight, punchy, deep and controlled bass while cleaning up the midrange and extending the treble, all without making the speakers sound strident, harsh, or fatiguing...a complete transformation in his words, one that has to be heard to believed, according to him.

He was pretty shaken up that the cheapest amplifiers that he hooked up to the Grahams were the best match for them...

His financial situation is such that he can buy just about anything he wants...but, he has me now ordering preamps from AliExpress to compare to the Orsefon C22 clone and see how close we can get to the sound from the Rowland preamp or the AR Reference preamp, for use in secondary systems and just to play around with...

I thought I'd just report back on these things and tie a bow on the thread.

.

Which preamp?

I just got a WiiM Ultra as a preamp/streamer for Christmas and I will be trying that.

[RickB]

I ordered three:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256807542214490.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256807497655741.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2251832639517580.html

But, if you were talking about his Maine system, an older TOTL CAT preamp is what he has in that system...he's got 5 or 6 systems up there that I haven't seen as I haven't been up there.

.

[RickB]

An addition, I , too, bought a WiiM, the Pro+ on Prime Day, and it integrated seamlessly into my Logitech Media Server setup...it's in a system in my Ham shack, I have the Logitech Touch in the den and a Logitech Radio in the bedroom...

I've also installed several WiiMs for other people, and will be doing a few more in the near future, they are just so far ahead of Sonos Ports and better priced that they are a no-brainer...

.

[aceinc]

I ordered three:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256807542214490.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256807497655741.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2251832639517580.html

But, if you were talking about his Maine system, an older TOTL CAT preamp is what he has in that system...he's got 5 or 6 systems up there that I haven't seen as I haven't been up there.

.

I was asking about the AliExpress Preamps.

One of the things I received for Xmas is a 2 in 2 out amp/speaker selector. I will be trying a McIntosh C26 & 2105 against a McIntosh C32 & the AliExpress amps coupled with Magnepan speakers. I want to see what the difference between various amp/preamp combinations on one specific pair of speakers.

[Tarheel]

Where can I find the amp/speaker selector switch(brand name/model# ?  I have a Primaluna Dialogue Premium HP integrated amp and at my other place a Transcendent Sound 300B "Masterpiece" pre with an ATI 1502 power amp.

I would like to hear both systems with my Klipsch K Horns and/or my Spatial M4 Sapphires.

Thanks!

[aceinc]

Where can I find the amp/speaker selector switch(brand name/model# ?  I have a Primaluna Dialogue Premium HP integrated amp and at my other place a Transcendent Sound 300B "Masterpiece" pre with an ATI 1502 power amp.

I would like to hear both systems with my Klipsch K Horns and/or my Spatial M4 Sapphires.

Thanks!

Once I test it, I will provide the info. I'd hate for it to be a dud.

[RickB]

Recently the friend that I purchased these IRS2092 based amps for left town for a week so I borrowed them to try at my home.

I have been running a set of Dared DV300B parallel 300B amplifiers that sounded better than my Sound Values VTA-70i, which is pretty much the stock circuit using 6GH8 tubes instead of 7199s that I built as one of the last of their kits ever sold...it came without output transformers so I bought some Magnequest ST-70 outputs, installed HEXFREDs for rectifiers, improved bias and main filtering capacitors along with the coupling capacitors, sprinkled Riken-Ohm and Caddock resistors throughout, used Cardas RCA jacks, their shielded Litz from these jacks to the board, finishing up with Cardas binding posts.

It is a very good sounding amp, but I feel my MC-240 is a hair better, and the Dareds are a little better still. 

One of the most important things to my old ears is texture and the detail in the texture, something Paul from PS Audio calls "granularity"...

One of my kitties recently snagged the foam surrounding the lower drivers on my ProAc Response 3s, so until I can get around to replacing those surrounds I substituted my Loth-X Amazes...a speaker I've had for decades but never really "got"...well, this time around with my subs dialed in well (I use a Dahlquist LP-1 sub crossover to one Dahlquist woofer and one Shiva driver in an M&K Goliath box powered by a TP3255amplifier...room is small,14' X 12') the result was surprising...

I got texture and detail, and with the subs' help, a full range sound that made me not miss the old ProAcs at all...imaging, frequency response, etc., etc., are all great and downright beguiling with the Dared amps.

But, as anyone who lives in South Texas knows, we only have two seasons: Summer and Not Summer...the tube amps are great when it's Not Summer, but when the temperatures start climbing the AC has to remove the heat the tubes produce in the den, so I switch to solid state amps, like my ModWright KWA-100SE,my Adcom GFA-555SE, or various digital amps, all in an attempt to keep temperatures comfy in the den.

Earlier this week I brought home the ALiExpress amps and put them in my system (Audible Illusions Mod3A,ToppingE30II Velvet, fed by a Squeezebox Touch or JRiver from this computer and 3TB of uncompressed music files).

These amps had been broken in with at least a couple of hundred hours previously, but had sat unused for a couple of months,so I expected a little "rawness" at first and there was a smidgen...but this morning after being on for four days the sound is quite superb.

There is no glaring amount of digital "glare", just transparency, dynamics, pace and rhythm, a very enjoyable experience, if I could keep these in my system I would, but they're not mine and have to go back.

If an amplifier doesn't sound bad/harsh on these single driver speakers (which I had used mostly with my Bottlehead Paramours in the past), then they must be doing something right.

I would rate these IRS2092 amps as better than my Aiyima A-07 w/Muses opamps and close to my tube amps without all the heat being produced..in other words I could live with them long term.

It seems counterintuitive to connect 96dB speakers to amps capable of 500 watts+ into 8 Ohms, but the elimination of dynamic compression on even micro dynamics is evident on the snap with which transients are presented.

All in all, these amps are a bargain for their power and SQ, just turn them on and leave them on for their best sound...being digital with internal switching power supplies their resting current isn't an egregious energy suck and really helps.

[aceinc]

My experience is a little different. I purchased a pair. I was using them to drive a pair of ET LFT 8b and I noticed the tweeter was out in the speakers, also every now & then the speaker with the dead tweeter would cut out altogether. I finally completed my subs which is what I bought the amps for. and hooked them up in my HT. One of the amps will send a clicking sound through the sub and will cut out for 1-5 seconds randomly. The other amp has no problem.

I have tried on various occasions to contact the seller and I have not heard anything back from them.

[RickB]

Ahh heck, sorry about that, I feel bad now that I recommended them.

[aceinc]

No need to feel bad. I think they are great amps, just no customer support. I have considered buying another pair and using the the AliExpress return policy to return the bad one.