[Sigfreed]

Well i have been reading the posts about the Sig 30.I was compelled to join here so i to could chime in about this wonderful amp.Not often do i ever feel like i need to say something about a piece of gear but this amp is really flooring me.I have been using George Wright WPA3.5 SET amps with my 101 db sensitivity horn loaded speakers.Extremely revealing system i feel.For those of you familiar with this amp you then know it is certainly know slouch.Well this Sig 30 after about only 14 hours of listening is giving one heck of alot of pleasure and if it continues to improve until the 100-200 hour mark then i am in for one joyous ride!The combination of warmth and incredible detail is wonderful thus far to me!
I am also using a Modwright platinum truth 999ES and i am running an active Eastern Electric Minimax preamp at this time and it sounds wonderful with the Sig! Also supplementing the bottom with a Bag End infrasub 18.Sounding VERY good to me folks and thanks to all of your wonderful posts and reviews that have led me down this path !  aa

[Sigfreed]

Oh yeah i seemed to have overlooked one very important thing..     THANKS VINNIE!!

[launche]

Glad you're enjoying the amp.

Can you speak more as to what the Minimax Preamp brings to the table and/or relative to the Sig 30's own volume control.

Thanks

 

[Sigfreed]

Well since i never have listened to the Sig 30 totally on it's own i can't really say as to what the EEM is "exactly" bringing to the table sonicly.I have gone passive in the past using EVS nude attenuators in my system and have found that i enjoy the Minimax in the chain.As far the volume control on the Sig 30 i have that at the 12 position out of 24 and am working the Minimax from there and am getting great results.Different changes,say 11 and or 13, on the Sig 30 brings about slighlty different sonics and lets me either have more leeway with the Minimax or less but it is fun experimenting and i am sure i will be doing much more.Right now it seems to be dialed into a nice sweetspot at 12 and i can use the EEA to taste.I have more leeway with the preamps volume control then i did with the 4 watt Wright SET amps.I do not believe i wil be selling my Wrights but this amp is certainly something special i am discovering and it could very well get the "main system" slot.I don't know if it is because it is a different presentation and that i am enjoying the change but MAN i was hearing detail in albums today that i never heard before and without being sterile or to anyalytical.Still a  very warm and YES demensional which has been a VERY happy finding. i infact was concerned that i may lose some of this but i am not sure that i have.Maybe a tad here and there but then this amp is not broken in.So i understand what people have said about the best of both worlds(SET-SS).I probably shouldn't be commenting so early but i was so taken earlier today while i was listening that i needed to post something.Now that is cool!

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Sigfreed,

Welcome to Audiocircle and the RWA Forum!

Not often do i ever feel like i need to say something about a piece of gear but this amp is really flooring me...
Well this Sig 30 after about only 14 hours of listening is giving one heck of alot of pleasure and if it continues to improve until the 100-200 hour mark then i am in for one joyous ride!The combination of warmth and incredible detail is wonderful thus far to me!

I probably shouldn't be commenting so early but i was so taken earlier today while i was listening that i needed to post something.Now that is cool! 

Thanks for posting your initial impressions, and I can't wait to hear what you have to say during the 100 to 200 hour mark... You are in for a very joyous ride  aa

Right now it seems to be dialed into a nice sweetspot at 12 and i can use the EEA to taste.

You are doing it correctly.... when using a preamp, set the Sig's volume to that sweetspot where you get a nice useable range out of the preamp's volume control.  This is also good at reducing the SNR. 

As I tell my Sig customers who use an active preamp... maxing out the volume (gain) of the Sig is not the best way to do it (unless you really need all that gain!  )

Thanks again,

Vinnie

[Sigfreed]

Thanks for the welcome Vinnie!! 

Loving this amp thus far!With my Wright 3.5's(which are fantastic too but different) i had no volume control on the amps themselves.With the volume attenuator on the Sig however i am able to dial in desired amounts of gain which brings different presentations as well.One notch more gain yields a bit more of a forward presentation in the mix and more center imaging if i so desire.If not i just can back off the gain on the Sig a notch and adjust my preamp volume and keep it laid back in the middle for that mood or recording.GREAT flexibility that i did not have before.The realness factor is quite uncanny at times thus far also to me and the ride is yes still a joyous one.     

[Vinnie R.]

With the volume attenuator on the Sig however i am able to dial in desired amounts of gain which brings different presentations as well.One notch more gain yields a bit more of a forward presentation in the mix and more center imaging if i so desire.If not i just can back off the gain on the Sig a notch and adjust my preamp volume and keep it laid back in the middle for that mood or recording.GREAT flexibility that i did not have before.

Sigfreed,

This is very cool! 

I have a customer who is highly considering two Sig 30s for horizontally bi-amping his speakers (one Sig 30 for the tweeters, and one Sig 30 for the midrange/bass drivers).  He would be using a Modwright preamp.  I explained to him that he can set the gain on one of the Sig 30s to fine-tune the amount of top end or bass (e.g. one or two clicks less on Sig 30s volume control for the tweeters if you want a little bit more laid-back top end, or one or two clicks more on the bass drivers if you want some more bottom!). 

Keep on playing and enjoying the different possibilities 

Thanks for your post,

Vinnie

[Sigfreed]

Well i have logged more hours on the Sig(around 70) and had a chance to really sit down last night and listen closely.Are you kidding me!!!
Lets put it this way i have always thought that Elton Johns "Tumbleweed Connection" and "Madman Across the Water" were great albums but when i sat down to listen to these discs last night i almost had a religious experience!!I have copies a friend made for me of the SACD (or they could be the DVD-A) of these two discs and they sounded great on the Wrights but with the right tweaking of my system i was in heaven last night!!!Since i am running my Bag End sub out of my preamp there is a change in how the bass interacts with the music if i only adjust the Sig's volume.This leads to alot of possibilities especially if you have concerns of to much bass with apartment neighbors as i do.Last night was not one of those times however  !  So a week ago i thought the sweet spot on the Sig for me was at around the 12(out of 24 on the Sig attenuator) but last night i kept dialing it back to where i settled at the 8(of 24) position and turned up my preamp to taste(tasty loud) and WOW what a glorious sound!!!
Well this next comment is keeping in mind i am running my Subwoofer.But i have been an actively playing bass player for more then 25 years and so i do think i have a good idea what a very good bass tone should sound like live.WOW was i just sitting there in heaven last night listening to the tones of the bass coming off of these albums.I MUST look up this bass players name because i knew he was great on these albums but after last night i think the guy is one of my all time greats and i have alot of them.
Talk about great warm(and tight) bass tones with just the perfect timbre.I love James Jamerson and Aston Barrett(from Bob Marley fame) to give you an idea of the great warm tone i am talking about.Although i love all styles of playing these were what i felt were being evoked last night and what also the player was trying to achieve somewhat.Great warmth,fullness and rich TONE.They were being reproduced incredibly.But this tonality was carrying over through the entire spectrum of instruments from guitar and drums to Eltons voice.It was quite wonderful and i have not heard dynamics and swells in this music like i had heard last night.Not ever!I literally sat there in disbelief and gooseflesh several times last night as the sound was emanating so wonderfully rich and complex without being harsh or fatiguing.This being said i DID need to find that sweetspot again at 8 for this to be the case with MY system.I attribute this to more break in time of the amp and me being able to adjust things now to my preferrable taste.Man this amp can club you over the head in my system with detail if i wanted even more of that but i was trying to find that spot last night where i felt it was most emulating my Wright 3.5 SET's and i found it.The Wrights are wonderful amplifiers and i was really incredulous about the Sig taking there place but i have to seriously say that i have never heard music coming from my system the way it was being presented to my ears last night.And it was all absolutely positive!!I do hear the slightest bit of grain(i would describe it as) around the extreme edges at times but this very slight grain is becoming less and less all of the time with break in i believe(no critical listening for 100 hours!!! OOPS!) and last night i don't think i heard that at all during these two albums.It was just wonderful and i was just purely and utterly enjoying the music with jaw open most of the time! I seriously doubted i was going to be one of the glowing reporters(i have healthy skepticism) of the sound of this amp but here i am!!!!!Figured i would take the test drive and so glad i did!!      Vinnie.....   

[kbuzz3]

wow makes me want to break out my joule electra pre amp to try with the sig 30

[Sigfreed]

Yeah go for it Kbuzz3!! Not really to much to lose right?

Anyway i also wanted to mention, because i don't think i did here before, that i am using Bag End TA15 Studio monitors(103db sensitivity) as my main monitors.These have the 15" woofer and the rather large 1" compression driver horn.So these things have always been super revealing of highs and can be also very unforgiving and harsh with the wrong gear.What i have found listening to them is that it seems to never be the speaker that is the problem but what is ahead of them that is causing the problem.Be it a component or a musical disc itself.So to have the Sig sound so warm and full and lush as it did last night without having highs slapping my eardrums in pain was very welcome.In fact i was cranking these albums i mentioned last night to some serious loud levels last night and i had no ear fatigue last night or this morning.Being a musician who cares for his ears and a person that also is sensitive to noise i find this quite welcome as you can imagine.
What i also wanted to mention is that i settled on the 8 position(on the Sig) because i was hearing the layering (holographic nature)that the Wrights are able to produce.I heard that happening at that spot(8 for me on the Sig)and decided to kick back and listen for the evening.Bag End Sub was only turned up to 5 out of what i believe is also 24 attenuations on the Infrasub.This place was thunderous but oh so RIGHT.I was getting the impact without the hurt if that makes any sense?Just sweet sound without any crazy boomyness.I have a pic of my system(and room) over on audiogon under the name "seekburk" if you want to see my room and system.The speakers are now off the floor however about a foot each.Can i mention that site without getting arrested over here???Hope so or else i am going to jail. 

[lonewolfny42]

Link......looks good....

[Vinnie R.]

I seriously doubted i was going to be one of the glowing reporters(i have healthy skepticism) of the sound of this amp but here i am!!!!!Figured i would take the test drive and so glad i did!!      Vinnie.....      

Hey Sigfreed,

Damn!  Now that is what I call a follow-up, and you still are not in the 100 to 200 hour burn-in range where the Sig 30 really shows off what it can do. 

Thanks again for posting your impressions, and I am really happy that the Sig 30 si working out so well in your system.  When using the Sig 30 with an active preamp, it is all about finding that perfect setting on the Sig 30's DACT volume attenuator... you'll know when you do, and from reading your posts, you found it! 

And you gotta love lonewolfny42.... he is definitely the best researcher on Audiocircle and one of the most helpful members.  That pic he found demonstrates my point.... thanks, Chris... for always participating and having fun with us!. 

Vinnie

[lonewolfny42]

Vinnie...

And you gotta love lonewolfny42.... he is definitely the best researcher on Audiocircle and one of the most helpful members.  That pic he found demonstrates my point.... thanks, Chris... for always participating and having fun with us!.  Cool

Your welcome Vinnie. Keep up the good work..... 

Sigfreed...Interesting speakers...I've never heard a Bag End speaker...maybe one day. Enjoy..... 

[Sigfreed]

Wow that pic above looks exactly like my place!! No wait a second.....that IS my place    

Yeah like i said in an earlier post,i now have those speakers elevated on slotted wooden crates about 12" off of the floor.That puts those large horns about dead even with my ears when i am seated.This definitely has made a difference in the soundstage presentation for the better.I knew it would as being on the floor was always the best seat in the house when the horns were more or less even with my ears while seated down there.

Yeah Chris, these Bag Ends may not look like much nor are they THAT expensive but let me tell ya i have heard the good the bad and the ugly through them and when it is good it has been a wonderful listening experience.They are extremely revealing of what is in front of them.I just saw a carpeted version of these(almost bid on them) for like $800 used.Bag Ends are great speakers for both live reproduction and studio monitoring.I have found they do INCREDIBLY well in my home audio applications.These pair stay put and i take other Bag Ends out when i play music with the band that i am playing in.
As long as you don't have much in the way of WAF(which i don't at present) they are great because as you can see they are rather large.Either that or i need to find a wife that can appreciate the sound more then the aesthetic right?    Yeah good luck right ...hah.

But anyway had the opportunity to pop on some more music today and things sound marvelous still! Vinnie you mean it is going to keep getting better???     i will never be able to leave my place now thanks to you and this confounded lil black box of yours!!  aa 

[Vinnie R.]

But anyway had the opportunity to pop on some more music today and things sound marvelous still! Vinnie you mean it is going to keep getting better???     i will never be able to leave my place now thanks to you and this confounded lil black box of yours!! 

Hi Sigfreed,

Yes, keep on going!  Things will get more and more seductive!  aa

Cool listening room! 

Best regards,

Vinnie