Amp for HT2-TL

charmerci · « **Reply #40 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 07:04 pm »

Quote from: coke on 28 Oct 2009, 04:25 pm

Just got off the phone with Frank.

Ultra 550 amp and Ultra SL preamp ordered.

You'll very happy you did! (He says gritting his teeth in envy.

)

Nuance · « **Reply #41 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 09:58 pm »

Congrats coke. Enjoy!

Wayner · « **Reply #42 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 10:12 pm »

We ran the HT2-TLs with the 550 at RMAF, but I think it was the double (not sure if Jim had the upgrade, but probably). Anyway, more then enough power to make these speakers take you to that "next level".

Wayner

K Shep · « **Reply #43 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 10:14 pm »

Quote from: coke on 28 Oct 2009, 04:48 pm

Quote from: DMurphy on 28 Oct 2009, 04:29 pm
Quote from: coke on 28 Oct 2009, 04:25 pm
Just got off the phone with Fank.

Wait until Frank hears about this.

DMurphy as you may know is the crossover designer for Salk speakers (I think that is Dennis title, please correct me if I am wrong). Actually I don't want to speak for Dennis so perhaps he will explain.

Dennis Murphy is also one of the funniest guys on this site and our resident late night phantom poster.

Nuance · « **Reply #44 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 10:29 pm »

I got Dennis' joke - very funny!

Wayner · « **Reply #45 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 10:31 pm »

Dennis is a very fun guy! i enjoyed several meals with him, Jim, Mary, Frank and Oneinthepipe at RMAF over the weekend. Good stories and great company! He is a very talented person, very tuned to his craft and driven by a passion. That is what makes him excellent at what he does and compliments Jim's efforts at building top quality speakers at affordable prices.

Wayner

DMurphy · « **Reply #46 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 10:50 pm »

Whoa--I didn't expect a silly little post to set off such shock waves. Anyhow, Wayner's the fun guy--particularly when he closes down the bar at the Denver Tech Center Marriott. I don't have a title, other than dismissive ones. I design most of the crossovers for Jim, but Jeff Bagby has done the high sensitivity, open back designs. Uh, there isn't any guy named Fank in Minnessota............is there?

s_cervin · « **Reply #47 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 11:29 pm »

Pete (Big Red) has a lot of expereince in switching out amps. I too am looking into new amps for my HT-3's.

The AVA stuff sounds great, but to be honest it is not eye candy. Give me the sound of AVA and looks of Belles, Rowland, or Bel Canto and I'm in. I know it is all about the sound, but then why do we go and hunt for exotic finishes? If it were ALL about sound Jim would just ship raw MDF cabinets.

Wondering if anyone has any experience with Bel Canto Ref1000 MKII's? I'm currently using an Odyssey Stratos Stereo Extreme SE+ (made before the famous glass ceiling model). I'm looking for a little more power and would like to take advantage of the high power - low heat class D if they sound good. I've heard the Wyred's, but not in my room.

Looking at the following:
Odyssey mono extreme SE
Rowland Model 8T
Belles 350ref
Bel Canto ref1000 MKII

Looking to go fully balanced if possible to mate with a Rowland Capri or BAT pre.

zybar · « **Reply #48 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 01:21 am »

Quote from: s_cervin on 28 Oct 2009, 11:29 pm

Pete (Big Red) has a lot of expereince in switching out amps. I too am looking into new amps for my HT-3's.

The AVA stuff sounds great, but to be honest it is not eye candy. Give me the sound of AVA and looks of Belles, Rowland, or Bel Canto and I'm in. I know it is all about the sound, but then why do we go and hunt for exotic finishes? If it were ALL about sound Jim would just ship raw MDF cabinets.

Wondering if anyone has any experience with Bel Canto Ref1000 MKII's? I'm currently using an Odyssey Stratos Stereo Extreme SE+ (made before the famous glass ceiling model). I'm looking for a little more power and would like to take advantage of the high power - low heat class D if they sound good. I've heard the Wyred's, but not in my room.

Looking at the following:
Odyssey mono extreme SE
Rowland Model 8T
Belles 350ref
Bel Canto ref1000 MKII

Looking to go fully balanced if possible to mate with a Rowland Capri or BAT pre.

Add the Channel Island Audio D-200's or D-500's to your list.

I tried the original D-200's with the HT3's and thought they were quite good for Class D.

George

srb · « **Reply #49 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 02:19 am »

If you like eye candy, you probably don't like the Wyred4Sound amps either.

Virtue Audio has just come out with their B&O ASP-500 based monoblocks called the ICEBlock M5001.

They are built in their new "Melissa" machined aluminum enclosure, customizable with your choice of aluminum side panels, faceplates, buttons and top panels in beautiful exotic woods. Eye candy.

They are $2K/pair (reasonable), but for the month of October (I know, another 3 days!) you can get 15% off the pair, and they have a 30 day (from ship date) money-back guarantee.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=72853.0

http://store.virtueaudio.com/product-p/vrtu-ma-ibm5001-pbf-1.htm

Steve

coke · « **Reply #50 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 03:20 am »

Quote from: srb on 29 Oct 2009, 02:19 am

If you like eye candy, you probably don't like the Wyred4Sound amps either.

Virtue Audio has just come out with their B&O ASP-500 based monoblocks called the ICEBlock M5001.

They are built in their new "Melissa" machined aluminum enclosure, customizable with your choice of aluminum side panels, faceplates, buttons and top panels in beautiful exotic woods. Eye candy.

They are $2K/pair (reasonable), but for the month of October (I know, another 3 days!) you can get 15% off the pair, and they have a 30 day (from ship date) money-back guarantee.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=72853.0

http://store.virtueaudio.com/product-p/vrtu-ma-ibm5001-pbf-1.htm

Steve

Imagine buying an amp like that and then matching it to salk speakers using the same veneer.

newzooreview · « **Reply #51 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 10:14 am »

I have the Wyred4Sound STI-1000 integrated. 570 watts/channel into 8 Ohms, doubles to 1140 into 4 Ohms, 60.4 kOhms input impedance, resistive ladder volume control (very precise and doesn't degrade the sound quality), full remote (including balance and absolute phase adjustment), HT bypass, subwoofer outputs (volume controlled), balanced inputs, programmable names for each input (mine says "PS Audio DL III" when I have my DAC selected). Built like a tank and runs cool (80% efficient).

The black model really blends in unobtrusively, but if you really wanted to do something cool you could put it behind a piece of smoked glass. The blue display has a couple of dimmer setting (and can be turned off), but on the brightest setting it would shine through the smoked glass so you could see the source name and volume floating cleanly behind the glass (and the rest of the amp would be hidden).

For all of its power, the STI plays very nicely at low volume and the volume control is very well incremented so going from quiet background to full concert volume is not a problem.

I'm sold on the convenience, sound quality, U.S. tank-like construction, excellent service and support, and a terrific price.

[Nothing against the AVA equipment either. I heard it at Dennis Murphy's house, and it is terrific also. I'm a little bit addicted to the convenience of the STI however (more is controllable by remote, smaller form factor and runs really cool so it's easier to place).]

Wayner · « **Reply #52 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 11:42 am »

Quote from: DMurphy on 28 Oct 2009, 10:50 pm

Whoa--I didn't expect a silly little post to set off such shock waves. Anyhow, Wayner's the fun guy--particularly when he closes down the bar at the Denver Tech Center Marriott. I don't have a title, other than dismissive ones. I design most of the crossovers for Jim, but Jeff Bagby has done the high sensitivity, open back designs. Uh, there isn't any guy named Fank in Minnessota............is there?

I would have sat out in the parking lot all night with the company I had in my keep on Friday night, with Paul, Ed Cramer, Oneinthepipe and another guy who's name has since, slipped my mind. Also met Twitch54, Lonewolf and a couple of boys from the MartinLogan forum.

Wayner

avahifi · « **Reply #53 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 02:19 pm »

S_cervin, how much more would you pay for an AVA amplifier option of an inch thick ingraved faceplate?

My anodizer could even do one in color with a high res portrait of my face on the faceplate.

Or even a photo of a Minnesota fishing lake, or an Elvis picture with huge dark eyes. What do you need to keep you happy and how much extra would you pay? $200, $500? We can do it if there is a real demand.

I guess our problem is that we think the goal is the music. Yes, I own a Rolex, actually three of them

I know a $10 Timex keeps better time, but they are jewelry, the only jewelry I own, and I don't really care if they keep exact time or not. But with audio components, I much more care for them keeping sound than looking great, and would rather charge my clients for the sound quality rather than more money for the jewelry aspect too. My advice, save your jewelry money for the Rolexes.

By the way, if Jim Salk offered the HT3s in unfinished external grade plywood for half price, I bet he would have lots of sales of them. Black paint and sticky back wood grain vinyl wrap is cheep.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

coke · « **Reply #54 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 02:29 pm »

I actually prefer the look of AVA amps over a lot of others. The fewer lights, and things to catch my attention, the better.

Nuance · « **Reply #55 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 06:26 pm »

^ I agree on the "fewer lights" part. Those things are just distracting IMO. I buy solely based on sound quality performance and the features I need.

srb · « **Reply #56 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 06:43 pm »

Quote from: Nuance on 29 Oct 2009, 06:26 pm

^ I agree on the "fewer lights" part. Those things are just distracting IMO.

A tiny LED, just bright enough to see that it's on, is my preference over bright LEDs or a large lit switch.

I really like the tiny dim LED on my AR amp. It's red in standby and turns green when on. Of course the AVA amps don't have 12V triggers, which is a very desireable feature to some, but unimportant or unnecessary to others.

Steve

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #57 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 07:16 pm »

Quote from: s_cervin on 28 Oct 2009, 11:29 pm

Pete (Big Red) has a lot of expereince in switching out amps. I too am looking into new amps for my HT-3's.

The AVA stuff sounds great, but to be honest it is not eye candy. Give me the sound of AVA and looks of Belles, Rowland, or Bel Canto and I'm in. I know it is all about the sound, but then why do we go and hunt for exotic finishes? If it were ALL about sound Jim would just ship raw MDF cabinets.

Wondering if anyone has any experience with Bel Canto Ref1000 MKII's? I'm currently using an Odyssey Stratos Stereo Extreme SE+ (made before the famous glass ceiling model). I'm looking for a little more power and would like to take advantage of the high power - low heat class D if they sound good. I've heard the Wyred's, but not in my room.

Looking at the following:
Odyssey mono extreme SE
Rowland Model 8T
Belles 350ref
Bel Canto ref1000 MKII

Looking to go fully balanced if possible to mate with a Rowland Capri or BAT pre.

Scotty, tubes baby, tubes!!

K Shep · « **Reply #58 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 08:56 pm »

My first visit with AVA gear was this week, vintagebob's AVA Insight Double 240/3, Insight DAC and Insight EC Preamp. I fall on the side of better sound less bling. Oh wait a minute...please don't look at my equipment

.

Seriously, AVA gear is built very well and it looks like it.

funkmonkey · « **Reply #59 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 11:42 pm »

Frank- while agree with you about the music coming first, and I also agree with the other posters about "less" bling, I do feel strongly that the look of audio equipment is important. I've seen some blurry trade show pictures with what look like more current faceplates on some AVA gear, and from what I can tell they look much better than the old ones. Too bad your website doesn't show them, and I have not been able to find a better shot. On the other hand, I think that the new tube amp is beautiful, and an excellent example of form following function (couldn't find that on your web site either). Bottom line is that I probably would have bought one of your amps for my HT3s if they looked nicer. As it is, I bought something else (Parasound A51) because it sits in my living room, in plain sight of my wife and I. So while not the most important factor, what a product visually looks like is indeed important.

I came across a quote the other day and I think it rings true and perhaps defines "good" design:
"It must be useful. It must work dependably. It must be beautiful. It must last. It must be the best of its kind." -alfred dunhill

Cheers,
Greg