[kirch]

Put the Wyred 4 Sound ST-500 into the system today. Not surprisingly, it sounds pretty different from the BAT monos!  Had borrowed a friends ML-11 to get used to solid state again.

This was a dealer demo I bought essentially new on AGon with supposedly less than 200 hours on it.

Initial impressions?  Very nice high end with no grain or harshness. I suspect the Audible Illusions tube preamp is helping out there.  Midrange will take some getting used to. Not as nice as the tube amps, but I expected that. You can't replace 10K tube amps with a $1500 ss unit and realistically expect the same level of quality. That being said, Miles Davis "Seven Steps to Heaven" is sounding very very fine.  I'm expecting my ears to adapt to the sound and/or the amp to sweeten up a bit with time or a combination of the two. 

The amp is dead quiet. Separation and soundstage is pretty nice so far. Good tight low end too. Looking forward to spending more time with it.  Plus I'll be adding different speakers in a week or so. Still have the stereo version of the VK 60, so I can always plug that baby back in too.

I'll post again if anyone's interested.  Actually, even if you're not!  .

See some of you downtown in a few weeks.

[kirch]

Been listening a number of hours today. The ST500 definitely loves jazz. Miles, John McLaughlin (acoustic), Coltrane, all sounded wonderful. To my ears, solid state is tough on the ears with trumpets and saxes. This one's not. And by a long shot. Even with the volume up quite a bit and there is no difficulty in listening.  It's a pleasant surprise.

My one foray into classical thus far - a John Adams piece, was very natural sounding. Not quite tube-like but not like the solid state sound I anticipated.  This amp/preamp combo is very easy and fun to listen to.

More to come. The wife is out most of the day tomorrow! 

[Scott F.]

Interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing it. Just guessing, after it's been running for 3-4 days, it will finally open up completely and sound pretty good. As you said, the BAT front end should really warm things up.

[kirch]

More Wyred observations. The demo unit I purchased supposedly had less than 200 hours on it and was told to expect further improvement in sound within another 100 hours or so.  Seems to be the case.

Gotta say it's sounding really nice today. Listening to Wired (coincidentally) from Jeff Beck on CD thru a modded Denon and it's really, really enjoyable even at what I consider high volume. Clean and crisp but not harsh with a very satisfying low end. His guitar is nicely centered a couple feet out in front of the speakers. 

Joshua Redman's "Wish" CD, a warm, well-recorded session, also sounded right on what I was used to, and expected to hear.  Plus the couple of live cuts at the end were especially realistic.  Felt like I was there in the venue with them.  So far I'm really happy with the ST-500. It's living up to the reviews!

On a side note about cabling, I moved all my equipment but the amp, off the stand on the floor between the speakers and into a built in cabinet here in my living room, so now it's just the speakers and the amp out in e room, with a long run from the amp to the preamp.  Talked with Scott about long runs of speaker cable but I wasn't happy with the sound.  Since I have balanced inputs, he suggested long mic cables.  Went over to pro sound in Maplewood and picked up a couple cheapie 50 footers and hooked them up. Dramatically better sound than the long speaker wire runs. Frankly I really only need about 35' runs but they only come in 25 or 50'.

Ordered some top of the line Mogami gold studio balanced from Musicians Friend. Theoretically, those should sound better. And I can use the others as backups in my studio.

[Scott F.]

Happy to hear it all came together so well    Can't wait to hear it

[baumer]

I'm glad you're enjoying the ST-500. I've been running one with a DAC-2 for a few months now and really enjoy it as well.

Is the Jeff Beck you're listening to the "Live at Ronnie Scotts" CD? That sounds absolutely amazing on my system!

Doug

[kirch]

No, but I have that one.  Gotta check it out again!

[kirch]

One more note to add, as if anyone gives a rat's ass - while the imaging is really nice, the highs aren't quite what they should be, still somewhat veiled especially for a solid state amp.  Awaiting the better Mogami balanced long runs, on back order, expected in a week.  If they don't improve the sound, my experiment of getting the sources out of sight will have to come to an end, much to Betsy's consternation.

By the way, delivery of the Von Schweikert VR-33s is Monday.

[Vapor Audio]

One more note to add, as if anyone gives a rat's ass - while the imaging is really nice, the highs aren't quite what they should be, still somewhat veiled especially for a solid state amp.  Awaiting the better Mogami balanced long runs, on back order, expected in a week.  If they don't improve the sound, my experiment of getting the sources out of sight will have to come to an end, much to Betsy's consternation.

By the way, delivery of the Von Schweikert VR-33s is Monday.

Sorry to tell you but that 'somewhat veiled' sound to the top octaves is a common trait of all ICE amps.  I've owned just about every ICE amp out there, and they all have it ... just a lack of air and sparkle up top.  Having speakers with the RAAL tweeter makes it really obvious too.  And when you look at the B&O spec sheets, it's clear in their data why the top octaves are somewhat recessed. 

In the end it's that lack of presence/air/sparkle up top, whatever you want to call it, that made me look elsewhere for amplification. 

[kirch]

Interesting Turbo - I listened to this amp at Kents place before I purchased one and didn't detect anything like the slightly veiled highs I mentioned. Of course we were listening thru his Maggies, and the highs, mids and imaging were nothing short of amazing.  And frankly with the new vr33s, I don't notice it as much.  Overall I'd say it's a surprisingly pleasant "warm" sound, not totally unlike tubes, but not quite. And I've spent a lot of time listening the past couple of weeks both with the old speakers and now with the new ones. Maybe it's that "air" that, as a tube guy, I'm missing.

So, what did you end up going with?  Solid state or tubes?  And which maker?

I'm going to get out the VK-60 when time allows and listen for the difference. I'll assume a different quality though. I just want to move away from tubes for a while. Bit of a hassle for me. Still have four in the preamp, but those don't seem to be as big a pain as the power tubes.

[MerRev]

interesting thread Kirch and Turbo.  Can't wait to hear Kent's Maggies as well as your VR-33's.  It looks like your Von's won't need a lot of power based on their Vortex First Order design.  I had no idea the quality of parts used in the crossover there until today.  Note to self- must stay away.   

[Vapor Audio]

I personally wouldn't call the ICE house sound veiled up top, just a bit recessed.  Which leads to them lacking that 'presence', the real reach out and grab you attention getting sound.  What ICE does well is great bass control with a very fluid midrange, they're easy to listen to for a long time, and have a pitch black background that can give a deep soundstage with good detail recovery.  The only amp I've heard in the under $2000 range that beats my big ICE amp, not just a tit for tat list of tradeoffs, is the Cambridge 840W.  Basically in their price range, the ICE stuff is pretty close to the top of the food chain.

Right now I'm trying out as many amps as I can get my hands on, but I'm leaning towards tubes actually.  I have a couple tube integrateds here that are incredible, an Ekco EV55 and Eastern Electric M88.   I also bought Tims Electrocompaniet, but it's biasing is off so I can't make a judgement with it yet. 

Hey Mer - you know the 1st order crossover means at most .2-.3% less insertion losses.  If anything I'd have to speculate that the VR33 would need some decent current to keep them under control.  I haven't seen an impedance/phase sweep for them, but the woofer must be a 4ohm driver to match up with the dual mids ... and crossed over as low as they say likely leads to very low impedance and phase angle changes in the mid-bass region.  The ICE amp won't have any problem with it though.  I used one of mine for about a year running 4 15" woofers in parallel (2 per channel), about a 1.5ohm load.  It got warm, but never had a problem. 

[kirch]

Hooked up the 85 pound tube amp monster, and honestly aside from more bloom in the low end and a touch more liquid in the mids, I can't say there is much difference. They each have their nuances sure, but honestly, they both sound terrific.

Gotta say though "Ah Um" sound a pretty amazing thru the W4S. Excellent definition of individual instruments. I'm sure a lot of it is the speakers, but I'm happy with the sound. Classical can be startling at times in how realistic it is. Again, I'm sure it's the speakers more so than the amp.

Keeping both amps out and will jump back and forth as the spirit moves me.

Hope to see you guys a week from Saturday downtown.

[roscoeiii]

Look forward to more impressions, and can't wait to hear how the VR-33s sound compared to other speakers you've had too...

[Vapor Audio]

Hooked up the 85 pound tube amp monster, and honestly aside from more bloom in the low end and a touch more liquid in the mids, I can't say there is much difference. They each have their nuances sure, but honestly, they both sound terrific.

I've been very happy with mine for a long time, and have no plans to sell them.  They are great amps, and with most speakers their small shortcomings are hard to even notice ... just that my speakers with the RAAL tweeter, it's much more obvious.  Keep enjoying it!  The light weight and lower power consumption are a big bonus, especially compared to your BAT monos. 

[kirch]

I expect so see a dramatic decrease in my electric bill!  Ran those monos a number of hours most days.

Another note about the Vr33s - Albert talked to me about "a wall of sound".  He's right.  It's just kinda coming from "over there", vs. "from right there" (specifically), if you know what I mean.  Pretty much outta nowhere and everywhere . . Over my head, behind me, hovering in front of me . . .  And no, I'm not on any meds 

[WarriorAnt]

Any further thoughts on the W4S ST-500?  I'm thinking of either an ST 250 or the ST 500 for a pair of Gallo Stradas.