Antique Sound Labs

reeltrouble1

So I am familiar with ASL products, their smaller mono blocks. Anybody use the Hurricanes?? I have read good things, the smaller ASL were good, thinking of some backup amps as well as building a speaker cabinet rig.

Anyway if you have used Hurricanes.....which ones as far as generation, areas of strength or concern......tubes used....speaker used.....related gear....synergy....

Although Max says Everything Matters and I agree I also now think.....

Everything is Everything.......

RT1

madmax

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

Although Max says Everything Matters and I agree I also now think.....

Everything is Everything.......

RT1

Grasshopper, you must also remember "Nothing Matters" and "Nothing is Everything" for they too are true statements in audio bliss.

dkg999

I asked my ASL headphone amp if it mattered, it said "not that much".

zingo

It does have balanced connections which is pretty awesome and rare.

organ

I don't think there is anyone in here who have heard them. Never seen a post on them.
I have come across posts about them on audioasylum.com That particular product has won numerous awards.

madmax

Never heard them. Might want to give a pair of these a try though.
http://www.transcendentsound.com/BeastOTL.htm

madmax

reeltrouble1

OTL's have potential for my rig, they do work well with capacitive loads no transformer no tranformer issues with the signal, many SL owners use the atma-sphere, lots of tubeiness, a bit short on looks, quite vaderish, well, I think I will pass on the ASL for now and just keep watching for something nice to hit on the used market........

RT1

george daniel

FWIW,, I only have personal experience with the small ASL monoblocks,,but they play alot bigger than they look,

reeltrouble1

yes, George I know those amps, ASL makes some very decent stuff......plays nice with Polk too, of course I need monsters for what I am doing and the Hurricanes are the only ones that can hope to do it, seen a couple of notes on biasing drift being a bit of a nusance with them.

RT1

zingo

Do you want monoblocks, or would a high powered integrated work also?

reeltrouble1

Sound Lab are noted as a "speaker from hell" as far as driving them they dip near short circiut I know of no owners using anything but mono blocks my 200 watt 75 ampre ss amp fell on its **** driving them. The big time Ayres do the job but too much dough for a back up the parasound JC1 are considered a adequate pair my Wolcotts are fine but they are presently not being made and replacement parts are limited. I would seriously question if an integrated could handle the speaker of course they sound magnifecent so it is worth it.

RT1

megasat16

Don't know about ASL amps but forget JC1 even if they can drive low impedance Sound Labs speakers. I bought JC2 pre for a while and quickly unloaded it.

For the money of JC1, there are better things out there unless you got a pair of JC1 reasonably cheap (I mean really cheap).

madmax

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

Sound Lab are noted as a "speaker from hell" as far as driving them they dip near short circiut I know of no owners using anything but mono blocks my 200 watt 75 ampre ss amp fell on its **** driving them. The big time Ayres do the job but too much dough for a back up the parasound JC1 are considered a adequate pair my Wolcotts are fine but they are presently not being made and replacement parts are limited. I would seriously question if an integrated could handle the speaker of course they sound magnifecent so it is worth it.

RT1

You need a big **** MF amplifier.

Face

madmax wrote: »

You need a big **** MF amplifier.

He already tried Musical Fidelity and they didn't work out for him.

How about an Ice amp?

Ricardo

Ted, just get them already:

heiney9

Ricardo wrote: »

Ted, just get them already:

I was going to mention those, but some here might think I'm a bit biased .

H9

megasat16

Face wrote: »

He already tried Musical Fidelity and they didn't work out for him.

How about an Ice amp?

ICE belongs to the refrigerator!

How about this? It is heavy enough to push LOW Z!

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1286038123&/Musical-Fidelity-Tri-Vista-kW-Monos

Ricardo

I heard Pass Labs is runnng a 15% discount if you use Paypal.

madmax

Face wrote: »

He already tried Musical Fidelity and they didn't work out for him.

I didn't know that! Hey RT, what was wrong with the MF sound?

Ricardo

I don't think he used MF amps, just the boosters or whatever they are called.

madmax

I just looked up the Sound Lab speakers. http://www.soundlab-speakers.com/products.htm
Could you find a lower efficiency speaker on the planet?

reeltrouble1

madmax wrote: »

I didn't know that! Hey RT, what was wrong with the MF sound?

the SL either put them into protect mode in short order depending on the disc or vinyl otherwise, they went into overheat after 20 minutes or so of normal volume......I could of fried eggs, bacon with a side grits on the top plates, they sputtered like a fat kid choking on chocalate.

never confuse effeciency with effectiveness Max.......

sorry brock but your babies cannot handle this speaker, fact is though ss amps really struggle with them, you need to stay pure class A for a loooooooong time to get them to sound right, the strain on the transistors just eats them up and with say a mid level amp they will just smoke them, so no knock on Pass or BAT etc. ss designs, nearly all SL owners use tube mono amps, sure a big Pass or the JC1 can drive them but your not going to get what your after.

But oh the sounds they make......tubes rule, these stats need fuel, to make me drool.

RT1

heiney9

No offense taken although you might be surprised what a pair of XA100.5's could muster since they play well into a dead short..

On a side note; Blake is vacillating back and forth about selling the BAT VK-60 mono's. He's a little tired of the tube ritual and he's had a couple small nagging issue's lately. Rich (scompracer) came into town on Sunday and brought his Sanders SS amp for Blake to hear in his rig and to shoot the breeze. It was a fun time and the Sanders is a very neutral sounding amp.

I had been suggesting to Blake if he liked the sound of tubes but w/o the ritual maybe look at a Pass X150.5 or X250.5. I decided to run home (10 minutes away) and get the Aleph 30 since his gear was already a part. We used the balanced connections and the BAT pre and holy crap did it sound like crap, it sounded completely sucked out in the middle and had some sort of phasey issue going on. No highs and sort of bloated bass. We both sat there silent. Myself trying to figure out why my baby sounded so awful. Blake was trying to figure out the most delicate way to approach the subject of why it sounded so poor.

We both remember when he bought the BAT pre-amp and brought it to my house to test it since he was moving at the time and the rest of his rig was torn down and packed away. We hooked it up and at the time we both commented how poor it sounded but we only ran thru the various functions and made sure it worked.

I ran home again and got my Adcom GFP-750 thinking it had to be a pre-amp issue. Sure enough the Aleph 30 and the BAT pre don't play well together, I assume because of some sort of impedance mis-match or something.

Hooked the Aleph up to the Adcom via the balanced cables and viola that sweet, sexy sound. Blake's room is pretty large and his speakers are a tad on the inefficient side and 30wpc was more than enough. Everything sounded fabulous.

We did some further experiments with the BAT VK-60's hooked to the Adcom and then back to the original set-up of all BAT including the pre. The Adcom GFP-750 held it's own against the BAT pre, but the BAT pre with the oil filled caps was a tad smoother and little more laid back w/a slightly mellower presentation.

In the end I felt the 120wpc VK-60's had very little on the Aleph 30. The bass had a bit better slam and control than the Aleph, but other than that they were very similar w/the VK60's ahving a more organic sound stage w/tubes. With the nod going to the VK-60's in the end.

The Aleph performed admirably as did the Adcom GFP-750.

Sorry for the long winded post.

2 points I'm trying to make is sometimes SYNERGY can be a **** and I think Blake realized after discussions with fellow audio guys (Rich and myself) and after hearing some other gear that he is re-energized with his main rig and will probably keep it together because it sounds so great.

Thanks for reading.

H9

madmax

I'm still thinking the Transcendent Beast...

megasat16

28 x 130W output trannies for one channel. It's not much compared to 56 x 150W output trannies from it's bigga brother.

Heard they eat 300b toobs for lunch.

SolidSqual

VTL Wotan MB-1250 Reference
The most powerful production tube amplifier ever made for the music lover. This VTL flagship product - Wotan MB-1250 - represents the pinnacle home audio system for audiophiles who truly seek for sound perfection. With 1250 Watts per channel in tetrode, or 600 Watts per channel in triode, the Wotan MB-1250 has the authority and reserve to deliver musicality, clarity and depth to satisfy the most demanding listener. Featuring twenty-four 6550 tubes per side, with three power supplies on a double-decked chassis, the 250-lb MB-1250 is safety tested for home use. Considered the Rolls-Royce of the VTL line, each pair of MB-1250 undergoes extensive testing hours in the VTL laboratory. To assure proper installation, each new pair of Wotan MB-1250 sold will come with the personal attention of VTL's President Luke Manley. Luke will custom install the MB-1250's for all new owners.

* 1250 watts (tetrode) per chassis.
* 250 lbs/115 kg, 20 x 20 x 21"/51 x 51 x 51cm.

Game Over.

megasat16

I don't mean offense to Pass cult follower but if I ever own another NP product, it'll only be Threshold SA12/e.

XA200.5 intrigues me but if I have a choice, I don't think twice and put my hands down the SA12/e.

reeltrouble1

madmax wrote: »

I'm still thinking the Transcendent Beast...

You may be right Max and they are reasonable and I would not have Sand in my Pants.......besides exploring OTL design a bit would be different. I have also found an OTL that has a transformer but is still technically considered an OTL......have not yet reseached to find the reason for the "technical" definition, but sheeesh talk about spin.

I do know one SL owner who uses the Sanders, they can handle the load, wonder if Richie will come South...damm Yankee.

The VTL 450's are a preferred amplifier, so hell yea wonton's, now were talking, except we are a very long way from the ASL Hurricanes and remember I did say backup amps, afterall, the Wolcott's are wonderful and the overall preferred amp for many, I will keep mine going as long as possible.

A bit of a funny one, a fellow, new one post, perhaps a wandering troll, perhaps not, but really at SL level??, posted up there asking if an Emo would be a good match for SL.......the post simply remains unanswered, as no one on the site will even acknowledge them or the poster, well, I guess it is an answer it a sort of way.

So my Sandy friends if you care to explore capacitive vs reactive loads and the related path which follows, a major reason most use the firebottles, but of course should you enjoy that ear bleeding course grating sound........... keep trying, tube amps sound like tube amps.

I am RT1.

megasat16

A wanderer; a ghost perhaps; or a passing star; for sure Galallio was called worse.

But that circuit is too good for a EMO boat anchor.

Story told among sand islander for thousands of years. Long ago, all explores down the rabbit holes, some falls into the darkest pits of the unknown, fire bottles in their hands and crawling down the darkest path. While some decides to stay where they feel safer, others decide to descend into the deeper. But one thing they ensure, their fire bottles remain lit all these years. Time passed by and settlers are now gone but fire bottles been passed onto to their young ones....who now called them toobs and a saviour for it's light shone upon them. But some sees the glows as a fear, while others see it's magic in the color. Thanks to those who feared toobs climbed back up for the daylight, to tell the story once more. While some ascend the rabbit holes, others descend into deeper pits rolling different old NOS toobs...only to find the lights twisted in it's bliss....So, it goes...Some care what they hears, some care what they see...

Toobs....Thomas Edison made it, Audiophiles perfected it!

Don't get mad. Don't get mad if the toobs don't shine. Up the Bias a little and let it shine...let it shine...

Back to the regularly scheduled ASL program....

reeltrouble1

good to see you mega, thought you might of been smothered whilst building a sand castle.

RT1

SolidSqual

What about a pair of Rogue Audio Apollos.


I've heard these on a set of Dynaudio speakers. The bass was bold and tight and the midrange was fluid. Check them out for around $10k.

Every Rogue product I have ever heard sounds bigger than it is. The products are always made for rockin' out hard.