I am thinking about some solid state monoblocks

polkfarmboy

Well I love my primaluna tube mono's but I think I am going to get rid of them as my Martin Logans are power hungnry monsters and the pro 6's just cant keep up. I do not need 500w MCintosh monos but something under round about 2k thats going to double down and have a very neutral sound to them as I would maybe like to add a tube pre in future

Any suggestions?

nooshinjohn

Sunfire TGA 7400 on Ebay right now would do nicely. You can wire it up to pull 1600wpc @4 ohm and bi-amp from it. You can thank me later.

If your Logans are 8 ohm, you will see 800wpc...

polkfarmboy

I was checking that out but are the sunfires a warmer type of amp? I have never heard one personally but have heard that mentioned

I kinda want to stick to the monoblocks as I can run shorter speaker cables and like the clean sound mono's give with the dedicated power supplys

BlueFox

Find a used pair of Cambridge-Audio 840W amps. In mono mode they are 800W/ch @ 4 ohm. That is what I had before the Pass amps, and they do sound very good. I am moving mine into the HT to drive the fronts, which will be great for movies, and better for music.

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/products/azur-840w-power-amplifier

bobsauto49

Me too! Kinda like Phil's d-sonic mono blocks! 1000w of power! At a price new,thats hard to walk away from!
Had to throw that in there! Needed to get off that previous post count:evil: :eek:

Ricardo

Monarchy.

SCompRacer

While not mono blocks, I suggest watching for a used Innersound ESL MK II Stereo amplifier. They pop up for sale often enough and are not bothered by the capacitive load your ESL’s will throw at it. Rated at 600 @ 4, stable to below 2 Ohms IIRC. It is based on an improved Coda design and has balanced and RCA inputs.

The earlier MK I ESL amp while rated at the same power had a different feedback design and plastic binding posts. The MK II can be quickly ID'd by the real nice quality WBT binding posts. You can read about the differences here. http://www.audiophilia.com/hardware/ma4.htm IMO a MK I ESL amp isn’t worth $1500 used while the MK II is.

The Innersound ESL amps originally retailed for $3K, used goes ~$1500. Some folks will use the current Sanders retail price of $4K to try and eek more out of it. I've tried many different amps on my ESL's and the Innersound/Sanders are tough to beat. Some of the folks over at the ML forum use the Innersound or Sanders stereo and mono block amps and have a high regard for them.

pearsall001

bobsauto49 wrote: »

Me too! Kinda like Phil's d-sonic mono blocks! 1000w of power! At a price new,thats hard to walk away from!
Had to throw that in there! Needed to get off that previous post count:evil: :eek:

Too funny Bob!!!! But for sure these guys would literally transform the above mentioned Martin Logan's...at 600w/8ohm, 1200w/4ohm & tipping the scales at 2000w dynamic power when called for. Extremely neutral all across the board & quiet as a church mouse. Huge soundstage, pinpoint imaging, nimble as a house cat & explosive as a cheetah, simply amazing. And they mate exceptionally well with tube pre's, a match made in heaven. Don't ever under estimate the need for good, clean, power!!!

Face

Check out Wyred 4 Sound's monos. IMO, they're dead neutral, have excellent bass control, double down into 4ohm(stable down to 2ohm) and really don't do anything wrong.

Moose68Bash

I'm very happy with my Perreaux Prisma 750 monoblocks.

They are worth a look.

polkfarmboy

Face wrote: »

Check out Wyred 4 Sound's monos. IMO, they're dead neutral, have excellent bass control, double down into 4ohm(stable down to 2ohm) and really don't do anything wrong.

I am reading about w4s right now but have heard diff conflicting opinions on the highs. Some say they are slightly subdued and others are saying they are extremely transparent and airy

SCompRacer

polkfarmboy wrote: »

I am reading about w4s right now but have heard diff conflicting opinions on the highs. Some say they are slightly subdued and others are saying they are extremely transparent and airy

Anyone over at the ML forum running Class D's? Also wonder if the capacitive load ESL panels present would trigger protection circuitry. Resistive loads in conventional speakers are much easier to drive. The Innersound/Sanders can kick out 2000 volt-amps per channel into an ESL which acts like a conventional amp rated at more than 1000 watts per channel. So I'm not buying into Class D transforming an ESL panel unless it is severely under powered to begin with.

polkfarmboy

Well a newbie over on the ML forum bought a magazine reviews w4s integrated unit for his Ethos and they dip much lower in the ohms than my Vista. He bough a krell amp and a few others including a tube int before finally receiving the W4S and he was blown away. He was saying that only the w4s opened up the top end of his panels with detail

I am thinking that I will miss the tubes so maybe some w4s mono's and a dared mc7 pre would be good. There is a mc7 on the gon but its got a nasty scratch for $650 but I would rather spend more for unit in good condition

SCompRacer

polkfarmboy wrote: »

....He was saying that only the w4s opened up the top end of his panels with detail

I am thinking that I will miss the tubes so maybe some w4s mono's and a dared mc7 pre would be good.

Well thats a good thing. No use you being the tester.:cheesygrin: And Wyred has a trial period too, right? IIRC so does D-Sonic.

I've been where you are at. I'm all SS now, including phono stage, and don't miss tubes at all. IMO ESL's handle all SS better than some conventional speakers.

EDIT: I should add my phono and pre amp are jfet designs and my digital is discrete output, no op amps.

nooshinjohn

Classe is another brand to look at IMHO...

headrott

SCompRacer wrote: »

Well thats a good thing. No use you being the tester.:cheesygrin: And Wyred has a trial period too, right? IIRC so does D-Sonic.

I've been where you are at. I'm all SS now, including phono stage, and don't miss tubes at all. IMO ESL's handle all SS better than some conventional speakers.

EDIT: I should add my phono and pre amp are jfet designs and my digital is discrete output, no op amps.

I don't know Rich. I would miss tubes if I got rid of all of them..... SS has it's positives, but good Lord so do tubes. I can't imagine a system without tubes in it somewhere.

To polkfarmboy: IMO, keep some tubes in there somewhere....

SCompRacer

headrott wrote: »

I don't know Rich. I would miss tubes if I got rid of all of them..... SS has it's positives, but good Lord so do tubes. I can't imagine a system without tubes in it somewhere.

To polkfarmboy: IMO, keep some tubes in there somewhere....

I've been all SS, all tube, SS pre w/tube amp, tube pre w/SS amp, tube and SS CD/SACD/DAC, tube and SS phono, jfet and regular transistor design with regular and ESL speakers. I've had tube gear with audible second order distortion and with inaudible or very little distortion. I've even had some tube gear tested on a spectrum analyzer where it shows the type(s) and amounts of distortion throughout the entire audio frequency range; a nice visual graph to associate with the hearing part. So it isn't like I haven't got some background in my decision. Trust me Greg, it isn't that bad here.:cheesygrin:

Also, back in 2011 one of the better sytems I've ever heard used eight Acoustic Reality ICEPower amps to power a pair of $150K Magico four ways. The technology is getting even better.

bobsauto49

I'm Perfectly happy with my Martin Logan set up! Tube pre,solid-state beast amp,problem is I just wonder what more raw power will sound like! And it's not a problem,it's just pure curiosity;-) Class D amps just got me wondering?

tonyb

I would give those D-Sonics a tussle....you'd have no problem flipping them if you didn't like either.

ZLTFUL

Might I suggest a nice pair of custom built nooshinjohn Carver Signature Monoblocks? (Pimpin' John...it's what I do... :cheesygrin:)

Irrenhaus

Hey how about a pair of Adcoms 565. I was thinking of getting a pair of the Prima 6's for my Linns I think they will do great so let me know when you want to move them.

Cheers

ZLTFUL

I actually have a line on pair of 565s local for $800...

Dawgfish

Dibs on the PrimaLuna monoblocks. ;-)

Polkie2009

tonyb wrote: »

I would give those D-Sonics a tussle....you'd have no problem flipping them if you didn't like either.

+1, give Dennis a call with D-Sonic. He's a great guy and won't steer you wrong. He will fix you up with some sweet mono amps.

polkfarmboy

Well I went ahead and bought some wyred4sound sx500 mono's just to find out how they sound compared to the primaluna's. I don't iknow what ice power stereo equipment sounds like so I figure the sx500's are the cheapest way to find out.

I am in two minds about the Dared mc7 as I was reading about it on this forum and the mods that need done to the caps etc is way out of my skill set. Add to the fact that I would need to throw in another pair of platinum eclipse to the pre from the Dac plus another pricey power cord and it gets costly.

Right now though I will just run 1 pair of platinum between the perfectwave dac/pre and the sx500 and see how it sounds. I am a little excited after all the reviews about them I have read and it may bring out the full potential of the electrostats extended highs it can muster up with the right track. If these do not work out then I may get some different speakers like some Mordaunt short performance 6's as I never forget the time I got a listen to them

Dawgfish

Another speaker that I would look at since you like the ES, panel type sound are ZU audio, specifically http://www.zuaudio.com/#omen-def-1b-loudspeaker.php

I used to own some Martin Logan Sequel IIs and currently have a set of Maggies. The ZUs are very quick and sound more like ES and/or panels than they do other box type speakers with very quick transients and an open sound. The cool things about the ZUs are they are much easier to drive than any ES or panel, and are much more dynamic. You also have more flexibility in set-up/placement. I can tell you for a fact that ZUs sound wonderful with PrimaLumas and may be worth trying out.

polkfarmboy

Well a friend of mine just came round and took away my primaluna's so I wont be able to try that. I would have offered you guyson the forum dibs on the primalunas but I could not have offered a good enough price and shipping is a killer too so off they went, plus I can still go round to his place and listen to them. I can see a poker game coming up where we both put our mono's on the table

Systems

Not downgrading Wyred amps at all, in any way, actually the opposite, and considering their liberal return policy, I can see the "No Brainer" involved.
But I will mention you are pretty quick to act PFB when you decide to change something.

Nothing wrong with that, but would mention, judging from your equipment, you might be in this hobby for sometime.:cheesygrin:

Therefore, it may be a good idea, to get a plan together to possibly hear some in your system first.
If you are like me, there is not much of a chance to do that as a result of my location.:evil:

You may have some other audiophiles around you that you are not aware of (as I found out today for myself, again, locally), and can have a "get together" at your place and theirs and try different amps with your speakers.

You never really know until you look.
I have found so many audiophiles locally, by selling on CL recently, that we are actually talking about having some "get togethers" locally, which I would never have dreamed of just a year ago.

polkfarmboy

Well variety is the spice of life, part of the fun is changing out gear etc. I think the audiophiles in ND would really annoy me by saying things like 'ohh jeez thats nice range' 'Oh heck ya' ' you betcha' 'Thats soo transparent don't cha know'

I think the wireworld eclipse speaker cables I have are nice and at retail they are around $800 but I think I might need something more uppedy

headrott

SCompRacer wrote: »

I've been all SS, all tube, SS pre w/tube amp, tube pre w/SS amp, tube and SS CD/SACD/DAC, tube and SS phono, jfet and regular transistor design with regular and ESL speakers. I've had tube gear with audible second order distortion and with inaudible or very little distortion. I've even had some tube gear tested on a spectrum analyzer where it shows the type(s) and amounts of distortion throughout the entire audio frequency range; a nice visual graph to associate with the hearing part. So it isn't like I haven't got some background in my decision. Trust me Greg, it isn't that bad here.:cheesygrin:

Also, back in 2011 one of the better sytems I've ever heard used eight Acoustic Reality ICEPower amps to power a pair of $150K Magico four ways. The technology is getting even better.

I wasn't implying that you don't have experience with/without SS and tubes Rich; sorry if you thought that. I remember some of the gear you had/have. We all know we have different tastes for each of us. It sounds like you've found yours Rich, congratulations. I guess (according to some) I am "old school" and like vintage tubes to attain my sound. And what great sound it is.

I will say to polkfarmboy that tubed gear needs to have the appropriate tubes based upon the piece of gear. There is a tube for every piece of gear to make it sound it's best. The key is finding that tube (not type of course although it could be a variation of a tube type, but manufacturer and year, plate structure, and getter type). Again, this is my opinion based upon having all SS, all tube and a mixture of each. So far, I prefer the mixture of tube and SS. I receommned a tube Pre-amp and a SS amp (as you thought polkfarmboy). Gte the "right" tubes for the pre however. Also, a tube CD player and/or DAC would be nice too.

Systems

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Well variety is the spice of life, part of the fun is changing out gear etc. I think the audiophiles in ND would really annoy me by saying things like 'ohh jeez thats nice range' 'Oh heck ya' ' you betcha' 'Thats soo transparent don't cha know'

As long as you don't try to hook up speaker cables with banana plugs, I think you would be alright!

Actually, I was commenting more to the fact of exchanging ideas, as to the best they may have heard in the past or present, and possibly offering physical examples of such.
I have found that audiophiles only have on hand at any given time, some of the best they have heard.