Legacy Focus 20/20 and Butler 2250 amp

tonyb

nbrowser wrote: »

DSkip wrote: »

He's a monoprice kind of guy.

Them's fightin werds eh!

Indeed they are...lol, anyone who knows me knows my distain for Monoprice.

vmoreno74

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the cable info. I sent you a PM.

Hoping the system allowed my account to deliver it to your inbox.

Thanks!

tonyb

Speakers sold and delivered this morning. Thanks to vmoreno74 for a clean no hassle transaction. Take care of my babies.

rooftop59

Well congrats on the sale @tonyb. Hope things are looking up for you very soon.

vmoreno74

I will Tony! Thanks for the help loading them into my car. You are indeed a great guy!

Forgot to ask, did you use any specific product to clean the wood or a towel and water was enough?

Thanks again!

tonyb

You can use any furniture polish but not the ones with heavy chemicals. Usually the better products are safer. Lemon oil makes them shine but it isn't the best for the finish. Just a damp rag around the drivers to keep dust off.

Did your wife crap her pants when she saw them ?

tonyb

I should rephrase that, normally if a cleaner/polish is good for fine furniture, it should be ok for speakers. I used weinmans once in a while. I also never kept them in direct sunlight. If you let sun light hit them daily you'll definitely start seeing fading on the finish.

I also had rules, for the wife....nothing goes on top of the speakers. Women love to put stuff on open spaces, flowers/pictures/etc. No drinks, no kids throwing toys around are allowed in the same room. Nobody was allowed to control the volume dial either but myself. You have to be able to recognize when your putting stress on speakers. These can fool you as with the right associated gear they will play loud and clear without fatigue.

vmoreno74

Thanks for the advice Tony! My wife was indeed surprised about the size but also intrigued about the sound.
We had to visit some friends this weekend, so I am starting the cleaning tonight.

Thanks again and wish you recover from your adverse situation as soon as possible.

tonyb

Just delivered the amp to Kerry, nice dude. Chatted it up for awhile, man has that hording disease I guess like some of you other guys. lol.

Man, when I boxed it up today, there wasn't so much as a hair scratch on the puppy, looked brand spankin' new. Should have asked for more money.

Just kiddin' Kerry, hope you enjoy it. Let me know how it works out for you. I like people to be happy with whatever they buy from me.

kharp1

Enjoyed meeting ya Tony. I saw you're in need of a sub, might be able to give you a killer deal on one of the SVS SB2000's I have since you hooked me up on this Butler. Looking forward to getting this amp in the system.

tonyb

Talk to me once you get home man. Maybe we can work somethin' out. How was the burger btw ? Did ya go ?

kharp1

Ended up at Chicago Prime for a pretty good steak last night. Gonna try Kuma's today.

vmoreno74

@Tony,
Wishing you the best of lucks finding the new speakers and sub for your system.

@kharp1,
Enjoy the amp!

Cheers!

kharp1

This amp is truly a sleeping giant in the amp world!

tonyb

That it is Kerry, and it looks good doing it too. Makes me happy your enjoying it.

erniejade

Shoot. I work right by the Kumas in Schaumburg. How did you like them?

vmoreno74

Tony, by a chance did you biamp the speakers at some point in time? Just read couple guys biamped this type of speaker with tubes for highs and SS for the bass.

tonyb

No, never needed to. My amp was more than enough and the speakers carry a 95 efficiency rating. IMHO....your better off with a ss amp in the 200 watts per channel + area and a tubed pre amp. I did have them bi-wired though. If your not bi-wiring make sure those jumpers are back in between the posts.

tratliff

vmoreno74 wrote: »

Tony, by a chance did you biamp the speakers at some point in time? Just read couple guys biamped this type of speaker with tubes for highs and SS for the bass.

Sorry to thread jack Tony!

I did biamp my Focus SE's for short time with tubes on the top and SS on the bottom but it never met my expectations. I moved on to big SS and never looked back.

tonyb

no problem pal, they are too efficient to make bi-amping viable. They love current though, lots of it.

vmoreno74

tratliff wrote: »

vmoreno74 wrote: »

Tony, by a chance did you biamp the speakers at some point in time? Just read couple guys biamped this type of speaker with tubes for highs and SS for the bass.

Sorry to thread jack Tony!

I did biamp my Focus SE's for short time with tubes on the top and SS on the bottom but it never met my expectations. I moved on to big SS and never looked back.

Thanks tratliff

vmoreno74

tonyb wrote: »

No, never needed to. My amp was more than enough and the speakers carry a 95 efficiency rating. IMHO....your better off with a ss amp in the 200 watts per channel + area and a tubed pre amp. I did have them bi-wired though. If your not bi-wiring make sure those jumpers are back in between the posts.

Thanks Tony! Just recently read couple guys use tubes and they seem to love the sound.

tonyb

vmoreno74 wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

No, never needed to. My amp was more than enough and the speakers carry a 95 efficiency rating. IMHO....your better off with a ss amp in the 200 watts per channel + area and a tubed pre amp. I did have them bi-wired though. If your not bi-wiring make sure those jumpers are back in between the posts.

Thanks Tony! Just recently read couple guys use tubes and they seem to love the sound.

Tubes do sound great on them, that's why I said a tubed pre amp. You need some muscle for those 3-12 inch cones in each speaker though. Something north of 40+ amperes peak to peak. The more the better. A tubed pre amp will add to those highs and also add to every other area of the musical presentation.

The thing with bi-amping, using ss on the bottom and a tubed amp for the top, is your using 2 different amps with different current and delivery, different speed. So the sound may not sound as coherent as you'd like.

Trust me my friend, find a GOOD SOUNDING used amp like a B&k, or McCormack amp. Find a cheap tubed pre from Yaqin or the likes for starters, you can always move up later.

kharp1

They could have bought the Butler. Hybrid tube design, 250 watts pretty good sound

tonyb

Lol, I think he might have stretched the budget adding the Butler. Plus he'd have to sleep with one eye open, the wife might get ideas.

kharp1

Wives just don't get it. No reason an appendage should be severed because the bank account was emptied for some much needed audio equipment.

tonyb

Right ? but we're suppose to understand 50 pairs of shoes all over the joint.

vmoreno74

tonyb wrote: »

vmoreno74 wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

No, never needed to. My amp was more than enough and the speakers carry a 95 efficiency rating. IMHO....your better off with a ss amp in the 200 watts per channel + area and a tubed pre amp. I did have them bi-wired though. If your not bi-wiring make sure those jumpers are back in between the posts.

Thanks Tony! Just recently read couple guys use tubes and they seem to love the sound.

Tubes do sound great on them, that's why I said a tubed pre amp. You need some muscle for those 3-12 inch cones in each speaker though. Something north of 40+ amperes peak to peak. The more the better. A tubed pre amp will add to those highs and also add to every other area of the musical presentation.

The thing with bi-amping, using ss on the bottom and a tubed amp for the top, is your using 2 different amps with different current and delivery, different speed. So the sound may not sound as coherent as you'd like.

Trust me my friend, find a GOOD SOUNDING used amp like a B&k, or McCormack amp. Find a cheap tubed pre from Yaqin or the likes for starters, you can always move up later.

It seems that the preamp works fine with my amp (Yamaha AS2100), but did some research and it could be a redundant device in my system!

Not everything is lost, it seems I have to replace my DAC with either a tube DAC or a "Warm" SS DAC, meaning jumping to a higher-end DAC.

tratliff

vmoreno74, although the AS2100 is a great integrated I am thinking the speakers could use additional current as Tony pointed out. You will be pleasantly surprised how those speakers will come alive when big power is supplied.

I tried a couple of different setups with my speakers and finally settled in when I brought in the 600 watt mono blocks. Don't let the efficiency of the speaker steer you away from current. These speakers can gobble up power when provided.

PM me if you want to discuss details.

tonyb

Agreed....they need current to sound their best.

Everything in the chain matters, amp/pre-amp-cables-source. You have to be willing to move up the chain on the electronics side, even if you can only do one piece at a time. Buy used for the best bang for the buck.