Symphonic Line RG1MK3 in the house

jdjohn

It started with my post here in 'Misc Audio Deals of the Day'.

jdjohn wrote: »

Not sure, but within the definition of 'deal', maybe $2,000 is good for this Symphonic Line amp: https://nashville.craigslist.org/ele/d/symphonic-line-rg1-mk3-power/6715898595.html

Here's that Audio Note CD player: https://nashville.craigslist.org/ele/d/audio-note-an-cd31x-tube-cd/6715936969.html

And then this Audio Matiere preamp: https://nashville.craigslist.org/ele/d/audio-matiere-preamp/6712498185.html

All from the same seller. I've purchased from him before. I think he has a hookup with estate sales before things go public. He always has stuff he is flipping.

Well, after some encouragement from Trey @VR3 , I pursued it with the seller, and the deal happened today. I did a partial trade plus boot with the guy since we had dealt together before. We had a great chat today...my third purchase from him.

Here she is. You might notice a few smudges in this pic


He also threw-in a DH Labs Encore power cord since he was in a good mood.

VR3

Let me know if you ever want to sell that thing

jdjohn

This thing runs a little warm...might need a checkup from Klaus.

VR3

symphonic is biased with the first few watts to be class A - it will run pretty warm, even idling

jdjohn

Thanks, Trey...that makes sense. I want to take some nudie pics under the hood, but two of the top hex/allen screw heads are stripped out

VR3

Oh, forgot to mention. These amps need to be left on continuously, it takes days from sitting a while to sound their best. You never turn them off unless you have to

jdjohn

I believe it, and actually read about allowing it to 'charge' at Odyssey's website. Needless to say, it wasn't really blowing my skirt up when I first turned it on - sounded anemic with very little bass. After a couple of hours it started to settle-in nicely, although still a little recessed IMO. But to be fair, I couldn't really crank it up properly since it was getting late, and wifey was in bed. Then I turned it off due to the temp, and I wanted to crack it open anyway.

It wasn't 'fry an egg on it' hot, but a very nice hand-warmer temp. I reckon this is my first foray into class A operating temps, except for maybe an old Mac receiver I have with a tube-driven tuner front-end.

jdjohn

DC offset seems tolerable at +5mV/-4mV

drumminman

Would love to see under the hood when you get those hex screws sorted. I have some of Klaus' fine work myself, a fairly seriously hot rodded Stratos Stereo.

VR3

Should look like that, very different than what Klaus builds off of. His builds are the RG11



compared to what Klaus is doing --

jdjohn

Of course Trey is correct re: the RG1 design - mine looks VERY similar to that first pic. I did finally get the final two hex screws out of the top cover. Right now, I'm enjoying the amp sans cover, but will soon pull it back out for some nudies.

VR3

How are you liking it after some warm up time?

jdjohn

At mid- and high-volumes, it is quite nice...preferable. It does not excel at lower volumes, which is actually important for my situation.

It really wants to show its stuff at higher volumes, and at those levels, it controls the playback between amp and speaker in a remarkable way - always in control, but always ready for more.

But even at lower volumes, it is dependent on the recorded material. Sometimes it lets lower crescendos pass through, but at other times, it seems to keep them subdued.

At any rate, this power amp is in control, no matter what the situation. I guess with the huge damping ratio, it is to be expected.

drumminman

Wonder how much it was used before you got it. Mine is pretty remarkable at all volumes and with a similar layout, i.e. stacked toroidals, 10 12,000mfd reference grade caps per channel, yada yada. It may just need to be played.

VR3

The Stratos extremes though are a whole other beast.

I would say my current Odyssey piece sounds better at mid to high volumes, ie, really opens up. At lower volumes it sounds good but not quite as open if that makes sense

jdjohn

This certainly doesn't sound bad at lower volumes, but it's not going to shine, or I should say the music won't shine. Chamber music and small acoustic groups are fine since you can actually turn it up a bit anyway without waking the household. But naturally, big orchestral pieces and rock/pop groups are meant to be played at mid-volume or higher.

Before this amp, I was using my PS Audio S300 class D amp. The class D is very forward, and even at lower volumes, it pushes the sound out at you with a very flat frequency curve. With this class A design in the first watts, it has a more typical low-volume curve that kind of needs the good ol' loudness button for a bump in the lows and highs. But give it a little more juice, and everything comes together as it should.

I certainly don't want to overstate this. It's nothing new to say that you don't hear as much detail when listening at lower, late-night volumes.