Looking forward to L800 but have concerns, what are your thoughts?
Comments
-
F1Nut. Please call Scott Orth or Stu Lumdnsen. Scott personally told me of the SDA power amp recommendations after I bought them. They can’t pull a proper signal from a balanced amplifier. Its likely also why they demo with Marantz single ended amps or the PM-KI Ruby because they are not balanced. My Marantz PM-10 also did not produce the SDA effect to its fullest. But the PM-10/SA-10 is absolutely rocking on my older 707s?
If the PM/SA stack worked with the L800 i would have run with them. The combo is amazing.I heard the SDA magic when they were run off a Marantz pre pro and amp. Maybe it's the Mac that's lacking.
What is your proper amp recommendation for the L800? Maybe Parasound Halo A21+? I heard good things about parasound.
I said a Marantz pre pro and amp. I never said anything about the PM10.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
@F1nut are you suggesting the McIntosh amps are inferior even though the Marantz PM-10 produce the same results with SDA?
Apologies if I’m beating a dead horse but I’m responding to baseless comments.- Living Room Music-2.1 Polk Legend L800 | SVS SB1000Pro | McIntosh C70 | McIntosh MA5200 (Treble) | McIntosh MC452 (Bass) | Sublimeacoustic K231 Active xover | Denon DP-2500A | Denafrips Ares II | Marantz HD-CD1 | Belkin Soundform Connect | iPad Pro USB to DAC
- Home Theater-9.7.6/15.1 (Atmos/Auro-3D) Polk LSiM707, LSiM706c, LSiM702 F/X [x6], Height LSiM703 [x6], HSU ULS-15Mk2x4, VTF-15HMk2x2, VTF-TN1 | Trinnov Altitude 16+4 (2024) | Rotel RB-1590 (L/R) | Appollon NC500 11ch | Martin Logan MP500x2 | Topping DX7s, E50 | AppleTV 4K | Zidoo Z9X | JVC RS2100 | 150” Elite Screen Acoustic Pro UHD
- Game Room-5.1 Polk LSi25, LSiC, LSiF/X | Marantz SR7009 | AppleTV 4K | Sony UBP-X800 | Xbox One S | Sony PS2, PS3 | Nintendo Wii | Gaming PC | Sony 75" LCD
- Master Bedroom Music-2.0 Totem Hawk | Marantz PM-10 | Marantz SA-10 | SONY PS-HX500
- Office-2.1 B&W Formation Duo and Bass
- Orphans Ascend Acoustics Sierra LX | DSW microPRO3000x2 | Rotel RA-1570 | Marantz AV8805A
- Daughter's Bedroom 1-2.0 TBD Martin Logan Forte | Roku TV
- Guest Room 2-2.0 Klipsch RP-600M | SMSL DO100 Pro 2 | Pass ACA v1.6 Monoblocks
- Guest Room 3-3.0 Martin Logan Motion 40, 50XT | Onkyo TX-SR705 | Apple TV | Samsung 55" TV
- Guest Room 4-2.0 QAcoustics 3030i | Sansui AU-6900 | Sansui FR-1080 | Fire TV
- Maintenance: Pro-Ject VC-S Record Cleaning Machine
-
Well if the L800's were sitting in my house, I wouldn't waste time on the A21+. It would be JC5 all the way!!
-
Well if the L800's were sitting in my house, I wouldn't waste time on the A21+. It would be JC5 all the way!!
The JC5 is a Dual Mono Design. I seem to have read something about that mix not working well?
Could very be wrong though, I'd love to have a JC5 to power my SDA's.
-
Exactly how I feel! My birthday is not for a few months.
Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, Antique Sound Labs AV8 Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
Spare Room: Dayens Ampino Integrated Amp, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
Garage #1: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner
Garage #2: Cambridge Audio EVO150 Integrated Amplifier, Polk L200's, Analysis Plus Silver Oval 2 Speaker Cables, IC's TBD. -
Mike Reeter wrote: »
I thought I had heard that to and for that reason I didn't dare to try my dual mono Proton d1200 on my sda's for a long time. It turned out I heard wrong and that 1200 paired up quite well with my sda's. -
motorstereo wrote: »Mike Reeter wrote: »
I thought I had heard that to and for that reason I didn't dare to try my dual mono Proton d1200 on my sda's for a long time. It turned out I heard wrong and that 1200 paired up quite well with my sda's.
I think the Dual Mono issue has more to do with the new L800's...maybe
-
Mike Reeter wrote: »
Yep true but both have balanced inputs. Maybe neither work work as well with SDA.
I know with my SDA's and dreadnought the JC5 would work just fine. It just wouldn't work well with my bank account. -
Mike Reeter wrote: »
Yep true but both have balanced inputs. Maybe neither work work as well with SDA.
I know with my SDA's and dreadnought the JC5 would work just fine. It just wouldn't work well with my bank account.
I hear ya, would love to try the JC5 as well! But I can't stand tariff, especially after the past couple of weeks
-
@F1nut are you suggesting the McIntosh amps are inferior even though the Marantz PM-10 produce the same results with SDA?
Apologies if I’m beating a dead horse but I’m responding to baseless comments.
Nothing baseless about my comments. The problem is you have an issue with reading comprehension.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Mike Reeter wrote: »motorstereo wrote: »Mike Reeter wrote: »
I thought I had heard that to and for that reason I didn't dare to try my dual mono Proton d1200 on my sda's for a long time. It turned out I heard wrong and that 1200 paired up quite well with my sda's.
I think the Dual Mono issue has more to do with the new L800's...maybe
From my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong. The issue is a balanced architecture does something to the SDA signal. Balanced has an in phase and out of phase signal so it takes away from the SDA side. -
Mike Reeter wrote: »motorstereo wrote: »Mike Reeter wrote: »
I thought I had heard that to and for that reason I didn't dare to try my dual mono Proton d1200 on my sda's for a long time. It turned out I heard wrong and that 1200 paired up quite well with my sda's.
I think the Dual Mono issue has more to do with the new L800's...maybe
From my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong. The issue is a balanced architecture does something to the SDA signal. Balanced has an in phase and out of phase signal so it takes away from the SDA side.
There you go, sounds reasonable to me
-
Mike Reeter wrote: »motorstereo wrote: »Mike Reeter wrote: »
I thought I had heard that to and for that reason I didn't dare to try my dual mono Proton d1200 on my sda's for a long time. It turned out I heard wrong and that 1200 paired up quite well with my sda's.
I think the Dual Mono issue has more to do with the new L800's...maybe
From my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong. The issue is a balanced architecture does something to the SDA signal. Balanced has an in phase and out of phase signal so it takes away from the SDA side.
100% correct. A "regular" dual mono amp or mono blocks are fine to use with the L800's.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
I thought a regular stereo amp fell into the balanced category. What is a balanced amp? Examples.Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
Balanced Audio Technologies...
My gut tells me that if the amp features XLR on the back, you need to investigate the topology of said amp.The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
-
I would think they fall into the mono block category.100% correct. A "regular" dual mono amp or mono blocks are fine to use with the L800's.
Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
While they are mono blocks , they are also a balanced design. Pass calls it SuperSymmetry . Stereo or mono blocks can be balanced/bridged designs. -
So, I can’t use the L800 with my amps, at least not if I wanted the SDA effect. Guess I will stick with regular stereo. Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
Correct.So, I can’t use the L800 with my amps, at least not if I wanted the SDA effect. Guess I will stick with regular stereo.
-
Thanks. Learn something every day.Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
In my past sda \ McIntosh experience, my old integra and sunfire amps played better with the sda's i had . Not saying McIntosh are bad as i have owned several McIntosh pieces over the years and still recommend them to some folks depending on the speakers they are running. I almost suspect the autoformers on the few McIntosh amps I had could have been the culprit. My McIntosh with legacy focus sounded awesome .Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
-
I have never been impressed with the McIntosh setups I have heard either, except when paired with the bigger Magnepans…The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
I wonder if having a balanced input to the balanced amps might be the ticket to the best sound from the balanced amps or would it not make a difference?
-
I am guessing that there's some conflation goin' on here of balanced signal transmission (separate positive and negative signal lines as well as a ground line, i.e., XLR or TRS cables/connectors) vs. single-ended ('hot' line and a ground, i.e., "RCA" or TS cables/connectors) and single-ended vs. push-pull (complementary) amplifier topologies.
Typically, preamp stages are single-ended (Class A) and power amplifiers are push-pull (and those, typically a Class AB variant) -- so, to that extent, most of the power amplifiers (not all) that y'all use are 'balanced' -- but not at their inputs and/or outputs.
Amplifiers traditionally use a "phase splitter" to take the single-ended preamp output and split the signal for the push-pull power amplifier.
-
The JC5 is dual mono, but shares a common ground. I use it with my SDA 1A second generation speakers with no issue.
The type of amps that do not work with SDA are fully balanced or more accurate balanced differential amps. An unbalanced amp can still have balanced inputs, but is not fully balanced from input to output. One way to tell if your amp is fully balanced is if it has balanced pass-through outputs and they only work with the balanced inputs and not the unbalanced inputs. The JC5 is the opposite; it has unbalanced pass-through outputs. This is another way to tell if it is not a fully balanced amp.
I Also have some xlr splitters and they will only work if both the preamp and the amp are balanced differential. They work with my Ayre V-5XE, but not with the JC5.
-
The type of amps that do not work with SDA are fully balanced or more accurate balanced differential amps. An unbalanced amp can still have balanced inputs, but is not fully balanced from input to output. One way to tell if your amp is fully balanced is if it has balanced pass-through outputs and they only work with the balanced inputs and not the unbalanced inputs. The JC5 is the opposite; it has unbalanced pass-through outputs. This is another way to tell if it is not a fully balanced amp.
This isn't quite true. With the addition of a dreadnaught I've been using fully balanced amps on my sda's with excellent results for a couple years now. There's also a switch on the back of my amps that allow the use of either rca's or balanced connections. Having tried both connections I find the balanced connection coming from my balanced preamp is the one that sounds the best as well as having 3db better snr.
-
The JC5 is dual mono, but shares a common ground. I use it with my SDA 1A second generation speakers with no issue.
The type of amps that do not work with SDA are fully balanced or more accurate balanced differential amps. An unbalanced amp can still have balanced inputs, but is not fully balanced from input to output. One way to tell if your amp is fully balanced is if it has balanced pass-through outputs and they only work with the balanced inputs and not the unbalanced inputs. The JC5 is the opposite; it has unbalanced pass-through outputs. This is another way to tell if it is not a fully balanced amp.
Vintage pin/blade SDA's can use any amp or amps in conjunction with the AI-1 or Dreadnought.
The L800 can use any amp or amps except balanced differential types.
Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
I got confirmation from Parasound their JC5 topology will work with SDA.
- Living Room Music-2.1 Polk Legend L800 | SVS SB1000Pro | McIntosh C70 | McIntosh MA5200 (Treble) | McIntosh MC452 (Bass) | Sublimeacoustic K231 Active xover | Denon DP-2500A | Denafrips Ares II | Marantz HD-CD1 | Belkin Soundform Connect | iPad Pro USB to DAC
- Home Theater-9.7.6/15.1 (Atmos/Auro-3D) Polk LSiM707, LSiM706c, LSiM702 F/X [x6], Height LSiM703 [x6], HSU ULS-15Mk2x4, VTF-15HMk2x2, VTF-TN1 | Trinnov Altitude 16+4 (2024) | Rotel RB-1590 (L/R) | Appollon NC500 11ch | Martin Logan MP500x2 | Topping DX7s, E50 | AppleTV 4K | Zidoo Z9X | JVC RS2100 | 150” Elite Screen Acoustic Pro UHD
- Game Room-5.1 Polk LSi25, LSiC, LSiF/X | Marantz SR7009 | AppleTV 4K | Sony UBP-X800 | Xbox One S | Sony PS2, PS3 | Nintendo Wii | Gaming PC | Sony 75" LCD
- Master Bedroom Music-2.0 Totem Hawk | Marantz PM-10 | Marantz SA-10 | SONY PS-HX500
- Office-2.1 B&W Formation Duo and Bass
- Orphans Ascend Acoustics Sierra LX | DSW microPRO3000x2 | Rotel RA-1570 | Marantz AV8805A
- Daughter's Bedroom 1-2.0 TBD Martin Logan Forte | Roku TV
- Guest Room 2-2.0 Klipsch RP-600M | SMSL DO100 Pro 2 | Pass ACA v1.6 Monoblocks
- Guest Room 3-3.0 Martin Logan Motion 40, 50XT | Onkyo TX-SR705 | Apple TV | Samsung 55" TV
- Guest Room 4-2.0 QAcoustics 3030i | Sansui AU-6900 | Sansui FR-1080 | Fire TV
- Maintenance: Pro-Ject VC-S Record Cleaning Machine
-
I got confirmation from Parasound their JC5 topology will work with SDA.
I knew it would work with my SDA's.
I just need to win a lotto and I'm all set.
