robsob Wrote: > Thanks, > Have had a look, looks great and impressive review and price about > right. May take for a test run to see how it matches with the > speakers. > Any other options out there to compare(thinking of a power amp with no > controls - using the SB3 for all volume adjustments).
I am glad the Red Wine Audio Signature 30 looks like a candidate. My other favorite for the last two years, has been the Electrocompaniet AW220 (now renamed the Electrocompaniet AW70) - here is why I am so enamored of these amps. I have the good fortune to have a friend and colleague who has a far deeper understanding of electronics and digital sound processesing and accoustics than I. He has been CTO at several silicon valley firms and founded a digital editing equipment company. Better yet, he has much deeper pockets from which to buy audio gear and he likes to audition equipment. It is a reasonable hobby since music is a passion of his. We also have the good fortune to buy alot of hifi gear from a gentleman who was a recording engineer and sound reinforcement specialist for Peter Gabriel. (I know, the use of the word gentleman and "buying audio" do not seem to go in the same sentence, but this fellow in a gentleman. Further he truly cares more about the MUSIC and what he hears and learns in each new room he sets up, than selling stuff. Since his skills and manner are so valued, he is in high demand...funny how passion works. We all share a passion for music and releasing the MUSE. Anyway, a couple of years ago, we were clearing out my friends living room which was stacked with audio gear that was no longer in his "big rig". and were thinking about which pieces to put on AudiogoN. We decided to listen to do some critical listening of some gear and we invited Jim to come up and listen with us, and to bring some A/C conditioning products he uses in his best setups. (Yes, I hear differences in A/C cords - and love to have guests who claim not to be able to hear such differences listen to their favorite CD all the way through with a stock cord, and then all the way through with well matched A/C cord. So far, no guest has failed to hear and appreciate the differences. YMMV) A few months earlier we had changed the tubes in my friend's Nagra VPAs. These are stunningly fine tube monoblock amplifiers. I think they retail for 10K per side. The new old stock RCA Red Dot tubes cost another 2K. They had improved the sound significantly. And the Nagras sounded better than the AtmaSpheres. Jim came with a Shunyata Hydra 8 and some Python and Anaconda cords, and we swapped them in one at a time. Jim agreed that for some reason the less expensive Python powercords sounded better than the Anacondas. Then we decided to swap in a pair of Electrocompaniet AW220s monoblocks before putting them up on AudiogoN. To our amazement they blew away both the Nagras and the AtmaSpheres in bass control and in quiet background and dynamics etc. These were one quarter to half the price of the other amps. The cool thing about the EC AW220s is that you can run one unit as a stereo amp which puts out 70 Watts, or a pair as monoblocks which put out over 200 amps. Or you can use four EC AW220s and bi-amp each side and use XLR connectors to link two amps together on each side, as my friend now does to drive his B&W 800 Nautilus Signature speakers. There is a trim adjustment on the back of the EC AW220s to turn up and down the gain on each amp to get it in perfect trim from side to side. I like the transparency and dynamics of the EC AW220's sound, and I like their flexiblity. Another friend bought one of these amps on AudiogoN a few months ago for $1200 plus shipping. The aesthetics of the amps and the SB3 are close enough to look good together. Your taste may vary. If you audition one, do tell me what you hear. Hope this helps your quest. /Daniel -- daniels5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ daniels5's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3969 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=26241 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
