mbl, vitus,asr, tidal, tenor amps and preanp? which ones?
ozy -- Thu, 09/11/2008 - 20:40
jv/rh--
what has been your expereince with these( i know jv is an mbl aficianado...) brands of electronics? they are to drive the rockport hyperions, backed by an esoteric stack? :
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Unfortunately, I haven't heard any of those preamplifiers in my own system. If you're looking at contenders for the state-of-the-art, you should add to the list the new Aesthetix linestage.
robert_harley6 wrote:Unfortunately, I haven't heard any of those preamplifiers in my own system. If you're looking at contenders for the state-of-the-art, you should add to the list the new Aesthetix linestage.
ok, what about mono amps of the aforementioned brands? or does any other brand comes to mind?
ozy,
It used to be that the Tenor 75W OTL amps were the combo to use with Hyperions. It was what I used when I reviewed them, and the reason I used it was because Andy Payor insisted on it! Great amps.
Alas, Tenor no longer makes the OTLs and its new gear is too new for me to comment on with confidence. I heard its monoblocks, preamp, and phonostage sound quite lovely--albeit a little overripe and bass-heavy--with Kharma 1-Es in Munich.
I'm very familiar with the MBL 6010D and 9011 monoblocks, which, IMO, are as good as solid-state gets in many respects, particularly when driving MBL's own loudspeakers. But MBL has a "house sound" that some may not care for. All of its gear is a little dark in balance, ultra-smooth, ultra-fast, incredibly powerful and hard-hitting and yet beguilingly rich in tone color and swooningly liquid in textures, with phenomenal reproduction of decay.
I haven't been overly impressed with the ASR sound, at least when I've heard it with Nola loudspeakers. Although it is more neutral than MBL, it has also seemed to me (under show conditions, mind) to be less powerfully dynamic.
My favorite tube amp and preamp is the ARC Reference 610T and Reference 3, of course. And I would certainly give this combo a listen with the Rockports.
thank ,jv, for your insight and input.
i am using the 9008s and the 6010, and my findings of their sound attributes mirror your description of them....... so why the search, one may ask--- mainly curiosity of what else is out there that i may be overlooking...... not too sure i have the patience for tubes....
As an owner of Rockport speakers, the Merak2/Sheritan combo I spent a great deal of time listening to various amp setups. I began with great encouragement to use/try Gryphon. I ended up with the Ayre MX-R monoblock - KX-R combination using their speaker cables and interconnects. For Rockports a combination made in heaven...you should give them a list.