Surprisingly good audio equipment

Loheswaran · Oct 31, 2017

Just thought for fun I'd start a thread about surprisingly good equipment. Yes we all know that Micro Seiki, Rockports, Constellation, Soullution etc are known great performers. But it'd be nice to know about those random star performers. Doesn't need to be expensive, nor necessarily cheap. Likewise it may be ultra-mainstream and not commonly 'audiophile'.

I just think it's these anomalies that make the hobby fun - likewise it appeals to the eccentric curiosity that I have

JackD201 · Oct 31, 2017

I'll play

It's not uncommon for the least expensive products of a company to be overlooked. KR Audio's smallish VA 900 mono blocks are one of these. From about half to a third of the prices of its triode stablemates, these little guys are great in my book. They manage to get a healthy dose of the big brother's house sound despite being PP and Class AB1. As that would suggest, little heat, lots of reliability. I've thrown everything but the kitchen sink at these. They can drive any speaker I have had around here including VR-11 SE Mk2s and I've seen them driving stats and panels too. Using KT120s the sound is sweet and refined. Plop in KT150s as direct replacements and the sound is ballsy and solid. Great solution for people that like tubes but don't want to deal with the usual care and feeding and also find space at a premium. The very easy 1v input sensitivity also makes them easy to pair up with virtually any preamp. For an added dose of tube goodness the new P-135 preamp that uses 45s is another piece that punches above its weight class, is also compact and also affordable.

gian60 · Nov 1, 2017

I was surprised from CH Precision,yes is expensive so seems normal is good but from 1990 to 2.016 i listen always and only with top triode tube amp like Yamamura,Shindo,Audiotekne,ANJ,Kondo
so that was my sound and cannot listen tt amp or pentodo tube amp,because magic sound of 2A3 for example is difficult to reach

But after listening CH in my system i was shocked,little more natural than Kondo with better bass and more liquid and transparent in high with power and dynamic without limit
I was shocked because destroyed my ideas of 25 years

Syntax · Nov 1, 2017

Let's go for some good units which can be bought 2. hand for small money

Preamp
Lamm LL2, Audible illusion, Klyne 7
Amp
Pass Aleph Series monos, Aleph 0 for example, Rowland Model 8,
Turntable
Basis Audio 2000 series with damping feet, Ovation refurbished
Arms
FR-64s, Graham Phantom with Titanium Armtube
Phono
Klyne 7 series, Lamm LP2 with high gain SUT's, Rowland separates
Cartridge
Older Lyra's, Takeda Miyabi, FR-7, FR-1mk 3, Lyra Delos
Adjustment Tool
Dennessen Protractor original, Sutherland Timeline
Cables
Former top Audioquest with silver inside, Ikeda,
Speaker
Reference 3A

Tango · Nov 1, 2017

gian60 said:
But after listening CH in my system i was shocked,little more natural than Kondo with better bass and more liquid and transparent in high with power and dynamic without limit
I was shocked because destroyed my ideas of 25 years

Dear Gian,

You are getting old and you are getting strange. I cant believe you throw away the "magic" of tube and turn to fresh young energetic sound. Something is wrong with you and you dont realize. You even like cartridge more than woman now. Come to Thailand and I will turn you back to the old Gian

.

Tang

bonzo75 · Nov 1, 2017

Tango said:
Dear Gian,

You are getting old and you are getting strange. I cant believe you throw away the "magic" of tube and turn to fresh young energetic sound. Something is wrong with you and you dont realize. You even like cartridge more than woman now. Come to Thailand and I will turn you back to the old Gian .

Tang

Haha, from tubes and women to SS and cartridges. He likes hard cold things rather than soft warm beauty

GMKF · Nov 1, 2017

Abacus Electronics would be my bet here... Virtualy unheard of outside of germany eventough they have a unique amp-strucute.

https://www.abacus-electronics.de/info-service/informationen/audio-akademie/emk-control.html

Very good amp's for the price....

Or Vapor Sound

Al M. · Nov 1, 2017

gian60 said:
I was surprised from CH Precision,yes is expensive so seems normal is good but from 1990 to 2.016 i listen always and only with top triode tube amp like Yamamura,Shindo,Audiotekne,ANJ,Kondo
so that was my sound and cannot listen tt amp or pentodo tube amp,because magic sound of 2A3 for example is difficult to reach

But after listening CH in my system i was shocked,little more natural than Kondo with better bass and more liquid and transparent in high with power and dynamic without limit
I was shocked because destroyed my ideas of 25 years

The CH Precision P1 phono stage is killer, heard it in Madfloyd's stellar system. Super resolving, and supremely natural sounding at the same time. I don't say this lightly either because a lot of SS gear does have some problems for me -- I am mostly a tube guy too, have parallel push-pull 2A3 triode mono blocks in my system.

Al M. · Nov 1, 2017

One the affordable side ($ 3K), I need to mention the Reference 3A MM de Capo BE monitors which I reviewed here:

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?20786-Review-Reference-3A-MM-de-Capo-BE-monitors

In my view, they can compete with speakers that are far more expensive. Given the extraordinary experience with the MM de Capo BE monitors, my next speakers will be the Reference 3A Reflector, their top monitors:

http://www.reference3a.com/reflector.html

gian60 · Nov 1, 2017

Dear my friends Tango and Bonzo,
you are too young so you need to do other experience
I already did a lot and now i enjoy.

Becoming serious i had among the top of triode amp,from Yamamura mono pre and amp 8 stack for 280 kg to top Audio Tekne,to Integrated japanise FAL,Shindo 300BLimited and Petrus,Mactone OTL M8V,ANJ M10 and Kageki,Baransu,Ongaku and Kakuon until the last Kondo M7 GE1 and 2 Souga,
but really for me are more natural CH,all the complete line,seems incredible.

Now my future efforts will go for L1 and P1 mono with 4 X1

gian60 · Nov 1, 2017

One exemple

gian60 · Nov 1, 2017

this is the room where i had the system before,in the house of my father

gian60 · Nov 1, 2017

This is the best system i had in my life
What i have now i like much more

gian60 · Nov 1, 2017

Last week we did another trial,my friend with L1 and P1 bought my 2 A1 mono and is selling Viva amp mono new Aurora
We tried A1 in stereo,mono are much better,and A1 in stereo was better than Viva in near everything,more control on bass,fast and dynamic,high more liquid and voice more natural

Mike Lavigne · Nov 1, 2017

I think we should all move to Italy where they have more 'hifi' fun.

gian60 · Nov 1, 2017

Hi Mike,
you are welcome and you will have fun also for food.
We enjoy because are a group lucky to live near

Loheswaran · Nov 1, 2017

JackD201 said:
I'll play

It's not uncommon for the least expensive products of a company to be overlooked. KR Audio's smallish VA 900 mono blocks are one of these. From about half to a third of the prices of its triode stablemates, these little guys are great in my book. They manage to get a healthy dose of the big brother's house sound despite being PP and Class AB1. As that would suggest, little heat, lots of reliability. I've thrown everything but the kitchen sink at these. They can drive any speaker I have had around here including VR-11 SE Mk2s and I've seen them driving stats and panels too. Using KT120s the sound is sweet and refined. Plop in KT150s as direct replacements and the sound is ballsy and solid. Great solution for people that like tubes but don't want to deal with the usual care and feeding and also find space at a premium. The very easy 1v input sensitivity also makes them easy to pair up with virtually any preamp. For an added dose of tube goodness the new P-135 preamp that uses 45s is another piece that punches above its weight class, is also compact and also affordable.

That's the spirit dude

Well I have two oddball contributions:

1. Sony Playstation 1 or 2 as CD players - believe it or not they have very decent transport mechanisms and deliver a really decent sound;
2. Gerrard Sp 100s - Laugh all you like but... Auto Mechanism (randomly returns when it feels like it); parallel tracking arm (much cooler than the Schroeder LOL); idler drive - sounds OK at best
3. Yamaha RXV AV Amp (forgot the number) - I had to use one in stereo while my LAvardin IT was being fixed - believe it or not the sound was quite acceptable - they were able to drive NS1000M's without having cheap tinny treble

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Surprisingly good audio equipment

Loheswaran

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