CTH-8550 incoming

[mimesis]

I should be receiving my Dartzeel CTH-8550 soon. I have visions of it suiting my taste and my system and allowing me to downsize from 4 to 1 (2 piece preamp, amp, phono stage). Then if I can turn the DAC/PSU, clock, transport into one unit I can end up with a setup that works in the house and reclaim room in the garage from all the boxes. Oh, and also minimize the spaghetti soup of thick, unruly cables.

Exciting times.

 

[Orb]

Looking forward to hear how you get on
If its ok when you do mind sharing what you were using before to give a baseline on preference-enjoyment when you compare.

Thanks
Orb

 

[Steve Williams]

I should be receiving my Dartzeel CTH-8550 soon. I have visions of it suiting my taste and my system and allowing me to downsize from 4 to 1 (2 piece preamp, amp, phono stage). Then if I can turn the DAC/PSU, clock, transport into one unit I can end up with a setup that works in the house and reclaim room in the garage from all the boxes. Oh, and also minimize the spaghetti soup of thick, unruly cables.

Exciting times.

William

Kind of a lame question and I am too lazy to call my friend Jonathan but is this a preamp,phonostage or an amp ?

 

[Orb]

I think it is the integrated amp, still very expensive but from what I understand measures better than the 100w mono power amp, and has more power.
The measurement aspect I am talking about relates more to stability and the design of not using any feedback even in the output stage (trait of Dartzeel) from what I remember.

If I also remember, the phono stage is meant to be incredibly good for an integrated, although this is an optional extra at more cost.

Edit:
Great site for zeel and some other brands is from the UK distributor.
http://www.absolutesounds.com/index.php?page=21&product_id=483&category3=Integrated solid state amplifier&category3_id=4&category2=Amplifiers&category2_id=2&category1=Audio&category1_id=1&manufacturer=DarTZeel&manufacturer_id=15
On the right side has links to various PDF reviews, best ones to look at are probably HifiNews as they also have measurements.
Note these are UK publication reviews.

Cheers
Orb

 

[Orb]

I should be receiving my Dartzeel CTH-8550 soon. I have visions of it suiting my taste and my system and allowing me to downsize from 4 to 1 (2 piece preamp, amp, phono stage). Then if I can turn the DAC/PSU, clock, transport into one unit I can end up with a setup that works in the house and reclaim room in the garage from all the boxes. Oh, and also minimize the spaghetti soup of thick, unruly cables.

Exciting times.

William,
one consideration is that from what I understand for this amp to sound its best it must be powered up for a few hours.
Some amps reach an ideal sound after 30-45mins from cold, but the zeel seems to take awhile.

Worth bearing in mind when evaluating and comparing enjoyment from cold to powered up for a few hours.

Cheers
Orb

 

[mimesis]

Hi,

Thanks for the pointers Orb. And Steve, as Orb pointed out, the unit is an integrated amp. I have a Boulder 2000 system (preamp, amp, DAC) and a Spectral reference system (CD player, preamp, amp, MIT cables). I was going to dabble in tubes but decided to try out the integrated. This will be used to power either Piega CL90x speakers, 92 dB 4 Ohm with a coaxial ribbon midrange/tweeter or some heavy, largish Goldmund Logos monitors. Then again, I might still dabble in tubes.

My habit when I try new gear is to acquire something and try it side by side so as to establish a comparison - for instance two preamps, two DACs etc. Then keep the one I prefer overall. I have the Boulder and Spectral gear because I am stuck - they are both superlative but while solid state, quite different. I'm curious to hear what Dartzeel does and this should give a taste - without having to spend huge bucks (also the stereo amp seems a bit modestly powered compared to what I am used to).

I will definitely let the unit run in before sitting down to listen. These days I am a piano music kind of listener- especially Chopin, Beethoven and Bach. I've gone a bit nuts acquiring CD sets of the nocturnes and preludes and the Beethoven sonatas and piano concertos. I also just bought the Goldberg Variations played by Rosalyn Tureck - and it's really quite amazing - on the opposite end of Gould and distinctly different and very refined and introspective with care rather than analysis. Another interesting disc is the Chopin nocturnes played by Dong Thai Son, the Chopin competition winner of 1978. He plays an Erard piano, dating from 1847 restored with period parts to emulate what Chopin might have played. I'll also test with some Cannonball Adderley, Dire Straits, Kelly Sweet... and break out the LPs to try the phono stage.

 

[Orb]

William,
let us know if you notice a difference between just turned on and left to warm up for a few hours, I cannot remember if it has a standby but I think its power consumption or warmth is pretty close to that of the usual Class A, so might be a right pain to reach ideal listening quality.

One thing I noticed switching from real big power amps to under 300w into 8ohms was the drop in dynamics-presense for some type of instruments on large scale segments, so might notice the same.

Hey you tried Krystian Zimerman Chopin Piano Concertos 1&2 from the Polish festival orchestra?
Is related to the Chopin Anniversary Tour, really like his presentation.
Is available Deutsche Grammophone Classics (yellow label).
I am a fan of Chopin as well so thanks for the heads up of some of your favs

Thanks
Orb

 

[mimesis]

Orb,

Chopin that is really good on CD: Grigory Sokolov, live performance of the 24 preludes, also Blechacz (concertos and preludes). I have Arrau, Pires, Freire, Moravec, Li, Pollini, Vasary, Rubinstein for the nocturnes and really enjoy Arrau and Moravec. I am going to get the Earl Wild set as well as Ohlsson and Ashkenazy sets - really anticipate the Ohlsson set. My comments are based on initial impressions which lead me to listen more. That's what happened with Moravec and Arrau. Oh, Hewitt is good, too and she put out an SACD album and plays a Fazioli piano, which is neat if you pay attention to pianos and the characteristic sound they impart.

 

[Esb1954]

William

I own the Dartzeel CTH-8550 and love it. I listen in the early morning and have my Dart programed to come on 2 hours before I get up ( a great feature). I live in Florida and have to unplug the Dart during certain times during the year. It really sounds pretty good within 15 minutes after plugging it back in. I went from Tenor 15wi monoblocks, and K&K tube phono pre and sold them along with a preamp. I now have lots of extra space. Good luck with your purchase. I hope that you get as much enjoyment from the Dartzeel CTH-8550 as I do.


Mike

 

[Orb]

Mike,
whats your take on the integrated phono in the 8550?
I did not listen to this but I understand it is very good, and an ideal replacement for external ones apart from say the reference ones.
William you ordering with the additional internal phono?

Thanks
Orb

 

[Esb1954]

Orb,

I have never owned a reference phono preamp, however I did have the K&K tube phono preamp which I liked. The Dartzeel phono section sounds great or should I say the CTH-8550 sounds great with the onboard phono stage. I wish that I had kept the K&K long enough to have played it through the Dartzeel and been able to have done a true comparison. Maybe William will be able to do a comparison when he receives his Dartzeel if he has a separate phono preamp. I am waiting for my Studer A-80 to come back from being refurbished. I hope that it sounds great going through the Dartzeel.

Mike

Mike

 

[mimesis]

I'll see what I can do. My phono stage is a Goldmund PH3, also Swiss. Will make for an interesting comparison.

 

[mep]

Orb,

I have never owned a reference phono preamp, however I did have the K&K tube phono preamp which I liked. The Dartzeel phono section sounds great or should I say the CTH-8550 sounds great with the onboard phono stage. I wish that I had kept the K&K long enough to have played it through the Dartzeel and been able to have done a true comparison. Maybe William will be able to do a comparison when he receives his Dartzeel if he has a separate phono preamp. I am waiting for my Studer A-80 to come back from being refurbished. I hope that it sounds great going through the Dartzeel.

Mike

Mike

The A-80 should sound great going through about anything out there.

 

[Orb]

I'll see what I can do. My phono stage is a Goldmund PH3, also Swiss. Will make for an interesting comparison.

Not sure how much of a consideration this will be, but not sure the options available in configuration that might be critical; such as various equalisation curves, loading options, mono, etc.
The best phonos in my experience have all of these and usually at least 3 of the recording equalisation curves, but I appreciate it depends on ones recording and number of cartridges,etc.

Thanks
Orb

 

[mimesis]

I agree that flexibility is good but since I only have one cartridge, one arm and no provision to put a second on my turntable (a Basis), I'm not stressing too much. The Goldmund only offers RIAA but it does provide knobs to set loading and capacitance for both MM and MC independently. I also only have about 10 linear feet of albums, mostly classical and opera and some recent re-masters. I find that I tend to buy SACD, XRCD or DVD-A rather than re-issued vinyl.

 

[dallasjustice]

Any news are your CTH? I just ordered one yesterday, so I am curious about how long it takes to get one.

 

[joeinid]

Any news are your CTH? I just ordered one yesterday, so I am curious about how long it takes to get one.

Hi,

I'm looking for any updates from Dartzeel owners. Thanks!

Joe

 

[microstrip]

I am not an Dartzeel CTH-8550 owner, but recently a friend of mine was in the process of buying it and, before committing, brought it to my room. We listened to it through the SoundLab A1s and were really impressed. it was difficult to believe that this small integrated amplifier could drive these inefficient and tortuous impedance speakers so nicely. We found however that the system was very dependent on cables - much more than usual.

My friend bought CTH-8550. And he has not yet settled on speakers, as he does not have the conditions to own big panels and is still dreaming about the great sound he heard!

BTW. I was told by the Dartzeel distributor that the best match is a medium-output MC cartridge ~around 500uV/3.5cm

 

[joeinid]

Thanks microstrip.

 

[asiufy]

microstrip,

Excellent tip regarding DarTZeel and cables. And that doesn't apply only to the integrated, the power amp is very choosy as well.
Generally avoid Nordost, or any cable with silver in it. They rob all the low end of an otherwise great equipment. I use Transparent MM2 for power, and Kubala for speaker/IC.
Oh, and yes, the integrated is indeed wonderful!

alexandre