New 468 monos

Lagonda · Nov 27, 2019

Mike Lavigne said:
assume you were responding to me not Keith.

#1-i won't be home, i will be working. if i'm not home don't want to have anyone else touch these.
#2-having the crates in the barn does not solve the problem. i still cannot lift 150 pound amplifiers out of the crates myself. or....even load the 400 pound pallet onto my gear dolly safely to move the crate into my listening room.
#3-have to position the amps on my Tana active platforms.

i'll figure it out.

Be careful, don’t hurt your back Mike. I drove 4000km to Italy and back in 2 days to pick up a single MBL 9011 amp. Loaded it in the car with the help of the dealer and a strong friend of his. Had a strong friend help me lift the 200 lb monster out of the car. And messed up my back ! I could not walk for a week, and am still in some pain 2 months later

Barry2013 · Nov 27, 2019

Mike I am reminded of attending the London demo of the Estelon Extremes in a basement room in London about 2 years ago.
The distributor hired a couple of Russian piano movers who had no problems with the job.
I don't imagine that's an option where you are but maybe food for thought.

kswanson27 · Nov 27, 2019

Barry2013 said:
Mike I am reminded of attending the London demo of the Estelon Extremes in a basement room in London about 2 years ago.
The distributor hired a couple of Russian piano movers who had no problems with the job.
I don't imagine that's an option where you are but maybe food for thought.

Piano movers are a good option. I hired two to move my Boulder amp from it’s pallet in the garage up a spiral staircase to my office/listening room. I’m sure Mike can find some in his area.

Mike Lavigne · Nov 27, 2019

Barry2013 said:
Mike I am reminded of attending the London demo of the Estelon Extremes in a basement room in London about 2 years ago.
The distributor hired a couple of Russian piano movers who had no problems with the job.
I don't imagine that's an option where you are but maybe food for thought.

i've moved these amps a number of times; so i know what it takes. which is two reasonably strong men, and a third person (my wife) to spot and guide. if they were 100-120 pounds i could do it myself, but 154 pounds, with nothing to grab onto, is just too much for me. you have to grip them under the front and rear lips with fingertips. can't just bull rush them.

i have a few candidates to call on that are able bodied. or may guilt trip my son to return Friday night.

bonzo75 · Nov 28, 2019

Mike Lavigne said:
finally; 468 delivery scheduled for Friday.

was trying for today but U.S.Custom's moved at their normal glacial pace, so my amp moving help i would have had tomorrow (my son at Thanksgiving) won't be around Friday. so i'll have to beg someone to help move those bad boys.

but at least they will be sitting in my own garage.

it's all good.

you should have waited for the Black Friday sale tomorrow to buy

Lagonda · Nov 28, 2019

bonzo75 said:
you should have waited for the Black Friday sale tomorrow to buy

LOL ! Ked

spiritofmusic · Nov 28, 2019

At the very least the piano movers might have come cheaper.

Mike Lavigne · Nov 28, 2019

Barry2013 said:
Mike I am reminded of attending the London demo of the Estelon Extremes in a basement room in London about 2 years ago.
The distributor hired a couple of Russian piano movers who had no problems with the job.
I don't imagine that's an option where you are but maybe food for thought.

hiring help would be my last choice but if i need to do it it's an option. not the Russian part necessarily. one of my closest local audio buddies is Russian and likely the most probable candidate i'll call on. we help each other all the time.

Mike Lavigne · Nov 28, 2019

bonzo75 said:
you should have waited for the Black Friday sale tomorrow to buy

i hate long lines. so i did the 'pre-sale'.

on Black Friday all the Russian Oligarchs would be ahead of me and grab all the 468's before my turn came.

and you can't even see around them in their big furry coats. i hate that.

spiritofmusic · Nov 28, 2019

Ah, Mike. Imagine, those oligarchs and their masters in Moscow steal the election from Hilary. Then steal EU membership from the UK. And now, the greatest ignominy, steal yr new Darts.
They're to blame for the first two (yeah, right!), but the third must not come to pass.

Lagonda · Nov 28, 2019

Mike Lavigne said:
i hate long lines. so i did the 'pre-sale'.

on Black Friday all the Russian Oligarchs would be ahead of me and grab all the 468's before my turn came. and you can't even see around them in their big furry coats. i hate that.

Sorry Mike the Oligarchs are all in
line for the MBL gear

moby2004 · Jan 25, 2020

Hello all,

It has been a relative long time I did not post on wbf but I am still actively looking for the "perfect" amp /preamp matching my YG Sonja 2.2 (which finally arrived!).
I have been able to listen to several top (Swiss and Japanese ) amps (will detail more on my thread ) and Dart monoblocs are definitely on my « dream » list.
I tried the Dart stereo amp and unfortunately it was lacking too much juice for my taste with the Sonja.
Dart monoblocs are supposedly way more powerful (among others there are way more of everything...) so I guess they would drive the Sonja 2.2 "easily" ? (I like dynamics and slam). Now if I project myself on a longer term horizon ,would Dart mono still drive appropriately Sonja 2.3 or (let’s keep dreaming) Sonja XV Junior ?
Also during my tests, I found CH preamp excellent. Would it be a gd match with the Dart mono or would I lose the Dart "magic" and stick to Dart pre ?

Thanks
Alex

redandgold · Jan 26, 2020

Hello Alex,

despite I didn‘t hear the combination darTZeel/Sonja I am confident the monoblocs will do without effort. My Wilsons are difficult with impedance, but my ears give up earlier than the electronics.
You are in the ultra high end region were you don‘t find amps with weak characteristics. But if you are especially in dynamics the CH is the choice and if you look for grip and punch the Boulder is the best. The darTZeels are not far away, but they are the ss leader in musicality, timbre, air and timing.
I am not such a great writer, but maybe MF nails it in his latest review in his conclusion:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/dartzeel-nhb-468-monoblock-power-amplifier-page-2

redandgold · Jan 26, 2020

Sounds maybe silly but if you like the CH/darTZeel-combination depends on your sonical preferences. If you own the darTZeel-monoblocs, of course you get the magic of them. When you add the dart pres, you will get more of this.
My dealer offered me the dart pre several month for evaluation. I tried them seriously because I liked to combine them. In my combination they performed less than desired, they I kept with my pre.
Just try with CH pre, maybe the combination gives you best of both companies...

Tango · Jan 26, 2020

moby2004 said:
Hello all,

It has been a relative long time I did not post on wbf but I am still actively looking for the "perfect" amp /preamp matching my YG Sonja 2.2 (which finally arrived!).
I have been able to listen to several top (Swiss and Japanese ) amps (will detail more on my thread ) and Dart monoblocs are definitely on my « dream » list.
I tried the Dart stereo amp and unfortunately it was lacking too much juice for my taste with the Sonja.
Dart monoblocs are supposedly way more powerful (among others there are way more of everything...) so I guess they would drive the Sonja 2.2 "easily" ? (I like dynamics and slam). Now if I project myself on a longer term horizon ,would Dart mono still drive appropriately Sonja 2.3 or (let’s keep dreaming) Sonja XV Junior ?
Also during my tests, I found CH preamp excellent. Would it be a gd match with the Dart mono or would I lose the Dart "magic" and stick to Dart pre ?

Thanks
Alex

Try Audionet Heisenberg. They will run the Sonja effortlessly. Great sounding amps that escape people's attention. Quite less costly comparing to the CH and Dartz.

Kind regards,
Tang

moby2004 · Jan 26, 2020

Actually I already tried the CH P combo and the Dart combo ( but the stereo amp not the monobloc yet.) For different reasons, the power amps were not a gd match with my setup but both preamps were top notch with the CH P being slightly more transparent and dynamic ( and versatile) so my question.
Regarding Audionet, unfortunately no local dealer or distributor.

andromedaaudio · Jan 26, 2020

I hope to hear the darts at the munich show on a speaker to my liking.
Exposure to dartzeel here in holland is very limited

Mike Lavigne · Jan 26, 2020

had my new darTZeel 468's now for 2 months. loved my 458's; but the 468's still surprise me constantly with the added subtlety, tone, timbre, micro-dynamics and sense of authority. they are transcendentally musical and have a reach out and touch it the musical realism.

my sources really play to the tonal richness and grain less texture and transparency of the 468's. my new Etsuro Gold cartridge sounds magnificent with it. a startling combination for sure.

the 468's will never be a limitation in any music reproduction context and can handle any type of music and any speaker. in my system the dart 18NS pre and 468 is super quiet and ultra dynamic.

the CH Precision pre-amp also does have the 50 ohm 'zeel' interface which does allow for another step up in transparency with darTZeel.

redandgold · Jan 26, 2020

I heard the Heisenbergs in direct A-B-comparison with the darts. Some room, same electronics, same cables. Because the Heisenbergs are cheaper, I wanted to know if they are an alternative. They were not. Playing fast and detailed, but I missed the musical soul. Micro-dynamics, timbre, timbre was better with DarTZeels. And fast and natural detailed.

ashandger · Jan 26, 2020

moby2004 said:
Actually I already tried the CH P combo and the Dart combo ( but the stereo amp not the monobloc yet.) For different reasons, the power amps were not a gd match with my setup but both preamps were top notch with the CH P being slightly more transparent and dynamic ( and versatile) so my question.
Regarding Audionet, unfortunately no local dealer or distributor.

Many thanks for the feedback on your trial. May I ask if you tried the CH Precision L1 preamp with X1 power supply? Were there any other noticeable differences apart from transparency e.g. timbre....was the Dart preamp richer sounding? Many thanks

New 468 monos

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