The best Dipoles, Dipoles that can do bass?

I just got my Boulder 2060 power amp back from the menders.
I am literally speechless. As in, words fail me
I will listen tor another week to find a way to express, to communicate what i am hearing.

First impression?
It is the sheer essence of music, returned.
The planets have aligned, my system is again more than the sum of it's parts

Hello Lloyd

Yes the repairs turned into a bit of a saga. It came back not sounding right, an absence of bass slam was the issue, and then it failed again in the same way as before, so back it went.
Finally got it back last week and it's an absolute revelation, to the extent that i am taking it off sale.
Or to be more accurate, increasing the asking price to reflect what i would actually accept, so two thirds the price of a new 2160 ?

I have to concur with you, ime valve pre amp - transistor power amp is the way to go, although I've yet to hear any hybrids (Tenor springs to mind)

My instinct now is to keep my 2060 and supplement it with another exceptional power amp(s), say Wavac 833's.
What i am hearing is so hard to describe, and the normal hifi terms fail me. For back up i used a pair of digital monoblocks, that initially i was very impressed with; there seemed to be no drop off in perceived sound quality, although i did find them a little fatiguing in extended use. But replaced with the 2060 suddenly the magic was back, my system went from whizz bang impressive but lacking something, to a sound that draws you in and keeps you there

As we unloaded the 2060 i had a cheap supermarket dance compilation cd playing simply to warm things up, which i left on with the 2060 now in stream. My goodness, i couldn't believe how good it sounded, so good i was tranfixed and listened to it all the way through. I went from hearing a collection of noises perfectly reproduced, to experiencing a musical event that was impossible to interrupt. And so it went on, anyrhing thst i played, maybe only intending to listen to ome or two tracks, got played right to the end. There was so much texture, depth, impact, slam and atmosphere.
And when i swapped to my recently acquired AF 301 i was literally gobsmacked. The familiar music now just had so much more body and drive
So now my daily routine is transformed. I used to come in from walking the dogs, listen for a bit then lose interest and do something else. Now i am rooted to my chair, each disc inspiring the next, hours passing, late to bed. I am certain that this iteration of my system has never sounded so good, the only hesitation in saying it's the best sound I've ever experienced comes from the memory of how certain bits of certain tracks sounded via dipoles. But that system was also capable of sounding nasty and thin with less than perfect material, wheteas this was absolutely on the side of the artist, getting to the heart of what they were trying to achieve, drawing you in and keeping you there

Btw Lloyd, did you see my post regarding subwoofer installation?
I ask because iirc you said that you only ran yours barely on, setting >5, which was how mine were when set up according to Velodynes's method.
I achieved big improvements by moving it to what the automatic installation system decreed was a sub optimal location, but where it had to work a bit harder but complemented the speakers far better and dominated the room far less

Bought some new vinyl this week.

Today's arrival, Mirror Conspiracy by Thievery Corporation has yielded up a new favourite choon, straight to the top of the playlist.
The bass is mind boggling

I have to admit, my search for an outstanding dipole is winding down for now. And without an obvious candidate to replace my Stellas.
My perfect solution would probably be the non existent Focal IB Utopia; the sound i love but in dipole form.

Of all the speakers discussed i feel most drawn towards the Lotus Granada. But the lack of uk distributor presents a big hurdle for someone with a disinclination to travel across borders...ie myself.
So if i purchase blind and don't get on with them, i am then trying to sell an unsupported brand. Most likely i will send a familiar broker to investigate further.

Of the others, i dont think the Grande Utopias will give me anything i haven't already got, and may be a worse match to my room than my Stellas. The Audionec have potential, but i struggle with their appearance. I'm not convinced the Gobels will move enough air for me, and they suffer like the Audionec for not having much UK presence. I dont feel the Apogee route is for me either, it feels a bit like its a labour of love and the eight channels of amplification really adds complication, expense and reliability issues

The Nola Concert Grand Reference Gold, with which i began the search
(I was going to buy Priaptor's)
are too butt ugly for me to live with, and i have reservations about how often i would be replacing blown drive units, based on previous Alon experience. But who knows, maybe the current big Nolas, when driven with the sort of amplification i favour these days are more reliable. They also share the advantage of Lotus Group Granada and Gobel in that there are matching subwoofers available

The final factor is that with the return of my Boulder power amp to full performance the bar is now set very high.
It's like tuning a car, if you've done it right eventually you get to a stage where its easier to ruin than improve. So random adventures lose their appeal, because you've got so much to lose

Perhaps when some of this thread's contributors have visited chez gav i might get a better idea of how my system stacks up. In the meantime I'm going to concentrate on cabling and arms and cartridges, maybe check out the whole Tripoint grounding approach. But i remain interested in dipoles and will likely enlist help reviewing those on this thread

andromedaaudio said:

Seems to me too, its a different perspective.
Plus a Boulder is mostly a drive anything amp, i think a 1060 2060 even better Will Go very good on electrostats.
May be vitus better with that class A sound

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My encounter with Vitus left me underwhelmed. I tried the Masterpiece pre amp in my current system, and coming from the Wavac i gained detail, texture and air, but lost too much musicality. Compared to the Wavac i felt the Vitus missed the point, the aspect that gives an emotional connection to the music, and was relatively sterile

You think they perform better than the big Boulders?
I'd have to witness that to be persuaded

LL21 said:

I note you said your 2060 came back "from the menders"...did you get it upgraded?

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It was my understanding that Boulder have upgraded some major components to 2160 spec.
I will ask Rich Maez to weigh in on what was done. But it sounds incredible

bonzo75 said:

You haven't even tried the apogee grands yet, they will make your focals sound like tiny tots. Either way it is barely a days worth of work to check them out.

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But how many stereo amps would be needed to satisfactorily drive a pair?
I'm not going to step back from the level I'm at now wrt power amps, and buying four 2060's is going to be a challenge.

What I'm saying is the Apogee have unusual requirements. I know of no other domestic system that demands that many channels of amplification. So I'd be spending funds in sn atea that would be redundant as soon as i wanted to change brand. Plus I'd have to redo my electrical supply

All of these things could happen 8f i got truly excited about them, but their appearance doesn't make me ache for them like the Pnoe did

Remind me, who was the chap who could demonstrate the Apogee Grands, based in Bristol was it?