I have the h360 and used it to drive a pair of salon 2's which it did nicely, but not dynamically and that's a deal breaker for me. When I suggested bi-amping horizontally the crowd' overall said it wouldn't make a difference? My h360 isn't going anywhere and I expect the Blades will sound the same, as in 'good but limited'. What do you guy's think? if I bought a pair of steller 700's to run the bass and the hegel on top would that be enough headroom to let these sing?
Amps for KEF Blade 2
I am looking for advice from owners or dealers of the KEF Blade 2 loudspeakers. I am concerned my current pair of amps will not be sufficient for the B2s because of an article written about the original Blades published on July 5, 2013 in The Absolute Sound:
"The Blades have a nasty kick in their crossover that will suck an amplifier dry quicker than a student downing free tequila shots ... Just don’t be tempted to cheapskate on the driving amps, or you’ll live to regret it. Tube amps at least have an output transformer to hide behind, but when the Blades suck out a solid-state design, they celebrate by spotlighting their tweeter something chronic. To give you some idea of the lengths required, the otherwise excellent Rowland 625 [550 watts into 4 Ohms] wasn’t up to the job, it taking a pair of the 725 monoblocs [650 watts into 4 Ohms] to restore order. "
Are the Blade 2s just as demanding as the original Blades in terms of amplification? I would guess not due to the smaller 6.5 inch woofers, but this is just an uneducated guess. I own a pair of Benchmark AHB2 amps, which according to the manufacturer produce “a little over 500 watts into 4 Ohms”. Will this be enough?
"The Blades have a nasty kick in their crossover that will suck an amplifier dry quicker than a student downing free tequila shots ... Just don’t be tempted to cheapskate on the driving amps, or you’ll live to regret it. Tube amps at least have an output transformer to hide behind, but when the Blades suck out a solid-state design, they celebrate by spotlighting their tweeter something chronic. To give you some idea of the lengths required, the otherwise excellent Rowland 625 [550 watts into 4 Ohms] wasn’t up to the job, it taking a pair of the 725 monoblocs [650 watts into 4 Ohms] to restore order. "
Are the Blade 2s just as demanding as the original Blades in terms of amplification? I would guess not due to the smaller 6.5 inch woofers, but this is just an uneducated guess. I own a pair of Benchmark AHB2 amps, which according to the manufacturer produce “a little over 500 watts into 4 Ohms”. Will this be enough?
Showing 8 responses by steve59
H590 in the house! I’ve been talking to the shop owner that sold me the h360 since I got the blades last summer. The blades didn’t sound starved for power but the h590 does raise the bar across the board. This unit is said to be new in box for axpona and demo discount applies, at least I think so. If this is the same price as the other store demos I’ll probably buy it. Bass is tighter and everything else is just more. The 590 sounds like it has more control at all fq’s, more than I would expect an additional 50 wpc to sound like. I’d bought a project s2 digital to piggyback the h360 for full mqa and a new dac but I think the card in the 590 is acquitting itself nicely. More to come. |
There's nothing wrong with trying as many combos as possible b4 deciding. My 4 hour demo overnight has me really pumped about the h590, It isn't subtle though. everything on the recording will be presented in a sensory overload condition. Maybe like my 1290 sdr some throttle control will let me appreciate some of the finer things the hegel does, but right now the way the blade throws a 'stage and the thrust from the 590 make everything sound very real, I After hearing the h360 on the blades I would pass the h390 by and go straight for the 590 for the blade. it's worth it, in fact if I couldn't afford the h590 I would sell the blades and down size to something my h360 could manhandle, again. going to usam to remove my listing now. |
bump yyzsantabarbara, Did you get to hear the T&A with the Blades? I've decided to go ahead and go all in on the blades. I value audiotroys experience with the blades , but do wonder if the T&A would be rated higher than chord if they currently carried both brands. The H590 is great and for the price the included dac is really good, but if I remove the 'bang for the buck' from the equation I would expect another jump in level. |
Wow, thanks for taking the time to answer. The T&A HV amp is within reach and looks good, but the HV pre is tough to justify at +$30k for a blue collar guy like me. My only Krell was the kav 300il and while it's not the same level as the xd stuff it was the only piece that could tame my old kef R105\3's so I'm not surprised you like them. My problem with krell was the 575 monoblocks I heard in a fellow audiophile's home driving the salon 2's and the pairing was rough. The H590 is close but i'm starting to notice some midrange congestion I hadn't previously on some recordings, I also recently joined qubuz so it's possible the difference is im the recordings, that I can work out myself. Hegel finally updated the H30 with the H30I if I can find 1, that still leaves me shopping a dac preamp. Thank you for your patient reply, I'm leaning towards the T&A if I can get a decent price. |
The first time I heard the kef uniq was the R105/3 in 1990 and it stood out from everything else in the room due to the 3d soundstage and precise imaging that I bought them, wife was 8 months pregnant and we were buying our first house but I didn’t care, I had to have them. Those ended up biamped horizontally with kav 300il on top and a b&k4420 for the bass. I expect the more power I can feed the blades the more alive they’ll be. I do wonder if the h590 is a good choice for the pre/dac should I add the T&A amp to drive the top leaving the h590 to push the bass? AT suggested the E200 dac/pre to go with the T&a A3000 but I really believe the speakers will open up even more with 2 amps driving them. |