Pathos classic one mk2

Leo,

After reading about Doug Schroeder's experience bridging the Pathos here on Audiogon (a quick search should get his post)and AA, I went and ordered a second one. In short, I found his observations regarding more power, clarity, etc. spot on.

One point he made was about the piano now sounding like the recording mic had been moved to inside the casing rang especially true. Yesterday listening to a Mozart minuet this really was evident. In addition I found that the increase in power seemed to make an already great bass even tighter and deeper which I didn't think was possible.

One other item, to note . . . as my pathi (plural of Pathos???) are situated near my speakers that are nearly 7 feet apart I was concerned about whether the remote would catch both. Again as Doug S. stated, both units worked in lock step - another great bonus.

So, to answer your question, IMO, the magic wasn't lost - it actually increased. No regrets whatsoever. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Garry

thank you garry, excellent information, one more question did you switch them to mono yourself, it sounds like is easy even dough they tell you a technician should do it,by the way iam using a velodyne sub with remote plug into the tape out, and it works great

Leo,

You're welcome. Yes, I did it my self. I have the MK3 which has a cutout on the bottom. Easy as pie - the dip switch comes from the factory set to "S"; just get yourself a pencil or jeweler's screw driver and move it over to "M". It will take you know more than 3 seconds. From what I've been able to gather, your version has this cutout as well.

One thing to be mindful of is the connections when bridged. In mono mode, all inputs are connected to the Right inputs for each side. Make sure that the ++ speaker lead for each respective speaker is attached to the Right ++ terminal on the amp with the -- speaker lead attached to the Left ++ terminal on the amp . . . it's all in the manual for your reference.

Good luck and let us know if you go ahead with the purchase. I'd be interested to hear your take on the this.

Cheers,
Garry

Leo,
I continue to be very pleased by the sound/performance of the "Pathi" as Garry refers to them. No complaints at all. They seem to be especially superb with very revealing speakers, as they will take some of the edge off the high end without making them sound dull. I have only known a handful of individuals who have run them bridged, but all that I'm aware of are extremely happy with that configuration. I understand that on the oldest version, the original Classic One, a person may have to remove the bottom chassis cover to access the S/M switch. Not a major issue.

Be aware that there was a change in the top silver plate over the transformer. Earlier MKII versions had a rounder, slightly taller plate, but newer ones have shorter, more square plate/cover. Not a huge deal as most people in my listening room never even noticed. You really need to be looking closely to notice much of a difference, but if you purchase two of them used in different transactions and you're hung up on things like that, you may want to try to match them.

what functions as the pre-amp in this configuration? Where do you plug your CD player, etc??

thanks guys, iam going to buy a second one, i am currently using a dynaudio C2 speakers and a sonic frontier SFCD1 upgraded player and the sound is just short of amazing,
by the way dreadhead just brought up a good question,
regards leo

How does one go about this? Garry states his amps are 7' apart. After you change them to mono whats next? Do you join them with an RCA cable, to what jacks? Which one functions as the pre-amp? Does the volume now work in conjuction with each other?

HI Dreadhead,

In my post above, I touched on the connections issue as this was one of my primary concerns too. No need to join the amps as there is no master nor slave preamp in bridged mode. In essence, each block has its own pre with you needing to simply hook up the left outs put from your CD, DVD, AM/FM, phono, etc., to the Left Pathos and the corresponding right outs to the Right Pathos.

Regarding smooth simultaneous operation of the two units given the distance, I had thought about getting a passive preamp/linestage and decided to wait and see if the units were able to react in concert to remote commands. In my short experiece with this setup, the horizontal range of the remote is sufficient to operate both units in lock step. Take a look at Doug's setup and you'll see that he has them situated (right next to each other) which is probably how most would set them up - so this would be even less of an issue. Assuming you are using only one or two sources most of the time, it is less cumbersome than it would seem.

As this system is in my work office, I am glad it worked out as it is important to me to keep the box count down. Pictures to come soon . . .

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Garry

I am a beginner in this audiophile world. I have just brought a new Pathos Classic One (I think it is MKIII, has a remove with 4 gold buttons) on someone's recommendation. I would now like to purchase some good speakers, interconnects for this. Can you please recommend what have you been using and what should I consider. Do I also need to buy a subwoofer to make it sound good for bass. The max. price I can pay for speakers in USD 2000.

Regards
Pearljamme