Thanks to everyone for all the helpful information and suggestions. I have a lot to ponder on this Christmas Eve as my journey for perfection continues.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! |
Yes, very informative and I also appreciate the specific experience mentioned by others. In looking at various options it seems like I might be better off looking at a 300B SET amp. I'm also curious whether Bobby P. has tried his Merlins with 300B and/or PX-25 amps. My room is fairly small (18X12 with 8' flat ceilings) and 90db would likely be enough for most of my recordings (rock, blues and jazz mostly) nearly all of the time, but I'm relatively OCD about these things and during times when I wanted to listen to things fairly loud, I would probably spend time listening to see if the amp was straining rather than enjoying the music. |
One more question, Rebbi. How did it work out with the Audio Note kit? Is it something that requires a lot of technical ability? And what is your impression of the sound? |
Thanks everyone and yes, the Art Audio PX-25 amp for sale here is tempting me a bit, although I don't need an attenuator (definitely want to keep using my Allnic L-3000 preamp, which strikes me as a good fit with a PX-25 given the incredible level of detail that the Allnic delivers), and I'm not sure about the price if in part it relates to the attenuator and if I'm going to need a $500 pair of replacement tubes. Mulling it all over, though.
John, my room is fairly small, but I do not feel the need for a subwoofer. In recordings that are somewhat bass-heavy in my opinion (e.g. Beatles Abbey Road, Stevie Ray Vaughan vinyl remasters-Couldn't Stand the Weather), the bass is full and powerful. In recordings that are somewhat bass-lean (e.g. some of the Doors vinyl remasters) the bass sounds a little lean. In other words, to my ears in my room the Merlins produce tight, musical bass that is appropriately powerful when that's what's present in the recording.
I could see how in a larger room you might need a sub to have appropriately full and rich bass.
If you're near Denver at some point, you should come by and have a listen and see what you think. |
Thanks, Rebbi. Very interesting and intriguing story and thanks for blogging it! I'm curious to hear your impressions of the sonics once it's all done. |
Ha anyone compared the Carissa to the Diavolo? I've heard great things about the Carissa but don't know much about the Diavolo. |
Charles,
Very well said. That captures my experience quite well. I was actually very happy with my push pull amp, but there's a certain something with the SET amp that I'm really enjoying. It's not a major difference or anything that I could have ever known I was missing before, but I'm enjoying my music more than ever right now, which is what it's all about of course.
Now if I could just be happy listening and not start wondering what things would sound like if I could try out one of Atma-Sphere's amps, or with the next higher level Allnic phono stage, and so on and so on, forever... |
Interestingly, upon a closer review of the specs for my Primaluna Dialogue Premium amp, I'm currently running the Merlins on 12WPC as I use it exclusively in triode mode (which sounds significantly better to my ears than ultralinear), with NOS Siemens RFT EL34 tubes. That gets plenty loud in my small room, has solid bass energy and drive (although I'm not "all about the bass"--more of a treble and mid-range guy, but musical, tight bass is still important). Frankly, my setup sounds good enough right now that a significant part of me wants to just leave things as-is for a while.
But now that I have a dedicated, relatively small room, I have been wanting to test out the magic of the SET sound that many people talk about, just to see if things could be further improved. If I had to point to a flaw in the sound right now, it would be that my system is a little bit too brutally revealing of any flaw in a recording, and accentuates distortion that is sometimes present(for example the notorious distortion at about 5:30 into Stairway to Heaven is quite prominent to the point of distraction, both on the vinyl and the digital files), and overall the sound is ever so slightly forward in the treble range, which is noticeable on some recordings where the treble is a little on the shrill side to begin with.
Atmasphere, I have wanted to try one of your amps in my system for a while as well (and loved what I heard from them at RMAF this year), but people tend to describe the OTL sound as very detailed, revealing and neutral, which is what I have now in spades, in contrast to the typical SET sound which is a little warmer in the middle and slightly softer on top. From those descriptions, trying out an SET amp would in theory be a better fit for what I'm looking for.
In a perfect world, I would demo a bunch of amps in my system of course. The Art Audio Diavolo on that other site is tempting, and claims to have special order upgraded transformers from Art Audio, but the reviews of that amp fairly consistently say it's a little forward in the treble department, which is probably not what I need. In going with just the description of reviewers, the Carissa seems to be a better fit for what I'm looking for. And the 6WPC PX-25 seems to be a higher risk proposition, although now that I know I'm currently only using 12WPC, it's still a little tempting.
Oh, the dilemmas presented by this hobby and all the options. And I know, I know...first world problems... |
Thanks, Rebbi, for adding to the dilemma with the suggestion of another amp that sounds pretty amazing from the reviews and people's experiences! :). My gut is that I would be unlikely to change to another EL34-based push-pull amp as that's what I have now (and am very happy with how that sounds), and that I'd be more likely to try something different, but wow, the buzz on that Decware amp is through the roof. |
I ended up rolling the dice by pulling the trigger on the Diavolo. At that price it was worth a shot and if it isn't an improvement I can sell it for what I paid and reassess. The Diavolo is supposed to have enough power to easily drive any 90db speaker or higher with authority, and mine are 89db in a small room with a flat impedance curve so I'm hopeful that it will be enough power.
It should be here by the end of next week and then an amp shootout will be in order!
Also, if anyone has thoughts on the difference between the 32b tubes that come with the Diavolo versus the 300BXLS that it can also apparently take, I would be interested in the sonic differences.
Thanks to everyone so far for all the helpful information and ideas. |
For anyone who is interested, I was able to spend some quality time with the new Diavolo this weekend. I had a friend and fellow audiophile over, and we A/Bd the Primaluna with the Diavolo, playing the same suite of songs (some vinyl, some SACD) through the Primalune, the Diavolo with it's stock KR Audio VV32B tubes, and also through the Diavolo with a pair of Emission Labs 300B-XLS tubes.
Overall, this incredibly fun and interesting science/audio experiment/shootout confirmed that the Primaluna amp, particularly with the NOS tubes I was running, is a great amp. And if I were 15 years younger and in the habit of hosting large parties where I would be playing hard rock/heavy metal music at ear bleeding levels, I would keep the Primaluna. But alas, the Primaluna is, as of this morning, for sale on this site.
In short, the Diavolo doesn't "trounce" or "blow away" the Primaluna, but there are noticeable differences, particularly with the 300B-XLS tubes. It would have been a closer call with the stock VV32B tubes. The Diavolo with the 32B tubes had, hands down, the best bass I've ever heard in my system. Tight, full and punchy, just unreal in the bass department. The midrange and treble was very detailed and very nice, but not noticeably better than the Primaluna from the middle up, in sound, imaging or soundstage.
Then we put the 300B-XLS tubes into the Diavolo and listened to all the same songs...
The difference was immediately noticeable and quite striking. I kept hearing myself say "I've never heard that song sound that good." There was definitely a loss in the bass department, but it's one of those things that you don't miss if you don't have it, you just enjoy it if you do have it. And the midrange and treble were silky smooth, detailed, rich and full, and in particular voices and cymbals were more real than anything I had ever heard. I don't know if the Diavolo is truly "neutral," but honestly I think my system was incredibly neutral and revealing to a fault before I got the Diavolo, and the Diavolo with the 300B-XLS tubes warmed and smoothed things to a point where it's just beautiful music that makes me want to listen to more and more of it.
One shortcoming is that with heavier tracks (Led Zeppelin and Rush for example), my system still sounded great with the Diavolo, but when I cranked it up to super loud levels there was noticeable distortion and I had to turn it back down. According to my SPL I could get it to about 90-92 DB without distortion, which frankly for me is plenty, but I have a small room and I can see that the limitation could be an issue for some people particularly in larger rooms.
Tonight I listened only to the Diavolo with the 300B-XLS tubes without any switching or A/Bing, and had to drag myself away after a few hours because I was enjoying it so much.
I think the Diavolo is a world class amp which makes my system sound better than it ever has before. The difference between it and the Primaluna with the NOS tubes is not dramatic, but it is signiricant, particuarly with the 300B-XLS tubes. I look forward to listening to more of my music collection through my system.
Maybe I can be done upgrading/tweaking for a while now? :) |
