Thanks for sharing your experience. You seem like a very particular and thorough listener, but it would benefit us all to heed your conclusions. I think that the best way to put together a system is to find the right speakers and work back from there.
Speakers Decide Which Amp Is Needed, Or A Tale Of Two Amps
So I have a pair of JBL 4365 speakers that are my only speakers. Well I do have three Velodyne HGS12 servo subwoofers that I roll in very low just to fill in at the 30 hertz range and below. When I first bought the JBL I thought they were going to be SET friendly speakers, with a 94 dB efficiency and 8 ohm impedance. Well that did not turn out to be the case, and I had been searching for electronics ever since.
Early on I had a Musical Fidelity Nuvista M3 integrated that I purchased on a lark, and it sounded very nice with the JBL. I had a friend who needed a good set of amplification for some Vandersteens, so I sold him the integrated thinking that I could upgrade fairly easily at this point. Was I wrong. I had found an H2O Audio amplifier that I was always interested in, and to be honest it was a very nice amp, and in looking back if I had another pair of speakers I bet I would love it. I tried a few pre amps with it but had trouble getting a good match. After trying a Plinius Haurtoga and failing, I decided to wipe the slate clean and sold both of them. Next up was a PS Audio BHK 250 amp and matching pre-amp, and I once again discovered that I no longer care for tubes, especially in the pre-amp. This led to a couple of years of tube rolling, and various stages of disappointment. I decided the tube pre-amp had to go, but I think I could live with the amp.
The BHK pre amp got replaced with a Halcro DM8, which was a marked improvement. This led to another year of tube rolling, and while I had some success with a couple of the Russian 6922 variants, I never really got to the point where I was happy with the sound. A friend of mine wanted me to sell his Magnepan 1.7 series speakers for him, so he sent them over and I hooked them up to the Halcro/BHK combo. After positioning and tube rolling I got them to sound mighty fine. I came to the conclusion that the JBL are just not the match I am looking for with this amp, and while the amp is very nice it seems I was beating my head against the wall with this combo.
For a couple of years there was a pair of AVM Essential monoblock amps for sale on the trading page of another site that I am a member of. I had read all I could about them off and on, and there is very little information available for the earlier offerings from AVM, but more about the Ovation and later series. But I decided to extrapolate from the Ovation reviews as it appears to be a variation on the same overall architecture, where as the latest generation amps have gone to a tube based first gain stage. So I took a flyer and bought the amps.
Have owned them for a bit over a week, and found out a few preliminary things. First of all they sound best plugged straight to the wall, whereas my BHK benefited from being on a PS Audio P10 conditioner. Secondly, they do appear to be biased to Class A for a good portion of their operating range, the Ovation series are Class A to 40 watts, this seems reasonable for these amps also given the temps they run at. The build quality is top notch, and do they weigh a pound or two! Footprint is 12"W by 14"D by 6.5"H and weigh in at 50 pounds each. One thing i do appreciate about solid state is I can just turn it on and leave it be. Come down to listen to music and its a matter of just cueing up a record or selecting a track on the music server.
Now in terms of sound quality I find the Essential amps to me more balanced tonally than the BHK, which is what I fought for my whole time of ownership. I no longer care for the variations available with different tubes. I also believe that instruments have a greater degree of authenticity, the balance is natural and real sounding. Same goes for vocals. Presentation of space is actually improved, the soundstage is massive, and instruments are nicely focused. Bass response is another win. The quality and depth of the bass was kicked up a couple of notches, and if I had this amp here when considering adding subs I doubt I would have made that decision.
I know I am in the early stages of integrating this amp into my system. I imagine there will be some changes made to fine tune things. But so far I think this combo is going to work, I can hear the potential. I am at a point right now where I prefer it to the BHK, no matter which tube selection I had installed. I imagine I am going to experiment a bit with speaker wire, and power cords. I may also look at different choices for AC conditioning as I no longer need a product as large as the P10.
This is just a reinforcement of something I learned a long time ago. Speakers determine what amplification is needed. But of course room determines what speakers will be optimum.
Early on I had a Musical Fidelity Nuvista M3 integrated that I purchased on a lark, and it sounded very nice with the JBL. I had a friend who needed a good set of amplification for some Vandersteens, so I sold him the integrated thinking that I could upgrade fairly easily at this point. Was I wrong. I had found an H2O Audio amplifier that I was always interested in, and to be honest it was a very nice amp, and in looking back if I had another pair of speakers I bet I would love it. I tried a few pre amps with it but had trouble getting a good match. After trying a Plinius Haurtoga and failing, I decided to wipe the slate clean and sold both of them. Next up was a PS Audio BHK 250 amp and matching pre-amp, and I once again discovered that I no longer care for tubes, especially in the pre-amp. This led to a couple of years of tube rolling, and various stages of disappointment. I decided the tube pre-amp had to go, but I think I could live with the amp.
The BHK pre amp got replaced with a Halcro DM8, which was a marked improvement. This led to another year of tube rolling, and while I had some success with a couple of the Russian 6922 variants, I never really got to the point where I was happy with the sound. A friend of mine wanted me to sell his Magnepan 1.7 series speakers for him, so he sent them over and I hooked them up to the Halcro/BHK combo. After positioning and tube rolling I got them to sound mighty fine. I came to the conclusion that the JBL are just not the match I am looking for with this amp, and while the amp is very nice it seems I was beating my head against the wall with this combo.
For a couple of years there was a pair of AVM Essential monoblock amps for sale on the trading page of another site that I am a member of. I had read all I could about them off and on, and there is very little information available for the earlier offerings from AVM, but more about the Ovation and later series. But I decided to extrapolate from the Ovation reviews as it appears to be a variation on the same overall architecture, where as the latest generation amps have gone to a tube based first gain stage. So I took a flyer and bought the amps.
Have owned them for a bit over a week, and found out a few preliminary things. First of all they sound best plugged straight to the wall, whereas my BHK benefited from being on a PS Audio P10 conditioner. Secondly, they do appear to be biased to Class A for a good portion of their operating range, the Ovation series are Class A to 40 watts, this seems reasonable for these amps also given the temps they run at. The build quality is top notch, and do they weigh a pound or two! Footprint is 12"W by 14"D by 6.5"H and weigh in at 50 pounds each. One thing i do appreciate about solid state is I can just turn it on and leave it be. Come down to listen to music and its a matter of just cueing up a record or selecting a track on the music server.
Now in terms of sound quality I find the Essential amps to me more balanced tonally than the BHK, which is what I fought for my whole time of ownership. I no longer care for the variations available with different tubes. I also believe that instruments have a greater degree of authenticity, the balance is natural and real sounding. Same goes for vocals. Presentation of space is actually improved, the soundstage is massive, and instruments are nicely focused. Bass response is another win. The quality and depth of the bass was kicked up a couple of notches, and if I had this amp here when considering adding subs I doubt I would have made that decision.
I know I am in the early stages of integrating this amp into my system. I imagine there will be some changes made to fine tune things. But so far I think this combo is going to work, I can hear the potential. I am at a point right now where I prefer it to the BHK, no matter which tube selection I had installed. I imagine I am going to experiment a bit with speaker wire, and power cords. I may also look at different choices for AC conditioning as I no longer need a product as large as the P10.
This is just a reinforcement of something I learned a long time ago. Speakers determine what amplification is needed. But of course room determines what speakers will be optimum.
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