Tekton Design Moab

😂You asked how I became adept at reading reviews. There's a reason graphs and measurements weren't mentioned. There's technical considerations that matter and I have found it helps to understand. These as Obi Wan would have said are not the specs you're looking for.

"If I were to make a judgment I would say the amp falls on the lean side of neutral but not by much. It’s when compared to much bigger and costlier systems that this becomes more apparent. At the Melody’s price point, it would not be frowned upon to use cables as a tool to dial in the desired tonal balance."

"True, the MI880 is a bit lean and lacks ultimate slam, but at least you can hear clearly what is going on through the bass on up into the lower mid range."

"In the environment this amp would be used, i.e. smaller space/smaller scaled systems, the great sense of space and staging will shine."

"I am a better reviewer, at least I hope, for having given the MI880 a fair shake. For those on the path to building a system in the price range where products like the Melody MI880 make up the scenery, I strongly suggest giving it a try. "

I know you will like your new speakers. But the above is from the decade old Stereotimes review of your amp which you reference to often. I do not understand why you would use a then priced $2K budget amp to drive a pair of $10K-$15K Talons while spending $1,000s on tweaks apparently to use, as the reviewer says, to "dial in the desired tonal balance" and then suggesting same to newbies who may not need them because they bought a more balanced system. Just my take. On the other hand, I do agree with you the Raven amps seem like very good products.

Harley explains in chapter 6 why speaker impedance measurements are useful when matching to an amplifier (utilizing the amp’s impedance measurements). That’s why I asked. As a reader of Harley, I thought you’d be interested to see a measurements graph.

Yeah. I know. There's a bunch of technical factors like that, and some of them actually sometimes seem to matter. As opposed to listening impressions, which always do matter. When it comes to amps the most relevant technical factors are watts and dB. Even there however if sensitivity is anywhere north of 95 and watts are anywhere north of 20 odds are good you'll be happy. 

I do not understand why you would use a then priced $2K budget amp to drive a pair of $10K-$15K Talons while spending $1,000s on tweaks apparently to use, as the reviewer says, to "dial in the desired tonal balance" and then suggesting same to newbies who may not need them because they bought a more balanced system. Just my take. On the other hand, I do agree with you the Raven amps seem like very good products.

Pretty sure that was one of the reviews I based my purchase on. The history at the time, my first amp was a McCormack DNA1. The Aronov LS960I replaced the DNA. The Aronov was better in every way, including bass slam, impact, and volume, in spite of it being 60 wpc vs 150. Then I foolishly tried a Jungson Class A SS that didn't last long. So there was a little gap between Aronov and Melody. Both used KT88 tubes. In spite of the time gap I would say they were very close. The Aronov just a shade more depth, a little more liquid. I suspect even the cheapest Raven will put the Melody to shame, even at half the power. But that's only a guess.

What I do know for sure and anyone who's been here will confirm my system is not by any stretch "lean and lacks ultimate slam". Far from it! There's absolutely zero "use of cables to dial in the desired tonal balance." I've been totally consistent in everything I've ever said, that is the last thing in the world I would ever do. I know its a common point of view. I take heat all the time for telling people to NOT "system match" like this. I refer to it as the band-aid approach. But that's part of what I mean about being adept at reading reviews. Don't hang on every word.  

That said, the Melody is next on the list. None of this is the be all. Its all in constant, if slow, rotation. Very slow. Glacial. Yet look where its gotten me.

Besides cables there is also a tendency to think of tweaks as tone controls. That certainly is the case with some, but certainly not all, and I try hard to avoid any that depart very far from what I consider a middle of the road balance. I would say neutral but that's been misused so much it gets a bad rap.

Miller C,

I will be in the Great NW early July for 10 days celebrating
a friends 70th. If you have the Moabs by then I would certainly
enjoy a chance to hear them.  

Chorus