Amps for Avalon Osiris CAT JL3, Boulder 2060, Dart

Sirspeedy, this may surprise you but I thought the Ascents got slightly hard sounding when driven very hard. I suspect that the amp was the cause of that not the speakers. I was running the amps in full triode. I have only recently discovered they sound much better running in tetrode and it is too late to know now (the Ascents were sold to a friend)but it probably would have been fine at high spl's if I had run in tetrode. I paid special attention to Johnathan Skulls reviews, I thought his sonic values were similar to mine. Now that you have recommended the ASR, I will make a point of auditioning it. I am trying the Nuforce 9 SE's next week. They have a thirty day money back guarantee so it will cost me nothing if they are not keepers. Check out the review on ultraaudio.com. So now on my shortlist of amps to hear are the CAT JL2 Sig, Dartzeel and ASR Emitter. I'll keep you posted and thanks for the advice. Maybe we can meet at the next NYC home entertainment show (It will probably be next year). Bart

Thanks Bart,best of luck!!

I sold my Radians in order to buy a pair of Ascents Mk2 about one year ago. After that I sold my ss amps (monos) and bought a pair of Fourier OTLs (Pantheres). Quite a few members of the audio community were quite negative because Fourier has a bad reputation. My amps proved to be reliable however because the caps mounted are of Japanese origin instead of those that are from India. Pre amp is still solid state (cello). The sound is very detailed with spectacular dynamics. If a small Ongaku amp can drive these speakers a 200watt OTL has no problems at all I assume. Even digital classical records prove to be listenable now. I hear plenty of bottom end (is there any sub that will mate with an otl?). I think the Osirus could also be a good match for such an otl. I read that even newer Avalons with a more difficult load work well with Atma- Sphere. Does the Osirus also have minimum load of 5.5 ohm? Can anybody describe the difference between a Cat and an otl? Has anybody similar experiences?

Hodelrecords, it's good to hear your Fouriers are doing well. They are good sounding amps, maybe a bit on the dark side. The original power supply high voltage electrolytic caps were a brand called Binda, sourced from India, so it sounds as though the previous owner replaced them, probably a good thing.

I don't have any experience with CAT vs. OTL amps driving speakers like yours, but I am familiar with both driving Sound Lab ESLs. While I probably can't offer specific insight into which would do a better job driving big Avalons, I would generally recommend Atma-Sphere MA-2s as a minimum if you're going the OTL route; it may be only a matter of time before the Fouriers fail when driving loads that dip below 8 ohms. Avalon can give you an idea of the impedance. CAT amps should drive the speakers well; you'll have to audition them side by side with OTLs to see if you give up some transparency for the sake of control.

Brian

I too grew up in New York and spent many years living in Northern new Jersey. I have lived in Ca. since 1980. I also have Ascent Mk 2 speakers and they are driven by a Pass 350.5 and there is an REL Stadium II in the right hand corner. I do employ an Audio Research Ref 2 as a preamp and there are a pair of Amperex A Frames as the first amplification stage. I have owned many cominations through my 40+ years and an audio nerd and this is the first time I am not considering an upgrade.
Jeff