triode

It's possible to have "caramel" AND resolution, big tone, vividness, harmonic juice...ML2 is definitely one path, and with the right speakers there is no need for constipated 1000wpc solid-state...

mooty

nice.

ML 2 is the first SS amp that is dark and caramel'd to get close to tubes. i can't tell which monoblock you got there. but modern ARC, VTL are not really tube amps, if you konw what i mean. (i know yours aren't ARC VTL). i got one of the last premier 8,9 from CJ. that's OLD school tubes.

btw, your sound room reminds what i used to do. all my friends think i am insane. if they move my speaker 1mm from it's optimal location, i start cussing LOL.

triode

Mooty, mine are Lamm ML2 monoblocks; 18 single-ended watts per channel with 108 dB sensitive speakers can make a glorious racket indeed...agree with you that the modern high-power push-pull tube amps are just not the same as the old classics (like ARC D70).

I see now that you were previously referring to the old Levinson ML2, the Class A ss room heaters. Now those were some ss amps with a bit of soul! Used to sell Levinson, back in the day, but now am confirmed tube & horn guy. Many paths to bliss...

triode

PS - there is an article about Burmester in the current Christophorus, but really just a puff piece on the home 2-channel stuff, w/no mention of the Panamera system. I do hope that he joins forces with Porsche across the model lines, at least down to the 997; the name "Bose" has no place in such a fine piece of German engineering.

mooty

that's what they were used for when i was studying at MIT. i can walk around the house in shorts and Tshirt with window wide open as long as my ML2 and SA2 (threshold) are on, which they are 24/7.

the modern levinson are still good, just not great. too commercialized.

single ended tube is the bomb. but i still need to get used to horns though. they were and still are very much desired in the very esoteric high end of japan.

cfjan

Mooty, when did you get out of MIT? Were you course 6?

Bill_C4S

this could be group therapy...Porsches, Audiophiles, MIT grads....

My version of caramel whilst at the 'tute was a Counterpoint SA-12 driving Vandersteen 2C's....

Since moved in the direction of greater articulation with Avalon Indra's driven by the Spectral monoblocks...

Course 10...the Plumbers.

cfjan

Nice, another Beaver.. ! 15 and 6 here.. !

Wayward

At some point, somebody should really consult musicians when asking what sounds good. Then again, perhaps I'm not hearing this correctly...

mooty

Course 4
M Arch
1993

mdrums

Absolutely and as a musician myself you all would be shocked at how the music you listen to...most not all...is actually recorded and the gear it is recorded on, and mixed on. Pro audio is different than consumer audio however there are some mastering houses that use some ultra high end gear too.

As for me, I love home audio and home theater. I do not have the cash a lot of you have on these forums but I have had some high end audio snobs over to my place for a concert in my home theater and they were impressed. I am just using McIntosh MX135 pre/pro and a McIntosh 7ch amp with Klipsch Ref 7 speaker system and 2 Klipsch Ref SW15's mounted in a cinder block cuddy with custom built in scoops to pressurize the low end. I have acoustical (Aurlex) treaments to help with the sound. My source is just a Denon 5900 for CD's and a Sony Playstation 3 for upconverting DVD and Blu-Ray and view everything on a Dalite screen and a Sim2 HT300 E Link projector....all mounted in the wall in pull out racks.

mooty

^ a well put together system sounds good, an expensive poorly put together hodge podge just shows how money doesn't buy expertise.

klipsch has had some bad rap in the late 80's. but i have heard some well driven klipsch horns that are nothing but sweetness.

another favorite of mine (provided you have small system and room ) is the early nakamich SR2, 3, 4 receivers, or naim nait 2. with high efficiency speakers, these little recviers and integrate amp often trump systems over 10-30k.

KINGSRULE

How the heck do you expect to get anything close to a superb setup with the gear in between the speakers?
The tubes vibrate, the TT and cartridge the same and what about an image?

On yeh, Miles is on top on the right monoblock!!!

triode

One of the great things about horns is their controlled dispersion - unlike cones 'n domes, there is very little side/center splash so no need for side/front wall treatment; futhermore, in my setup (though it's hard to tell from the photo), the equipment rack and amp stands are set back a bit from the front plane of the speakers.

Add in the Grand Prix Audio Monaco Modular racks with Apex footers, with their incredible isolation in both the vertical and lateral planes, and tube dampers in the line stage, and voila...no tube ringing, superb imaging (though I personally do not care much about that aspect), no grunge, just music. Trust me.

KINGSRULE

Trust ME
Move your gear and you will be in for a MAJOR upgrade.

And, if you don't care about imaging, why bother???