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In Reply to: RE: N core posted by Davey on January 02, 2018 at 18:29:07
> I have a few friends who've listened to the Benchmark amp extensively (I had a limited exposure) and they don't describe it as "boring." I also have read the reviews on the amp in Stereophile, etc. None of these have mentioned a "boring" presentation either.
Firstly, I think you should re-read my definintion of "boring" in my description of the Benchmark. I defined it as the urge to turn down the volume control (you don't want elevator music playing loudly) as opposed to exciting amps where the urge is to turn it up.
That said, please also re-read part of Stereophiles's review, in particular the paragraphs under "Listening in the Country". Expressions such as these crop up:
"the sound was somewhat hard and thin"
"robbed of some of its warmth and resonance"
"sounded strange. Both voices were higher, not in pitch but in tonal range, as if they'd been transformed from mezzo-sopranos"
"her voice was robbed of its bell-like richness by the AHB2"
These are an indication that this amp is very speaker dependent regarding performance, although (as I previously mentioned) their review is GENERALLY very favourable.
The Absolute Sound reviews says:
"I'm not sure I can in good conscience recommend this amplifier to them [audiophiles] as I am not sure they are in search of what it offers: a precision instrument designed to perform the precisely defined task of reproducing music and sound accurately"
HiFi Plus concludes:
"It seems fussier about speaker partnering than usual, however, and I would recommend trying it with your speakers before purchase"
Remember, when I bought my Benchmark there were no worthwhile reviews for me to read. I was influenced by an Avantgarde owner who thought it was the best amp in the world. After the very disappointing sound it offered through my AG speakers, I found a couple of reviews had been recently published. Of course I was looking for hints in these reviews that all was not as rosy as a quick read would suggest. Reviewers are never outright critical of the products they review, so I find that "reading between the lines" of a good review is most important in deciding whether a product should be bought.
Many people will be delighted with their Benchmarks as part of their system, but I found that most of the 8 or 10 other amps I've tried since were far better in my system than the Benchmark -
Hope this explains why I found the Benchmark "boring" and was pleased to get rid of it. I now have 5 alternative amps that are considerably preferable to listen to than the Benchmark. These by NAD, Accuphase, Gamut, Consonance (tube) and Micromega. Incidentally Red Wine and Quad together with the Benchmark were the most unsatisfactory.
of the whole Halcro 'lowest distortion amps ever' of maybe 15 years ago. Everybody loved them at the time, heard comments about their attack and possibly thinness (didn't pay a whole lot of attention because waaay beyond my price range) and, in just a few years, they were gone.
For the best amps ever, they sure disappeared quickly. Too much heroic effect to remove distortion, just like the Benchmark? I certainly don't know...
Ha-ha. Yes, but there is a place for very accurate amplifiers - and for that matter speakers. Recording studios need them. I have had both the Benchmark amp and ACT 50 Active speakers, both designed primarily for studio use, and was hugely disappointed by both. They are best left in recording studios where the engineers need them as an accurate tool in the work, rather than for audiophiles who want their music to offer excitement and enjoyment, even at the cost of a little inaccuracy.
Good clarification...not that anyone other than Davey seemed to need it. The only thing that puzzles me is why you are still trying SS amps with AG speakers? I have heard AGs owns SS Integrated with several models and the sound is always hard and too forward. The best AG demo I heard was with Audiopax electronic, a Lampizator GG DAC and Sound Galleries music server.
For many years I used tube amps with the Avantgardes. These were all power amps fed by the output from a Mark Levinson 390S - a CD player with variable (analogue) output and 2 digital inputs, one used for DAB tuner.
These amps included Art Audio PX-25, Art Audio Carissa (845 based), Graaf GM-20 (6C33C based), Audio Note 300B and Consonance Cyber 845 monos. Of these, my favourites were the AA ones and the Cyber 845. The Graaf (OTL design) was physically noisy (it buzzed constantly) and the AN was dreary.
A year or so ago I decided to look for a suitable SS design for a number of reasons - I'd spend more time listening to it, AG themselves build only SS amps, etc.
I certainly don't regret switching to SS and have no plans for returning to tubes, although I still have the Cyber 845s.
I've tried several amps with the best being NAD M12 with Gamut D200 and NAD M32 integrated.
I know where you are coming from with the tube vs SS , SET requires good design and the right speakers load to deliver , in other words "effort " where SS is much easier and plug and play for the most part with very little effort and little to no maintenance ..
Regards
> I know where you are coming from with the tube vs SS , SET requires good design and the right speakers load to deliver , in other words "effort " where SS is much easier and plug and play for the most part with very little effort and little to no maintenance ..
No, that's not really the situation, at least as far as my system is concerned.
My speakers are unfussy in as much as all amps can be used without horrors. When I bought the Avantgardes, many people said that horns and SETs were the made-in-heaven combination, so I acquired a good SET. My circumstances at the time allowed me to try other SETs for prolonged periods of time and I loved them all - except the buzzing Graaf and the dreary AN.
It was only after 10+ years that I thought that there surely must be a SS amp that sounded at least as good as the SETs. After all there are thousands to choose from compared with the "cottage industry" of SET builders - good as they are.
You will see from my other posts that my search for an equally exciting SS amp took quite a while and included some serious disappointments. However I feel I've achieved what I set out to do - find a SS amp that allows my horns to sing as beautifully as the SETs.
Peter
Mike over on the Shark runs his AG with toobs, i did hear them with the Toobs but he has also run them with SS and liked the extra grunt and control. With very low distortion amps the Pre-amp dictates sonics immensely, that's not to say it's not so otherwise, but very much so with very low distortion amplifiers.
Not unusual to see many SS amps being driven by tooby pre-amps ....
Regards
Edits: 01/04/18
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