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In Reply to: RE: Ayon Cossfire III - 30 watts SET posted by Plinius_Fan on May 11, 2014 at 23:43:49
Well for about half the price I'd also try my Line Magnetic 219IA which is 24 watts (with ease) but doesn't look nearly as sexy as Ayon. Although does appeal to some.
A second hand Audio Note Jinro (18 watts) could likely be had for the same price as the Ayon.
I liked Ayon with Legacy at CAS although I was one of the few reviewers that did - I factored in the awful room but still. I don;t recall the amp but it wasn't this one. I mention the 219IA due to the attractive price - with $7 grand savings you can have the caps and wires upgrades and you can afford to buy much nicer tubes. Further it can also be used as a dual mono power amp kinda like monoblocks in one box) and $7k can buy a pretty awesome preamp down the line.
Follow Ups:
Nice amp but different. It has some serious balls and can drive conventional speakers very well. But two things:
1. I do not like the sound of 845. They sound too big to my ears and the subtlety is hardly there especially coming from a low powered SETs.
I have heard many 845 amps and my conclusion has roughly been same.
2. LM 219IA sounded more like a good push-pull than SET in the way it projected the music. The perspective was slightly distant, less intimate than typical SETs.
Having said that if my bias against 845 was not an issue the LM219IA is one heck of an amp. Very quiet and very dynamic...no-nonsense amp.
Fair enough This is why they make a variety of tube types. They're nto for everyone.
If you're not a big fan of the 845 I doubt you will like the 211 all that much more since they're in the same sonic vein.
300B parallel is the only way I would probably want to go with 300B and least expensive set-up that I have personally liked was the Audio Note M6 preamp with AN SOGON cables into the AN Conquest Silver Monoblock (18 watts per channel) and a CD 4.1. And that is well over $70,000 I believe before speakers.
Can't really take the amps in isolation either. Stick a great amp in a mediocre system and you just get mediocre sound.
That is my problem - I could have bought the Jinro but then I'd have no money to do anything else.
Personally, I would try not to buy an integrated amp if you can help it - not at the dollars you're at. Also factor in resale value should it not work out. Audio Note will hold value far more than my Line Magnetic and probably more than Ayon. Separates will too I bet.
The only reason I went with the 219IA was because it allows for a preamp which allows me to follow my long term plan. I would also suggest trying copper wired version of AN amps that are silver - the silver to me works better in AN systems - the copper works better in mixed and matched systems and is cheaper.
...The only reason I went with the 219IA was because it allows for a preamp which allows me to follow my long term plan. I would also suggest trying copper wired version of AN amps that are silver - the silver to me works better in AN systems - the copper works better in mixed and matched systems and is cheaper...
Do you mean output transformers? AFAIK all products in level 3 and up are wired in silver. M6 which starts the "true AN sound signature" has a secondary of the output transformer wired in silver.
Rgrds, W
Yes I meant the silver transformers but I was also thinking of their speakers. The copper speakers seem more at ease with SS amps for example.
Ideally I would be able to directly compare (A/B) the M3 and M6 amplifiers with a set of silver wired speakers.
But as it stands now with my Hong Kong system being
Line Magnetic CD 215 CD Plyaer
Line Magnetic 502CA DAC
Line Magnetic 219IA integrated
Audio Note AX Two Speakers
KEF LS-50 Loudspeakers
I want to eventually get to the following in this order:
1) Audio Note E/Spx HE Alnico (the Alnico tweeters to me just take the whole thing up several leagues)
2) Audio Note M6 preamp (into the LM 219IA would then serve as a Dual Mono power amp)
3) AN DAC 3.1x/II Balanced
4) AN CD/Two II Transport.
5) Then the issue of power amps. With the High efficiency in smallish Hong Kong living spaces it would likely open up options including the 2 watt per channel 45 tube amp.
Still I prefer the 211 over 300B amps and I prefer the power of the 845 over 300B amps thus far. The Conquest Silver though made me rethink that somewhat as it sounded quite robust at the dealer here. I had a non audiophile friend with me and was a bit distracted from serious listening but the amp with the J/LX had some pounding ability on rock which is a must for me.
Audio Note unfortunately doesn't make an 845 and their 211s are well out of my range. The 2a3 is a possible but I like some big scale dynamic drive ability which is why I prefer the 845/211. But the 300B does have the intimacy and inner resolution thing so I could keep the 845 219IA and then add the 300B/2a3 and get the best of both worlds (no law says you have to be stuck with one kind of power amp right)? And I genuinely like many of these tube outputs. I like what my OTO does with its EL84s and I like what 300B does well and I like the bigger sounding 211/845. They each bring something and lose something. It's just fining space to put all this crap. I hate trading stuff - always lose a bunch of money and then I regret selling it for too cheap.
I agree about alnico tweeters. If you could give up a little of that "pounding bass on rock " used AN Vindicator 2a3 with C-cores should give you a heck of pleasure in closet like space with your AN-J.
I used to laugh at guys using 45 amps with mid 90'dB speakers but myself I set up older Living Voice Avatars in a closet , hooked up 45 DiY monoblocks and have a little bit of forbidden pleasure from time to time (actually quite often). Of course they go belly up on any challenging material but have such lovely tonality that I just play simple stuff and enjoy it for what they are. We are hijacking the thread here .....
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