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New Amp

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Posted on January 5, 2025 at 16:51:31
Lagav
Audiophile

Posts: 20
Location: Midwest
Joined: December 19, 2024
 I went a little crazy and bought a Cary CAD 300SEI 300b integrated during their sale last week. I first hear the CAD 300 monoblocks 20 years ago and fell in love. I won't get it for a week or two. I am hoping I still love the sound. My issue is that I will need to find, appropriate, beg, borrow, or buy higher sensitivity speakers to match to it and need recommendations. I currently just have Vandersteen 2Ce Sig II and Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grands. Neither of which are terribly high efficiency, though the Vienna's are 90dB they do dip to 4 ohms.

So, please give me advice on what you would pair and why? My budget is somewhere in the up to $6k range but would like to be cheaper if possible and still get a great result. The program material I find most important is symphonic music followed by general classical, jazz, folk, and a little bit of everything else.

Thanks!

 

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RE: New Amp, posted on January 6, 2025 at 07:00:02
RedM
Audiophile

Posts: 143
Location: midwest
Joined: July 22, 2004
 The Proac DT8 has a great sound with 300B amps. They are easy to drive. I've used several speakers with 300B amps and the Proac is very good.

 

RE: New Amp, posted on January 6, 2025 at 15:08:22
Brandtacious
Audiophile

Posts: 78
Location: West Texas
Joined: October 17, 2007
 These:

https://reverb.com/item/86413337-altec-lansing-a7-voice-of-the-theater-vott-3156-808-80-511b-n501-8b

 

Music everywhere, posted on January 7, 2025 at 05:05:08
theromium
Audiophile

Posts: 190
Location: Mesa, AZ
Joined: March 12, 2005
 Although I am usually running a 45 set amp, I have owned and used 300B amps for 20 years, but never a Cary. I have had great success with Klipsch Forte and Tekton Design Perfect Set speakers. Both are 98dB> sensitive and will allow your Cary to easily drive them too full song. For me, the Klipsch seem to drive the music from a upper bass/lower mid point of view, Which is great for 300B, while the Tekton excel at revealing mid and upper details from my 45 amp.

Klipsch Cornwall would be excellent.

I see that the Cary puts out 15 w/ch, so depending on your room you could use speakers down to 90-95 dB.

Some others I have seen that caught my eye;
Volti Audio Razz
Heretic Audio AD614
Pure Audio Project (used for $6k)

I bet that your Vienna will sound pretty darn good until you get new speakers.

 

RE: New Amp, posted on January 7, 2025 at 11:38:49
RedM
Audiophile

Posts: 143
Location: midwest
Joined: July 22, 2004
 Be careful with these, I've previously had a pair. They were produced for the sound in a theatre. You need a huge room and a listening seat 15 feet away. Still the soundstage is crude and broad brushed. Slam and dynamics are excellent but that's about it.

 

RE: New Amp, posted on January 7, 2025 at 13:21:37
Triode_Kingdom
Audiophile

Posts: 10282
Location: Central Texas
Joined: September 24, 2006
 What you need is a classic high efficiency 3-way with a large ported enclosure (at least 5 cu ft) tuned near 20 Hz. I don't think anyone still makes anything like this. I had to build my own about 25 years ago. I've brought two pairs of Cornwalls into the house since then, and both got the boot within a couple weeks. If you want extended bass response, you'll probably just have to settle for less SPL.

 

RE: New Amp, posted on January 7, 2025 at 13:56:56
Brandtacious
Audiophile

Posts: 78
Location: West Texas
Joined: October 17, 2007



Two best things I've ever bought in audio: 1.) Hot rodded 2A3 SET; and 2.) movie theater speakers for my smallish-mediumsish living room.
Got the speakers around 2009 when the old downtown theater got new stuff to replace them.
Got the 2A3 amp in 2010.
I've also used a 300B SET amp in the same setup - I like both 300B and 2A3, I just prefer the 2A3 a little better.
Effortless detail, timber, air, and dynamics in spades, nothing harsh about these at all. I listen to them near field. Great soundstage and imaging, as well.
Mine are EV Sentry IVB, which are 3 way horns with a plasticish midrange horn, as opposed to the Altec A7 which is 2 way with a metal horn. Also, the EV is a little more efficient at 101 or 102 db/watt/meter vs 97 for the A7. A 7 watt 300B amp would have no issues driving either near field.
What's missing in my system is bass below around 45hz. But the bass it has still frightens the critters when I play anything by the Minnesota Orchestra, and the bass hits hard - it's just not deep. Based on the size of my living room, I haven't ever seriously considered adding subs.
I'd think maybe the sound might be rough listening near field with some types of amplification, but is more likely to be PURE MAGIC with your new amp!
Note: I'm not the seller of those A7's, nor do I know or have any affiliation. Just saw those earlier in the afternoon I saw your post!

 

RE: New Amp, posted on January 10, 2025 at 08:58:29
Triode_Kingdom
Audiophile

Posts: 10282
Location: Central Texas
Joined: September 24, 2006
 "What's missing in my system is bass below around 45hz."

That's a major problem with so-called high efficiency speakers. The numbers the manufacturers advertise are created by the horns, but the woofer section can't keep up. This really does a disservice to the audio community. It would be much more appropriate to pad the horns down to 95dB or so and complement them with a large bass reflex enclosure. A system like that can provide bass to 20Hz. It's sad that marketing departments dictate these designs, rather than engineers who know how to produce full-range speaker systems. I've brought home two sets of Cornwalls over the years. This speaker falls squarely in the category of sacrificing bass for numbers. Both sets got the boot after a couple weeks of listening. I can't imagine how people put up with Heresys and La Scalas. They're not suited for much more than a high schoool gym.

 

EV Sentry IVB vs Altec A7 VOTT, posted on January 14, 2025 at 09:43:39
Jon L
Audiophile

Posts: 6222
Joined: April 6, 2000
 I believe EV Sentry tends to have better reputation than VOTT in being able to adapt better to home situations compared to theater. Have you tried VOTT in home situations?

Also, used prices for EV are not really any lower than VOTT..

 

RE: EV Sentry IVB vs Altec A7 VOTT, posted on January 14, 2025 at 16:51:57
Brandtacious
Audiophile

Posts: 78
Location: West Texas
Joined: October 17, 2007
 Not yet...- But I have heard A7 with 300B, and it was right up my alley. I intend to get a set of VOTT, specifically to use with a 300B SET.
Yes, I've had good luck integrating the Sentry's into my living room. I've used them with 2A3, 300B, and EL34 amps. EV PI15-3 and Aristocrats have served me well, too, and so have Heresy I and circa 1995 Definitive Tech lower end of that brand floor standers.
I recently tried some Klipsch RP-160M 2-way bookshelf speakers and found the 2-way an interesting change of pace - but they're so small and I've become completely addicted to the way big speakers fill the air with music such as others cannot do (to my ears and tastes - if you think differently that's great, too).
I'm looking forward to getting some VOTT to round out my SET/horn collection as well as round out listening choices at my place.
As this thread illustrates, folks' personal preferences run the spectrum of differences - thankfully there are great manufacturers, makers, craftsmen and artists who make wonderful stuff to fit all of our preferences! For me, it's SET and horns. Period. I'll take the MAGIC midrange and solid 45 hz every time over deeper bass minus that magic. At this point, I don't desire to bi-amp in order to have lower bass, but understand that some prefer that and have great results doing so...-

 

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