Magnepan 3.7?

[bobsticks]

Oh kids, let's stop this petty bickering...clearly the answer is just to buy the CTH-8550 and be done with it.


OTOH, has anyone tried the 3.7 with any of the Van Alstine hybrid gears? That would seem to be a reasonably priced option...

[blackraven]

OTOH, has anyone tried the 3.7 with any of the Van Alstine hybrid gears? That would seem to be a reasonably priced option...

I run the 1.6's with a Van Alstine hybrid preamp, hybrid DAC, and a SS amp. I really like the combo. My system has a very tube like sound but the punchy bass of SS.

I did get to do an in home audition with his hybrid 500wpc FET Valve amp and enjoyed the sound. I would have bought the amp but I got such a good deal the Parasound.

Check out the Van Alstine forum on audiocircles, there are plenty of Maggie owners using his hybrid and tube gear.

[Feanor]

Oh kids, let's stop this petty bickering...clearly the answer is just to buy the CTH-8550 and be done with it.

...

Yeah, right. But it's not tubes, 'Stick, so Tube Fan won't like regardless.

Or try a ClassDAudio SDS-258, ($600 completed). Same power as the DarTZeel; not tubes either but does sounds great with my tube preamp.

[bobsticks]

Okay, okay...tubes then, how's about the Vincent TubeLine SV-236MK integrated amplifier...both TAS and Sterophile seem to approve (never heard it myself). Lota rave reviews for $2k.

[RGA]

Okay, okay...tubes then, how's about the Vincent TubeLine SV-236MK integrated amplifier...both TAS and Sterophile seem to approve (never heard it myself). Lota rave reviews for $2k.

Vincent amps are made by the same company that makes some of Grant Fidelity's amps - the difference is Grant Fidelity admits it while Vincent seems shy to. Not a big deal but the Vincent monoblocks are very likely made by Shengya which I reviewed. So if this is the case and I believe it is then Vincent will be very very good value. The PM 150 monoblocks sound a lot better than the GF Rita which is already one of the best deals out there for a very powerful tube integrated.

Tube Fan - I think my problem with Valin is kind of alluded to by audiofederation in that he doesn't seem to have a clear idea of what he likes and therefore likes too much stuff IMO. The problem with being a reviewer is that we usually have to choose stuff we like and the more we like the more we get to review and the more we review the more polific we are and the bigger name we get for ourselves. When you hate most stuff and like very little then you can't be prolific and therefore you don't get a "big name" or seen all over the web. And I'm sorry but there just isn't that much stuff that is very good that is out there.

Audiofederation kind of reviews John Valin here http://audiofederation.com/blog/archives/778 and like them I do agree with Valin some of the time but for me anyway on the really important sounding rooms IMO he's off base from my take on it.

PS Tube fan - they may have finally made a CD player that will trump "most" turntables - Mike has a good ear - I met him at CES and mostly we agreed across the board. AN digital was already the best out there IME by a significant margin and if this raises the bar exponentially over their other cd players then I hope to hear it once it is broken in and set-up properly - it wasn't at last CES but should be for next show - although a CD player for $185,000.00 is not exactly cheap. http://audiofederation.com/blog/cate...io/audio-note/

[tube fan]

Vincent amps are made by the same company that makes some of Grant Fidelity's amps - the difference is Grant Fidelity admits it while Vincent seems shy to. Not a big deal but the Vincent monoblocks are very likely made by Shengya which I reviewed. So if this is the case and I believe it is then Vincent will be very very good value. The PM 150 monoblocks sound a lot better than the GF Rita which is already one of the best deals out there for a very powerful tube integrated.

Tube Fan - I think my problem with Valin is kind of alluded to by audiofederation in that he doesn't seem to have a clear idea of what he likes and therefore likes too much stuff IMO. The problem with being a reviewer is that we usually have to choose stuff we like and the more we like the more we get to review and the more we review the more polific we are and the bigger name we get for ourselves. When you hate most stuff and like very little then you can't be prolific and therefore you don't get a "big name" or seen all over the web. And I'm sorry but there just isn't that much stuff that is very good that is out there.

Audiofederation kind of reviews John Valin here http://audiofederation.com/blog/archives/778 and like them I do agree with Valin some of the time but for me anyway on the really important sounding rooms IMO he's off base from my take on it.

PS Tube fan - they may have finally made a CD player that will trump "most" turntables - Mike has a good ear - I met him at CES and mostly we agreed across the board. AN digital was already the best out there IME by a significant margin and if this raises the bar exponentially over their other cd players then I hope to hear it once it is broken in and set-up properly - it wasn't at last CES but should be for next show - although a CD player for $185,000.00 is not exactly cheap. http://audiofederation.com/blog/cate...io/audio-note/

I agree that most of REG's reviews are questionable. He loves digital, ss, and even prefers mm to mc cartridges. HP is solid IMO, AND he takes a stand! I haven't heard much of the ss gear that JV likes, so I cannot comment on those opinions. I have heard the Magico V2 and V3, and would not trade my Fultons for either. The Q5s are a stretch for me as far as cost goes (have not heard them).

As far as digital goes, I loved the sound in the Audio Note room at the CAS. That was digital unlike any other I have heard: smooth, detailed, got timbre correct, and had great micro and macro dynamics. I may have even underrated the sound, as I have a strong preference for analogue (no blind listening here). They played a big band jazz cd at realistic volume, and the sound was very close to what I heard at Pearls jazz club on many Mon nites.

BTW I just played Miles' "Someday my prince will come" with John Coltrane on Sax over my Fulton Js at full realistic volume. Both Miles and Coltrane sounded like they were in my living/listening room!!!

[RGA]

I agree that most of REG's reviews are questionable. He loves digital, ss, and even prefers mm to mc cartridges. HP is solid IMO, AND he takes a stand! I haven't heard much of the ss gear that JV likes, so I cannot comment on those opinions. I have heard the Magico V2 and V3, and would not trade my Fultons for either. The Q5s are a stretch for me as far as cost goes (have not heard them).

The problem with all shows is that at any given point the sound may not be as good as it could be so sometimes it's not completely fair to judge. I auditioned a lot of rooms (in retrospect I covered too many). Still at some point money has to factor in. The Magico Technical Brain sounded good on Cello when I went in but here's the thing - it sounded no better than Audio Note's cheap room which still wasn't cheap but it comprised of Art Dudley's AN E/SPE HE speakers ($7600), the Jinro which Art Dudley just reviewed ($20,000+) integrated amp and a one box CD player 3.1 or 4.1 can't remember). So maybe ~$30k room. The Magico speakers were something like $60,000 and the TB gear over $70,000 and the source was a computer high digitial bit rate (top bit rate available if memory serves).

So many things are going on here - can you pare one room down and still retain most of the quality in sound. The Magico room didn't allow me to play my music. So was it playing only to its strengths. Lots of systems can be made to do "some" thing very well. Terry at Soundhounds says it all the time - this one is good for this music so they play a set of music on it and rotate but throw on something else and it sounds rather dreadful.

Some of the expensive SS amps make little sense to me - they still come across as brute force sound and not very subtle (the audiofederation did an interesting series comparing most of the top high power amplifiers). Oddly relatively low powered inexpensive ones seem to get the subtlety better - the Sugden A21a and even the Creek Audio integrateds and Heed amps all under $3,000 do some things better than big powerful and expensive amps. Less feedback maybe.

[tube fan]

The problem with all shows is that at any given point the sound may not be as good as it could be so sometimes it's not completely fair to judge. I auditioned a lot of rooms (in retrospect I covered too many). Still at some point money has to factor in. The Magico Technical Brain sounded good on Cello when I went in but here's the thing - it sounded no better than Audio Note's cheap room which still wasn't cheap but it comprised of Art Dudley's AN E/SPE HE speakers ($7600), the Jinro which Art Dudley just reviewed ($20,000+) integrated amp and a one box CD player 3.1 or 4.1 can't remember). So maybe ~$30k room. The Magico speakers were something like $60,000 and the TB gear over $70,000 and the source was a computer high digitial bit rate (top bit rate available if memory serves).

So many things are going on here - can you pare one room down and still retain most of the quality in sound. The Magico room didn't allow me to play my music. So was it playing only to its strengths. Lots of systems can be made to do "some" thing very well. Terry at Soundhounds says it all the time - this one is good for this music so they play a set of music on it and rotate but throw on something else and it sounds rather dreadful.

Some of the expensive SS amps make little sense to me - they still come across as brute force sound and not very subtle (the audiofederation did an interesting series comparing most of the top high power amplifiers). Oddly relatively low powered inexpensive ones seem to get the subtlety better - the Sugden A21a and even the Creek Audio integrateds and Heed amps all under $3,000 do some things better than big powerful and expensive amps. Less feedback maybe.

One of the salesmen in the Audio Note room claimed that the J would have sounded better in that small (under 300 square feet?) room than the E. My office is small at under 150 square feet, and the J looks promising.