C-J!

Conrad-Johnson CA200.

Can we vote on Howard's next system?

I vote for the ARC Ref 5 SE or CJ ET3 SE (the GAT is NOT worth the price difference Howard) with a Simaudio W-8. Or the reverse: a Sim P-8 with those Octave MRE 130s that are gathering dust on a'gon.

Yeah. Should have accepted Joe / Howard's offers and this would be a moot point. I just thought it was too much for what I had or was planning at the time. Now I'm into it and am ready to devote more resources than originally thought. The MS HR II and the good little NAD, along with some HD and lossless music, coupled with the now broken in Dyn's have really changed how I'm thinking about the need to get everything up at least one more level before settling in for more listening than gear collecting.

Which is a point, given all our various hobbies, endeavors. A couple days ago I calculated how much I spend per hour on aviation in a year, versus listening to music. It was really a wakeup call. The exercise isn't all that valid, once you think about the value and rewards that you receive from one or the other activity, but it showed me that a large proportion of my pleasure time is getting short changed, if you will. In short, my budget for music gear and the music itself just more than doubled from where it was several months ago when I first joined AA. The CA200 at Howard's price point would have been an easy purchase. Darn.

What about the Simaudio I-7 that I think is still for sale in the AA classifieds?

I tend to agree with this. The list of amps Dyns sound "good" with is starting to really grow. I've listened to the Dyns in my system...Special 25s and now C1 Sigs...on 5 different amps in the past year (hell, past 6 months probably...lol); 2 from (David) Belles, 2 from C-J, and even a Wyred4Sound...just for good measure. To a certain extent, they all sounded "good".

So...you've got Belles, C-J, Sim, Naim, Mac; etc, etc. How about Dyns are just damn good. :yes: Now...that being said...there's "good" and there's great. In listening to plenty of amps, here are the 2 characteristics I really tend to look for now...in getting the best out of my C1s: 1) they need to offer good control over the substantial bass, Dyn monitors offer; tight but full. 2) They need to take advantage of the world-class Esotar2 tweeter; extend, but not sound etched or fatiguing.

Again, while most of these amps were successful in sounding "good", obviously some were better than others at accomplishing these traits. I'm currently running C-J at both the pre and power positions. :thumbsup:

Pider...Naim is supposed to be the PRaT champ, and I'm curious about one myself; especially since I discovered that the Naim mystique...about somehow punching wayyy above its weight...is a bit of a misnomer. That, in fact, an IA rated at 50wpc, like the 5i, can actually hit 500wpc peaks into 2ohms!

But another unit that really has me intrigued, on the IA front, is the Rega Elicit. Rega has that reputation for the "British" sound, and PRaT as well (in fact, I've seen it compared to Naim in several reviews). However, it offers a bit more (rated) power, and the price isn't quite as steep (on the used market).

I'm not sure if that's a ringing endorsement or not; but inevitable for most. :D

There ya go...

Naim NDX/282/Supercap/250

If you want to move up on level from the MSII, the Bifrost DAC is the clear choice here.

And CA200s are available if you know where to look.

Oh sure...sell your DAC, but not your Hydra 4! :no:

First post here. I'd like to thank everyone for letting me in here :)

You guys think a Bryston 9B-ST can handle the following:

Pair Focus 220MKII's
Pair Focus 140's
Focus 200C center

H/T setup/some music, and will be adding a Dynaudio SUB 500 soon. I'm about to get this rig setup within the next couple weeks. Thanks

Here are the 9B-ST specs:

Solid State / Tubed Solid State
Number of Channels 5
Power 120 Watts @ 8 Ω(1)
200 Watts @ 4 Ω(1)
Power Bandwidth 0.5 Hz to over 100 kHz(1)
Slew Rate > 60 Volts per microsecond(1)
Total Harmonic Distortion < 0.007 %, 20 Hz - 20 kHz @ 120 Watts(1)
Intermodulation Distortion < 0.007 %, 20 Hz - 20 kHz @ 120 Watts(1)
Noise 110 dB below full output(1)
Sensitivity 1.0 Volt unbalanced = 100 Watts(1)
2.0 Volts balanced = 100 Watts(1)

Welcome to AA, hidefguy :yes:

Given the specs of your Bryston, seem like that should be good for you. The 200 WPC (4 ohm) for one channel will translate into something less for all 5 channels driven, but it should -- offhand -- still be more than adequate.

hidefguy... Welcome To AA!!!

:welcome2.:

hidefguy, welcome aboard! :wave:

Wow! You guys are friendly here :) Thanks for the warm welcome

RaceTripper

Since the 9B-ST is a modular design, I believe each channel is independent of the other when all driven. I could be wrong though.

hidefguy... Welcome! :wave:

+1

Welcome to the Forums!

Welcome to Audio Aficionado hidefguy :thumbsup:

I have a Rega Osiris driving Special 25

:thumbsup:

:music:

Hi guys. Newbie here.

I got myself a Dyn's Audience 52SE paired with Exposure 2010S.. I have saved this set-up for about 1-1/2 years because of kids but now they are a bit older so here comes my passion for music again.. recently I got to buy a PS audio link III for my DAC But I was really leaning to a rega-- probably next time. :)

Cheers!

hello again, was browsing the entire thread-- it looks like there wasn't anyone powering their Dyn's with Simaudio? or Plinius?

I thought Simaudio and Dyn's are mathced made in heaven.. I haven't heard it tho, so I can't comment.. hehe :D

Lot of folks, dealers, and shows were featuring Sim and Dyn back in the 2008 time frame, but since then a lot of folks find they work very well with other mfrs. e.g. Naim, Octave, Burmester, and C-J. In particular there has been a marked movement toward using tube gear in a Dyn system.

The C4 Sig were demonstrated in Paris with a Siltech high end tune preamp and the Electrocompaniet impressive Nemo class A monoblocks. A very beautiful and real listening.

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

I auditioned a Simaudio i3.3 with my Audience 52SEs. It sounded really great, but it was not as good as the Naim Nait XS that I had at the same time. Nevertheless, the Sim/Dyn combination is a great one. I ended up with Naim/Contours.

I own AW 180 monoblocks of the same brand. With their tuby sound it's a great combination with Dynaudio's....

^^ I've read before somewhere to never pair a Dyn's with tube.. I guess that was a myth. glad to have this first hand info from actual owners :)

banswee... Welcome To AA!!!

:welcome2.:

What you read was definitely wrong. I auditioned a 40 WPC Octave receiver with my Dynaudio Contour S1.4s. I wrote up my experience in a thread here. Bottom line, it sounded fantastic, but I choose to stay with my Naim Audio gear (which I have since upgraded with the Naim listed in my sig).

FYI: Dynaudio US is also the US distributor for Octave.

Hi Jeff, thanks for the welcome. :)

banswee... Welcome! :wave:

I was using a Jolida tube integrated and recently switched to an Anthem 225 integrated to power my Contour 1.8 Mk2's.

I guess I need to update here.

I'm still powering my Dyns with a Naim Audio NAP250-2, but the Dyns changed from S1.4s to S3.4s. :banana:

We're going to repaint the back wall, since it was done to match the Maple finish of the S1.4s. It doesn't really work with the Cherry finish of the S3.4s.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8165/7...03a2b5b5_b.jpg

Looking good Dean!
Those S3.4 are sweet.
Love the cherry

Beautiful!

One question. Do you find the room "bright" at all with the hardwood floors?

I think you are right however I love how well you made such a strong color work in the room. It never has occurred to me to use such a color.

Good job.:thumbsup:

You don't see it in the picture, but there is a rug that starts a foot in front of the speakers. The room is lively, but not overly bright. With the large speakers and sub I think it's pretty well controlled. I suppose I could improve things with acoustic panels, but I think they look ugly...and I have yet to see a room with panels that doesn't look like a room with acoustic panels. :nono:

Unfortunately, that color on the back wall was selected for the Maple speakers I had and clashes with the cherry of the new speakers. I think we're going to repaint it a color that provides a nice contrast to cherry, probably a blue that picks up from the pictures on the wall.