Amps for Sasha W/P?
 

Hi All,

I have been following this great site for quite some time now, but this is my first posting.

I have been a very happy Sasha W/P owner since Nov-09. However, I have decided to change Amps, and have narrowed my search down to either the Krell Evo 600e or the Krell Evo One.

I am not a very 'technical'/knowledgeable audiophile, but just love listening to music, so I hope that I will be able to get some opinions on this topic to help me decide which way to go.

I have always loved the Wilson sound ever since listening to the Watt 2/Puppy's at Christopher Hansen's showroom in 1989 as a student. As I couldn't afford them then, I ended up getting Martin Logan Sequel's driven by Bryston & Wadia equipment. Over the years, I've played with various other equipment like B&W, Mark Levinson, and Classe, but finally decided to take the plunge (money-wise) when Wilson came out with the Sasha W/P's.

My system comprises the Ayre KX-R Pre-amp, Ayre QB-9 DAC (Ayre DX-5 upgrade is being considered), Apple Mac Mini, and Transparent Audio Reference XL (MM2) Speaker Cables & Interconnects. Up until a couple of months ago, I was driving the Sasha W/P's with the Classé Omega Omicron Monoblocks, but felt that I needed more control, detail as well as a better defined soundstage. I had the opportunity to sell the Classé Monoblocks at a great price, so I sold them first, but have been using a Plinius P10 Stereo Amp since then - and trust me when I say it's been hard going getting use to listening to my system nowadays!

My music tastes are wide ranging from the odd spattering of classical, to New Age, to Jazz, to main stream pop/rock hits, all the way to electronica/trip-hop/deep-beat/down-tempo music.

I like playing my music at low volume levels, but still want to hear the music detail/density to still be felt - ie. where music 'penetrates' as opposed to sounding 'muffled'/'distant'. I do of course love pumping the volume when no one other than myself is in! I do love 'slam', but also I highly appreciate music with detail without getting 'sterile'/'clinical' sounding - in other words, it has to sound musical with some warmth. When listening to jazz pieces with vocals, liquidity/fluidity is very important to me, which is why I do love the Ayre MX-R, but it's that last piece of 'oomph' that a more high current amp usually provides, which the Ayre cannot provide (at least that's how I felt when listening).

I have demo'ed the following Amps: Krell 402/402e, Krell 400/400e, Krell 600/600e, Ayre MX-R, Boulder 1050, Mark Levinson No. 53, T+A M10, Aesthetix Atlas, and Plinius SA-Reference. Hong Kong is a tough place to do A/B comparisons, and much begging and perserverence is required to get different dealers to allow their equipment to be shuttled in-between their competitors' respective showrooms. Most of the time it's a flat-out "no", but sometimes I've being lucky to find some cooperative ones.

Also, I really wanted to demo the Lamm M 1.2 Reference Amps, but the dealer here wasn't cooperative at all. I know these Amps are highly regarded by quite a few members of this forum, and also I believe 2 or 3 employees of Wilson Audio actually do use these Amps in there systems currently. However, because i could not demo them with the Sasha W/P's and the fact that the dealer/owner here is quite well-known for being "snotty", I decided I'ed take my business elsewhere (BTW the dealer use to be the Wilson Audio dealer a few years back).

End of the day, I felt that the Krell Evo 600e amps gave me a decent amount of 'everything' that I wanted (although I still would love to see an Ayre MX-R on steroids coming out from Charles Hansen's shop sometime in the future!). However, I also happened to be lucky enough to have the opportunity of being offered a Krell Evo One at an incredible once-in-a-lifetime price. It's still much more money than if I bought a Krell 600e, but then again, one only lives once.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to demo the Krell Evo One with my system, and thus I wanted to hear if there are any opinions from any other members of this forum. Serge (PH1), would love to hear your views even though I know you're not crazy about Krells with Sasha W/P's, and by the way, your thread (Ayre KX-R, "The eighth wonder of the world" and "Battle of the preamps") played a large part in me deciding to go with the Ayre KX-R.

Then again, if anyone of you think I am being too myopic in my Amp choice, please feel free to voice your thoughts on this topic, as I always believe that one can never stop learning new things in this hobby!

Many thanks in advance to all for providing me with advice.

Welcome, Philip! :wave: I don't have any personal experience with the amp/speaker combos you mention, but I wanted to say hello to a fellow Wilson owner and wish you well in your search!

Thanks BlueChiaro! This site is really good, and I have been following it since late-2009. I really like the discussions posted here, and everyone seems so knowledgeable and friendly. It's good to meet fellow Wilson Audio owners as well, and thanks for the well wishes!

Phillip -

Welcome to AA!

I've listened to the Sashas with Ayre, ARC and McIntosh. These speakers are so neutral that they really change their personality with the front end and electronics feeding them.

I personally liked them a lot with ARC. I'm sure others here in AA will provide additional commentary.

Thanks,
Mike

Mike,

Thanks for the welcome, and it's nice that I finally managed to post something on AA, after first coming across this site in late-2009. With all the great discussion/info. bouncing around AA, I almost always found what I was looking for (in terms of view points), thus I never had anything else noteworthy to add, until now that is.

I do agree with you that the Sashas are so neutral. My problem is while I've narrowed down my choice in amps to the Krell Evo 600e monoblocks, I really wanted to know what other AA folks thought of driving the Sashas with the Krell Evo One monoblocks? Are they overkill for my current setup? Is the sound similar in characteristics to the Krell Evo 600e and does it trump the Krell Evo One in any areas given that it came out in 2005 as opposed to the Krell 600e's coming out in 2010 (even though the Evo One is Krell's current flagship amp)?

I hope some AA folks have come across/listened to this combo before.

Philip.... Welcome to AA! :wave:

Love your Avatar :thumbsup:

Phillip,

The Sashas are quite efficient. Although, they will be happy with 600 watts!

Mike

Philip ... welcome aboard!! You are blessed with some great gear. I have not heard the Krell amps in question so cannot add anything substantive. Let us know what you end up with and how it turns out. :)

Hi and Welcome....

You should try and audition Electrocompaniet Nemo Amps. The synergy with Wilson Audio is kind of a "best kept secret" IMHO. I've heard that the pairing with Sasha's is very good. If I remember correctly these are around $18 to 19K for a pair.

Ivan (aka Masterlu),

Thanks for the warm welcome, and it's good to finally converse on AA!

And yes, Snoopy has always been my favorite since I was a kid.....I guess there are some things that we never grow out of!