Quote:
Originally Posted by PHC1
Phillip, I prefer the Momentum by a wide margin. There was nit even a hint of sterility with Momentum monoblocks. Can't say they are warmer than neutral either but they sounded well balanced with a nice body and weight through the midrange and nice, extended, sparkling highs without sounding clinical or etched. Bass was spectacular, rich, textured and had excellent control over the Sasha woofers. Audition is a must if you are inclined to spend this much money!
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Serge,
Really appreciate your input on this, and I have been looking/auditioning for amps for quite sometime now to pair with my Sashas.
My system currently comprises of the Wilson Audio Sashas W/P speakers, Ayre KX-R preamp, Ayre QB-9 USB DAC (soon to be replaced with the Ayre DX-5 Universal Player), and Apple Mac Mini. Once I finalize my amp, I will be using Transparent Reference XL (MM2) cabling throughout coupled with the PurePower 3000 regenerator powering the entire system.
To give you an idea, I have a passion for both Jazz (vocals/rhythm & blues/big band/etc.) & electronic music (trip-hop/deep beat/ambient/downtempo/etc.), which I have found to be problematic for me when trying to piece together a system that suits my varied tastes in music. On the one hand, when playing electronic music, I crave for density, speed, transparency, impact and punch/slam, whilst on the other hand, when playing Jazz, I crave for liquidity, lushness, delicacy, warmness and sweetness. Spacing/imaging/soundstaging is also important to me.
So practically speaking, it is darn hard (if not darn near impossible) to find/put together a system that can cater to all of my musical preferences.
Admittedly, I really love the house sound of the Ayre/Sasha combo (KX-R/MX-R/QB-9 with Transparent Ref. XL-MM2 cabling throughout), which is wonderfully lush in the mid-to-mid highs providing for a very musical/engaging experience, but I just felt that it lacked a certain amount of solidity/grip/control in the lower frequencies. Whilst Jazz pieces were wonderfully lush/involving with this setup, when playing electronic music, the music started to become a little "mushy"/less resolute/less controlled/less well-defined in the all-Ayre setup.
However, when the Ayre MX-R amps were replaced by the Krell Evo 600e amps in the above combo, I found much of what I was looking for (definitely dynamic sounding yet surprisingly quite musical). Aside from the obvious fact that Krell and Ayre each possess very different but distinct sonic attributes, I wondered if the reason I found the sound coming from the 600e's being so effortless and more open was largely attributable to the increased raw power coming from the 600e's? Of course the 600e's still could not match the MX-R's lushness and liquidity in the mid-to-mid highs, but then again, one can't have everything! But at the very least, I could say that the 600e's did not sound dry/sterile/clinical/edgy - they were quite engaging to a certain extent, but I'm sure the Ayre KX-R/Ayre QB-9 components had something to do with that as well.
I have also listened to the Lamm M1.2's driving the Magico M5's (with M.I.T. cabling) at the dealers place, but to me, it lacked density (quite thin sounding) and was not very involving. However, given what I have read/heard from influential/knowledgeable 3rd parties like yourself of how wonderful the Sasha/Lamm pairing is, my disappointing experience with the Lamms could very well be attributable to the dealer's setup/acoustical environment. Unfortunately, I will have no chance of demoing Lamm M1.2's with Sashas, as the dealer here (who was the former Wilson Audio dealer here a few years back) refuses to loan out the Lamms to me for demoing with the Sashas. Also, Lamm's are not too popular here, and I personally know of no one who has a pair of Lamm M1.2's that I could possibly borrow.
Although I've managed to demo the Krell Evo 600e's with my system, and found it appealing to my overall musical preferences, this lead me to wonder if the Krell Evo One's (at USD 65K) would be worth considering. Unfortunately I have not been able to get a demo going as well, and given the price tag, I was somewhat tepid towards diving in for the purchase. However, upon finding out that Dan D'Agostino came out on his own and developed the Momentum monoblocks which were priced substantially lower (USD 45K) than the Evo One's, it gave me pause to ponder if I should go down this route
Despite the fact that I feel the Momentums are visually somewhat 'blingish', there are some innovative/compelling design features that I like - (i) circuit board is assembled using through-hole construction (resists heat better) as opposed to surface-mount, (ii) use of copper for its heat sinks (venturis instead of fins w/significantly superior thermal conductivity), (iii) energy efficient in standby mode (< 1W), and (iv) great bandwidth w/28 output transistors running at 69 MHz. However, more importantly, it comes from Dan, and I have to believe that he would most likely retain/improve much of the overall sound attributes he built into his Evo series amps, while also trying to ingrain other sonic attributes that he feels will allow the Momentums to surpass even his much heralded Krell Evo One flagship.
Also, despite the fact that the Momentums are rated at 300W/8ohms, 600W/4ohms and 1,200W/2ohms, while the Ayre MX-R's are similarly rated, I suspect that the Momentum's 1.2kVA power transformer will have an easier time dealing with the Sasha's 1.8 ohms minimum impedance dip @ 92 Hz. For some reason, I cannot seem to find any info. regarding the power rating for the Ayre MX-R's dual-transformers.
Then again, I do worry that this is a new company, and Dan I'm sure is it's core driver, and if anything were to occur (touch wood) that would prevent him from remaining at its helm, then this may prove to be problematic for this new company, especially from a long-term servicing standpoint. Also, the price was recently increased to USD 45K (from USD 42K), due to an increase in copper and aluminium prices (according to the company, but I'm sure the price increase can't be solely attributable to these factors only), so it's not exactly cheap.
Yes, USD 45K is a lot to pay for amps (600e's aren't too far back at USD 37K), and I agree that I should try to audition the Momentums, but I'm not sure if I can get them to be auditioned with the Sashas. I'll try, but I'm not very optimistic about it.
At this juncture, I have only demoed the Krell Evo 600e's in my system. I recognize the fact that for the most part that auditioning is a critical component in the decision making process, and I've always adhered to this in all my purchasing decisions thus far. The question is, whether I should depart from this practice in this instance?
It may very well be that if I decide to buy the Dan D'Agostino Momentum monoblocks, that it will be based on what I have learnt/garnered from individuals like yourself as well as the fact that it is after all designed by Dan himself. Basically, it will largely be a "leap of faith" type of purchase.
In any event, I know I eventually have to make a decision, but in the meantime was hoping to get more pointers from individuals like yourself who perhaps could assist me in 'zeroing-in' on my ultimate amp choice given my circumstances.
Once again, many thanks for all your advice/insights regarding this issue.
Philip