JV's take on Ref5SE/Ref250 combo vs. CJ GAT/ART combo...

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by turntable

Yep, just have to pay for it now Yes, try to have a listen to one.

I thought you were trying coda next?

I'm all over the place. It's fun to do the "research" plus, I am helping a friend out as well. We will see what else I finally end up getting.

[analog brother]

Originally Posted by turntable

The Momentum was just in another league, very coherent at low and high volumes, nimble and uncanny purity. You would never think this came from Krell designer.

Cheers

this is very interesting...

i owned krell before but have since written them off.

[taters]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Dynaudio has a major distribution and repair facility for North America located in Bensenville, IL. So, they about as US-based as any European company could be.

Harbeth has a U.S. distributor in New Hampshire.

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by turntable

Yep, just have to pay for it now Yes, try to have a listen to one.

I thought you were trying coda next?

Congrats Shane !

The Wilson / Momentum club is expanding....
About paying for the amp, can't you just keep your stores closed and not answer the phone anymore ?

Sent from my iPad using A.Aficionado

[Harbapapa]

Originally Posted by djcxxx

His review of the 210s was very positive overall and I didn't read any lack of power or dynamics in his TAS review.

It's not uncommon for audio reviews to fall under the rubric of "The King is dead. Long live the King". All reviews should be taken with a very large grain of salt given the myriad variables involved when judging your own results against the reviewer's impressions, regardless of his/her experience or stature among the audio press.

When I read his ref250 block I went back to ref210 review. I think he kind of hints that there are amps with more dynamics out there. "Speaking of the bottom octaves… while nothing I’ve yet heard can outdo the MBL 6010 D/9011 on dynamics, extension, and resolution in the bass—at least with the difficult-to-drive MBL 101 E loudspeakers—the ARC combo comes closer than other amps I’ve tried, including some solid-state.

I think it is understandable that reviewers get excited about their new gear and say only good things about them. Then us readers need to read "between the lines". When new gear gomes along, old gear is ready to go to trash can! I think that happens to most of us?

I would also add to this that I think Jonathan Valins blog about Maggie 20.7 speakers is great. He explaines up and down sides of those speakers.

[turntable]

Originally Posted by Jérôme W

Congrats Shane !

The Wilson / Momentum club is expanding....
About paying for the amp, can't you just keep your stores closed and not answer the phone anymore ?

Sent from my iPad using A.Aficionado

Thanks Jerome. After a few days holiday this week gotta get back to work to try, drop the cj prem350 at the HiFi shop and work at paying for these stupid expensive toys :-)

All the best

[jpgr4blu]

For those of you interested in the Momentum amp/ARC system combo, I had the good fortune of taking the stereo momentum amp home for a weekend of listening in my system. The Ref 150 was out and the Dag in. The differences were fairly substantial---and the result very educational. The Dag is simply the best solid state amp I have ever heard. I had that impression to begin with having heard Dag amps in a few different systems.
But there is nothing like hearing a component in a familiar home system.

In my system, the Ref 150 has a more natural, relaxed and front to back dimensional sound. The Dag had a slightly better grip on the low end and better transparency while having tremendous left to right soundstaging, very good front to back dimensionality and a clean and natural treble. ARC won on the singer/songwriter types, chamber and most jazz recordings. I favored the Dags on electronica and some hard rock. What I took away though was how good the ARC was in areas where solid state was always king (sense of power and unlimited bandwidth) and how sweet, dimensional and yet powerful the Dags were, not a trait I had ever associated with any pure solid state amp (but did to an extent with the Lamm 1.2 ref hybrid).
I did not and will not trade in the Ref 150 as, after 1250 hours, it continues to amaze me with its combination of tube muscle and musicality. I am as happy as I've ever been with my current system and I remain a dyed in the wool tube man. But if I can pull $ together sometime this year, I'd like to add the Dag stereo amp as an alternative. Never thought I would care to own any solid state component, but the Dag is a unique animal. For those who want to get as close as possible to the characteristics of tube sound without the hassle, the Dags are it.

[joeinid]

Thank you for you opinion. That says a lot for both amps.