"Rob" wrote in message
...
Serge Auckland wrote:
"Rob" wrote in message
...
Bruce Lankford wrote:
"adie" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have any experience of these amps?


About fifteen years ago, there was a shop near my house which sold NVA
and quite a lot of them.
I heard a couple the amps with different speakers and they sounded
quite good to me.
The little amp (perhaps an AP20?) could not drive the ProAcs which I
was using at the time but the bigger amp was well beyond my budget.
A work colleague of mine bought the AP20, won't part with it.



In what way was it unable to drive the Proacs?

I have this (perceived) issue with Dynaudio speakers, and I've only ever
found two amplifiers that sound good - a huge valve amp (sold) and an
old Cambridge power amp (broke under the strain).

However, I've asked on this NG and been advised that any competently
designed amplifier of the past 20 years should sound identical. Not
unanimous, majority.

Rob


Any competently designed amplifier "when used within its design
parameters" should (and will) sound identical. Some loudspeakers present
a very severe load, and consequently some otherwise competent amplifiers
will be outside their design parameters. I don't know of the specific
instance of the Dynaudio 'speakers or the Proacs, but these could well
present a more severe load than the amp was designed for.

S.


I suppose the Dynaudios (Contour 1.1s and 42s) could be a severe load -
they're rated at 4 Ohms - and are beyond what most amplifiers are happy
with.

I've recently had a hifi cull and I'm in the market for a SS amplifier. I
was looking at a Denon 1500AE (to match the DVD player) and a Musical
Fidelity A5 (discounted ATM, end of range). With the notable exception of
speakers, i've always had great difficulty evaluating components in a
shop. I often think I can detect difference, but not a sense of 'better'.
It's only at home over a period of time that I find something I like. And
then it breaks ;-)

Anyways, enough of my neuroses. Could you recommend a SS amplifier that
might deal with severe loads?

Thanks, Rob


If I were in the market for a power amp, I would buy a used Krell which can
drive almost any load down to 1 ohm, and is pretty much unburstable. If
that's too expensive, then Musical Fidelity have made some pretty impressive
amps over the years, so if you can pick up the A5 at a sensible price, then
go for it.

I have also been impressed with the Behringer A500 power amp. This is
designed for PA work, but is easily good enough for domestic hi-fi, and is
designed for 4 ohm loads. Best thing is the price, under £150 brand new.
Mate this with a pre-amp of your choice, and you have superb amplification
albeit without the street-cred.

S.
--
http://audiopages.googlepages.com

In article , Rob
wrote:
Bruce Lankford wrote:
"adie" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have any experience of these amps?


About fifteen years ago, there was a shop near my house which sold NVA
and quite a lot of them. I heard a couple the amps with different
speakers and they sounded quite good to me. The little amp (perhaps
an AP20?) could not drive the ProAcs which I was using at the time
but the bigger amp was well beyond my budget. A work colleague of mine
bought the AP20, won't part with it.



In what way was it unable to drive the Proacs?

I have this (perceived) issue with Dynaudio speakers, and I've only ever
found two amplifiers that sound good - a huge valve amp (sold) and an
old Cambridge power amp (broke under the strain).

You could perhaps give you own answer to your your own question here. :-)

However, I've asked on this NG and been advised that any competently
designed amplifier of the past 20 years should sound identical. Not
unanimous, majority.

My understanding is slightly different.

That where the designer knows what they are doing, and designs the amp to
simply amplify with no audible levels of distortion, departures from flat
response, etc, and the amp is used within its output limits, etc, then
no-one has actually shown that they can hear any difference between such
amps in appropriate use/comparisons. Indeed, various controlled tests
generally show the listeners were unable to distinguish one from another in
such cases.

This is quite distinct from an amp designed with a non-flat response, a
very high output impedance, etc. Or from cases where one amp does not have
sufficient power, or limits in some other way.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html

Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Rob
wrote:
Bruce Lankford wrote:
"adie" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have any experience of these amps?

About fifteen years ago, there was a shop near my house which sold NVA
and quite a lot of them. I heard a couple the amps with different
speakers and they sounded quite good to me. The little amp (perhaps
an AP20?) could not drive the ProAcs which I was using at the time
but the bigger amp was well beyond my budget. A work colleague of mine
bought the AP20, won't part with it.



In what way was it unable to drive the Proacs?

I have this (perceived) issue with Dynaudio speakers, and I've only ever
found two amplifiers that sound good - a huge valve amp (sold) and an
old Cambridge power amp (broke under the strain).

You could perhaps give you own answer to your your own question here. :-)


Indeed :-) Although the Cambridge amplifier really was splendid while it
worked. I'd buy another if it was still made.

Also, i'm exaggerating to make a point. Most of the time my system
sounds good using a cheap AV amplifier (£200 Cambridge something). I've
heard it better, and now that the 100W valve amplifier has gone two
things arise. The first is that I've got some money to spend (£1000).
Secondly, and in the lieu of other more important things to concentrate
on, I'd like my system to sound better.

However, I've asked on this NG and been advised that any competently
designed amplifier of the past 20 years should sound identical. Not
unanimous, majority.

My understanding is slightly different.

That where the designer knows what they are doing, and designs the amp to
simply amplify with no audible levels of distortion, departures from flat
response, etc, and the amp is used within its output limits, etc, then
no-one has actually shown that they can hear any difference between such
amps in appropriate use/comparisons. Indeed, various controlled tests
generally show the listeners were unable to distinguish one from another in
such cases.


Well, something is up, either in my mind or with the amplifier. Bass
response certainly appears to be different, depending on the amplifier,
and this is the thing that annoys me most. Also, for example, a Quad 405
is demonstrably sibilant, suggesting something is not quite flat, and
possibly the amplifier needs repair (it is quite old).

This is quite distinct from an amp designed with a non-flat response, a
very high output impedance, etc. Or from cases where one amp does not have
sufficient power, or limits in some other way.


Which I'd like to avoid. Given (for the moment) that my AV amplifier is
not ideal, and my speakers are a tad severe, could you recommend a SS
amplifier?

Thanks, Rob

In article , Rob
wrote:
Jim Lesurf wrote:


Well, something is up, either in my mind or with the amplifier. Bass
response certainly appears to be different, depending on the amplifier,
and this is the thing that annoys me most.

If the amp is single rail, then the output cap may affect this in a way not
clearly shown by an 8Ohm test load.

Also, for example, a Quad 405 is demonstrably sibilant, suggesting
something is not quite flat, and possibly the amplifier needs repair (it
is quite old).

The difficulty is that the Quad might be flat, and the speaker shows
sibilance when driven from it, but some other amp has a non flat response
which reduces the effect. So the root of the problem might be in the
speaker, not the amp.

Try putting a couple of 0.47 Ohm resistors in series with the speaker leads
when using the 405 and see if the sibilance evaporates.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html

"Rob" wrote in message
...
Bruce Lankford wrote:
"adie" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have any experience of these amps?


About fifteen years ago, there was a shop near my house which sold NVA
and quite a lot of them.
I heard a couple the amps with different speakers and they sounded quite
good to me.
The little amp (perhaps an AP20?) could not drive the ProAcs which I was
using at the time but the bigger amp was well beyond my budget.
A work colleague of mine bought the AP20, won't part with it.



In what way was it unable to drive the Proacs?

I have this (perceived) issue with Dynaudio speakers, and I've only ever
found two amplifiers that sound good - a huge valve amp (sold) and an old
Cambridge power amp (broke under the strain).

However, I've asked on this NG and been advised that any competently
designed amplifier of the past 20 years should sound identical. Not
unanimous, majority.

Rob

The AP 20 could not provide the listening level I required from an
inefficient speaker in my largish room. The bigger amp, an AP35, from
memory, was fine but not affordable.
My colleague has no problem with his quite efficient speakers in a smallish
room.