Adventures in amplification

[Diapason]

These are separate left and right attenuators as well so every adjustment requires at least two more leaps across the room to get the balance right. A small price to pay.

That sets my OCD-alarm ringing. I couldn't cope with that.

[DaveF]

These are separate left and right attenuators as well so every adjustment requires at least two more leaps across the room to get the balance right. A small price to pay.

That sets my OCD-alarm ringing. I couldn't cope with that.

then its fair to say that you'd never cope with the TT either. All that dusting off the vinyl with an antistatic brush, clamp the record down, perhaps u might even have to push the platter to get it going, drop the needle down carefully, go back to couch, get back up to adjust volume to desired levels, sit down again, get back up again to adjust the balance. Gosh I love the vinyl so I do. :-)

[Diapason]

then its fair to say that you'd never cope with the TT either. All that dusting off the vinyl with an antistatic brush, clamp the record down, perhaps u might even have to push the platter to get it going, drop the needle down carefully, go back to couch, get back up to adjust volume to desired levels, sit down again, get back up again to adjust the balance. Gosh I love the vinyl so I do. :-)

Actually, the vinyl stuff you've described there I think I'd enjoy, cos there's kind of a ritual to it, but once you're started it's all okay. I couldn't be sitting there thinking "is the right a tiny bit louder than the left?" That'd be a constant, never-ending niggle. I speak from experience here, I had something like that in the dim and distant past.

[Diapason]

Actually, even as it is I spend my entire time wondering if the monoblocks are EXACTLY equal. I'm an awful pillock really.

[DaveF]

Actually, even as it is I spend my entire time wondering if the monoblocks are EXACTLY equal. I'm an awful pillock really.

Are they plugged into different sockets? You're electricity on side of the room might be better/worse than the other side. ;-)

[Diapason]

Are they plugged into different sockets? You're electricity on side of the room might be better/worse than the other side. ;-)

You jest, but even that's crossed my mind at times.

I'm in the process of moving the speakers and sound treatments around at the moment. Most of my listening is done with a measuring tape.

[DaveF]

Are they plugged into different sockets? You're electricity on side of the room might be better/worse than the other side. ;-)

You jest, but even that's crossed my mind at times.

I'm in the process of moving the speakers and sound treatments around at the moment. Most of my listening is done with a measuring tape.

:-D somebody get this man more drink...

[Ivor]

Are they plugged into different sockets? You're electricity on side of the room might be better/worse than the other side. ;-)

You jest, but even that's crossed my mind at times.

I'm in the process of moving the speakers and sound treatments around at the moment. Most of my listening is done with a measuring tape.

:-D somebody get this man more drink...

I'm sending out our emergency response unit NOW!

[cybot]

LOL

[DaveF]

I picked this concluding paragraph from http://www.ultraaudio.com/equipment/deh ... er_50a.htm
Some of what he says is very similar to what I've experienced. Didnt hear the 'mailslot' effect that he describes though.

The Air Tight ATM-2 stereo amplifier, itself an audio classic, albeit a more recent one, has been my reference for over two years. An 80Wpc, high-current, push-pull design that operates in ultralinear class-A/B, it generally has served me wonderfully, especially in combination with Sonus Faber’s Grand Piano Home speakers. However, the Von Schweikert VR5 HSE speakers have revealed characteristics of the Air Tight that the warmish Sonus Fabers had left hidden.

Frequently, and especially with orchestral music, I heard brightness and a kind of "mail-slot" effect in the Air Tight’s sound -- as if the top and bottom of the full range of frequencies had been chopped off. The Air Tight didn’t produce anywhere near the bass and slam of the 150Wpc, solid-state PBN Mini-Olympia amp I’d reviewed last year or the 40W deHavilland Fisher 50As. There was also a slight overdriven quality to the treble: a decided lack of silkiness and a somewhat grainy top end. I would have liked more body and midrange warmth, too. My notes on listening to some of the same orchestral recordings and piano concertos mentioned above tell me that, through the Air Tight, the violins were slightly glossy (though not bleached), timpani strokes were soft, and timpani rolls were muted, more midrangey than deep bass. I wrote that crescendos tended to lose refinement and articulation through the Air Tight ATM-2, confusing the VR5 HSE speakers. To say that I was dissatisfied is an understatement. I felt frustrated -- I’d upgraded my speakers, and now my reference amp no longer seemed to be the performer I’d thought it was.

But with operatic and choral voices, particularly tenors and sopranos, the Air Tight was superb -- clear, clean, extended highs, pretty on top, and very liquid. Always lovely with singers, the ATM-2 worked exceptionally well with the Thor TA-1000 Mk.II or deHavilland Mercury 3 preamplifiers and the Von Schweikert VR5 HSE speakers.

Yet, overall, this was a no-brainer -- whatever the Air Tight ATM-2 could do, particularly with voices, the Fisher 50A monos could do at least as well. And what the Air Tight could not deliver -- tonal weight, midrange warmth and body, bass slam and definition, a full sonic palette -- the Fisher 50As delivered in spades. The Fishers and my Von Schweikert VR5 HSEs seemed a perfect match.

If your speakers can get by with relatively moderate power (40W nominal, perhaps 45W at clipping), you should strongly consider auditioning the deHavilland Fisher 50A monoblocks. Their combination of top-to-bottom balance, clean and resolving highs, magnificent bass and slam, articulate speed and PRAT, and gorgeous brocade of sound, seems to me very hard to beat. In fact, I couldn’t beat them. I gave in to the music, sold the Air Tight ATM-2, and bought the review pair of Fisher 50A monoblocks. They took me back to the future, and I’ve never been happier with my system’s sound.