Upgraditis part 1: Subwoofers

[Diapason]

In fairness, you probably need both.

[DaveF]

True alright.
I'm sitting here listening to the Devialet and its just sublime right across the spectrum. But I'll never forget those Jadis JA30's at Ciaran's place years ago. That was the most gorgeous, rich sound I've ever heard from any system. Period. And if reviews are correct, the DA88S is closer in character to the JA30's than the bigger JA80s.

Any further thoughts on your own system?

[Diapason]

I finish work early on a Wednesday so I had half an hour of listening to the Rite of Spring and it sounded amazing with the sub. But I still want to try other speakers in the room to see how they fare. There are a few things I want to sample, but I'll get to those in part 2 tomorrow. I'm not immune to tasty amps too, and the JA80s are some of the best I've ever heard, especially when the valves are replaced with KT120s. I wonder can you do that with this amp?

[DaveF]

.....the JA80s are some of the best I've ever heard, especially when the valves are replaced with KT120s. I wonder can you do that with this amp?

I think so but Fran would be the man to advise on that. Tube rolling 8 KT88's would be pretty hard on the wallet! Not to mention the barrel of laughs trying to manually bias the f*ckers.

[tony]

That amp should be auto bias so your sorted! Simon it sounds like the room. Doesn't Steve have the same speakers? Does he have similar problems.

[Steve]

Yep, pretty sure the DA88S is auto biasing. And definitely worth going with KT120's if the power supply's can take them. They made an excellent upgrade to my JA80's - very tight grip on the bass, much punchier and giving bolder presentation than the KT88's. Perhaps the KT120's are a little leaner but I've found this to give a more transparent picture than the sweeter KT88's. And very glad to put my experiences of KT88 unreliability behind me!

Like Simon, I too found the Kharma 3.2's to be a really top class speaker. Really enjoyed them for years and found that they loved the Jadis valves in my room. Excellent coherence, very well balanced, really dynamic. That speed, agility and absence of closed-in boxiness kept me loyal for years..

But did start to find that I was also looking for a change. Not necessarily because of specific faults, more a case of wanting more than perhaps what a relatively compact 2-way design can reasonably give. Namely taller, larger presentation, more extended bottom-end. And yes, perhaps a fuller mid. The ceramic signature of the 3.2's can lack warmth at times. And would definitely agree with Simon that his room can latch on to this at times.

So after the London trip that was mentioned, I too was decided that some box-changing would be on the horizon after having had the Kharma's for about 10 years. And so zoned in on the Amati Futura's after been similarly smitten. I've had them for a little over a month now so still breaking in... But extremely pleased with the results to date! Have brought all that bump in scale and with a midrange involvement that is totally beguiling. They have an ease and depth of presentation that is absorbing as it so easily places the performers in their own space in front of the listener. And luckily enough, although quite a larger physical presence in the room, the better half appears just as smitten by them as I. (Maybe some wishful thinking on my part...)

Go on Si, try those DB7's and see if the man-cave ensnares them in their clutches!

[tony]

DB7 is Simon upgrading to an Aston Martin?

Had a look at those Sonus Fabers. You never know by the day they could have been little standmounts. They look something else very very nice,
stylistically different shape than 57's!

Wow €6k for that 88S you would have a preamp Simon??

[jaybee]

perhaps I am mistakenly attributing too much of a signature to ceramic, but would some Estelon speakers be a natural progression from the Kharmas?

the XB perhaps, or even the standmounters?

[DaveF]

Yep, pretty sure the DA88S is auto biasing. And definitely worth going with KT120's if the power supply's can take them. They made an excellent upgrade to my JA80's - very tight grip on the bass, much punchier and giving bolder presentation than the KT88's. Perhaps the KT120's are a little leaner but I've found this to give a more transparent picture than the sweeter KT88's. And very glad to put my experiences of KT88 unreliability behind me!

Like Simon, I too found the Kharma 3.2's to be a really top class speaker. Really enjoyed them for years and found that they loved the Jadis valves in my room. Excellent coherence, very well balanced, really dynamic. That speed, agility and absence of closed-in boxiness kept me loyal for years..

But did start to find that I was also looking for a change. Not necessarily because of specific faults, more a case of wanting more than perhaps what a relatively compact 2-way design can reasonably give. Namely taller, larger presentation, more extended bottom-end. And yes, perhaps a fuller mid. The ceramic signature of the 3.2's can lack warmth at times. And would definitely agree with Simon that his room can latch on to this at times.

So after the London trip that was mentioned, I too was decided that some box-changing would be on the horizon after having had the Kharma's for about 10 years. And so zoned in on the Amati Futura's after been similarly smitten. I've had them for a little over a month now so still breaking in... But extremely pleased with the results to date! Have brought all that bump in scale and with a midrange involvement that is totally beguiling. They have an ease and depth of presentation that is absorbing as it so easily places the performers in their own space in front of the listener. And luckily enough, although quite a larger physical presence in the room, the better half appears just as smitten by them as I. (Maybe some wishful thinking on my part...)

Go on Si, try those DB7's and see if the man-cave ensnares them in their clutches!

Thats quite a system you have now Steve. Any big differences in the multi-driver 'voicing' of the new speakers compared to the tightly integrated Kharmas?

Sorry Simon, dragging your thread off topic here slightly.

[Steve]

Thanks Dave - it would appear the HiFi madness knows no bounds... Certainly didn't start out at the beginning of the year thinking that I'd end up with the Amati's. Had long lusted after the original Amati Homages but was convinced that they simply needed a much larger space to breathe than my setup - which is in my family living room. But after having heard the Futura's, I was pretty sure that they seemed to be a more controlled beast than their predecessors.

To answer your question about the multi-driver setup, the presentation is so different than the Kharma's that it's difficult to really compare. I certainly don't find any lack of coherence across the spectrum from the Amati's - they seem to be very natural with an ease of transparency that really doesn't spotlight any specific part of the frequency range. And the larger presentation fills the room, dissociated from the drivers, in a way that the smaller Kharma's really couldn't match. A part of me thinks that the very narrow baffle design, in contrast to the depth, plays a part in ensuring that the drivers do align very well, along with the tilt back.

And back to Simon's thread. Not having heard the latest behemoth of a sub that you have on trial, I wonder (just to put the cat amongst the pidgeons) if some experimenting with standmounters might be an option. Or indeed those Logan panels that I know you need to buy... Room interaction problems might be lessened provided you can get the sub to integrate optimally. And then you've got plenty of options to focus on that fuller midrange...

Would still love to hear the DB7's. Both the Aston and the Kharma variants..