Tír Na HiFi

Adrian wrote:That's a beautiful amplifier Dave, are you seriously considering going as low as 10W? A big change from the 80W airtight!

Well yes I'd go that low if it means I can listen to my music again. That CS300 has been getting rave reviews and it has been used to drive difficult loads. It really is a gaint killer. The biggest difference that it has made has been to my vinyl playback. The magic is back there again.

A pity I had to let the ATM2 go but I simply could not live with it. As Simon had said in an earlier post if it had a Sony badge on it, it wouldnt have lasted a week!

Interested to see what the CS600 can do.

DaveF wrote:

Adrian wrote:That's a beautiful amplifier Dave, are you seriously considering going as low as 10W? A big change from the 80W airtight!

Well yes I'd go that low if it means I can listen to my music again. That CS300 has been getting rave reviews and it has been used to drive difficult loads. It really is a gaint killer. The biggest difference that it has made has been to my vinyl playback. The magic is back there again.

A pity I had to let the ATM2 go but I simply could not live with it. As Simon had said in an earlier post if it had a Sony badge on it, it wouldnt have lasted a week!

Interested to see what the CS600 can do.

Whenever I have listened to both the CS300 and the CS600 I have consistently preferred the smaller CS300 so I will be very interested to see what you think Dave, particularly given your problems.

fergus wrote:Whenever I have listened to both the CS300 and the CS600 I have consistently preferred the smaller CS300 so I will be very interested to see what you think Dave, particularly given your problems.

I've come across similar comments before Fergus. I'll try out the CS600 later in the evening. Right now I'm more than the content to let the 300 play away. That's surely a good sign.

DaveF wrote:

fergus wrote:Whenever I have listened to both the CS300 and the CS600 I have consistently preferred the smaller CS300 so I will be very interested to see what you think Dave, particularly given your problems.

I've come across similar comments before Fergus. I'll try out the CS600 later in the evening. Right now I'm more than the content to let the 300 play away. That's surely a good sign.

It certainly is a great start Dave. Enjoy it and good luck with either of them and hopefully one of them will suit you in the long term.

Interesting! I thought the CS300 sounded lovely on a short listen in Cloney's!

DaveF wrote:

fergus wrote:Whenever I have listened to both the CS300 and the CS600 I have consistently preferred the smaller CS300 so I will be very interested to see what you think Dave, particularly given your problems.

I've come across similar comments before Fergus. I'll try out the CS600 later in the evening. Right now I'm more than the content to let the 300 play away. That's surely a good sign.

All the best with it Dave, I hope that you have found the amp and sound that you're looking for.

Happy days (and long nights!) Dave.....

Thanks chaps.

On the TT...



This recording was very very lean, bright and with extreme sibilance through my ATM2 amp, so much so I could never listen to it. Fran can testify to that sound as he was there the day I first listened to it.
This evening I've tried it through both of the Leben amps. The sibilance has calmed down a great deal to the point I dont notice it much. This recording has been noted for being sibilant anyway. The CS300 is gives nicer vocals as well as lovely tectures to the instruments. The CS600 sounds a bit more neutral but with a little more ambiance to most recordings so far.
Both amps have a bass boost switch which is an interesting feature. I've used it on a few recordings which improves the sound, adding more body and warmth. This certainly helps with the Kharmas which are a bit bass light.

Both amps are close but I would say that the CS300 is in the lead so far.

there are some vintage options the beard p35 power amp is very good and a amplifier that glen croft really rated
there was a later beard amplifier the bb30-60 which has a great sound and can be mono for two
rothwell made a el84 amp which was very good and could also be mono
these would be some second hand options
i have a braun amplifier {german quad}which is similar to leak stereo 20 which uses el84 and the engineer in eniskillen rodney hanna is converting it to use el84s baby brother el95
keep up the good work

The old Series 5 Croft had 4 EL84s per channel. I always felt that those type of valves had a somewhat sweeter sound than the 34s....so did others :)