The Two Channel Advice Thread

Discussion in 'Advice Threads' started by purr1n, Nov 10, 2016.

  1. murray

    murray Friend

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    What is making you think you will need Vidar monoblocks? (A lot of folks on HF seem convinced of this, too). Bridging will give you no extra current over a single amp, only extra voltage swing, hence the limitation with speakers less than 8 ohms.
    Why not start with one single stereo Vidar first? You can always get another one if you find it needs it. By then there will be reports on how well the Vidar's bridged monoblocks work.

    Use this calculator to esitmate your actual power requirements. You will need to know how many decibels is "normal" and "loud" for your listening. Maybe in the 90's? http://www.crownaudio.com/en/tools/calculators#amp_power_required
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Well, more power does usually sound better all things being equal. In this case, the Maggie 1.6 has a nominal impedance of a little bit over 4 ohms with a wide bump peaking at 20 ohms around the midrange. I guess bridging would help power in this higher Z area, but it probably wouldn't do squat for the bass, which has the real displacement and power requirements.

    I'd get Freya over Saga if you are serious. The Saga is more transparent than Freya, but only in very high resolution systems, and even then, the difference is negligible and probably not noticeable on a speaker setup. The Freya can take balanced inputs and has both unbalanced and balanced outputs. The tube bloom of the Freya is slight in the overall scheme of things, probably preferable going into SS amps, and you can always go for the JFET buffer.

    Get Freya. Get one Vidar. Try another Vidar later.
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2017
  3. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Or do this: Get two Vidars and biamp the 1.6s One Vidar for highs panel. Another for lows / mids panel.

    Moar powah! Moar powah!
     
  4. uncola

    uncola Friend

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    according to audiophile lore magnepans come alive with 200WPC of power. the vidar might not be the right amp for them. besides they might have a bigger amp coming out. possible names: Heimdall, Surtur, Fenris, Jormungandr, Fafnir
     
  5. pedalhead

    pedalhead Friend

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    Been looking into the STA-9 myself, with Freya as pre. My speakers are a bit tricky, 4 ohm 86db but it looks like the STA-9 could handle them. Only thing I'm concerned about is the even order distortion they build into these amps to make them a bit tube-like. Presumably this is done tastefully and not in a gooey mushy kind of way?
     
  6. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    Vidar is 200WPC @ 4ohms though. I've been running a Class D rated up to "200WPC," so I'm sure one Vidar will be fine.

    I do think we'll see a more powerful speaker amp at some point. Maybe dual mono, Pivot Point, etc. My guess is the name will be Thor. (Vidar is the second strongest god after Thor.)

    Even more reason to buy just one Vidar now. Thanks for the advice above, @Marvey and @murray.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2017
  7. uncola

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    200wpc at 8 ohms that doubles down at 4ohms is the saying, sorry should have specified
     
  8. ak2angel

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    Depends on your tastes and speakers really. Most 70s Luxmans are really colored, especially the cheaper ones. Basically their house sound is a rich, forward midrange with both ends rolling off. Mid-bass is humped to make up for the missing lower bass, which could result in excessively warmth. Details retrieval is sub-par at best, inner details are mostly masked to achieve a smoother response.
    I've tried the SQ507X with several speakers and found them best paired with older speakers like ARs, Dynaco, JBL, Tannoy Golds, et al. Avoid low-impedance, hard to driver speakers and those have high resolving capability, as they will easily reveal the amps fault. Also consider a recap sometime if you plan to get them, the sound will open up quite a bit.
     
  9. pedalhead

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    Cheers. As fate would have it, my electronics dude is unable to fix the Luxman, but as it blew up on his bench he's doing the decent thing and reimbursing me what I paid for it. Have been in touch with Mark @ Schiit EU & he'll have a Freya for me on Thursday. Just need to consider a power amp...thinking perhaps the NuPrime mentioned on this thread or Vidar if it's suitable for a 4 ohm 86db load and will be available Q1. Currently driving my new speakers with a 10wpc Cary Xciter tube amp...actually not as much of a struggle as I thought it might be, but I doubt they're showing the speakers' best side.
     
  10. cizx

    cizx Friend

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    I definitely got some bad tubes with my Freya, which seems to have happened to a few people over at HF. Started out with hiss and popping with nothing playing, turned into a varying warble and hum with louder popping. Doesn't seem to follow one particular tube, though. I've swapped them around. Same weird buzzing warble in one channel, slowly building hum in the other.

    I emailed Schiit to see what they suggest. First response was to make sure they're firmly seated. Good old blame the customer first rule... I spent a couple of years doing support, so I get it... but the things are properly seated. I checked several times. Anyway, I'm hoping they can either send me a new set of tubes to try or will take the unit back to see what's up.

    At least Vidar's not out yet.
     
  11. Perot

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    I had very similar issues with my Freya. After a day or two of tech trouble shooting via email they did a replace exchange. New one should be with me Tuesday.
     
  12. cizx

    cizx Friend

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    New freya or new tubes?
     
  13. Perot

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    I sent them back everything they are sending me new everything. Freya and tubes and cord and remote and ...
     
  14. cizx

    cizx Friend

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    Ah. Did yours have problems in passive or JFET mode?
     
  15. Perot

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    Tube stage was my problem. Passive and jfet were silent. Gentle tapping on shelf produced large audible thumps in left channel. Tube switching didn't change thump or channel. Who knows why.
     
  16. cizx

    cizx Friend

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    Yeah mine thumps both channels when I tap it. Oh good.
     
  17. Perot

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    Don't tap it lol. Shrug. Is schiit giving you shit? I was a bit annoyed but patience worked out. Will see what's what when replacement arrives.
     
  18. cizx

    cizx Friend

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    Well it's the weekend so I don't expect a response until Monday.

    Nick sent me a reply telling me that I probably didn't plug the tubes in properly. But it's Saturday, so I don't mind that he didn't want to actually help... besides, those "is it plugged in and turned on" questions actually resolve a lot of issues. Just not mine.
     
  19. Big D Design

    Big D Design RIP 2021

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    @pedalhead "Been looking into the STA-9 myself, with Freya as pre. My speakers are a bit tricky, 4 ohm 86db but it looks like the STA-9 could handle them. Only thing I'm concerned about is the even order distortion they build into these amps to make them a bit tube-like. Presumably this is done tastefully and not in a gooey mushy kind of way?"

    Pedalhead,
    The STA-9 is not mushy at all. What it sounds like is something that costs 3 times as much. There is not the thinness that below $2,000 amps usually have. I'm very satisfied with the authority of the sound. And it will in my opinion and according to others handle lower impedance speakers without strain. I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for the STA-9 and the FREYA. It will get me off my Chinese (Quinpu 600) Headphone amp/Integrated amp. It's been a long 5 years waiting for something that I could afford. I got my Martin Logan ESLs and Dynamo 1000 sub at half price B stock. I'm confident that it's worth a try to do the NuPrime STA-9 and Freya combo. I will be testing today without a DAC, just an Ipod. My Modi Multibit should be here on Tuesday. I'm using Audioquest Evergreen interconnects from DAC to Freya and from the Martin Logan sub to Freya. XLRs from Freya to Nuprime. Will post my thoughts after spending some time with them.
     
  20. cizx

    cizx Friend

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    I got a set of tung sols and all the problems went away. Schiit's replacing the stock tubes for me. All's well now. :)
     

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