Abrahamsen amplifiers

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

I spent a lot of time listening to alternatives and nothing in that price bracket comes remotely close. I would go so far as to say that nothing came close at three times the price!

congratulations!!

your amp must be really good ( no pun indented )

however, i do think it is rather naive to make such statement. Only reason you have purchased the particular amp it's because you liked the sound of it. We all hear sound differently, it is a very subjective matter.

I suspect, in comparison, almost all amps with in their respective price brackets would sound much different from each other. Ofcours, they will all have their own signature sound and characteristics otherwise we will all be buying the same brands.

enjoy your new kit. I am sure you will have a wonderful and a very musical christmas.

 

[mocenigo]

I also got my V30UP and V40UP a couple of days ago directly from the Abrahamsenaudio store. Shipped from Sweden to Germany, so no customs. 10800 NOK for this "Combo 3 UP" is not a purchase, it is a Christmas present

Amazing amps. Great dynamic, PRaT, quite precise, very detailed, the stage is wide and deep but not quite holographic (an audiophile signature I am not really interested in, but I understand that people looking for a centimetre-precise location of sound sources in a 3D stage may not find this in the V30UP+V40UP combo). Bass is solid like granite, but the mid range is sweet and the highs, despite being slightly on the mellow side, are quite present and airy. Let us hope I get no bad surprise in the next few days: electronics fails mostly in the first few weeks and I have had some bad experiences in the past with equipment from other manufacturers.

I would have paid twice the price without esitation for this level of sonic and build quality. I would have seriously considered it at three times the price. I recently bought something that costed three times (including taxes and import duties) and it had a cleaner, more natural, sound, more relevaling but perhaps less involving, but had significantly lower build quality (indeed it partly broke during transportation, so I sent it back).

Roberto

 

[mocenigo]

I spent a lot of time listening to alternatives and nothing in that price bracket comes remotely close. I would go so far as to say that nothing came close at three times the price!

[...] i do think it is rather naive to make such statement. Only reason you have purchased the particular amp it's because you liked the sound of it. We all hear sound differently, it is a very subjective matter.

I suspect, in comparison, almost all amps with in their respective price brackets would sound much different from each other. Ofcours, they will all have their own signature sound and characteristics otherwise we will all be buying the same brands.[...]

Prices in HiFi do have a correlation with quality, but there is also a strong variance. However the distribution models and ambitions - and business sense - play a higher role. Another factor is the intended application area: for the same typology, similar circuit topology, SQ and operation class, a smaller power amp will cost less than a more powerful one, because you need to provide more power (bigger transformer, filter), more output stages, a bigger case, and so on.

There are two reasons for the almost ludicrously low price of the Abrahamsenaudio products at the moment.

The first is that they were never intended to be very expensive, I think they want to provide "good sound for the people". So I would have spend NOK 22000 - about 1700 GBP - for the same combo at "normal|" prices, and it would have been at the lower end of the price bracket for that level of quality - say 1500-2700 GBP - which of course overlaps with the next one (say, a Teddy Pardo i80a).

The second reason is that they are also heavily discounting their wares at the moment (it is about one year that they have a "clearance sale". It seems that they can still keep their business afloat by the fact that they are selling directly and shipping from the Altus factory in Sweden, but i cannot imagine the margins being big - in my opinion the clearance sale should end soon and they should get some reviews from autoritative hi-fi magazines (which means, in many cases, purchasing advertising space as well).

This stuff beats my old NAIM stuff (32.5 with HiCap, NAP 140) hands down.

Roberto

 

[iQ Speakers]

The reason thay are (not Cheap) but huge value for money is they sell direct. No huge dealer margins (which are entirely justified it costs a fourtune to run many unsucsesfull demo's) So if you a cleaver and willing to take a chance you will be rewared with incredibal performance. I personelly replaced two £2.5K amps with mine and still would of picked the Abrahamsen on every level Ie sound build etc. I have many "Old boys" that have been in this game for a long while and spent a hige amount of money on kit come listen and buy. Congrats on your new purchase and enjoy.

PS as to clearance sale they have been having one since I bought mine. It cheapens the brand, they are working on new products but have for a year to my knowladge. They have a terible website (and comunications) in term of messages but when the core product is rock solid superb its the person who can see through the benifits.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

I spent a lot of time listening to alternatives and nothing in that price bracket comes remotely close. I would go so far as to say that nothing came close at three times the price!

[...] i do think it is rather naive to make such statement. Only reason you have purchased the particular amp it's because you liked the sound of it. We all hear sound differently, it is a very subjective matter.

I suspect, in comparison, almost all amps with in their respective price brackets would sound much different from each other. Ofcours, they will all have their own signature sound and characteristics otherwise we will all be buying the same brands.[...]

Prices in HiFi do have a correlation with quality, but there is also a strong variance. However the distribution models and ambitions - and business sense - play a higher role. Another factor is the intended application area: for the same typology, similar circuit topology, SQ and operation class, a smaller power amp will cost less than a more powerful one, because you need to provide more power (bigger transformer, filter), more output stages, a bigger case, and so on.

There are two reasons for the almost ludicrously low price of the Abrahamsenaudio products at the moment.

The first is that they were never intended to be very expensive, I think they want to provide "good sound for the people". So I would have spend NOK 22000 - about 1700 GBP - for the same combo at "normal|" prices, and it would have been at the lower end of the price bracket for that level of quality - say 1500-2700 GBP - which of course overlaps with the next one (say, a Teddy Pardo i80a).

The second reason is that they are also heavily discounting their wares at the moment (it is about one year that they have a "clearance sale". It seems that they can still keep their business afloat by the fact that they are selling directly and shipping from the Altus factory in Sweden, but i cannot imagine the margins being big - in my opinion the clearance sale should end soon and they should get some reviews from autoritative hi-fi magazines (which means, in many cases, purchasing advertising space as well).

This stuff beats my old NAIM stuff (32.5 with HiCap, NAP 140) hands down.

Roberto

i don't have a slightest doubt that abrahamsen beats your naim setup hands down but also it won't take long for you to find someone who will have the exact opposite opinion.

hifi enthusiasts are easily influenced by others opinions and suggestions specially if they are new to this hobby. You will find there is an unexplained desire to sought kit that are not readily available on main stream market, such as abrahamsen , hegel, etc. To many hifi hobbyists this rarity makes them more nish and exclusive.

a lot of forum members here are full of praise for the amp in question, some of them haven't even heard or seen one in real life. They purely do so based on someone else's opinion.

It is I who has to like the sound of my system not others. I changed my BW CM5 speakers to PMC 21. 21s cost almost double of what cm5, i genuinly thought i was getting an upgrade. As much as i liked the 21s i kept missing the bw sounds. 21s are highly regarded by hifi enthusiasts and lot of people will take them over bw everyday of the week but i am not buying a system for lot of people so i sold them and gone back to bw.

i am not, by any means, saying that abrahamsen kits are not worthy of praise they are getting. I am sure they make great sound and they are axactly what their users say they are . It is just that i am not entirely convinced that British, Japanese or more main stream manufacturers, with in the same (ish) price bracket can not match their quality and performance.

 

[plastic penguin]

The reason thay are (not Cheap) but huge value for money is they sell direct. No huge dealer margins (which are entirely justified it costs a fourtune to run many unsucsesfull demo's) So if you a cleaver and willing to take a chance you will be rewared with incredibal performance. I personelly replaced two £2.5K amps with mine and still would of picked the Abrahamsen on every level Ie sound build etc. I have many "Old boys" that have been in this game for a long while and spent a hige amount of money on kit come listen and buy. Congrats on your new purchase and enjoy.

PS as to clearance sale they have been having one since I bought mine. It cheapens the brand, they are working on new products but have for a year to my knowladge. They have a terible website (and comunications) in term of messages but when the core product is rock solid superb its the person who can see through the benifits.

Let's also not lose sight of why dear old Per cashed in his Electrocompaniet chips: Electros had a lousey reputation for reliability, one of the major factors in them going bust in the early noughties.

 

[tonky]

Well said Animesh - agree with all you have said. I haven't heard the Abrahamsen amp so I can't comment on its "sound". I would like to hear it some time to see if it's as good as what most be people say it is. At the moment - very happy with Unitilite.

tonky - that's my Naim

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

Well said Animesh - agree with all you have said. I haven't heard the Abrahamsen amp so I can't comment on its "sound". I would like to hear it some time to see if it's as good as what most be people say it is. At the moment - very happy with Unitilite.

tonky - that's my Naim

i am also very happy with my set up at the moment. Maybe speaker upgrade next xmas (805d or kef ref1)

although i would like to listen to abrahamsen and hegel kit, 1 amp that is at top of my list to have a listen at is Naim supernait.

 

[Vladimir]

So the Leema boys are here to poke the lion. I'm sure you have Electrocompaniet and Abrahamsen owners chuckling like I am now.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

So the Leema boys are here to poke the lion. I'm sure you have Electrocompaniet and Abrahamsen owners chuckling like I am now.

he he he , i am not very good at poking with my fingers........

I just gave an honest opinion

 

[plastic penguin]

So the Leema boys are here to poke the lion. I'm sure you have Electrocompaniet and Abrahamsen owners chuckling like I am now.

Poke the pussycat. As they say: The cream always rises to the top.

 

[iQ Speakers]

I find it so frustrating when I've not heard something and can not make an informative, helpful and intelligent reply*biggrin*

 

[tonky]

I'd love to have a listen though - Shame about the distance.

My Naim is Tonky

 

[Andrewjvt]

So the Leema boys are here to poke the lion. I'm sure you have Electrocompaniet and Abrahamsen owners chuckling like I am now. 

Said like it is. Think im going to start recommending hegel on every thread hahaha

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

So the Leema boys are here to poke the lion. I'm sure you have Electrocompaniet and Abrahamsen owners chuckling like I am now.

Said like it is. Think im going to start recommending hegel on every thread hahaha

just a bit of festive banter.......,...

 

[Kostku]

Does anyone hear a little click from the loudspeakers while changing the volume level in Abrahamsen V2.0 (not upgraded) amplifier?

I can also hear irritating hum from the transformer.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

Does anyone hear a little click from the loudspeakers while changing the volume level in Abrahamsen V2.0 (not upgraded) amplifier?

I can also hear irritating hum from the transformer.

start a new thread you will get better responce. A forum member here is an authorised dealer for that brand.

 

[Electro]

Does anyone hear a little click from the loudspeakers while changing the volume level in Abrahamsen V2.0 (not upgraded) amplifier?

I can also hear irritating hum from the transformer.

I can't answer your question about the volume level noise, but it is not unusual for a Toroidal transformer to hum especially a massive 1000va one as fitted to the Abrahamsen .

The larger the transformer the more likelyhood of noise and they don't come much bigger than the Abrahamsen transformer !

It might be worth try a mains DC blocker because even a very small amount of DC on the mains can cause this problem .

The link below explains more .

http://sound.westhost.com/articles/xfmr-dc.htm

 

[Vladimir]

Does anyone hear a little click from the loudspeakers while changing the volume level in Abrahamsen V2.0 (not upgraded) amplifier?

I can also hear irritating hum from the transformer.

I can't answer your question about the volume level noise, but it is not unusual for a Toroidal transformer to hum especially a massive 1000va one as fitted to the Abrahamsen .

The larger the transformer the more likelyhood of noise and they don't come much bigger than the Abrahamsen transformer !

It might be worth try a mains DC blocker because even a very small amount of DC on the mains can cause this problem .

The link below explains more .

http://sound.westhost.com/articles/xfmr-dc.htm

+1

Similar large Noratel transformer (though smaller) inside a Roksan Kandy K2 BT hummed on rare ocassions in my case. Depending what the neighbours were doing I would usually get different amounts of DC in the mains and that caused it. I used a voltage regulator that also filtered out DC from the mains and that helped solved the humm during those periods. I'm thinking electric lawnmowers could have been the issue. If you live in a residential area with a lot of inhabitants this can be a more frequent problem for you.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

is that normal then for abrahamsen amps to hum or make a sound when you put the vol up ?

 

[Electro]

is that normal then for abrahamsen amps to hum or make a sound when you put the vol up ?

No the hum will come directly from the transformer and should not be affected by the volume position , it may vary slightly in loudness depending on the amount of DC on the mains at the time .

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Ok thanks I am so tempted to buy one of this amps but I have only had my marantz pm8005 3 months but been reading most of the posts on this amps and a lot of people have not regretted getting one . The trouble the chap who sells them is a bit far for me to go for a demo so would have to be a blind buy if I got one but so tempted . Does anyone know on here how this amp will stack up against the marantz and has it got a nice warm sound too it ?

 

[tonky]

i'm sure the abrahamsen is a great amp - not heard it either and would like to - but for "sound per pound" the 8005 is superb! - if you're happy with the sound why change?

tonky

 

[Blacksabbath25]

i'm sure the abrahamsen is a great amp - not heard it either and would like to - but for "sound per pound" the 8005 is superb! - if you're happy with the sound why change?

tonky

the more I read about abrahamsen amps and the good things said about them makes me want one it's crazy I no . Yes at the moment I am happy with the marantz it is a nice amp but can't help thinking if the abrahamsen is better a specially now have a very good set of speakers which I would never part from

 

[Vladimir]

I see no flaws in the brilliant Marantz PM8005. But I did just see the Opticon 6 specs and they appear to be 4 ohms nominal floorstanders. If I'd expect any improvement from the trully brute force power supply of the Abrahamsen it would be absolute control of all low frequencies.