Abrahamsen Amplifiers

[spiny norman]

The Abrahamsen is not the problem as Burnsie discovered. They are very neutral feed it something bright it's going to amplify it like any decent amp. That's what they are designed to do. What they don't do is colour anything. The Audiolab is the problem here feed it into a Hypex amp you will have brightness.

That's an uncannily accurate impersonation. For your encore can you do the line about it being 10,000 times better than anything else on the market? Or the one about having customers who have sold £50,000 systems and bought the wonder-amp?

 

[iQ Speakers]

A pointless negative spikey comment shows up everthing thats bad with the internet. I would expect nothing less from you.

 

[Andrewjvt]

The Abrahamsen is not the problem as Burnsie discovered. They are very neutral feed it something bright  it's going to amplify it like any decent amp. That's what they are designed to do. What they don't do is colour anything. The Audiolab is the problem here feed it into a Hypex amp you will have brightness.

That's an uncannily accurate impersonation. For your encore can you do the line about it being 10,000 times better than anything else on the market? Or the one about having customers who have sold £50,000 systems and bought the wonder-amp?

Nasty. When ever did he say that?

 

[CnoEvil]

My view is that if products are neutral they should work with all combinations as somebody else said one mans bright is anothers lively and entertaining

 

I personally don't worry about whether a component is supposed to be neutral; I just worry about whether I like it in the context of the system in which it's being used. Subjective taste is too individual and unpredictable to do anything else.

 

[Esra]

IQ I can assure you that the Cambridge CXN,which I see you have one yourself) used in pre-Mode and fixed mode always sound a tad brighter than the Audiolab CDQ and M-Dac with any speaker using the ncores or MB8200 ,so it is good to say for me,that the Audiolabs are more neutral than the Cambridge.What I want to say is if you don´t think the CXN is bright you won´t find the Audiolabs wrong.Always try yourself.Do you have any experience with the Audiolabs,did you compare it with other electronics?I did and do own them!Maybe this Audiolab CDQ you quoted was broke.Well that´s at least my experience.IMO it is nonsense to blame the CDQ,as it is a very good piece of kit, and say it would sound bright with ncores,sorry.

 

[cannibal_ox77]

I'm considering the Abrahamsen V40 to go with my Audiolab CDQ and LS50's, as well as 8200MBs and many other options. If I went down the Abrahamsen route there's a good chance I'd add the V30 preamp later (bit put off by those brass knobs though!).

Currently using the preamp on the CDQ into the pearl lite as a powe ramp. i've tried using the CDQ as a CD player and the marantz as an integrated and while it sounds good, I always go back to the CDQ's preamp as the sound is sharper, more detailed and kicked out into the room more (pearl lite drives the speakers better in power amp mode too). Generally more exciting sound without being harsh.

Marantz is definitely on the warmer side of neutral, so would throwing the Abrahamsen amp into the mix with CDQ and LS50's tip the sound towards being overly bright?

 

[iQ Speakers]

As it would seem that the Abrahamsen is a bit bright with the 8200 CDQ how would the ncore be are these smooth amplifiers.

I have thought of this route but did have a B& O class d and did not like the treble at all.

Esra if you read back it was not I who said the Audiolab was bright. Coll picked up on another comment when the Audiolab was used in conjuction with the Abrahamsen amp and concluded the Amp was bright, which it is certainly not. Im sure the Audiolab is a fine player.

Edit I have to get back to the cabin to stick acoustic foam into a pair of speakers!

 

[iQ Speakers]

The amp is very neutral, as ESRA says the CXN is brighter than the Audiolab. I dont find it bright at all just hugley enjoyable. You are welcome to come over for a demo and bring the Audiolab and the LS50's

 

[Esra]

As it would seem that the Abrahamsen is a bit bright with the 8200 CDQ how would the ncore be are these smooth amplifiers.

I have thought of this route but did have a B& O class d and did not like the treble at all.

Esra if you read back it was not I who said the Audiolab was bright. Coll picked up on another comment when the Audiolab was used in conjuction with the Abrahamsen amp and concluded the Amp was bright, which it is certainly not. Im sure the Audiolab is a fine player.

Edit I have to get back to the cabin to stick acoustic foam into a pair of speakers!

NP everyone is free to tell his experience and opinion.I don´t know the Abrahamsen amp,seems to be good from the specs ( I wanted to order one for testing and a friend but never got replie),but I could imagine it will need a lot of time to run in like some other amps.Maybe that´s why it sounded not right at that moment.What do you think about the run in time with the Abrahamsen?

 

[iQ Speakers]

As it would seem that the Abrahamsen is a bit bright with the 8200 CDQ how would the ncore be are these smooth amplifiers.

I have thought of this route but did have a B& O class d and did not like the treble at all.

Esra if you read back it was not I who said the Audiolab was bright. Coll picked up on another comment when the Audiolab was used in conjuction with the Abrahamsen amp and concluded the Amp was bright, which it is certainly not. Im sure the Audiolab is a fine player.

Edit I have to get back to the cabin to stick acoustic foam into a pair of speakers!

NP everyone is free to tell his experience and opinion.I don´t know the Abrahamsen amp,seems to be good from the specs ( I wanted to order one for testing and a friend but never got replie),but I could imagine it will need a lot of time to run in like some other amps.Maybe that´s why it sounded not right at that moment.What do you think about the run in time with the Abrahamsen?

Indeed this is how we all learn, I just did not want people thinking the V2.0 was bright which is waht happend! I assume you mailed Abrahamsen directly? If so they are pretty slow and had a change of ISP over the summer, SPAM filters were set to high, they never got any of my mails, I had to email the factory in the end and the problem was discovered. I try and email back instantly any time of the day with in reason.

As to run in not really the manual say 96 hours i really dont notice any differance when I get a new one out. They certainly need about 15-20 mins to warm up when first turned on they become much smother.

 

[spiny norman]

Nasty. When ever did he say that?

He didn't, but he's getting very close to those who make such claims in their hamfisted attempts to abuse a forum for their own financial gain. Nice to see the company website address has now snuck into his signature, too.

And jealous? Bwahahaha!

 

[spiny norman]

A pointless negative spikey comment shows up everthing thats bad with the internet. I would expect nothing less from you.

Relentless shilling of a product you're selling, contrary to the rules and the spirit of a forum. I have come to expect no less from the Internet, and those who misuse it.

 

[iQ Speakers]

I did not start these threads. I put my website back with no link beacuse a certain other was doing the same thought it OK. I think the rest of the forum can judge who is being out of order. Unfortunatly there arn't many with experience of the Abrahamsen i mearly answer qusetions. Its quite easy to avoid these threads you just dont click on them.

 

[Esra]

The amp is very neutral, as ESRA says the CXN is brighter than the Audiolab. I dont find it bright at all just hugley enjoyable. You are welcome to come over for a demo and bring the Audiolab and the LS50's

Would be interesting what you both think?!Good idea.I.m.o. the cxn is brighter(maybe because of the upsampling),which doesn´t mean it is bright at all and not enjoyable, and it has def. more bass.But the Audiolab CDQ is the more neutral and precise device for sure.The M-Dac is even better at this.With LS50 things should be pretty obvious ;-).With R-Series I like the CXN too.

 

[spiny norman]

I did not start these threads. I put my website back with no link beacuse a certain other was doing the same thought it OK. I think the rest of the forum can judge who is being out of order. Unfortunatly there arn't many with experience of the Abrahamsen i mearly answer qusetions. Its quite easy to avoid these threads you just dont click on them.

Of course, it is just selfless public service. Remind us again which charity gets all the proceeds from your business?

 

[cannibal_ox77]

The amp is very neutral, as ESRA says the CXN is brighter than the Audiolab. I dont find it bright at all just hugley enjoyable. You are welcome to come over for a demo and bring the Audiolab and the LS50's

thanks, I'd take up the offer but I'm living in Madrid. Also makes it impossible to audition the abrahamsen as I can't find a dealer that stocks them. Seems fantastic value though and I imagine the LS50's would benefit hugely from the power. Looks aside I've only seen good feedback and at the price it's one I'd possibly buy blind and hope for the best, if it doesn't satisfy in the main system I'll be putting together a second system in the near future anyway. Also waiting to see if there's bargain prices on a pair of 8200MBs when the 8300's are available.

interested in the Hegel amps too, Another marmite brand looks-wise... I do love marmite though!

 

[Esra]

The amp is very neutral, as ESRA says the CXN is brighter than the Audiolab. I dont find it bright at all just hugley enjoyable. You are welcome to come over for a demo and bring the Audiolab and the LS50's

thanks, I'd take up the offer but I'm living in Madrid. Also makes it impossible to audition the abrahamsen as I can't find a dealer that stocks them. Seems fantastic value though and I imagine the LS50's would benefit hugely from the power. Looks aside I've only seen good feedback and at the price it's one I'd possibly buy blind and hope for the best, if it doesn't satisfy in the main system I'll be putting together a second system in the near future anyway. Also waiting to see if there's bargain prices on a pair of 8200MBs when the 8300's are available.

interested in the Hegel amps too, Another marmite brand looks-wise... I do love marmite though!

I would opt for some 8200MB, would be a noticeable improvement in your system with LS50 and looks good too.

 

[Andrewjvt]

I did not start these threads. I put my website back with no link beacuse a certain other was doing the same thought it OK. I think the rest of the forum can judge who is being out of order. Unfortunatly there arn't many with experience of the Abrahamsen i mearly answer qusetions. Its quite easy to avoid these threads you just dont click on them.

Of course, it is just selfless public service. Remind us again which charity gets all the proceeds from your business?

How is it affecting you? Are you that sensitive? He makes the forum interesting

 

[iQ Speakers]

thanks, I'd take up the offer but I'm living in Madrid. Also makes it impossible to audition the abrahamsen as I can't find a dealer that stocks them. Seems fantastic value though and I imagine the LS50's would benefit hugely from the power. Looks aside I've only seen good feedback and at the price it's one I'd possibly buy blind and hope for the best, if it doesn't satisfy in the main system I'll be putting together a second system in the near future anyway. Also waiting to see if there's bargain prices on a pair of 8200MBs when the 8300's are available.

interested in the Hegel amps too, Another marmite brand looks-wise... I do love marmite though!

I'm pretty sure Abrahamsen would ship you one directly. Recently took the amp to compare with the Hegel 160 we could not really seperate them the views are posted on here. Always good to shop smart with an old model being replaced by a new model I run a Leema Pulse which was very good and huge value.

 

[spiny norman]

How is it affecting you? Are you that sensitive? He makes the forum interesting

By ignoring every rule the owners have put in place?

Perhaps we need the whole forum invaded with people with things to flog, just as the news and everwhere else here seems to be packed with sponsored this and promoted that: then it would be such fun, wouldn't it?

Sorry, but it's really distasteful to see the forum misused in this way, seemingly with impunity.

 

[Andrewjvt]

How is it affecting you? Are you that sensitive? He makes the forum interesting

By ignoring every rule the owners have put in place?

Perhaps we need the whole forum invaded with people with things to flog, just as the news and everwhere else here seems to be packed with sponsored this and promoted that: then it would be such fun, wouldn't it?

Sorry, but it's really distasteful to see the forum misused in this way, seemingly with impunity.

There are many people who are on these forums that work or own dealers and they give advise for parts they are passionate about. I find it fine and if there is something i dont agree with i just ignore it. I find it funny how you guys scream like youve got a crab in your pants.

 

[drummerman]

The amp is very neutral, as ESRA says the CXN is brighter than the Audiolab. I dont find it bright at all just hugley enjoyable. You are welcome to come over for a demo and bring the Audiolab and the LS50's

thanks, I'd take up the offer but I'm living in Madrid. Also makes it impossible to audition the abrahamsen as I can't find a dealer that stocks them. Seems fantastic value though and I imagine the LS50's would benefit hugely from the power. Looks aside I've only seen good feedback and at the price it's one I'd possibly buy blind and hope for the best, if it doesn't satisfy in the main system I'll be putting together a second system in the near future anyway. Also waiting to see if there's bargain prices on a pair of 8200MBs when the 8300's are available.

interested in the Hegel amps too, Another marmite brand looks-wise... I do love marmite though!

Worth remembering that the Abrahamsen is still 'only' a 80w/ch amplifier. Likely speakers to benefit from its ueber specified power supply are those that are reactive and difficult to drive. I have no idea if the LS50 falls into that category.

Other than that the 'big A' seems just a well engineered amplifier for the price of 'middling' (but under normal circumstances ample) power unless you have very, very power hungry speakers and require earsplitting high volumes.

I've never heard one so can't comment on anything else ... other than the golden knobs

 

[Vladimir]

In this case with one Nordic and one British hi-fi component, if I had to guess which one does the shenanigans and which has the dull flat transparent FR, I would not choose the scandinavians. *wink*

Jokes aside. The Audiolab CDQ would be my first suspision simply because it is not a simple CDP. It has it's own preamp and DAC with inputs, a fairly more complicated beasty.

1) Do you CDQ owners feed your integrated from the preamp options of the Audiolab to the line in inputs of your amp? If you feed preamped signal to another preamp, you boost the signal with another gain stage and things might go bad (possible preamp clipping). Ideally you want to either use the integrated as power amp with CDQ as source+pre, or bypass the preamp in the CDQ and feed it as a regular CDP with 2V out to your integrated preamp line ins.

2) The CDQ has filter options and they will change the frequency response from the ideal flat we expect from a standard CDP (Naim excluded).

Traditional digital filters aim for a flat response up to 20kHz and next-to-zero response above 24kHz, and they usually have an impulse response which exhibits ‘ringing’ before and after the main impulse event. Arguments have raged over whether that ringing has any audible effects and, rather than prejudging the issue, designers have responded by offering various filter options that have no pre-ringing, or practically no ringing at all, the latter invariably with a frequency response that departs from the traditional ideal. The 8200CDQ takes things to a whole new level of filter tweakery, with seven choices that cover all the basics and more besides.

That’s all accessed via the setup menu, which also includes options to set sensitivity for individual inputs, to set individual inputs to ‘Home theatre mode’ with fixed gain, and to switch off preamp functions entirely for use with an external preamp.

Source

Also if you google Audiolab CDQ + bright, or + harsh, you will get plenty posts by people dating back from 2007. Some find it smooth but detailed, but more detect clinical and bright etc. obviously there are settings that influence this and maybe people simply haven't tried the options in the setup.

 

[Vladimir]

I thought someone used this CD/Pre into an Abrahamsen integrated.

Also there is the issue with the selectable filters and such. Obviously one can voice this product to an extent. Has anyone tried changing those options?

 

[Esra]

1) Do you CDQ owners feed your integrated from the preamp options of the Audiolab to the line in inputs of your amp? If you feed preamped signal to another preamp, you boost the signal with another gain stage and things might go bad (possible preamp clipping). Ideally you want to either use the integrated as power amp with CDQ as source+pre, or bypass the preamp in the CDQ and feed it as a regular CDP with 2V out to your integrated preamp line ins.

2) The CDQ has filter options and they will change the frequency response from the ideal flat we expect from a standard CDP (Naim excluded).

Traditional digital filters aim for a flat response up to 20kHz and next-to-zero response above 24kHz, and they usually have an impulse response which exhibits ‘ringing’ before and after the main impulse event. Arguments have raged over whether that ringing has any audible effects and, rather than prejudging the issue, designers have responded by offering various filter options that have no pre-ringing, or practically no ringing at all, the latter invariably with a frequency response that departs from the traditional ideal. The 8200CDQ takes things to a whole new level of filter tweakery, with seven choices that cover all the basics and more besides.

That’s all accessed via the setup menu, which also includes options to set sensitivity for individual inputs, to set individual inputs to ‘Home theatre mode’ with fixed gain, and to switch off preamp functions entirely for use with an external preamp.

Source

Also if you google Audiolab CDQ + bright, or + harsh, you will get plenty posts by people dating back from 2007. Some find it smooth but detailed, but more detect clinical and bright etc. obviously there are settings that influence this and maybe people simply haven't tried the options in the setup.

Why one should use a CDQ into an other integrated amp?There is the 8200CD without the preamp function for this kind of use.Ideally you would use a CDQ with it´s preamp function direct into some (mono/sym.) amps via XLR or to active speakers and connect all digital and analogue sources to it. The 3 analogue inputs can also be gain configured which is pretty usefull but can be reason to problems and all can individually fixed for bypass the preamp section for e.x. ht bypass,+ in case of digital sources you can select the preamp of the CDQ to work in digital or analogue modus which gives a lot of combinations with the filters of the dac. Of course there is the option to turn off the preamp section completely off if you wish and also to pass digital signals/CD to an other dac like a switching hub.

If something sounds wrong with the CDQ i would first check input gain on the analogue inputs and adjust to lower values if sounds "bright or harsh".If this is not enough,lol,even output gain can be regulated which would also cause distortion with the wrong settings.Usually you won´t touch the output gain.Of course you have to turn the preamp section off in case you would use a CDQ with an other integrated amp.