Abrahamsen Amplifiers

[SteveR750]

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.

You've missed the threads complaining about ads on the forum then? I think Colin is rather restrained in comparison. He's also prepared to endorse other makes in which he has no financial interests.

 

[spiny norman]

I find it funny how you guys scream like youve got a crab in your pants.

Clearly you are easily amused.

I am not screaming, but rather expressing my annoyance at the way this forum is increasingly being used for shilling and selling by those who should know better.

 

[Andrewjvt]

I find it funny how you guys scream like youve got a crab in your pants.

Clearly you are easily amused.

I am not screaming, but rather expressing my annoyance at the way this forum is increasingly being used for shilling and selling by those who should know better.

Your making a mountain out of a mole hill.

If it was so bad the what hifi dudes would say so. Most of us dont mind. Just cant understand why you want to appoint yourself a what hifi forum prefect. Thats all

 

[Al ears]

I find it funny how you guys scream like youve got a crab in your pants.

Clearly you are easily amused.

I am not screaming, but rather expressing my annoyance at the way this forum is increasingly being used for shilling and selling by those who should know better.

Though I take your point I'd like to mention there are several dealers that appear on this forum regularly that frequently mention equipment that they sell in their stores, they also offer useful advice and are not exactly thrusting their wares down our throats. At which point this becomes shilling I cannot quite work out.

I also agree that blatant self-advertising posts should be deleted forthwith by the moderators without favouritism (as per house rules)

 

[Andrewjvt]

I find it funny how you guys scream like youve got a crab in your pants.

Clearly you are easily amused.

I am not screaming, but rather expressing my annoyance at the way this forum is increasingly being used for shilling and selling by those who should know better.

Though I take your point I'd like to mention there are several dealers that appear on this forum regularly that frequently mention equipment that they sell in their stores, they also offer useful advice and are not exactly thrusting their wares down our throats. At which point this becomes shilling I cannot quite work out.

I also agree that blatant self-advertising posts should be deleted forthwith by the moderators without favouritism (as per house rules)

But could you send me a link of one of those posts so i can understand why people get so upset as ive never seen one. I thought we all love hifi and even people that deal in it must also love it.

 

[Coll]

Hi Esra so you have 2 ncore NC400 monoblocks and use them with the Audiolab 8200CDQ as a matter of interest what speakers do you have.

I have been giving things a bit of thought and perhaps the build it myself idea with the ncores may be the best idea. Do you know what the xlr input sens.is and imp.

If you look at some american sites hundreds of people build speakers and amplifiers but here very few. They seem to regard the ncores highly there and have been replacing very expensive amps with them.

 

[Esra]

Here is the datasheet of nc400 modules

http://www.hypex.nl/docs/NC400_datasheet.pdf

I am using them with Kef R900 speakers and sometimes with ls50.

 

[spiny norman]

Your making a mountain out of a mole hill.

= 'You don't agree with me, and I've got a cliché for that'

If it was so bad the what hifi dudes would say so.

You haven't been here long, have you? Very rarely do the WHSV 'dudes' say anything.

Most of us dont mind.

Sorry, didn't realise you were the spokesman for everyone else on the forum.

Just cant understand why you want to appoint yourself a what hifi forum prefect.

I'm not appointing myself anything, just expressing an opinion. Is that alright with you, spokesman?

Thats all

Somehow I doubt it.

 

[chebby]

No point in continuing to bang the drum. IQ will always be 'Boggit' and he is now the resident 'plucky little entrepreneur' fighting the big boys against all the odds. The fact that he is an importer / distributor / loudspeaker manufacturer does not count because he is really just 'one of us'. His profits (if any) are just supporting his hobby, so are not really 'bad profits' like everyone else's. (They are all slavering jackals and not nice chaps like our Boggit.)

The Abrahamsen thing is just to help another fellow altruist survive and to help ordinary people against the 'monster' of competing hi-fi companies (rip-off merchants and liars). No profit motive i'm sure.

If Paul Darwin or Charles Brennan came on here to actively promote their brands against others mentioned here (Audiolab in this instance) then obviously there would be no comparison. They only do it for money and it would be obscene.

 

[cannibal_ox77]

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

Esra, did you use 8200MBs with the CDQ and LS50's?

I have my LS50's in a fairly big room (8 x 4.5m) and often listen at fairly loud levels which is why I'm after a more powerful amp. I'd add a sub or two instead if I wasn't living in an appartment.

 

[cannibal_ox77]

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.

I've tried using the CDQ as a standalone cd/dac into the integrated, but in my setup it I much prefer using its pre-amp into the power amp input on the pearl lite.

I'm very impressed with the pre-amp on the CDQ. I wouldn't have thought a £1k cd/dac/preamp would better the preamp in a similarly priced (on release) integrated.

Also its nice to tweak the sound with the digital filters and digital or analogue preamp. My default setting is Optimum Transient XD with the digital preamp, but occasionally experiment and get better results with different settings.

 

[Vladimir]

 

[cannibal_ox77]

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.

What I took from the many reviews and user opinion of LS50's is they either need a lot of watts or lower powered amps with very good power supplies to get the best out of them. Not that people aren't getting good results with lower powered amps such as NAD D3020 or Arcam A19 as examples, but in a largish room these speakers need more. I think they've got a lot more to give in my room expecially in the bass department.

I demoed LS50's with the Marantz PM8005 which has the same 70w as the Pearl Lite but with the improved power supply it sounded a bit better to my ears with tighter and and more tuneful bass in particular on tracks I know well (admittedly different room acoustics may have played a part).

Apologies for hijacking the thread and interupting the arguments!

 

[spiny norman]

There's no hate at all: I'm sure Colin/Boggit/iQ is a perfectly pleasant chap, but the point is that this forum, like all online communities, has its rules, by which the rest of the industry seems happy to abide (or at least most of it does, though some occasionally sail close to the wind).

I agree with chebby: why should iQSpeakers be an exception? When he was just showing us the finishes he was trying as a hobby on some established kit speakers, his posts were fine, but now it's turned into a business, however, fledgling it may be. If he wants to advertise the speakers he makes or the amplifiers he now distributes, why shouldn't he have to pay to advertise on the site or in the magazine (as everyone else seems happy to, given the onslaught of ads popping up or popping in on almost every page here)?

As WHSV says, 'Whathifi.com offers a range of advertising opportunities that can be used to promote relevant products and services - click on Contact Us for more information.'

 

[Esra]

@cannibal

yes I am using 8200MB+CDQ with the ls50 usually in an other room integrated in a ht-system.I use them for stereo and front within the ht-system with the CDQ as a hub/bypass,so I can use ls50 for stereo and ht.Depending on your room and acoustics ls50 could be unsufficient without subs even with some 8200MB,you must try.My HT room is also around 35 squaremeter and I don´t need the subs for stereo most of time but ceiling is low with 2,10m and I can postion the speakers and seating position how the speakers need to go down as much as possible.

 

[Vladimir]

Take it with Haymarket and quit nagging us. Or are you recruiting a lynch crowd like many times before? Sadly the forum is no longer actively policed and you can't sucker in mods to execute your misanthropic wank.

Walk it off.

 

[SteveR750]

Take it with Haymarket and quit nagging us. Or are you recruiting a lynch crowd like many times before? Sadly the forum is no longer actively policed and you can't sucker in mods to execute your misanthropic wank.

Walk it off.

Quite, and pretty much what I think Andrew meant, just put less eloquently.

 

[drummerman]

No point in continuing to bang the drum. IQ will always be 'Boggit' and he is now the resident 'plucky little entrepreneur' fighting the big boys against all the odds. The fact that he is an importer / distributor / loudspeaker manufacturer does not count because he is really just 'one of us'. His profits (if any) are just supporting his hobby, so are not really 'bad profits' like everyone else's. (They are all slavering jackals and not nice chaps like our Boggit.)

The Abrahamsen thing is just to help another fellow altruist survive and to help ordinary people against the 'monster' of competing hi-fi companies (rip-off merchants and liars). No profit motive i'm sure.

If Paul Darwin or Charles Brennan came on here to actively promote their brands against others mentioned here (Audiolab in this instance) then obviously there would be no comparison. They only do it for money and it would be obscene.

C'mon ... this has all happened before without to many objections. EB Acoustics, Acoustic Energy and others have frequently posted on here, in a friendly manner, indirectly (or not so indirectly) promoting their individual products without slagging off others. They have not been stopped by the powers that are but slowly just stopped posting here.

Whilst I too get fed up by flavor of the month product threads (think scandinavian monoliths, at present at least) they are rarely bought up by the manufacturers/distributors, more so by satisfied customers.

Why not?

I personally have no problem with it. Actually, I would like to see more manufacturers, Dealers, Distributors participate to break up the boredom of cable arguments (or contributing to them )

 

[Andrewjvt]

Your making a mountain out of a mole hill.

= 'You don't agree with me, and I've got a cliché for that'

If it was so bad the what hifi dudes would say so.

You haven't been here long, have you? Very rarely do the WHSV 'dudes' say anything.

Most of us dont mind.

Sorry, didn't realise you were the spokesman for everyone else on the forum.

Just cant understand why you want to appoint yourself a what hifi forum prefect.

I'm not appointing myself anything, just expressing an opinion. Is that alright with you, spokesman?

Thats all

Somehow I doubt it.

 

Thats what you think you are the spokesman. That works both ways. Ive been reading these forums for years.

And if whathifi men dont do anything then there is nothing you can do but carry on whinging

Im just standing up for someone i feel is being unfairly victimised by you. Hes a good guy

 

[spiny norman]

Take it with Haymarket and quit nagging us. Or are you recruiting a lynch crowd like many times before? Sadly the forum is no longer actively policed and you can't sucker in mods to execute your misanthropic wank.

Walk it off.

Again, nothing misanthropic at all intended, and no-one is nagging anyone but the poster in question: just sick of seeing thinly-disguised sales pitches from those who think they can get away with it, and in the absence of any response when one uses the 'report' mechanism on this forsaken forum, one has no choice but to make the point this way.

And not recruiting anyone, but expressing an opinion.

But glad you see anything with which you don't agree as masturbatory: says a lot for the way this forum is going. That's the true bullying lynch-mob mentality.

 

[spiny norman]

Thats what you think you are the spokesman.

Thank you for telling me what I think.

Ive been reading these forums for years.

Well done: have a badge.

And if whathifi men dont do anything then there is nothing you can do but carry on whinging

Not whingeing at all, just making a point. The inactivity of 'whathifi men' is more of a reason to keep making the point.

Im just standing up for someone i feel is being unfairly victimised by you. Hes a good guy

There's no victimisation: as I said I am sure the person in question is a perfectly pleasant chap, but in this case he's misusing the forums for his own financial gain. I would react to anyone trying to do the same, as it's distasteful and against the spirit of the forums.

 

[Vladimir]

C'mon ... this has all happened before without to many objections. EB Acoustics, Acoustic Energy and others have frequently posted on here, in a friendly manner, indirectly (or not so indirectly) promoting their individual products without slagging off others. They have not been stopped by the powers that are but slowly just stopped posting here.

I think it's great that WHF acts as a patron and hasn't obstructed small hi-fi entrepreneurs in UK from growing on this forum. I didn't mind that young designer from Audiosmile promoting his Kickstarter campaign for his new BBC miniature speakers. But the moral spetsnaz were quick on the gun to call it a pyramid scheme and early signs of anarchy and lawless society. *crazy*

 

[iQ Speakers]

Without wishing to add fuel to the fire, I would just like to add i dont recomend my amps and speakers to people who have not enquired about them. Indeed my fisrt post on this thread I suggested to Coll it was not his DIY amps at fault page 1 post no8. I also mailed him to enquire about what I thought were his Hypex DIY kits as i would like to build some. I had his mail as I uploaded some pictures of his lovely Troels Gravesen speakers for him. Going forward I shall endevour never to recomend my amps or speakers and only answer questions from other peoples posts. Thank you all for your support.

 

[Vladimir]

We all had our say and we can move on.

 

[tonky]

I've enjoyed and valued the information about the kit speakers (one day I'll dive in and have a go) - and the abrahamsen amps. - But I do wish Vlad would just tone down ( or use a by-pass button) on his persistent retorts. The least said - soonest mended. But he (and one or two others ) just enjoy and extend the wind up too much. Let SN have his say (he's done nothing wrong - just like boggit hasn't) and then be done.

tonky