Abrahamsen audio amp v2.0

[Pavlo]

Boggit , I am also in Cheltenham - well Bishops Cleeve. If you order the Abrahamsen then do post your opinion. I am realy pleased to hear from someone who has one and pleased the reports are positive. I am considering a matching amp and CD player from Abrahamsen. One would hope they would compliment each other. Glad to hear the amp sound us very clear as my Tannoy D700's gave quite a warm tone to them and need an amp to bring out the best in them.

 

[Pavlo]

Burnside, many thanks for your post. I would be very interested to hear more when you have had more time with the amp (over the Xmas period?) and it has had more use. Do let us know what you think. You are one of the very rare people who has one!

 

[Pavlo]

That should be Burnsie not burnside - damn predictive txt!

 

[Burnsie]

Lol,no bother. The amp is a vey good piece of kit, improved the sound by a good margin compared to the MF 3. I did take a chance on the amp by buying blind and not hearing it first but with the pedigree of the company I thought it would be a chance worth taking. I thought about getting a CD player from Abrahamsen but with the sibilance problems I have I would rather take the amp to a dealer and get it sorted out.

It will be more likely be after the year before i get a chance to go and listen to some different sources as CnoEvil and Plastic Penguin kindly pointed me towards. But as soon as I do and get a solution I will let you know.

 

[Electro]

I have come a bit late to this thread and most of what I would have posted has already been said .

I must admit I don't know how the Abrahamsen amps are sold for such reasonable money especially when you factor in the excellent sound and build quality, I suspect or perhaps hope that Per Abrahamsen does it more for love rather than making large sums of money *biggrin* which is probably why Electrocompaniet got into financial difficulties about ten years ago before being bought out by Westcontrol Norway, http://www.westcontrol.com/en/about-us/about-us/ .

It was after this takover that Abrahamsen Audio surfaced building HiFi equipment with the a similar design philosophy to the Electrocompaniet products but at much reduced prices , I believe he took some of the personnel from Electrocompaniet with him .

As has already been said I am a huge fan Electrocompaniet and a great admirer of Per Abrahamsen the man and his products , biased quite likely *smile* but the proof of the pudding is in the listening as they say .

Here is some info about Per Abrahamsen and Electrocompaniet .

http://www.hifinews.co.uk/news/article/electrocompaniet-%27electro%27--vintage/10017

 

[iQ Speakers]

Hi Pavio, Cheltenham hey! Perhaps we could get together and buy one between us? If its good order another if its not to our liking we can sell and share the loss/profit! What do you think? If not i could always order one try it along my Sugden and see how it compares. Not really sure to sell the Sugden but the V20 really appeals in getting somthing quality for a bargin price and would like to try it. What do you think?

 

[plastic penguin]

I must admit I don't know how the Abrahamsen amps are sold for such reasonable money especially when you factor in the excellent sound and build quality...

Whoa. We don't really know if it has excellent SQ yet. Only one person has purchased their products on here.

 

[Pavlo]

I will be very interested to hear what Burnsie finds out about his sibilance problem and if it is the amp or something else. I wonder how pronounced it is? Is it on all music? One would hope that the Abrahamsen amp and CD player would be a perfect match for each other. I need to upgrade both so makes sense to buy both from same source - providing no issues with amp! Boggit - I will wait to hear what Burnsie finds out and will then decide what to do but in the event I do get one you are more than welcome to come round and see / hear the results.

 

[iQ Speakers]

And visa versa! I gaurantee the sibulance is nothing to do with the amp!

 

[Burnsie]

I don't think the problem lies with the amp, if I play Apple lossless through my PC into the Audiolabs DAC the sibilance reduces considerably. The problem probably lies with the amp and CD player not being a good match for one and other. Now to find a good one............

 

[Electro]

I don't think the problem lies with the amp, if I play Apple lossless through my PC into the Audiolabs DAC the sibilance reduces considerably. The problem probably lies with the amp and CD player not being a good match for one and other. Now to find a good one............

I think you might be hard pushed to do better that one of these for the money imo, especially if you use the balanced output from that lovely class A analogue output section *biggrin* *good*

 

[Pavlo]

A question for Burnsie ! Does the amp have any speaker balance function? It would be helpful to list what controles there are available as the website doesn't list much. Much appreciated!!

 

[Burnsie]

No speaker balance and no tone controls, the two knobs are for volume and an input selector.

 

[Pavlo]

Hm, I wonder how important they are? My speakers are not absolutely equidistant from the listening position and I can't make them due to shape of room. I use the balance to compensate (slightly). Tone controles I could probably live without - although it is useful as your ears get older!! Anyone got any thoughts? Comments?

 

[iQ Speakers]

Not many better amps have these especially british ones. Depends what you you are using as source, Sonos has balance and tone controls in.

 

[drummerman]

Not many better amps have these especially british ones. Depends what you you are using as source, Sonos has balance and tone controls in.

Cyrus have balance plus input sensitivity controls. Arcam have balance control too I believe

 

[Burnsie]

I was able to go and listen to some sources between Christmas and New Year, I have been thinking mostly about CD players but after talking to my usual shop they suggested that I listened to some different streamers, so I am blaming CNO for this, off I went with my amp and I had a demo with the Linn Sneaky DS, Linn Majik DS and the Naim ND5. To my ears the Naim was very cold sounding, it never drew me in so from the off it was a non starter.

Next was both the Linns, although I enjoyed the sound from both but the difference was huge. The Majik had a sound that was so much better than than the Sneaky, not that there was anything wrong with the Sneaky but if I went for the Sneaky I would always be thinking I could do better. The dealer offered me a fantastic price for my Audiolab so I could not resist, the Linn Majik is on order. No sibilance, nothing bright about the sound-it just sounded right.

I still want a CD player and as soon as I have some time I will have a listen to the Rega and I have also sent a mail to Abrahamsen to find out about the cost of their cd player.

As to the Abrahamsen amp, it sounded very, very good with the Linn and if it is this good in my room I will be one happy camper.

Thanks for your suggestions and pointing me in the right directions.

 

[iQ Speakers]

I'm thinking of getting the Majik too just don't like having the CA in my rack! What's the functionality like with Spotify and the iPhone app? Oh and I did say it's nothing to do with the Abrahamsen amp!

 

[CnoEvil]

....so I am blaming CNO for this..

*angel*

 

[Electro]

I was able to go and listen to some sources between Christmas and New Year, I have been thinking mostly about CD players but after talking to my usual shop they suggested that I listened to some different streamers, so I am blaming CNO for this, off I went with my amp and I had a demo with the Linn Sneaky DS, Linn Majik DS and the Naim ND5. To my ears the Naim was very cold sounding, it never drew me in so from the off it was a non starter.

Next was both the Linns, although I enjoyed the sound from both but the difference was huge. The Majik had a sound that was so much better than than the Sneaky, not that there was anything wrong with the Sneaky but if I went for the Sneaky I would always be thinking I could do better. The dealer offered me a fantastic price for my Audiolab so I could not resist, the Linn Majik is on order. No sibilance, nothing bright about the sound-it just sounded right.

I still want a CD player and as soon as I have some time I will have a listen to the Rega and I have also sent a mail to Abrahamsen to find out about the cost of their cd player.

As to the Abrahamsen amp, it sounded very, very good with the Linn and if it is this good in my room I will be one happy camper.

Thanks for your suggestions and pointing me in the right directions.

My instinct tells me it will be even better *biggrin*

You now have a system that will surpise and thrill you every time you play some music , it's a very good feeling isn't it *smile*

 

[Burnsie]

Hi Boggit, I was very sceptical about streamers but it sounded very good( expletives not allowed) im not very good at the flowery hifi speak but to me I have not heard better. I just fancy a CD player to stick a CD on and listen from start to finish, not sure that I can do that with a streamer without skipping a track or two, but I am sure I will find out. The Majik DS was so warm sounding and at the same time it was not in your face, it was very engrossing and enjoyable. Ive had a few tonight so please excuse me, but the Abrahamsen amp sounded very good with the Linn.

 

[CnoEvil]

I just fancy a CD player to stick a CD on and listen from start to finish, not sure that I can do that with a streamer without skipping a track or two, but I am sure I will find out.

Once you have ripped your CDs (preferably using FLAC) onto a NAS, you have complete flexibility. You can listen to whole albums, single out tracks and make playlists.

Get your dealer to walk you through it, as that's what they are there for.

 

[Burnsie]

Cheers Electro, Yes it is

 

[iQ Speakers]

I'm close to buying a Majik though the CA does sound good, I often write my best posts when I've had a few! Sounds like you're have as much reward from the sound as me and Electro is spot on, enjoy. And have a few more!

 

[radiorog]

Hi Burnsie,

I am in Edinburgh also and am considering getting this amp. I'd be up for bringing my seperates over to see how they all behave with your amp if you were ever up it?