Abrahamsen V2.0 UP discussion

[FennerMachine]

I have owned an Abrahamsen V2.0 UP amplifier for 6 days.
I was planning on spending up to £3000 on speakers.
I spent under £1000 on an amplifier.

I wanted:
More and better quality bass
Better midrange for more natural vocals & instruments
Smoother treble

This amplifier has given me all of these.

A few details of tests:

Specific example:
Corrs Unplugged, at the end of songs the audience clap, shout, cheer and whistle.
I usually wince as it is an unpleasant mess of noise.
I could hear the clapping distinctly at one volume level with separate individuals whistling, cheering and so forth popping out but no harshness.

General:
Instruments are easier to follow
Voices are much more natural
Highs soar smoothly
Moved speakers further from rear wall due to increased bass
Improvement for CD's and TV

The volume settings are nice.
Lots of control at low levels and then goes up in good jumps at higher levels.
Not gone past 48 out of 60 yet as that is loud enough.

The other amps I was considering may have done similar but they all cost more, up to twice the cost.
This amp seems to do what these others could do combined in one.

Please feel free to ask questions.

I'll update when tested DVD and Blu-Ray.

 

[drummerman]

How did you get over the look? ;-)

 

[FennerMachine]

It looks good to me.
After all, beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

 

[plastic penguin]

How did you get over the look? ;-)

Swing one leg over the side of the amp and follow with the other leg. Or if the amp is that big... pole vault. *blum3*

 

[plastic penguin]

I have owned an Abrahamsen V2.0 UP amplifier for 6 days. I was planning on spending up to £3000 on speakers. I spent under £1000 on an amplifier.

The other amps I was considering may have done similar but they all cost more, up to twice the cost. This amp seems to do what these others could do combined in one.

Please feel free to ask questions.

Not quite. My amp was less (brand new) and it includes a dual phono stage for TTs... and they're based in Wales. Scandanavia isn't that far but could prove a pain for either you or Colin should it go t*ts up.

SQ? now idea about the Per's creation. One thing I do know is I wouldn't change my amp for anything below 3k.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

How did you get over the look? ;-)

Hi drummerman

What is it with you and looks? *biggrin*

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Al ears]

I have owned an Abrahamsen V2.0 UP amplifier for 6 days. I was planning on spending up to £3000 on speakers. I spent under £1000 on an amplifier.

The other amps I was considering may have done similar but they all cost more, up to twice the cost. This amp seems to do what these others could do combined in one.

Please feel free to ask questions.

Not quite. My amp was less (brand new) and it includes a dual phono stage for TTs... and they're based in Wales. Scandanavia isn't that far but could prove a pain for either you or Colin should it go t*ts up.

SQ? now idea about the Per's creation. One thing I do know is I wouldn't change my amp for anything below 3k.

Which just goes to show we can still manufacture somethings decent here boyo!

PS: My amp also comes from Wales..

 

[drummerman]

How did you get over the look? ;-)

Hi drummerman

What is it with you and looks? *biggrin*

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

I am so shallow ...

 

[DIB]

I would hope 48 out of 60 is loud enough, blimey.

.

 

[mocenigo]

I would hope 48 out of 60 is loud enough, blimey.

with my speakers a 48/60 on the Abrahamsen is an invitation to the police to pay a visit...

Roberto

 

[iQ Speakers]

I have owned an Abrahamsen V2.0 UP amplifier for 6 days. I was planning on spending up to £3000 on speakers. I spent under £1000 on an amplifier.

The other amps I was considering may have done similar but they all cost more, up to twice the cost. This amp seems to do what these others could do combined in one.

Please feel free to ask questions.

Not quite. My amp was less (brand new) and it includes a dual phono stage for TTs... and they're based in Wales. Scandanavia isn't that far but could prove a pain for either you or Colin should it go t*ts up.

SQ? now idea about the Per's creation. One thing I do know is I wouldn't change my amp for anything below 3k.

Which just goes to show we can still manufacture somethings decent here boyo!

PS: My amp also comes from Wales..

Obvoiusly interested in the amp, and presently looking for a preamp I can engineer in my own case. Went to there website they have a £6K amp coming soon and cats and cakes!! Am I on the same website?

 

[mocenigo]

I have owned an Abrahamsen V2.0 UP amplifier for 6 days. I was planning on spending up to £3000 on speakers. I spent under £1000 on an amplifier.

The other amps I was considering may have done similar but they all cost more, up to twice the cost. This amp seems to do what these others could do combined in one.

Not quite. My amp was less (brand new) and it includes a dual phono stage for TTs... and they're based in Wales. Scandanavia isn't that far but could prove a pain for either you or Colin should it go t*ts up.

Tom Evans? I looked at their web site and only found ore and power amps for 5-6K GBP. Maybe I did not look well enough. What do they manufacture in the 1K GBP price range?

Or is it something else?

Roberto

 

[Al ears]

I have owned an Abrahamsen V2.0 UP amplifier for 6 days. I was planning on spending up to £3000 on speakers. I spent under £1000 on an amplifier.

The other amps I was considering may have done similar but they all cost more, up to twice the cost. This amp seems to do what these others could do combined in one.

Not quite. My amp was less (brand new) and it includes a dual phono stage for TTs... and they're based in Wales. Scandanavia isn't that far but could prove a pain for either you or Colin should it go t*ts up.

Tom Evans? I looked at their web site and only found ore and power amps for 5-6K GBP. Maybe I did not look well enough. What do they manufacture in the 1K GBP price range?

Or is it something else?

Roberto

You are on the wrong website. The only thing Tom does under a grand is a phono preamp.

 

[NSA_watch_my_toilet]

Watch out if you go for Tom Evans. Those things catches fire very quickly. I had one burning in my home (due to underfitted transformer = bad engeneer design). The ability of long time repair are very limited too. So you are paying a lot for something that will not be repaired in 5 years "because we have not the parts anymore".

Top brand !

 

[Vladimir]

Watch out if you go for Tom Evans. Those things catches fire very quickly. I had one burning in my home (due to underfitted transformer = bad engeneer design). The ability of long time repair are very limited too. So you are paying a lot for something that will not be repaired in 5 years "because we have not the parts anymore".

Top brand !

When you say underfitted, you probably mean undersized. How can undersized transformer make anything catch on fire? Can you expand on this?

 

[NSA_watch_my_toilet]

The long story (that I wanted to be short in the first time)

At first I had the loss of a channel. I was knowing a good engeneer in my region that is making first class audio gear himself, and I asked him if he could check. He said the design was great "but he didn't understand why they put such tiny trafos in there" and he saw that one trafo had died. At those time, we shipped the thing to the seller, that replaced the faulty trafo and it came back.

It went without a problem two or three months, but one day, I had a long day of music, started the thing in the late morning and listened music through the day. At around 19 PM, I was typing somthing on the computer (with my back to my set) and my girlfriend runned into the room "what is happening, where does this smoke come from"... the Tommy was spitting a thick smoke that was everywhere in the room. We immediately shut him off and this prevented him to burn (some parts where already black in the inside and started to melt). The case was burning hot, you couldn't touch it.

This time, I sent the preamp directly to Tom Evans that needed 9 months for... I don't know what they did. But after 9 months, I purposed them to add a separate transformer to it, one that would hold without problems and that will not be audiophilia nonsensical. It's what they did, and I have now a Tom Evans The Groove anniversary running on a separate Trafo (that I saw on some car battery recharger) ! It works and sound great.

 

[Vladimir]

The long story (that I wanted to be short in the first time)

At first I had the loss of a channel. I was knowing a good engeneer in my region that is making first class audio gear himself, and I asked him if he could check. He said the design was great "but he didn't understand why they put such tiny trafos in there" and he saw that one trafo had died. At those time, we shipped the thing to the seller, that replaced the faulty trafo and it came back.

It went without a problem two or three months, but one day, I had a long day of music, started the thing in the late morning and listened music through the day. At around 19 PM, I was typing somthing on the computer (with my back to my set) and my girlfriend runned into the room "what is happening, where does this smoke come from"... the Tommy was spitting a thick smoke that was everywhere in the room. We immediately shut him off and this prevented him to burn (some parts where already black in the inside and started to melt). The case was burning hot, you couldn't touch it.

This time, I sent the preamp directly to Tom Evans that needed 9 months for... I don't know what they did. But after 9 months, I purposed them to add a separate transformer to it, one that would hold without problems and that will not be audiophilia nonsensical. It's what they did, and I have now a Tom Evans The Groove anniversary running on a separate Trafo (that I saw on some car battery recharger) ! It works and sound great.

Endeavor. A story to tell. I have absolutely nothing to say about a Kenwood integrated amp I own for the past 15 years. When it dies I'll just trash it in the bin.

 

[Al ears]

Watch out if you go for Tom Evans. Those things catches fire very quickly. I had one burning in my home (due to underfitted transformer = bad engeneer design). The ability of long time repair are very limited too. So you are paying a lot for something that will not be repaired in 5 years "because we have not the parts anymore".

Top brand !

When you say underfitted, you probably mean undersized. How can undersized transformer make anything catch on fire? Can you expand on this?

Not undersized, it is underslung with two level amp. If you look at the six moons audio review it shows an open box so insides are visible.

Having said that I have just seen he's talking about preamp and not poweramp as I assumed.

 

[NSA_watch_my_toilet]

Picture of my rig :

The Tom Evans is on the second floor. The first power device is for the Sota Sapphire turntable. The second one, behind him, is the car battery power device for the Tommy.

 

[NSA_watch_my_toilet]

Endeavor. A story to tell. I have absolutely nothing to say about a Kenwood integrated amp I own for the past 15 years. When it dies I'll just trash it in the bin.

*good*

 

[Vladimir]

Watch out if you go for Tom Evans. Those things catches fire very quickly. I had one burning in my home (due to underfitted transformer = bad engeneer design). The ability of long time repair are very limited too. So you are paying a lot for something that will not be repaired in 5 years "because we have not the parts anymore".

Top brand !

When you say underfitted, you probably mean undersized. How can undersized transformer make anything catch on fire? Can you expand on this?

Not undersized, it is underslung with two level amp. If you look at the six moons audio review it shows an open box so insides are visible.

Having said that I have just seen he's talking about preamp and not poweramp as I assumed.

I have no idea what is going on in that case.

 

[Vladimir]

I have owned an Abrahamsen V2.0 UP amplifier for 6 days. I was planning on spending up to £3000 on speakers. I spent under £1000 on an amplifier.

The other amps I was considering may have done similar but they all cost more, up to twice the cost. This amp seems to do what these others could do combined in one.

Not quite. My amp was less (brand new) and it includes a dual phono stage for TTs... and they're based in Wales. Scandanavia isn't that far but could prove a pain for either you or Colin should it go t*ts up.

Tom Evans? I looked at their web site and only found ore and power amps for 5-6K GBP. Maybe I did not look well enough. What do they manufacture in the 1K GBP price range?

Or is it something else?

Roberto

You need to realize that it is manufactured in UK by a UK designer. It's as close to exclusive handcrafted manufacture as it gets. And I honestly think it's cheap compared to mass made boutique stuff going for 10 times his prices. Mark Levinson and Andrew Jones signed mass made kit makes my skin crawl.

The price with Tom Evans gear is not the downfall at all but the tech support, servicing and such, simply due to the nature of the business. When you buy a handcrafted car made in limited edition of 10, 100 or 1000, you have to deal with the same issues as slow servicing, lack of parts etc. You have to be prepared for such scenarios when you buy exclusive things. I think he needs to markup his gear x10 so people fully grasp the idea what they are getting, how to treat it and how to be patient when needed. Consumers understand nothing except the language of prices.

And yes, exclusive handcrafted kit sometimes catches on fire. Lambos explode and you die in a fire of burning high octane petrol and oil. Good. That's why you buy the damn evil things. I wish I had Tom Evans kit costing 30,000 GBP that catches on fire and takes my arm off so I can go to a friend that has a Denon AVR and scare his kids with my hook arm.

 

[Al ears]

Watch out if you go for Tom Evans. Those things catches fire very quickly. I had one burning in my home (due to underfitted transformer = bad engeneer design). The ability of long time repair are very limited too. So you are paying a lot for something that will not be repaired in 5 years "because we have not the parts anymore".

Top brand !

When you say underfitted, you probably mean undersized. How can undersized transformer make anything catch on fire? Can you expand on this?

Not undersized, it is underslung with two level amp. If you look at the six moons audio review it shows an open box so insides are visible.

Having said that I have just seen he's talking about preamp and not poweramp as I assumed.

I have no idea what is going on in that case.

Open the pod bay doors Hal.

If he's running the 20th Anniversary on a separate transformer I can only assume his original power supply was dodgy.

 

[Vladimir]

Watch out if you go for Tom Evans. Those things catches fire very quickly. I had one burning in my home (due to underfitted transformer = bad engeneer design). The ability of long time repair are very limited too. So you are paying a lot for something that will not be repaired in 5 years "because we have not the parts anymore".

Top brand !

When you say underfitted, you probably mean undersized. How can undersized transformer make anything catch on fire? Can you expand on this?

Not undersized, it is underslung with two level amp. If you look at the six moons audio review it shows an open box so insides are visible.

Having said that I have just seen he's talking about preamp and not poweramp as I assumed.

I have no idea what is going on in that case.

Open the pod bay doors Hal.

If he's running the 20th Anniversary on a separate transformer I can only assume his original power supply was dodgy.

Tantalum capacitors are notorius for exploding violently and catching on fire, which resulted in many equipment, houses and factories burned to a crisp.

Now, count how many inside Tom Evans kit. (the yellow bits)

The transformers would be least of my worries.

If it's too scary buy a Kenwood.

 

[Al ears]

Watch out if you go for Tom Evans. Those things catches fire very quickly. I had one burning in my home (due to underfitted transformer = bad engeneer design). The ability of long time repair are very limited too. So you are paying a lot for something that will not be repaired in 5 years "because we have not the parts anymore".

Top brand !

When you say underfitted, you probably mean undersized. How can undersized transformer make anything catch on fire? Can you expand on this?

Not undersized, it is underslung with two level amp. If you look at the six moons audio review it shows an open box so insides are visible.

Having said that I have just seen he's talking about preamp and not poweramp as I assumed.

I have no idea what is going on in that case.

Open the pod bay doors Hal.

If he's running the 20th Anniversary on a separate transformer I can only assume his original power supply was dodgy.

Tantalum capacitors are notorius for exploding violently and catching on fire, which resulted in many equipment, houses and factories burned to a crisp.

Now, count how many inside Tom Evans kit. (the yellow bits)

The transformers would be least of my worries.

If it's too scary buy a Kenwood.

Good job that's only the Groove +, you should see the 20th Anniversary.