Advice needed please: Futureproof hifi for listening at low levels

[AL13N]

Thank you Andrew, much appreciated.

Apologies to the OP for having derailed the thread. Good luck with your search.

 

[CnoEvil]

NK1982

If you haven't been frightened off, please touch base from time to time, to report progress.

Cno

 

[Anonymous]

If you like the Sugden (which is class A), and supurb at presenting the types of music that you have mentioned, then you are unlikely to settle for anything that isn't class A. There is no active speaker, that I'm aware of, that uses this type of amp - it often uses class D, as it produces a lot of power from a small size.

FWIW, ATC are class A up to two thirds of their max power. Other than in a concert hall, I can't imagine anyone getting to that point. So they're effectively class A

havent met an amp yet i haven't overheated, and i have a small room...but i am a special case. Even overheated active speakers...

 

[plastic penguin]

Hi all

This is my first post on these forums so please forgive me if I break any rules/etiquette

I have been saving for a while with the idea of buying a hi-fi to use to listen a variety of different styles of music from Classical and Jazz through to Indy/Acoustic. We currently live in a mid-floor flat in a victorian conversion which means that we rarely listen to music at high volumes, and so we're really looking for something that can sing at lowish volumes. Ideally it could also be listed to at greater volumes if we move to somewhere more accomodating but we're never going to need huge power.

We currently have most of our music stored on CD and lossless on hard drive so are fairly flexible around the choice of source, but ideally we would like any set up to have a good DAC and digital inputs so that it will be reasonably futureproof.

We did listen to a couple of set ups a few years ago including Naim 5 cd player and amps, a Naim SuperNait, and a Linn based streaming streaming set up (can't remember the exact one) but none of them really blew us away and none really seemed to deliver great sound at low volumes. In terms of budget I think it all depends on how impressed we are with it but I think around £5-7k is the most my wife will ever let me spend so that's a top end.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cheers

Nick.

The best advice I'm prepared to offer, with your budget, is go and audition few different brands.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

If you like the Sugden (which is class A), and supurb at presenting the types of music that you have mentioned, then you are unlikely to settle for anything that isn't class A. There is no active speaker, that I'm aware of, that uses this type of amp - it often uses class D, as it produces a lot of power from a small size.

FWIW, ATC are class A up to two thirds of their max power. Other than in a concert hall, I can't imagine anyone getting to that point. So they're effectively class A

I'd like to see that happen...

let's take a look at the smallest of ATC's active speaker: SCM20SL AT. it outputs 200W for the woofer. amp is class AB so indeed you can set up bias between class A and class AB at given ratio. the ratio is supposedly 2/3. that yields about 130W in class A... now, have you seen Musical Fidelity AMS 100? it's mere 100Wpc but as far as its size is concerned it could easily compete with a coffee table. even 30Wpc class A amps are quite sizeable.

and that is only one amp. theres another one in the enclosure; 50W connected to tweeter. and what about 3-way active speakers?...

wake up! if the ratio is 1/10 that would be a good result.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

havent met an amp yet i haven't overheated, and i have a small room...but i am a special case. Even overheated active speakers...

those Valdus speakers must be true monsters. if I were you I'd checked their impedance and phase angle plots (hopefully the manufacturer can supply this. they should...). I suspect a stable amp into 2 Ohm loads is a must. and an Arcam is not a good pick for the job, I'm affraid. you like it loud? so you should look for something in those lines: 200Wpc into 8 Ohms -> 400Wpc into 4 Ohms -> 800Wpc into 2 Ohms (but this trick can only well engineered amps pull. you should wish for at least 600Wpc into 2 Ohms). the rule is; an amp should yield twice as much power when impedance halves. for class A amp this is natural. class AB generally stuggle but there are good examples too.

and with such an amp you should be careful with the volume knob or it might be the speakers which will finally surrender.