Rich's Next Amp!

[rollo]

Not the H-Cat?

Norm the H-cat pre is the winner in their lineup not the amp IMO. Rich Parasound Halo for SS or Music Reference or Moscode for your Ushers.

charles

[richidoo]

Thanks rollo, always nice to see you pop in

My friend Henry (bmr3hc) brought over his MR RM9 last Tuesday, with 6550s. It was excellent. Super bass control, lots of power and delicacy. It was very impressive. Snappers have a little more 3D staging, etherial magical presence, but the RM9 is more solid and ballsier. For classical music that I love Snappers are close to ideal. For the funk, blues and jazz Henry likes, that RM9 takes it, at least o the Ushers. I have also heard the Halo JC1s at the local dealer, I loved those too. I love the relaxed, floating down the river of warm water feeling everytime I hear class A SS. I think would like to try that for a while. Parting with my beloved Snappers will be difficult. I'm trying to find a way to keep those - maybe a hiding spot in the attic??

rollo, have you heard the H-Cat amp or complete H-Cat system? I have, but with single driver speakers which did not fully inform me. I'm still interested in that too. Thanks
Rich

[rollo]

Rich not their latest edition. You know that Snapper can hide at my place for a while. Then some how by magic it returns for free. She'll never know.

charles

[richidoo]

I know you would give them lots of love, but I think I would be too jealous.

Thanks rollo. I hope to hear the H-Cat at full song this summer.

[bmr3hc]

Rich
It is always a pleasure to hear the Usher speakers. When we first hooked up the Ushers to my amp 8 ohm tap, the sound was pretty good overall but certainly not as musical as the snappers in vocals and upper range. But what a difference when we hooked it up to the 4 ohm tap. Still not as musical as the snappers with the EL 34 tubes, but man the bottom end was impressive for an amp built in 1986. The 6550 tubes just does not have the "magic" of the EL34 tubes. So its a trade off of the magic for lower end control and power.
I am looking to try the KT88 tubes and hoping this might give me the best of both worlds.
If you need a house sitter for a weekend, to baby sit the Ushers.....
Henry

[richidoo]

Anytime Henry!!

I thought your amp was the overall winner. But maybe it was just a case of greener pastures, we both liked each other's better. To me the RM9 was more dynamic, more controlled, quieter and bass control extended a half octave lower. More power is always a nice thing.  The output transformers are bigger on the RM9 and the tubes make more power too.

I saw some used JC1s on the goner this week, $6k! That was the list price not too long ago! Now it's 9k!!! For Parasound! I think they are getting proud, as they should be.  Last year there was a half dozen pairs on there at once for $3k.

Two days ago I got the crazy idea to try my Altmann BYOB amp on the Ushers. It was packed and ready to ship from an ad on AudioXchange. But nobody wanted my poor little amp    so I ripped it open and powered it up, originally think I would try it as headphone amp. It is still only about 7 watts on the 6 ohm Ushers, but man is it beautiful. Dead silent background, and clearer than any amp I have ever heard. And I can play it in the summertime when thunderstorms come every evening in prime listening time. So I have some ideers on how to scale up the battery powered chips to handle the speakers at full volume. I'm also planning to build the Pass F5 and B1.

[dragan]

Rich, check this out: http://www.theaudioxchange.com/index.php?a=2&b=703

$7k but if you're in the market for it, I'm sure you can beat the guy down. Sunny is his name, a dealer from Cal. I'd guess those are demos but have seen his ads for brand new units offered at huge discounts.

[bmr3hc]

Rich
I believe Mike has a McCormick amp that might fit the bill. I don't think he is selling his, but a listen might be worth the price of admission at least. If I remember, he even suggested bringing that monster amp over for a listen with the ushers..... count me in on that session.

Henry

[TomS]

There is a nice pair of Pass XA60.5's on Audiogon for $6500 and still falling.  I so want those but it just isn't going to happen at the moment    You should buy those, both to put me out of my misery and so I know they went to a good home 

[Mike L]

I have heard this amp and if I was in the market I think this would be my last ss amp.  The smoothness and naturalness of tubes, incredibly quiet, articulate, and has an ease of presentation that I enjoy.  It also has a showpiece look to it especially given that it is huge.  However, I have only heard it via balanced connections in which this particular amp does not have.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1240068904&/Accustic-Arts-Amp-Ii-High-perf

Regards,
Mike

[richidoo]

Yes, I think those XAs would be perfect! Used examples aren't very common, either... I shoulda kept that Quad cash in the richidoo rotating fund.  Tom you are a bad influence (keep it up)  

With any luck I might get a chance to hear Mike's DNA soon. On his Aerial 10Ts  

I rode in from the airport to RMAF with Steve McCormack. What a sweet guy. We talked about his new preamp, and he told me some old stories about trade shows from hifi lore. I really enjoyed that ride, there was nobody else in the van except an old professor returning from 2 years of biology field research in Africa. It seemed like two of the smartest dudes in Denver at that moment on either side of me. God was sending me a message : "You dumbass!"

Thanks for the links Dragan and Mike

[TomS]

I used to own both a DNA-500 and Aerial 10t's, though at different times.  Both very good pieces for sure.  I used a pair of Jeff Rowland 7's and later BEL 1001 mono's with the Aerials and those speakers just chewed them up.  The DNA is a very nice amp and yes, Steve is a great guy.  I have a long story about him helping me out with my amp on a Saturday afternoon from his home in California, even though he'd sold the brand to CJ long before, and I'd bought the amp used.  Didn't seem to matter to him at the time, which says a lot about him.

[mdconnelly]

Rich, if you ever want to borrow the DNA-500, I'm sure we can work out a time.    I replaced a Levinson 331 with it and whoa, what an improvement.... Dynamics, transient response, and a bass to die for.   The 10Ts love power and the DNA-500 fits the bill perfectly.

Haven't heard from Shane since last weekend regarding the Jaco, but hopefully we'll be able to work out a time to do some listening soon.

[richidoo]

Cool! 

[shep]

I am burning to hear what the Wyred amps sound like. I know this is a bit off topic but they have such a nice review, are not expensive and I have had enjoyable chat with the "man", since I also have ICE module amp. Powerfull, cool-running, well thought out. Just a thought...