AudioNervosa
The Market => Dealer Ads => Topic started by: hometheaterdoc on November 05, 2009, 07:16:46 AM
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Received last night, opened up the boxes, plugged 'em up, set Foobar on repeat playlist and left them. After 12 hours of break in, I"ll sum it up for me so far:
*FREAKIN'* *STUPID* *GOOD* !!!!
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how does the 22a compare to the 21a with auricaps in price and sound?
i own the 21a with auricap, is there a trade up program?
PICTURES!!
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I'd be interested to hear 'em... the 21a with Auricaps is no slouch! :)
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The new 22A is $2495.00 MSRP as of this typing. The new Ref 150A is $2295.00 MSRP.
To my knowledge there is no manufacturer sponsored trade in program. I'm not sure if Dave has thought that far ahead. These pieces were to go in for pro photography to be put on the website very soon. I'll take some shots of the units this weekend. My cameras are not here today. I like the look of it moreso than the 21A. The front faceplate is very similar to the current statement line preamps.
I can't tell you yet how the 22A compares directly to the 21A as any comments would be solely based off memory and would be in the context of Carl's system versus my 2 channel system..... which are very different both in equipment and in room acoustics. When it gets more time on it, I'll swap the stock Sovtek 12AU7 for some NOS tubes and I may explore swapping the 6 caps in it to something else. The cap thing will be much further down the road. I'm sure we'll do a head to head with Carl's 21A at some point as soon as it breaks in...
Right now I've been listening with stock cord and Sovtek 12AU7s.... Soundstaging and imaging is amazing. Bass is perfect on the Harbeth Monitor 40.1s... Not the visceral grip, incredible foundation and bloom of the Monads. But rather it is ultra clean, very good pitch, and tight tight tight. I know it is going to get better with a better cord and some NOS tubes.... it isn't the Oracle/Butler Monad combination by any stretch of the imagination. but what it does, it does extremely well and in some ways better than that combination. I'm really enjoying it so far.... It doesn't tip over to the side of too neutral and lean like I've heard with a couple other Belles pieces. It's got a great balance right now that's infinitely listenable. If I could find more than a few minutes at a time to sit and really listen, I might be better able to put some stuff into words. In time, in time..... besides, it's still breaking in and i was warned about a long break in time with these pieces. So I'll give it a few hundred hours before I draw any definitive conclusions. But right now it's impressing me and surprising me as much as the YBA 2 delta amp did... and that's saying a lot....
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Here you go. You can also see them under my gallery.... click on the camera icon under my name to the left.... They don't fit properly in this post and it makes you scroll. Sorry!
As expected, the sound of the system went up quite a number of notches by swapping in NOS tubes and putting a good power cord on the 22A preamp. I've been digging ditches all weekend so haven't had much of a chance to listen... but what I've done has convinced me that in many ways, the Harbeth Monitor 40.1s have never sounded as good as they do with these pieces attached. Infinitely listenable and truly out of control imaging and soundstaging. If someone is looking to do a world class system and doesn't want to spend the kind of prices for the Oracel DAC1000 and Butler Monads, this is a very good alternative for significantly less money.
(http://www.audionervosa.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=265")
(http://www.audionervosa.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=272")
(http://www.audionervosa.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=271")
(http://www.audionervosa.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=270")
(http://www.audionervosa.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=269")
(http://www.audionervosa.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=268")
(http://www.audionervosa.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=267")
(http://www.audionervosa.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=266")
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Shane:
It is a great looking piece!
Ken
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shane, what tubes did you roll in?
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RCA black plate 5963s... a not very well matched pair at all I got in a bundle of 8 tubes from an ebay auction. I think I paid $48 for the whole lot of 8 5963s... I liked this pair with some others in the VT-01 when it was here. Given that they were cheap, I wanted to give them a whirl in this unit while it is breaking in 24/7... ideally I'd leave the sovteks in there. But this gives me a chance to listen to a better tube during break-in and saves the really expensive tubes for later...
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Now that's a nice looking Pre. and the price won't give you sticker shock either. Im waiting for some more info on the sound
Ed
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A very good looking piece indeed. Put me down for a listen/comparison to my CJ, after it has made the rounds.
Henry
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I'm planning to do a get together to let folks have a listen. I was thinking Saturday, November 21st. Anyone interested? I'm not sure I will have the Usher Mini 2s back by then (or a new pair fully broken in). If I do, we could swap between those and the Harbeth Monitor 40.1s to hear a different perspective.
This would be a basic listening session get together with minimal gear swapping. Just the speakers and maybe an amp if folks want to try something different. Volume level will be kept more under control than last time. We got a little loud for these old ears last time...
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Wow. :shock: That's kind of a night and day thing between Usher monitors and Harbeth 40.1's. Great thing to be able to do when comparing electronics and see how everything matches up.
Bryan
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yup... the floorstanding Mini 2s are a *very* different animal than the Harbeth "bookshelf if you can call it that" 40.1s. That was on purpose so I could get the best of both worlds depending on my mood. They'll be in the same room together and I'll just swap them out depending on what I want to listen to at any one time. I'm looking forward to it....
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updates :drool:
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g2g today Marvin, I'm sure there'll be lots of Belles gossip tomorrow.
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Pre Christmas sale for new units of the 22A and new Ref 150A as a package..... or combine it with any of the other Belles amplifiers... PM, email or call me for package pricing.... you'll be happy you did!! A great Christmas present for anyone....
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Carl and Shane,
In case you guys want even more 12au7s to sample in your preamps, doctrocilantro is selling some tasty treats on AC
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=75067.0;topicseen
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any more updates and opinions on the 22a?
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It's still doing its thing and doing it *very* well. I went to CES to find other new products to compliment this piece and build around it, not to be an alternative... it's going nowhere.
It's extremely receptive to tube rolling, yet doesn't require super matched tube pairs. I've been putting in very poorly measuring sets (my tube tester sort of came back to life... it comes and goes but when it is working, I've been checking my cheap ebay finds). It does a remarkable job of sounding identical regardless of measurement of each half of the triodes and each tube to the other. I've done SPL measurements as well as subjective listening tests and I'll be darned if I can hear a difference... I could always tell with other tube preamps I've had when the tubes were not matched well.
This thing has everything I've ever wanted on a preamp. The remote controls everything. The HT bypass works like a champ, I'm in the process now of integrating subs by using the second set of preamp outputs into an Audyssey stereo sub EQ unit. I can use the audio PC in the room to change the correction curves in the sub EQ depending on the main speakers being used. The bonus is it sounds super and doesn't cost a fortune.
I've been trying to find more modestly priced electronics and that was my goal at CES. I think I've found a few things and will be bringing them into stock over the next few weeks now that I've finally kicked the flu and bronchitis that I picked up in Vegas. Will they be better than the exotic stuff? In some cases, yes... but that has more to do with the fact that some people, regardless of how much money they have to work with, have no idea what good sound is and will manufacture garbage. But for the most part, no it won't be better than the big boys. There is a reason that some things cost more. Sometimes you really do get more if you spend more. But I'm going to try and focus on the more modest priced stuff for a while and try to show some newer folks just how much performance you can get without spending $100K.....
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How is the Belles amp in the set?
Mike
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It's a GREAT amp, imo. Very natural sound, ballsy, inexpensive according to the normal scale. When we were listening to the 2 different Belles preamps over at Shanes a few months ago the amp allowed the most subtle differences to come through. No hard SS edge typical of this price. Nice amp.
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Both the preamp and the amp are my favorite pieces from Dave Belles in his entire lineup. His more expensive reference stuff has better resolution and detail, but there is something organic about these pieces that I really like. I guess it's a touch more warmth while still retaining his neutral, PRAT-ty character with really clean, tight grip bottom end. I really like the amp. It's got more than enough power to drive most any speaker, will let everything through from upfront without imposing much of a character, and it's a very affordable price relative to the competition I've been looking at lately.
Edited to add: much like the 22A preamp, Dave has done some things to bring noise level down in his circuits... Compared to the amp it replaces, there is a noticable drop in noise that allows more subtle nuances to come through a much blacker background.