Victore Posted March 13 Posted March 13 1 hour ago, dbpgh said: Hello, new to the forum and relatively new to hifi (eh mid-fi). But let's go! I recently purchased the R800i 450 version. My speakers are vintage JBL L96 (89 dB) Magnepan 1.7i (86 dB) I received the R800i and she's a true beauty. But, the sound doesn't yet have me doing backflips at all like it does for many others. Stock tubes. I fully acknowledge I'm about 1 hour into burn in. But I have some fundamental questions. The base feels really weak. And with the Magnepan's especially when I turn the volume up past like 30% there is extreme distortion (guessing the 845s can't drive them well?) Given my speakers, well maybe I made a mistake. They're both pretty low efficiency yes? Maybe the 805 would have been a better choice? My source so far is a Cambridge Audio CXN100 streamer and Qobuz. Vinyl via a Fluance RT85 hooking up tonight. Not the greatest equipment, but it's what I'm working with :). I'm strongly considering the Wharfdale Super Lintons which are higher efficiency (91db I believe). Any thoughts on that pairing with the R800i 845s? Can anyone comment on the 845 vs 805 for alt rock, acoustic, modern music listening? I read the 845 should be smoother and better with vocals. But not good at low efficiency speakers. But I read that a bit late . If the Super Lintons should make the 845 sing then that will be my preferred path vs exchanging for the 805. But maybe the 805 is better for me so I can use it across all 3 of those speakers. I'm a bit stumped. Thanks for reading! After the rubber rings of the speakers come into operation, getting the necessary elasticity, we hear an excellent transmission of the smallest details and the sound that cannot be discarded. If we try to hear it from the JBL L100, we don't get anything. Spendor provides a 7-year warranty on speaker rubber rings. After this period, we have to change the speakers/their parts. Therefore, either I use something similar to Spendor/Harbeth/ATC from the store or I spin the wheel of fortune by buying used speakers. In any case, it won't be worse if you give your amplifier to a service engineer to remove the first tube. You can use the Sun Audio 300b design, the clipping will shift from 30% to 70%, but you will never turn the potentiometer above 50-60%, even with your speakers. I would really like to name other speakers, but I have no other positive experience, everything else did not give me a good sound. Maybe I would try Klipsch Heresy 1/2/3 or something like that.
Victore Posted March 13 Posted March 13 33 minutes ago, dbpgh said: Ok thanks. Disappointing to hear that as it does seem like a lot of people are having a good experience with this amp. Will try with vinyl and vintage CD sources to see if I have better luck. The easiest way to get 27W of power without clipping from the Willsenton r800i is to give it no more than 0.25-0.3v input.
Victore Posted March 13 Posted March 13 I want to add an explanation. Why do I post information about acoustics in the section of amplifiers? In fact, in my opinion, this is very important and I will try to explain it. Some time ago, my friend bought a used spendor s8e. when he received them, they sounded really bad with both a tube amp and a transistor amp. He turned the potentiometer over 60% and didn't get a good sound, and the amplifier didn't seem powerful enough. Then he began to soften the rubber rings of the speakers in various ways, mechanically and chemically. After a while, by turning the potentiometer knob by only 15-20%, he was already receiving very high power and sounding was very good. This is how QMS and speaker matching work. If we lose the speaker's QMS, then we lose sound and power. The old speakers cannot be made to work stably, the rubber rings are not stable. Therefore, the Willsenton r800 (and any other amplifier) can give different results. And the latest news: silvanya badboy has defeated all 6sn7 that I hear. Thanks!
Recommended Posts