A late morning/ noon with Viren

[anm]

I recently purchased a used lyrita pre-amp. So I decided to take it to Viren for a look. It seems in perfect condition - thanks Bobby.

However, if I look at buying a Lyrita's amp, Viren's opinion is that pre is redundant as the integrated amps from him are no compromise integrated solutions. Having another component just add another device in the chain and another connection and increases complexity. It is useful if I pair it with a solid state power amp, or get it modded for phono etc (this one did not have phono prebuilt, but other preamps from Lyrita can have a phono too).

Then we did an experiment. We carried two of the EL84 amps ( one was SET 3Wpc and other was push pull 10wpc) and tried it with my JBL N38 floor standers, they have 90dB published sensitivity. Yes, you heard it right. Viren was at my place this morning!

I found the amps good with my speakers. Clarity was good, stereo separation was good and I find the amps quite good for the music listening volume. But I did sense lack of bass compared to my onkyo avr. Viren too suggested that power may be low for these speakers, and there wasn't much headroom left. We will try the higher power russian valve amps later some time, may be next weekend, or two weeks from now.

Analog out of my philps DVD player was probably quite low - we tried measuring the output with a multimeter lying around, but it did not have range low enough to measure 1V AC.

Please be warned, I do not hate music on any of the systems, I like them on all. I have also got 3 Jazz CDs from Viren's collection. Should be a good introduction to Jazz.

 

[mahiruha]

Hello Anm,
congratulations on youe new purchase. :clapping: could you please post a picture of this new prem amp. I guess since you have invested so much in a pre amp you need a good source. Your Philips DVD player as a cd player will not do justice. another thing I am curious is did you try connecting this pre amp to the pre out of your receiver and using your receiver as a power amp. did you notice any significant difference? I am eager to know your observations. I am planning to dive into the wolrd of tubes but trying get some idea what to expect. could you also provide specification for your receiver I mean watt/ch?
Thanks,
Mahiruha.

 

[anm]

my amp is included in the signature - onkyo 595 - I think it is 75wpc @ 8 ohms.
I will get the onkyo engineer in next weekend and will post my results.

 

[mahiruha]

Hello,
I checked the your a/v receiver model it seems it doesn't have pre outs so there can be a different workaround to this I guess. With 75 wpc @ 8ohms if you feel you are getting more bass as compared to tubes then I can imagine how much bass I will miss when I am used to 175 wpc @ 6 ohms. I guess using more powerful tube amps will be the solution.Not sure how to get a mapping between the power rating.
Thanks,
Mahiruha.

 

[stevieboy]

welcome to the world of valves anm! once you get settled do explore nos valves. they improve the sound quite dramatically! if you're serious about valves though you might want to reconsider your speakers when money allows with valves you really need to match the entire system for optimal sound.

regards

 

[anm]

hey, pls include your gear in your signature so that it is easy to see what combo you have.
I subscribe to the view that if you need X watts at your weird listing levels, double that for headroom. Beyond that, every extra watt is not being used.
In case you have high efficiency speakers, you would not miss much for music. But that's my thinking.

Mine doesn't have a pre out, but I am hoping to get it modified by an onkyo guy to give out line out.

regards

PS (EDIT): In addition to whatever I said above, I am also trying to get hold of a high wattage power amp to pair with lyrita pre, to power my existing systems. This will give me a good insight into what I like more. Finesse of tube, or slam of high power. As I say, journey is more exciting that the destination. But I think I will finally settle for the tubes system for music.

Hello,
I checked the your a/v receiver model it seems it doesn't have pre outs so there can be a different workaround to this I guess. With 75 wpc @ 8ohms if you feel you are getting more bass as compared to tubes then I can imagine how much bass I will miss when I am used to 175 wpc @ 6 ohms. I guess using more powerful tube amps will be the solution.Not sure how to get a mapping between the power rating.
Thanks,
Mahiruha.

 

[mahiruha]

Hello,
sorry to ask a very basic question. I am wondering how to add signature? any help??
Thanks.

 

[studiomaster]

[top right] click quicklinks-Edit Signature


Thanks,
studiomater

 

[gobble]

PS (EDIT): In addition to whatever I said above, I am also trying to get hold of a high wattage power amp to pair with lyrita pre, to power my existing systems. This will give me a good insight into what I like more. Finesse of tube, or slam of high power.

Way to go!! I plan to get a tube pre too .. perhaps next year.

cheers

 

[hemantwaghe]

ANM
Wattage you said are right? 3 W & 10 W ( are these RMS Per Channel?)
And 3 W amp die yoir JBL ?

 

[anm]

yes, 3 and 10 watts per channel and it did drive my JBLs. For music listening level it was ok. Though not ok for deep base and party loudness. With my not so good and larger speakers (woofer is 8 inches) if it was so good, it should be very good with full rangers (they are, as I have listened to at Viren's house)

I heard there are some cheaper full range speakers available from audire. Does anyone has any info on the same?

Hemant - I could not understand "die yoir" - is it some audio vocab or typo?

ANM
Wattage you said are right? 3 W & 10 W ( are these RMS Per Channel?)
And 3 W amp die yoir JBL ?

 

[hemantwaghe]

Sorry it is not french but my carelessness!!!hyeah:hyeah:

It is drive your jbl's??

 

[GeorgeO]

I have also gone to Viren's place last year and auditioned his gear, a couple of times. As a jazz fan, I picked up about 12 CDs also from him. I think people like him provide a good opportunity for people who are looking out for good 2 channel gear otherwise available only if imported + he is a very pleasant guy.