An evening spent 'tweaking' Avidyarthy's ATL Speakers

[rishiguru]

@avidyarthy -> Norge makes great integreteds, no doubt about that. I got my 1000 at 10k and it blew the socks of my friends Denon PMA-1510AE(INR 72K) stereo integrated.

SQ and its comparison in my opinion is a very subjective topic and while some people do confess that higher end gear does not always equate to better sound quality but definitely makes a bigger hole in ones pocket, some people just love big names

By the way I am astounded that you Krell 400xi does 400 watts per channel @ 4 ohms.

Is this power rated with both channels driven, through out the audible frequency range and at what THD levels?

 

[avidyarthy]

Peak power consumption is 1800 W. The power cable gets 'slightly' warm if I push the amp to higher volume levels on bass-heavy tracks for a long period (say, 2-3 hours continuous) ..

 

[rishiguru]

You still didn't answer my question.

 

[mpw]

guruji,

Google baba might be of help.

Music lovers dont bother too much about wattage and THD .. do they ?

mpw

 

[corElement]

guruji,

Google baba might be of help.

Music lovers dont bother too much about wattage and THD .. do they ?

mpw

Agreed, watts means very little to me now. I can write why, but it would be overkill for such a small query by Rshi.

 

[rishiguru]

Music lovers dont bother too much about wattage and THD .. do they ?

As a music lover I do.

To me the most important criteria for choosing an amp is its SQ followed by power output. Personally I like clean/detailed power specs so i asked avid.

 

[avidyarthy]

Agreed, watts means very little to me now. I can write why, but it would be overkill for such a small query by Rshi.

Heard the ATL with the Topping TP20 today.
The Tripath amp does not cease to surprize me ... ever!

Listened to the following:
1. As usual, my favorite Bollywood tracks ... Swadesh & Lagaan
2. David Oistrakh Beethoven violin concerto
3. Bob Dylan
4. Tabla and dholak
5. African Zullu drums

Oh My God ... what clarity, tight bass, super mids ... superb highs! The only, only area where the Krell upstaged is the volume levels possible ... THATS ALL. Operated @ 1'O clock position on the volume knob of the Lilliput .... and the sound was more than sufficient to completely inundate the 275 sq. ft area! The speaker match was spot-on.

This exercise was brought about due to my handing over the Krell amp to my trusted technician for the once-in-a-blue-moon cleaning of its interiors of the dust accumulation. Would get it back by this weekend.

@ Corelement: you got to hear this!

@ Abracher9: open & shut case for you .... buy the TL.

@ Moktan: no sweat ... your Redwine Audio 3.2 would be a runaway success with the TL FS ... dead sure.

@ Virenji: convinced that this TL would be a fab match with your SET 2A3s.

Whatever the Topping lacked in with other speakers on the bass side, gets completely cured when it is matched with the TLs. 'Extra' power on any amp has absolutely no meaning left! ... as long as the signal is clean and pure!

With the Norge 1000 the marks were 8.5 ....... here, can easily give the Topping an easy 9.5 ... 0.5 taken away due to its inability to reach 'screaming' levels! To think what a 4 K Lilliput amp has achieved vis-a-vis a 150 K behemoth, makes me .

Nope, am not selling the Krell .. let it add its oommph value, at least!

 

[avidyarthy]

@ Hari .... superb TOTAL VFM match of your ATL with the Tripath chip amps (in my case, Topping TP20). Can't comment on your new BS TL, but can't get too wrong with the ones with the kevlar cone driver, as my TLs are with kevlar mid-woofer.

This is what is true high technology (for the amp) ... its abso VFM @ 4 K, extremely frugal @ eats less than 10 W of power, does'nt get warm even after playing on 'loud' for hours at a stretch, very very portable @ less than 0.5 kg in weight! ..... AND it easily or very nearly equals the might of a fuel guzzling (1800 W power consumption - at peak) amp ... weighing a cool 17 kg with monster dimensions!

@ hifiashok ... Kalpana Zokarkar comes out as sweetly with the Topping + ATL ..... as your 'heavier' weight combo!!!!!

 

[heliumflight]

Quite an insight Avid. I'm sure all branded gear owners have there heads turning

 

[arj]

I have used the original tripath some years back and loved it initially. Bu when I changed to a high resolution source..a wadia Dac, I could see there was a lot of resolution loss on the treble and upper midrange. The bass was a bit too tight as well.

My takeaway was that the sound is very clean and tight but because of loss of information..something more apparent when I compared it with a Sugden class a. It was as though the harmonics were subdued or missing.

But that was the original tripath amp with a battery supply..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Hari Iyer]

@ Hari .... superb TOTAL VFM match of your ATL with the Tripath chip amps (in my case, Topping TP20). Can't comment on your new BS TL, but can't get too wrong with the ones with the kevlar cone driver, as my TLs are with kevlar mid-woofer.

This is what is true high technology (for the amp) ... its abso VFM @ 4 K, extremely frugal @ eats less than 10 W of power, does'nt get warm even after playing on 'loud' for hours at a stretch, very very portable @ less than 0.5 kg in weight! ..... AND it easily or very nearly equals the might of a fuel guzzling (1800 W power consumption - at peak) amp ... weighing a cool 17 kg with monster dimensions!

@ hifiashok ... Kalpana Zokarkar comes out as sweetly with the Topping + ATL ..... as your 'heavier' weight combo!!!!!

It gives me more happiness than anything else, that my valued customer is happy with the speakers and enjoying every moment with it. It gives me motivation for setting higher standards with our new releases. Thanks once again.

 

[avidyarthy]

The Topping running the Krypton ATLs ...... some pics ....

High view photo by avidyarthy | Photobucket

 

[srinisundar]

AVD, you are making all the high end amps to shame and also you are downgrading your Krell value:lol: and looks like Hari Iyer has to increase the production line and also can supply Topping TP20 as free with his speakers as package to avoid amp searching.

Regards

 

[iaudio]

avidyarthy, Your statement really doesn't come as a surprise to me. Eventhough I have not spent a lot of time with the Topping TP20, I was floored by the way it performed. If you have decently sensitive speakers, the Topping is one helluva good option. I just love the fact that it is so small and affordable and sounds so good.
Only gripe would be lack of power with speakers that are a difficult load and the lack of multiple inputs! But at 4000INR, I cant really complain!

 

[corElement]

I agree with iaudio, I am not surprised! I've always felt your FS was on the warm side and the topping is known to be quite resolving and on the bright side. While the krel'ls just on the brighter side of neutral (Heavily biased class A). Your speakers can definitely take good advantage of brighter electronics! The lyrita IC And now this, are perfect examples of it.
I'll pop in if I go to Delhi in coming week!

 

[Hari Iyer]

The Topping running the Krypton ATLs ...... some pics ....

High view photo by avidyarthy | Photobucket

I couldn't control laughing looking at the size of the Amplifier and the speaker. The amp looks so puny in front of the speakers. Ha Ha Ha, and it can drive the the speakers well. Would like Cor' comments too after his visit.

 

[avidyarthy]

Gotten back the Krell amp which was away .... for dust removal and dry cleaning of the insides. Its come back with a crisper sound ... the speakers are sounding brighter, if I may say so. Brighter, yet non-fatiguing. Thats how I like it!

The rating of the Topping n-o-w would be put at 9/10 than my previous of 9.5/10. There IS some improvement on the Krell, though small, for this correction. The Norge 1000 would be at 8/10 now.

 

[avidyarthy]

'mpw' to drop in today, by late afternoon to give a listen to the TLs. He is hitting Delhi on his way back to Mumbai from some location in North India.

 

[mpw]

mpw dropped in today )

lucky avid has a nice room all to himself in which to enjoy the music..

thanks for having me over !

I no longer am into critical observations in audio now. Doesnt matter which speaker which amp.. as long as the owner enjoys it..

The selection of the amp for me has left me drained and in fact there is a new dawn in my mind.. its just that one needs to enjoy music.. as long as that is happening..its a good thing.

Hifi aint about hifi but the music..

tweaks and upgraditis can all happen.. sometimes one feels like changing eqpt to experiment..its natural but am not bothered about the details in music ( not too much.. unless it sounds horribly wrong ) any more..

i hope i am making some sense

)

mpw

 

[avidyarthy]

The Kryptons came alive today after receiving Dinyar's (Amp_nut) gift from the usual not-so-good analogue signals it was been fed over the past week! Thanks, Dinyar.