Miniwatt tube amp

[psychotropic]

no more news on the miniwatt? am i going to be the bakra then? (i guess i am in a better position to be a bakra because i can have someone pick it up from HK, but even then, i'd feel much more reassured if someone on the forum had heard it at least)

 

[stevieboy]

bleat bleat

 

[suprateep]

no more news on the miniwatt? am i going to be the bakra then? (i guess i am in a better position to be a bakra because i can have someone pick it up from HK, but even then, i'd feel much more reassured if someone on the forum had heard it at least)

okay sir - Derek from the MiniWatt team wrote back to me to share some details - will keep you guy posted on this regard. If things go well we will get a quick yet detailed review of the amp.

BTW I decided if things go smoothly - i will get a Norge 1000, Denon 500/700AE to test in parallel to the miniwatt. I cannot source NAD here in Pune or else a NAD 315/235 would have made the review better IMHO.

 

[anm]

lottery lag gayee!!! hope you would be able to send it across to other people also on the forum to review.

regards

okay sir - Derek from the MiniWatt team wrote back to me to share some details - will keep you guy posted on this regard. If things go well we will get a quick yet detailed review of the amp.

BTW I decided if things go smoothly - i will get a Norge 1000, Denon 500/700AE to test in parallel to the miniwatt. I cannot source NAD here in Pune or else a NAD 315/235 would have made the review better IMHO.

 

[suprateep]

lottery lag gayee!!! hope you would be able to send it across to other people also on the forum to review.

regards

picture abhi baaki hain mere dost - sometimes the director may not think the critic is good enough :lol:.

Anyway lets see if things go anyway as planned and the review happens - the amp can travel provided the shipping costs are borne :clapping:. - hehe i am greedy.

BTW I will probably use the following for testing:

A.R.Rahman's - Dil Se -Jiya Jale (people in India can relate to it)
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (Me love it)
George Michael - Ladies & Gentlemen, The Best of (had been a sucker of his music early)
George Benson - Anthology CD#2 (I love Jazz)
John Denver (midrange since missions perform well here)

Let me know if something else might be useful here.

BTW i have sourced a Essence STX from a friend to use for a month (God bless Patni and may his project be 2 months long) - first look - sound staging is so great - kicks serious @#@# of the onkyo DACs.

 

[jai1611]

Would it be ok to come down to your place in Pune for a listen? Would be happy to carry along the musical fidelity v-dac that I have on the way and my Yamaha AX-396 amp (same budget range so worth comparing) and any additional music you might need for the review. Dont have any bookshelf speakers though. Would have loved to see how the amp does with a pair of Tannoy/PSB/Wharfedale/Polk/Kef bookshelves.

 

[alpha1]

Suprateep:
Can I make a suggestion to the above list?

If you wish to check the midrange response of amp/speaker/system, you ought to have the tracks with following three instruments (best if the track contains ONLY one instrument at a time)

1. Vocals. Yeah I label these as musical instruments only
2. Orchestra consisting mainly violin/cello pieces
3. Overdriven/distorted guitars (mainly in rock / metal music)

Pink Floyd guitars won't do any justice to the midrange, and George Benson is mainly clean guitar (which is mostly bass and treble/high midrange).

Would recommend adding some Paganini/Vivaldi for violins, and some hardrock number for checking the guitar midrange punch in the system.

 

[anm]

some more bass tracks to be added here?
Good to hear about the xonar. I am still wondering a pc with xonar or a cdp.

regards

picture abhi baaki hain mere dost - sometimes the director may not think the critic is good enough :lol:.

Anyway lets see if things go anyway as planned and the review happens - the amp can travel provided the shipping costs are borne :clapping:. - hehe i am greedy.

BTW I will probably use the following for testing:

A.R.Rahman's - Dil Se -Jiya Jale (people in India can relate to it)
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (Me love it)
George Michael - Ladies & Gentlemen, The Best of (had been a sucker of his music early)
George Benson - Anthology CD#2 (I love Jazz)
John Denver (midrange since missions perform well here)

Let me know if something else might be useful here.

BTW i have sourced a Essence STX from a friend to use for a month (God bless Patni and may his project be 2 months long) - first look - sound staging is so great - kicks serious @#@# of the onkyo DACs.

 

[suprateep]

Would it be ok to come down to your place in Pune for a listen? Would be happy to carry along the musical fidelity v-dac that I have on the way and my Yamaha AX-396 amp (same budget range so worth comparing) and any additional music you might need for the review. Dont have any bookshelf speakers though. Would have loved to see how the amp does with a pair of Tannoy/PSB/Wharfedale/Polk/Kef bookshelves.

you are more than welcome - keep your eyes on this thread for the developments. I do not prefer using subs when i listen to music - thats why i bought the missions for mid range performance - punchy yet bassy sound (not boomy). I still believe the KEF and PSB bookshelves deliver pretty much better than my missions (personal take - debatable) - yet somehow my preference of not using a sub titled me towards the mission m35.

 

[suprateep]

Suprateep:
Can I make a suggestion to the above list?

If you wish to check the midrange response of amp/speaker/system, you ought to have the tracks with following three instruments (best if the track contains ONLY one instrument at a time)

1. Vocals. Yeah I label these as musical instruments only
2. Orchestra consisting mainly violin/cello pieces
3. Overdriven/distorted guitars (mainly in rock / metal music)

Pink Floyd guitars won't do any justice to the midrange, and George Benson is mainly clean guitar (which is mostly bass and treble/high midrange).

Would recommend adding some Paganini/Vivaldi for violins, and some hardrock number for checking the guitar midrange punch in the system.

Vivaldi + Beethoven + Kenny G
please suggest some rock - as this a genre i never experimented with

PS: I tried keeping the tracks simple - let us identify 5-8 tracks that will try to justice to the amp + speaker combo

1. A.R. Rahman - Dil Se
2. George Benson - Give me the night, Kisses in the moonlight
3. Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb, Brain Damage
4. Linkin Park - In the end, Points of Authority
5. Vivaldi: 4 seasons
6. .........
7. ........
8. ........
9. ........suggest as per your liking (although a lot of songs can be included I would try to reserve the review list of songs limited - so that I can best make out the merits/demerits of the song in question - i can probably judge an amp pretty well on the following few songs, especially keeping in mind the amp + speaker combo in question)

 

[anm]

hey Jai! Where are you getting this dac from and for what price? Does it have a USB?

Would it be ok to come down to your place in Pune for a listen? Would be happy to carry along the musical fidelity v-dac that I have on the way and my Yamaha AX-396 amp (same budget range so worth comparing) and any additional music you might need for the review. Dont have any bookshelf speakers though. Would have loved to see how the amp does with a pair of Tannoy/PSB/Wharfedale/Polk/Kef bookshelves.

 

[psychotropic]

oh excellent news, but i peresonally don't think the amp travelling aroudn in India is a great idea, but as far as possible Suprateep if you can compare it with as many speakers as possible it would be a great idea....my personal interests are in the MS Avant 902i and the Cambridge Audio S30, any way you can get your hands on one of these ?

 

[Jith77]

steely dan and tool (metal) are good in that genre...though i dont know what guitar midrange is:indifferent14:

 

[suprateep]

oh excellent news, but i peresonally don't think the amp travelling aroudn in India is a great idea, but as far as possible Suprateep if you can compare it with as many speakers as possible it would be a great idea....my personal interests are in the MS Avant 902i and the Cambridge Audio S30, any way you can get your hands on one of these ?

I can try the wharf and quads at a known dealers place in Pune - IMHO there aren't any dealers of CA in Pune - last time I went all the way to Alliance 4 in Andheri to audition the MS906 + CA 540 combo. Addi tonally i remember ms902 being a low sensitivity speaker (88-89 dB) - i don't know whether it will pair well with the amp that is rated 2.5W at 8 ohms.

Honestly the tube sound is different from what the NADs and CA and Marantz's throw at us - and i do not expect earth shattering power from the amp - but fidelity and richness is what I am looking forward to.

 

[jai1611]

you are more than welcome - keep your eyes on this thread for the developments. I do not prefer using subs when i listen to music - thats why i bought the missions for mid range performance - punchy yet bassy sound (not boomy). I still believe the KEF and PSB bookshelves deliver pretty much better than my missions (personal take - debatable) - yet somehow my preference of not using a sub titled me towards the mission m35.

Thanks Suprateep

hey Jai! Where are you getting this dac from and for what price? Does it have a USB?

Getting a friend to carry it from London. 150-160 I think. It does have USB input - thats why I'm getting it. Also ordered a $60 ebay DAC (no usb) to hook up with my DVD player (have some great concert DVDs who's sound I dont quite enjoy). Plan to do a comparison between them. Will start a thread when the time comes.

 

[psychotropic]

yup the 902 is an 89 db speaker, and the S30 is a 90db one, it won't blow the house down with the 2.5w miniwatt, but i want to see if it will at least perform adequately that i should go ahead and buy the amp

I can try the wharf and quads at a known dealers place in Pune - IMHO there aren't any dealers of CA in Pune - last time I went all the way to Alliance 4 in Andheri to audition the MS906 + CA 540 combo. Addi tonally i remember ms902 being a low sensitivity speaker (88-89 dB) - i don't know whether it will pair well with the amp that is rated 2.5W at 8 ohms.

Honestly the tube sound is different from what the NADs and CA and Marantz's throw at us - and i do not expect earth shattering power from the amp - but fidelity and richness is what I am looking forward to.

 

[prem]

Hi Guys

The Miniwatt only accepts speaker cables with banana connectors. It does not accept spades or bare wire. If it did i would have had one by now. Unfortunately my speaker cables use spades. I am not very comfortable using a banana to spade connector.

 

[suprateep]

yup the 902 is an 89 db speaker, and the S30 is a 90db one, it won't blow the house down with the 2.5w miniwatt, but i want to see if it will at least perform adequately that i should go ahead and buy the amp

honestly i do no expect hair raising sound from the MiniWatt - only pure, transparent music with no coloring, is what I expect. Judging from similar past reviews the MiniWatt delivers on this front.

PS: Somehow the demo videos on the MiniWatt homepage do not show up on firefox/IE on my system. Any luck with this?

 

[anm]

I think cranky was correct in his initial posts. thiis can produce clear music at low volumes, but there would be very less dynamic range as there is no headroom for 89/90dB speakers. My speakers are speced at 90dB and I played with 10 watt amp from Viren. It did leave something to be desired on bass front.
Also since this has an SMPS power supply, not sure how would it impact the sound.

Gobble may be interested in this as he is evaluating some hi efficiency speakers.

 

[suprateep]

I think cranky was correct in his initial posts. thiis can produce clear music at low volumes, but there would be very less dynamic range as there is no headroom for 89/90dB speakers. My speakers are speced at 90dB and I played with 10 watt amp from Viren. It did leave something to be desired on bass front.
Also since this has an SMPS power supply, not sure how would it impact the sound.

Gobble may be interested in this as he is evaluating some hi efficiency speakers.

you know anm the JBLs are well suited for HT use and less suited for a audio only setup. If you are using Virens amp - try getting matching speakers.

On a diff note - many people prefer def tech - i feel they are great for deep soundstaging but falter with imaging - or the Wharfs (people will soon be baying for my blood) are very musical but clarity is not their forte. The missions are the jack of all trades - but not sweet sounding like the wharfs - so in a budget we all play.

Honestly I still feel a single driver will sound better with this amp - but still i will give it a shot if possible with my mission m35 (92dB - so detailing and power would be just adequate). Plus the Quad and Wharf can fit in if possible too - only glitch the review needs to come out in a weeks time. I will be running in some tight time lines.