July 30, 2000
Subject: Amplifier/speaker matching
Dear Wes,
I'm a beginner. I've been thinking
about picking up an AMC 3025 preamp. It's small, but it has great phono inputs, and I'm a
record head; I figure I could make it a preamp later if I need to. But for now, I don't
need much power. It has 30Wpc. Now, the speakers I’m thinking about are the Monitor
Audio Silver 3s. They are rated 30-150 watts. Is there a potential problem here? I hear
different things from different salespeople, and I am curious if you could tell me a
little about power/load matching.
Thanks,
Chris Kubick
Dear Chris:
Power and load matching make for a
bigger topic than I can really tackle here -- look for a feature on them in the near
future. However, the biggest problem confronting most amplifiers is whether or not the
speaker load stays consistent. If so, the speaker presents a relatively benign load, as is
the case for the Monitors. I would suspect that the AMC would be just fine -- and, as you
point out, it gives you a future upgrade path, making it even more attractive. I say go
for it.
ATB...Wes
July 28, 2000
Subject: Whole house surge protection
Congratulations
on your new website, and I am glad to once again be reading your insight into the industry
and the latest products.
I
was hoping you could send me in the right direction to resolve a surge protection question
I have been struggling with. I have spent the last four years reading Stereophile
as my formal education, which prompted me to run dedicated lines to various rooms
throughout the house with the anticipation that my first system will propagate offspring,
wallet permitting. I thought, which was probably my first mistake, that a surge protector
that protected the entire house made more sense than individual devices at each dedicated
line wall outlet.
However,
I have been struggling to answer a number of key questions before I invite the electrician
back to hook up the dedicated lines. First, are there audiophile-grade surge protectors
that won't pollute the AC with noise for what my electrician referred to as
"whole-house surge protection?" While my electrician has access to whole-house
surge protectors from Siemens, I have no idea if better alternatives exist. I have
contacted my local hi-fi retailer, Audio Advisor, Siemens and others in search of an
answer with little success. If you can possibly send me in the right direction I would be
sincerely grateful.
As
a side note, you and I met briefly in an elevator during the HI-FI '99 show, for which I
owe you my gratitude. You suggested that I start with a simple system that I found to be
musically satisfying. You went on to recommend that an integrated amp might be a good
first step. I took your advice with an Audio Analogue integrated followed by a used Rega
CD player and hopefully to arrive this week, speakers from Edge Audio (Ray Kimber's new
line of speakers using the DiAural crossover at only $385 a pair). With cables and
interconnects, the total bill will be just a tad over $2000. My fingers are crossed that
everything will come together.
In
closing, I wish to thank you for your willingness to share your experience and knowledge
with the public, for the time you spent at Stereophile and finally for your new
website, which I intend on visiting weekly. By the way, I visited several of your
advertisers including JPS Labs and Vibrapod. As a result I will be purchasing the Vibrapod
isolators and am considering the JPS Power AC cord.
Best
wishes!
Chris Tompkins
Dear Chris:
Thanks for the kind words and good
wishes. It sounds like you’ve put together a good system that should deliver a lot of
musical enjoyment. I’m curious about the DiAural crossover -- the fact that it’s
simple and yet, according to some listeners I respect very much, capable of producing
phenomenally focused sound, seems awfully encouraging.
I couldn’t find any info on the
Seimens whole-house surge protector, but I found a ton of info on Hubbell’s line of
them (www.hubbell-wiring.com). They range from industrial-size
entry boxes to smaller jobbies that attach at the electric meter. All employ MOVs, just
like the expensive audiophile brands.
This will give you surge protection (a good
thing), but won’t clean up RFI and other line-borne nasties. You still might want a
balanced AC synthesizer a la API or Cinepro or an AC regenerator such as PS Audio’s
Power Plants for your audio components.
Happy listening,
ATB...Wes
July 27, 2000
Subject: Cables and CD
I
thought my search for audio nirvana was over. I should have known better! In a room 24' x
18', I have a Rega Hal preamplifier, two Rega Exs monoblock power amplifiers connected
through Rega's own cable. Then I have a pair of Shahinian Arcs connected through (I think)
AudioQuest Midnight. The CD player is a Sony CDP-20 ES and the turntable a Rega Planar 3.
I listen mostly to chamber music, be it classical, jazz or folk and everything was going
smoothly. Then someone lent me QED Genesis Silver Spiral loudspeaker cable, and everything
just got better.
So
question #1: Is QED Genesis Silver Spiral loudspeaker cable the best cable at or around
the price (30 pounds per meter)? Have you heard it? Any alternatives?
I
knew from the very beginning that my CD player was the weak link in my setup. Then I heard
Meridian 506.20 (no longer available) and I realized how much I was missing. On to
question #2: What CD player do you recommend? Or you don't recommend any CD player and
advise to get something like the MSB Link DAC? Or should I wait a little longer until a
DVD-Audio or SACD player to arrive.
Feel
free to comment on anything else about my setup. Portugal waits for your answer.
Thanks
in advance,
Nuno
Calado
Lisbon, Portugal
Dear Nuno:
I haven’t heard QED’s Genesis
Silver Spiral loudspeaker cable, but your comments make me want to. The sound you liked so
much might be because of the QED’s construction or you might be reacting to the fact
that it is made from silver -- it is interesting that listeners from all over the world
seem to agree on what silver “sounds” like. If it’s the silver you like,
there are a number of cables you might try, including several from AudioQuest.
As to replacing your CD player,
I’d start with something like the MSB -- it’s cheaper and more versatile than
replacing your current player with another one. And then I’d wait and see who wins
the format wars. I’m betting on DVD-Audio personally, but a lot of people have found
that betting against Sony and Philips is a mug’s game, so don’t count out SACD
yet.
ATB...Wes
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