Integrated Amp Advice

Hi Thank you for your post. Yes to VU meters ! interesting what you say about Yamaha having warmth which is what i am after good open sound stage but also warmth and not harshness. So Yamaha with Tannoy XT6 / 8 would match ok ? I have heard albeit via youtube Roksan K3 and Tannoys Xt8 and it sounded open detailed and nice bass so warmth does come through.
Hi,

In terms of the Yamaha amp & Tannoy 6/8 match, I don’t honestly know as I’ve not heard the Tannoys speakers, I can see obvious reason why they would sound bright when paired up, that’s not my experience of listening to Yamaha Amps. Ultimately though, what I hear and what you hear will be different.

I would ring some dealers, tell them what YOU are looking for and how YOU want to carry out a demo, maybe take the speakers along and plug them into a couple Yamaha and other amps you like the look of and have a listen.

No specification sheet or review can replace your own ears at the end of the day. and, if the shop is not willing to assist, IMO, you have the wrong shop and I wouldn‘t give them my money.
 
Yamaha amps are not considered bright. I had an AS501 and it had a lovely, airy neutral tone. I haven’t heard the Tannoys but can’t see any reason why they wouldn’t work well. They have lots of power, too.
The Roksan K3 series have a lovely warm, open and civilised sound. You can achieve this with their K3 DAC which you can find for sale for £399 instead of £1299.
 
Hi If i were to go for used stop gap looking around i see some Yamaha CA 410 for around £130 Vintage amp so could you use the aux tape or tuner inputs for CD?
 
The Yamaha is a beautiful looking retro amp
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I could look at it all day and, theoretically, it should connect through the aux output but it is a pre-digital amplifier.
Sadly, I don't think it will do the rest of your system justice. i think you need to be looking at something a little more recent.
 
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Noggindoo, a question if I may...

Why have you settled on the Tannoy XT6 or XT8 speakers? Have you heard them and enjoyed their sound? Or have you read positive reviews? Or has someone recommended them to you?
 
Hummm I have done extensive listening to them being demoed on Youtube :rolleyes: and in comparison they often sound a lot more detail with open soundstage and also good over low mid frequency. Yes I know not best place to get a good likening, but that's all i have at moment. Also a lot of reviewers say they are built very well and one chap said they are like speakers in 5K plus bracket.
 
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Hummm I have done extensive listening to them being demoed on Youtube :rolleyes: and in comparison they often sound a lot more detail with open soundstage and also good over low mid frequency. Yes I know not best place to get a good likening, but that's all i have at moment. Also a lot of reviewers say they are built very well and one chap said they are like speakers in 5K plus bracket.
Please don't make your decision based on how they sound on YouTube, you're certainly not listening to the those amps or speakers but to yours.
 
I have done extensive listening to them being demoed on Youtube

Be very wary with this 'virtual' approach. Under certain, strictly-controlled circumstances, it may have some merit in helping to narrow down options but the final purchasing decision should only be taken after a face-to-face demonstration, ideally in your own home or at the sellers premises.
 
Thanks, Yes I realise I am only hearing through my headphones and differences i do hear are subjective. I see Quad have Vena 2 and now also Vena 2 play. SAme DAC chip as Audiolab same MM stage as well, but Audio lab has more capacitors, what does this mean ?? Has anyone tried the Quad Vena 2 amps and compared to the audiolab 6000 or even Roksan K3 ?
 
Probably the most common recommendation on this forum is to go and listen and make your own mind up. We all have our own preferences on sound - what we like, what we don't like. One man's bright is another man's "open". I am by no means a technical expert in these matters but I do know what I like and I reflect on what I hear. Generally, my experience of Tannoy speakers (and it is a brand I absolutely love ever since hearing a pair of Studio Monitors in a recording studio that blew me away) is that they are pretty neutral and will pair well with many amps. I have also come to love the Quad / Audiolab sound of late. I was very impressed with the sound of the Artera a couple of years ago and last year the 6000 shot to the top of my list of contenders for when I finally get round to changing my amp. I also really like the Cyrus amps but, to me, you need to be careful with the speakers you pair them with as they can sound quite bright. In the worst case, they are unlistenable to. Having heard a couple of Roksan amps over the past few years it's not a choice I would be making. Likewise, despite wanting to like them, I'm not a big fan of Naim.

Having said all of that, I appreciate that it is not always easy to go out to the shops and demo equipment as it can be hard to find a dealer that has the right combo of models that you want to try. :)
 
I KNOW ,.....all the you have got to go listen advice is correct. Stores near me, one has the amps one has the speakers i would like to hear but less amps. Humm so what to do buy the amp first or speakers, either way id be listening to a combo that was not quite what i was going to get. Unless someone can suggest speakers that would be close to Tannoy Xt8F's to listen to amps through, or perhaps monitors rather than hifi speakers ?
 
What amps does the shop with the XT8Fs have and what speakers / amps does the other shop have?
 
Hi sorry for delay in response.
Shop1 (R Sounds): Amps = AudioLab6000a and 8300 , Roksan K3 and Quad Vena.
Speakers = Monitor Audio Bronze 6 / Silver 200 Kef Q550/750
Shop2 (SAudio): AudioLab's & Quad
Speakers = Tannoy XT8F, Warfedale Evo 4.3, Kef Q950
But i prob would not want to buy from them one as prices are full rrp and products can be found a lot cheaper elsewhere.
 
Hummm I have done extensive listening to them being demoed on Youtube :rolleyes: ...

You should be aware that YouTube favors Mid/High and is soft on bass. So speakers will sound a bit crisper and brighter on YouTube.

YouTube might not be enough to tell you exactly what a speaker sounds like, bit it can help give you some sense of the speaker. Though most YouTube Audio Equipment videos are pretty poorly recorded, usually recorded way too loud. But you can find some, if you look around, that are better recorded. And, you have no way of knowing where the Tone Controls are set unless the video maker tells you.

The main thing is that the YouTube sound tends to favor Mid/High, probably to accentuate voice as most YouTube videos are of someone talking, and they tend to soften bass. Based on a quick experiment I did, YouTube bass tends to soften around 80hz.

Steve/bluewizard
 
Ok. Personally, if this were me, I would be interested in trying the Audiolab and Quad in shop2 with the XT8F and perhaps the Warfedales. I probably wouldn't bother with the Kef Q series. In shop 1 I would try the Audiolab 6000 and the Quad with the MA Silver. My reasoning is that I personally really like both the Quad and the Audiolab amps I have heard recently. Not a big fan of the Roksan. The choice of Warfedale speakers is because they are part of the same stable as Audiolab / Quad and the combination is likely to sound very nice. The MA silvers of a few years ago had a tendency to sound a bit bright so I would avoid pairing them with anything bright such as Cyrus, but with the Audiolab / Quad amps they might sound quite nice. Won't have the same depth as the Tannoys though due to the Silvers use of 5.25 inch drivers vs the 8 inch drivers of the Tannnoys. My gut feel at ths point is it will be a trade off between the Audiolab 6000 and the Quad with the Tannoys. Your ears, though, may tell you a different story :)
 
Hi Cribbster, Thanks for the reply.
Interested that you say you are not a fan of Roksan. Is this (in your opinion ) build quality or their house sound ? to bright / forward or bass lacking ?
just interested- thanks
 
No worries - you're welcome. :)

With Roksan (like everything really) it's a their sound that I don't like. Sure, I may have only heard a couple of their amps but in neither case did I like them. First was a Kandy with Kef R500. Dull, uninterested sound. Quite bland. Then I think I heard one of their amps with Dali Oberon speakers. Really didn't like that combination either. Funnily enough, in that case, I don't know that they suited the ribbon tweeters very well as the sound was just a bit too harsh. Surprised Dali persisted with that combo for the show as it didn't do either the speakers or the amp any favours. And then I heard a combo of Roksan with Monitor Audio (Silver I think) at the Bristol show. Again, just did nothing for me. So, I suspect that for me it's a case of just not getting on with the Roksan sound. The Audiolab / Quad stable on the other hand I found completely different. Earlier in the year I think I heard the Audiolab 6000 amp with the 6000CDT and a small pair of Warfedales and the sound quality, the detail and the way it engaged me as a listener in the music blew any of the Roksan combinations out of the water. And yet the Audiolab setup is considerably cheaper. As I said, that's my perspective and what I like which may be different to you. Based on what IU have heard, I think the Audiolab or Quad will probably sound really very nice with the Tannoys. However, I haven't actually heard them so can't be 100% sure. The other option to consider would be Fyne Audio speakers - although I would expect them to sound very similar to the Tannoys - given that FYne Audio could be described as having been born from Tannoy :)
 
Hi Cribbster, Thanks for the reply.
Interested that you say you are not a fan of Roksan. Is this (in your opinion ) build quality or their house sound ? to bright / forward or bass lacking ?
just interested- thanks
I tested a Roksan K3 a few months back, I found the sound was good, powerful and really engaging through Monitor Audio Gold 100 5th gen, but, the build quality of the product just wasn’t there for me. In my opinion, the volume knob has too much play and I tested that at a number of dealers, so it wasn’t a one off, and as for the case, speaker posts, etc, they simply didn’t inspire confidence in the build quality. hence I bought an alternative product.
 
Interesting. I was only going on the sound and never got as far as checking out what the finish was like. Most probably because I didn't like what I heard so had no motivation to take a closer look. :)
 
Interesting. I was only going on the sound and never got as far as checking out what the finish was like. Most probably because I didn't like what I heard so had no motivation to take a closer look. :)
Totally get that. I was the same with the naim stuff when I was out testing, I tried the Uniti Star and Nova at two different dealers, didn't like the sound of either personally, but the biggest issue was they both broke down mid way through each demo! 😂 I personally think the finish is almost as important as the sound, I simply want something that has the feel of quality that is relative to the price I paid for it.
 
Agree with you on Naim as well. Wanted to like them but just couldn't get on with the sound. First experiences were that their sound was just a bit too clinical. And then not impressed at all with either the Muso or the Muso Qb. And also agree with you on the fit and finish. Sure, it doesn't impact the sound quality, but it gives out a psychological / subliminal message which changes what you think the internal quality might be like.
 

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