NS1000 ignored at my peril?

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http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5512368#post5512368
post 28 to 41 (don't want to repeat myself and waste space)

So as i don't want to risk doing my back in dragging these huge things around for no reason, have i bought other speakers when i should have bought a better front end/amp?

And just what would I need to get the best out of a pair of working perfectly NS1000 speakers at present being used with Arcam Alpha 7 CD and Alpha 8 amp in a small spare room.
 
thread opened here for Idoexist.

To follow on from the comments in the other thread here....


http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5512553&posted=1#post5512553

If you wanted to put these lovely speakers back into use,my advice would be to look for an amp that makes the best use of their clarity and presentation,but avoids any degree of harshness,which they will play back ruthlessly.

You may want to try a few valve amps,perhaps some of the Icon Audio and Prima Lunas,as well as smoother sounding transistor amps,and also be willing to find a source that isn't too harsh/forwards either.

There's some useful info here...

http://www.thevintageknob.org/YAMAHA/NS1000/NS1000.html#
 
You know what I think about them. Thing is if we are to believe the matching of pricing as a guide to what works and what doesn't together then £999 in the 70's is 3 or 4 grand now. If we accept there have been improvements in amp technology (debateable) then you are still looking a £1000 amplifier in my view to do them justice. I would suggest a very good valve amp.
 
thread opened here for Idoexist.

To follow on from the comments in the other thread here....


http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5512553&posted=1#post5512553

If you wanted to put these lovely speakers back into use,my advice would be to look for an amp that makes the best use of their clarity and presentation,but avoids any degree of harshness,which they will play back ruthlessly.

You may want to try a few valve amps,perhaps some of the Icon Audio and Prima Lunas,as well as smoother sounding transistor amps,and also be willing to find a source that isn't too harsh/forwards either.

There's some useful info here...

http://www.thevintageknob.org/YAMAHA/NS1000/NS1000.html#

Mine are the ones on the left, but a much darker colour, allmost cherry black yet it's ebony.
 
If I show you mine....:)
IMG_0366r.jpg
 
If you're prepared to hold onto them,and slowly build a stereo system around them,you should end up with something truly excellent,but very revealing of shortcomings in other areas of the system.

I've seen that in many cases they have been used with good valve amps,hence my suggestions to try a few out,but if I was looking to solid state amps,I would choose some of the softer/smoother sounding amps if possible,and maybe look at some Class A amps...perhaps if you dont mind used/ex-dem,the Pass Labs Aleph series may be worth a look.
 
If I show you mine....:)


I'll take some pictures tomorrow when the lights good and hope to show the true colour of mine. I'm afraid the room they are in is a bit cluttered up, Who would have thought that a pair of speakers I had written off, and that all others laugh at round here because of their size, could now get me quite excited. It's like discovering I've had an antique and never knew it.

I know you are all going to laugh at this but i'm going to ask anyway. As I doubt i will be able to afford a 'proper' one for yonks is it worth considering this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KT88-High-End...58192288QQihZ011QQcategoryZ3280QQcmdZViewItem

I can hear the screams allready, not to mention the 'get around taxes' price.
 
-- As an eBay Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases --
I'm not sure that this link will work, anf it it does the amp at the end of it is probably well over budget, but what the hell. The amp is not stupidly powerful in terms of watts, but by all accounts it delivers copius amounts of current, which is what I understand those yams need to sing.
 
I'm not sure that this link will work, anf it it does the amp at the end of it is probably well over budget, but what the hell. The amp is not stupidly powerful in terms of watts, but by all accounts it delivers copius amounts of current, which is what I understand those yams need to sing.
At 2.5K it looks much better than the other ones and no doubt would blow them away as well, and looking at the others Alexs2 pointed out I can see big money getting spent when it shouldn't.

and

Would my NAD 521BBE for CD and my OPPO 981HD for my SACD/DVD-A match for the time being or would i be wasting my time, and do valve amps need to be given carefull attention, i.e. do you leave them on, do they draw a lot of power and get very hot, should they be turned on-left on-turned off rather than on-off a few times a day?

Sorry for all the questions but i'm buzzing after what i have been told today.
 
Valve amps do get warm and draw current when not being used, I had a set of Quad II's, and switched them on about 5-30 each day, then went to listen for the evening around 6 or 6-30. In a summer you open a window, (downside) in the winter you can turn the radistor down (upside). I will probably go back to valves at somepoint. I would not reccomend frequent on off cycles. As for your sources, my suggestion would be find THE amp that can feed those speakers properly, worry about the source later. I don't know where you live, but you are either going to have to cart those speakers round a few dealers, or sort out home demo's on a few amps. Audio Lincs get some nice used stuff in as well, they have a AR valve integrated at the mo that could do what you want, and would be worth comparing.
 
...do valve amps need to be given carefull attention, i.e. do you leave them on, do they draw a lot of power and get very hot, should they be turned on-left on-turned off rather than on-off a few times a day?

Sorry for all the questions but i'm buzzing after what i have been told today.

Apart from cwilson's advice above about not subjecting them to lots of on/off cycles unneccessarily,they really don't need to much special care.

I've owned several,and still have a few around the house including an Earmax headphone amp,a pair of 300B amps,Quad IIs,and a Cary 300B.

All have been very reliable,and required nothing more than revalving at appropriate times(usually a few thousand hours for hard-run output tubes,and up to 10000+ hours for small signal tubes).

Heat is usually not a great problem unless you are either close to them,or running high powered amps...even the 100W monoblocs I owned a few yrs back didnt produce excessive amounts of heat.

Whilst on the subject,it's worth pointing out that for many reasons,very few if any valve amps are anywhere near to transistor amps for current delivery,and this is not really something to guage them on,and factors such as output impedance and transformer design play very important parts in the design.
 
Just for Cable Monkey.

1. They need a good clean.
2. The colour is correct but in here they don't look that brown.
3. Ignore room colour............Please.
4. I'm useless with a camera.
 
They look fantastic! I know how the camera can change the look of speakers but yours really do look well cared for.

Some suggestions for possible amps, suggested elsewhere:
Puresound A30
World Designs KT88
Primaluna
VTL Integrated
Audio Research pre with GRAAF power or Krell KSA100.

The Krell is solid state but 100 amps pure class A. I know nothing about them so most of these are suggested with an 'at your own risk' label, and a quick google suggested 1 or 2 may be kits but it is a little more research for you.
 
Thanks everyone for all your help. All I need now is time, money, and after I've carried 39KG each of speaker about, a good physio.
 
They look fantastic! I know how the camera can change the look of speakers but yours really do look well cared for.

Some suggestions for possible amps, suggested elsewhere:
Puresound A30
World Designs KT88
Primaluna
VTL Integrated
Audio Research pre with GRAAF power or Krell KSA100.

The Krell is solid state but 100 amps pure class A. I know nothing about them so most of these are suggested with an 'at your own risk' label, and a quick google suggested 1 or 2 may be kits but it is a little more research for you.

I've either owned listened to or used a few of these amps...

The World Designs amp is the old World Audio Designs KT88,and is a good,clear sounding example of this type of push-pull amp,delivering decent levels of power,but it is a kit,and requires a moderate degree of skill with a soldering iron,but has the bonus of being upgradeable with some very good components.

The Krell KSA-100 is now quite an old amp(even the S-series),but is massively stable,and powerful,and has superb bass power and control.
The sound quality is pretty neutral,but like the NS1000,is not very forgiving of poor sources,so you would need to be aware of this.
Prices now are in the region of £1k.
 
Maybe an amp from Sugden Audio would be suitable? Class A, great quality (if not quite my sort of thing), and reasonably priced without the extra work valves require.
 

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