A wishlist of gear to be reviewed by Amir

[Billy Budapest]

ECP Audio T4 headphone amplifier looks very interesting. It’s a tube/transistor hybrid design.

http://www.beezar.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=193

Its measurements could be very interesting considering the circuit topology and the claims made in the ad copy:

“For those of you familiar with ECP Audio designs, the T4 is a tube-fed DSHA amplifier!

Why a fully differential circuit but single-ended on the output?

Answer: Because circuit/device distortion is fully cancelled out by the solid-state output portion of the circuit. At the same time, combining the solid-state output with the tubes results in more power than would be available simply from the tubes. The output transformers assist with this, ensuring that ample current and voltage are available, regardless of the impedance of the load.”

 

[Veri]

ECP Audio T4 headphone amplifier looks very interesting. It’s a tube/transistor hybrid design.

http://www.beezar.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=193

Its measurements could be very interesting considering the circuit topology and the claims made in the ad copy:

“For those of you familiar with ECP Audio designs, the T4 is a tube-fed DSHA amplifier!

Why a fully differential circuit but single-ended on the output?

Answer: Because circuit/device distortion is fully cancelled out by the solid-state output portion of the circuit. At the same time, combining the solid-state output with the tubes results in more power than would be available simply from the tubes. The output transformers assist with this, ensuring that ample current and voltage are available, regardless of the impedance of the load.”

View attachment 48302

Well, the 3F was measured on SBAF https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...cp-audio-dsha-3f-technical-measurements.7509/ considering it is the solid state version of the T4, the latter one will probably perform ((even)) worse,

I mean these amps are powerful so they'll surely sound good with most headphones. But those output transformers are really little distortion machines. Pleasing, maybe, but distortion all the same.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Well, the 3F was measured on SBAF https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...cp-audio-dsha-3f-technical-measurements.7509/ considering it is the solid state version of the T4, the latter one will probably perform ((even)) worse,

I mean these amps are powerful so they'll surely sound good with most headphones. But those output transformers are really little distortion machines. Pleasing, maybe, but distortion all the same.

That’s an interesting mix of very good and not so good measurements.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Loxjie P20. I predict this hybrid amp will measure poorly but I am sure many people will be curious how it stacks up. I know it’s made by the same company as SMSL and Sabaj. It has gotten a certain amount of notoriety because of the super low price and handsome looks in a spartan way.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Ah, I see Amir has been planning to measure it:

I have the P20 which I bought myself and will measure it at some point.

 

[vavan]

Parasound gear:
New Classic 200 PreAmp (has a Burr-Brown DAC in it)
Model 275 v2 Amplifier

also parasound halo integrated with ess 9018 dac that sounds not much worse than 9038 in oppo 205 for me

 

[Bhh]

It's probably been mentioned but I think there is a sweet spot in the lower-to-mid end of the "premium" brands. I say this because the people who shop in the Magnolia Room for example, are more likely to care about this stuff than the regular Best Buy consumer. The market for the super high-end audiophile equipment just isn't that deep so how many people are really benefiting?

Along these lines- Bowers & Wilkins, Bose, Sonos, Klipsch, Rotel, Marantz, McIntosh, etc. are where I think the most consumers will truly benefit.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Okto DAC8 Stereo
Geshelli Archel 2.5 Pro

 

[Veri]

Geshelli Archel 2.5 Pro

I think this one was going to be sent to Amir by geshelli, IIRC. So should happen eventually.

 

[mhardy6647]

I thought of something that -- at least from my experience -- would be interesting. Not inexpensive, but perhaps not utterly impractical.

There are a few products that have been in more or less continuous production for a long, long time: the Klipschorn, e.g. Some other examples include the Altec 604 "Duplex" (now made by Great Plains Audio), the Lowther "PM" series of "fullrange" (extended range) twincone drivers, and the Denon DL-103 low output moving coil (LOMC) phonograph cartridge. The testable question is -- has there been any actual, measurable improvement in any of these timeless products over their decades of life?

Here's my thought. Klipsch has made a variant of their small, sealed box three-way loudspeaker (originally called Type H for "Heresy", because its design was heretical) more or less continuously since the late 1950s. By and large, these are (from my perspective) pretty horrible little loudspeakers, but there have been several generations over the decades.

Here's an early version of the "Model H"/H-700/Heresy, using the EV SP12B twincone driver as its woofer. (borrowed image)

Col. Klipsch, by many accounts, believed that the enclosure, the horns, and -- perhaps -- to a lesser extent, the crossover were the important part of a loudspeaker system's design, and he/they often used pretty low-quality drivers in even their expensive offerings. I don't know if that is still the case for their not-inexpensive, current production "Heritage" loudspeakers.

It seems to me that it would be fun, interesting, and illuminating (probably in that order) to test and compare a couple of generations of the Klipsch Heresy loudspeaker.

For example, the mid-1970s variant used a pretty generic 12" woofer sourced from CTS, a PA horn quality midrange compression ('sqwaker') driver made by Atlas with a Klipsch-designed aluminum MR horn, and the aggressive and long-lived Electrovoice T35 diffraction horn compression tweeter. The Heresy, like most of the Klipsch speakers that used the T35, has the tweeter mounted at right angles to the preferred orientation for the best horizontal dispersion!
Today's Heresy uses different horn designs and different drivers (although I don't know anything about the current drivers).

I think objective, quantitative comparison of the current Heresy and, e.g., a mid-70s Heresy would be a terrific exercise if it were ever practical to do.
Klipsch certainly thinks they've improved the Heresy. Have they really? A testable hypothesis.

The nice thing about the Heresy is that it's very compact (at least by classic Klipsch standards).
Ear protection would be required while testing them. Klipsch was (and still is!) known to claim somewhat optimistic sensitivity specs for their speakers, but they are pretty sensitive.

This seemed like as good a place to suggest this as any. Please feel free to move this post if I've misplaced it!

1975 Heresy pair (borrowed image)

Current production Heresy "IV"

https://www.klipsch.com/products/heresy-iv-floorstanding-speaker

 

[Costas EAR]

Metric Halo lio 8

Neumann 310

Trinnov audio altitude 16-24-32

Geithain 801/901

Adam S3H

Presonus Sceptre S8

ATC SCM45A

 

[Cahudson42]

I'm sure it must have been entered before, but with the new great speaker reviews, a review of the Dayton DSP-408 is needed more than ever..

 

[amirm]

Geshelli Archel 2.5 Pro

It is here but I have so much other stuff to review first.

 

[amirm]

I want a review of: Revel Salon2.

You know how tricky it is to lift this massive, tall and very slippery speaker up 5 feet to put it on the measurement platform that is currently only 6 inches square? If you were me, would you risk $12,000 to satisfy your members?

 

[amirm]

I understand you
So I deleted my post.

You didn't have to delete it. I was just noting that it is not something I like to do anytime soon.

 

[mhardy6647]

I realize that they tend to be big and heavy.

ummm, yeah. A little pricey, too.

 

[Billy Budapest]

You didn't have to delete it. I was just noting that it is not something I like to do anytime soon.

It would be super useful, though, if there were a sage and practical way to do it. The Salon2’s are lauded as one of the top speakers on the planet and I know many would like to see how they measure on the bench!

 

[capt.s]

It'd be interesting to see how these 7 tweeter arrays measure that are used on a variety of Tekton Design speakers. The impact monitor aren't too big.

 

[Cahudson42]

More 4-channel car amps, from 'name brands' like Alpine BBX-F1200 Class AB:

Alpine BBX-F1200 280 Watt 4-Channel Amplifier https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BMFPY3S/

 

[beefkabob]

You know how tricky it is to lift this massive, tall and very slippery speaker up 5 feet to put it on the measurement platform that is currently only 6 inches square? If you were me, would you risk $12,000 to satisfy your members?

Oh, sheesh! Men do all sorts of crazy stuff, including spending well over 12k, to satisfy their members.