Review and Measurements of Benchmark AHB2 Amp

[jruser]

What DACs have enough voltage (9.8V) to drive AHB2 to full power at low gain?

Are we only talking about the RME and Benchmark models?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

What DACs have enough voltage (9.8V) to drive AHB2 to full power at low gain?

Are we only talking about the RME and Benchmark models?

My Merging Hapi II does it handily.

 

[Descartes]

What DACs have enough voltage (9.8V) to drive AHB2 to full power at low gain?

Are we only talking about the RME and Benchmark models?

The Anthem AVM90 should be able to do it!

 

[Descartes]

My Merging Hapi II does it handily.

Could you please post pictures of your three Blades! The sound stage must be phenomenal.

 

[GXAlan]

What DACs have enough voltage (9.8V) to drive AHB2 to full power at low gain?

Are we only talking about the RME and Benchmark models?

Marantz AV10.

Sweet spot is 4V which probably is good relative to typical volume levels but it might be the highest single box solution with Dirac

 

[radix]

What DACs have enough voltage (9.8V) to drive AHB2 to full power at low gain?

Are we only talking about the RME and Benchmark models?

The McIntosh C48 (and likely others in that line) drive up to 16v balanced!

I have the Anthem STR, which only drives to 6.6V, so I use mid-gain.

 

[LTig]

What DACs have enough voltage (9.8V) to drive AHB2 to full power at low gain?

Are we only talking about the RME and Benchmark models?

The old Marantz AV7701 goes up to 12V rms.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Could you please post pictures of your three Blades! The sound stage must be phenomenal.

This was the temporary setup until we began tearing everything down for a major renovation. The Blades (and a lot of other stuff) will go into storage for the duration.

 

[Descartes]

This was the temporary setup until we began tearing everything down for a major renovation. The Blades (and a lot of other stuff) will go into storage for the duration.

Superb thank you for sharing! What do you use for surround sound blades as well?

 

[waynel]

This was the temporary setup until we began tearing everything down for a major renovation. The Blades (and a lot of other stuff) will go into storage for the duration.

What subs are those ? JL E112s?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Superb thank you for sharing! What do you use for surround sound blades as well?

I had been using Revel F206s but will be getting something else when the dust clears. In the meantime, I am looking at 3 months without a system.

What subs are those ? JL E112s?

e110

 

[Sal1950]

I had been using Revel F206s but will be getting something else when the dust clears. In the meantime, I am looking at 3 months without a system.

If ya want to escape the cold, come on down to the Sunshine State for a visit and surround fix.
Any time is good, or,

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[anphex]

I had been using Revel F206s but will be getting something else when the dust clears. In the meantime, I am looking at 3 months without a system.

e110

Asking in the danger to derail this thread a little further, but wouldn't the design of the Blades maximize dispersion and cause more room reverb than any other speaker or am I thinking wrong? I come from a full array 4-way d'appolito which drastically eliminates vertical reverb, so it's hard to imagine for me how a speaker sounds that has basically the opposite design paradigm.

 

[elvisizer]

What DACs have enough voltage (9.8V) to drive AHB2 to full power at low gain?

Are we only talking about the RME and Benchmark models?

mytek, too

 

[JP]

If Okto is still customizing output level their units can do it. I bought my DAC8 DSP second hand so I modified it to output +24dBu myself.

 

[Purité Audio]

Asking in the danger to derail this thread a little further, but wouldn't the design of the Blades maximize dispersion and cause more room reverb than any other speaker or am I thinking wrong? I come from a full array 4-way d'appolito which drastically eliminates vertical reverb, so it's hard to imagine for me how a speaker sounds that has basically the opposite design paradigm.

KEF Blade Two Meta loudspeaker Measurements | Stereophile.com

Sidebar 3: Measurements I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the KEF Blade Two Meta's frequency response in the farfield. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield measurements. Because I perform the...

www.stereophile.com

The Blades measure supremely well, there might be a Klipple measurement somewhere perhaps on Kefs site/white paper.
Here in fact,

https://assets.kef.com/documents/reference/KEF_Blade_Ref_Meta_Tech_Paper.pdf

Keith

 

[John_Siau]

What DACs have enough voltage (9.8V) to drive AHB2 to full power at low gain?

Are we only talking about the RME and Benchmark models?

The AHB2 has a 3-position input sensitivity switch. In low gain (switch down), it requires 22 dBu (9.75 Vrms) to reach full output power. In the middle position it requires 4 Vrms (14.2 dBu) to reach full output. In the top position it requires just 2 Vrms to reach full output.

The 22 dBu setting is intended for input from professional balanced outputs such as those found on all Benchmark products and on most high-end studio products.

The 4 Vrms setting is intended for input from most consumer balanced outputs. This setting will work for virtually all HiFi devices with balanced outputs. It should not be used with professional products that support outputs that are typically 10 dB hotter.

The 2 Vrms setting is intended for input from unbalanced RCA outputs (using Benchmark's RCA to XLR adapter cable). This setting will work with almost all RCA outputs.

The AHB2 has about the same noise performance in all settings. However, you will be hard pressed to find 4 Vrms or 2 Vrms outputs that can deliver a 132 to 135 dB SNR to match that of the AHB2.

 

[boomtheroom]

The AHB2 has a 3-position input sensitivity switch. In low gain (switch down), it requires 22 dBu (9.75 Vrms) to reach full output power. In the middle position it requires 4 Vrms (14.2 dBu) to reach full output. In the top position it requires just 2 Vrms to reach full output.

The 22 dBu setting is intended for input from professional balanced outputs such as those found on all Benchmark products and on most high-end studio products.

The 4 Vrms setting is intended for input from most consumer balanced outputs. This setting will work for virtually all HiFi devices with balanced outputs. It should not be used with professional products that support outputs that are typically 10 dB hotter.

The 2 Vrms setting is intended for input from unbalanced RCA outputs (using Benchmark's RCA to XLR adapter cable). This setting will work with almost all RCA outputs.

The AHB2 has about the same noise performance in all settings. However, you will be hard pressed to find 4 Vrms or 2 Vrms outputs that can deliver a 132 to 135 dB SNR to match that of the AHB2.

any full size preamps that do ? or come close?

 

[Sal1950]

The AHB2 has about the same noise performance in all settings. However, you will be hard pressed to find 4 Vrms or 2 Vrms outputs that can deliver a 132 to 135 dB SNR to match that of the AHB2.

Thank you John of your clarifying post!

any full size preamps that do ? or come close?

You mean drive the AHB2 on low gain? I have to ask why you want to do this.
It's not at all common practice in the HiFi world.
Why not mate it to a normal front end device at med or high gain?

 

[radix]

any full size preamps that do ? or come close?

No. Most hifi gear will be around the 4V mid-gain. Some would come close (as people responded above). You need something that is about +19 dBu @ 0 dBFS. RME ADI-2 DAC FS, for example, can do that. Probably other pro-like gear too. I think a lot of hifi gear is closer to +12 dBu or +13 dBu (i.e. 4V, more-or-less). You would also need to see if that is a "max" output, or a "max at rated" output, meaning that it can do that voltage while maintaining the SINAD or THD+N specs.