Stereo 130 or 230 from leak. Do we have any good reviews

[alaios]

Looks like the 230 is a little over 70 W into 8 ohms (Fig. 5) before the distortion gets too high, and around 100 W (Fig. 6) into 4 ohms. For 6 ohm speakers, figure somewhere around 85 W/channel of usable power.

With the sensitivity of your speakers, it may be adequate. But, much depends on the size of your room and how loud you like to listen to your music. If it is a medium to small room, and you listen at reasonable volume levels, it should be fine. If, however, you have a big room and like to crank it up, you probably need something more powerful.

Here is a review that came out today on the Leak Stereo 230:

I thought these are "lifestyle" reviews. Not sure also

 

[alaios]

I would get an amp with subwoofer out, as your oberon on wall doesn’t produce any low bass. I have six of them for atmos.

It does have a pre out, the stereo 130 and 230.Is not that enough?

 

[eddantes]

do you mean it is a "cheap" unit?

I mean - "Direct" indicates that the circuit is simplified by having processing (tone controls for example) circuits removed from the signal path. It often means an increase in fidelity of the signal, but for most normal humans - it's hardly audible. In the case of this device; those tone control circuits are not removed from the signal path; instead the amp increases the output (without moving the volume control) by 2 db. Now - 2db is hardly noticeable - but for normal humans it's almost always: louder is better. Thus - the idea was to trick a average consumer into thinking that they somehow are listening to an improved and cleaner signal; when all that's happening is that it got a wee bit louder. So in a way - Leak is being dishonest... and in my view - not worthy of my patronage.

Having said all that - the measurements as stated - are not not bad at all and the device appears be of quality. So it's a shame they resorted to a parlor trick, when it was completely uneccessary.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Google Leak 230 Stereophile. Measurements by John Atkinson.

It's just linked a few posts above...

I thought these are "lifestyle" reviews. Not sure also

Guttenberg's reviews are indeed worthless.

 

[alaios]

thanks a lot.

 

[Killingbeans]

And how much power you see in the figure above?

Soft clipping* at ~10W. Hard clipping at ~60W. That's with an 8 ohm load.

With a 4 ohm load, the soft clipping starts a few watts later, and it hits hard clipping at 100W.

*As in: Distortion starts dominating over noise.

 

[alaios]

so once you get over 10 watts you see that the quality drops? Do I understand this right?

 

[NTK]

so once you get over 10 watts you see that the quality drops? Do I understand this right?

So will your ears and speakers. The minor increase in THD level with power is nothing to worry about until the amp starts clipping.

 

[Short38]

Read the review in the link provided above and make a yes/ no decision. If no look at the dozens of amplifier reviews here on ASR.

 

[Killingbeans]

so once you get over 10 watts you see that the quality drops? Do I understand this right?

Technically, yes. But it doesn't really start to get bad before you go above 70W (into 8 ohms), and at that point THD+N has only risen to 0.01%. Not something human hearing is bothered by, especially since it's totally dominated by distortion.

Looks like it's a perfectly capable little amp, assuming you don't need much power.

 

[terryforsythe]

Soft clipping* at ~10W. Hard clipping at ~60W. That's with an 8 ohm load.

With a 4 ohm load, the soft clipping starts a few watts later, and it hits hard clipping at 100W.

*As in: Distortion starts dominating over noise.

That is the first time I have seen that definition for "soft clipping". As I am familiar with that term, soft-clipping is used to describe two effects. 1) a response of tube amplifiers where the sharp edges of a clipped signal are rounded off due to the nature of the way tubes respond at their maximum power thresholds; and 2) intentional power limiting control generated with a circuit, e.g., a "soft-clip circuit," designed to reduce the impact of hard-clipping by reducing the signal level before maximum output power is reached.

Nonetheless, looking at Fig. 5, the THD+N level at 70W / 8 ohm (0.011% / -79 dB) is on par with the THD+N level at 100mW. Looking at Fig. 6, at 100W / 4 ohm the THD+N (0.010% / -80 dB) is lower than the THD+N level at 100 mW. Although maybe not state of the art, I would not consider operation at 70W / 8 ohm nor 100W / 4 ohm to be outside acceptable operating levels for the 230.

 

[terryforsythe]

I thought these are "lifestyle" reviews. Not sure also

I put much, much more faith in reviews that provide objective data, and take purely subjective reviews with a large grain of salt. However, in combination with objective data, subjective reviews can add additional perspective. So, Steve Guttenberg's video, taken in context with the John Atkinson's measurements, may provide some additional information to help make a decision.

 

[Killingbeans]

That is the first time I have seen that definition for "soft clipping". As I am familiar with that term, soft-clipping is used to describe two effects. 1) a response of tube amplifiers where the sharp edges of a clipped signal are rounded off due to the nature of the way tubes respond at their maximum power thresholds; and 2) intentional power limiting control generated with a circuit, e.g., a "soft-clip circuit," designed to reduce the impact of hard-clipping by reducing the signal level before maximum output power is reached.

It's very much possible that I'm using the term in a completely wrong context.

Just wasn't sure what else to call such a benign rise in distortion. Even if it has nothing to do with the power rails reaching their max voltage

Honestly, the rise could also be noise dominated for some reason, making the whole "soft clipping" part of my post complete gibberish...

It's 3 in the morning at my place. Maybe I should just go to bed

 

[Musicofchance]

Lack of reviews is no indicator of quality. Either the company doesn't send review units to reviewers or it wasn't popular enough for reviewers to acquire with their own money.

Perhaps they're just protective and doesn't want their engineering leaked.

Members have been sending units to @amirm for review from all over the world, I don't think it would

Lack of reviews is no indicator of quality. Either the company doesn't send review units to reviewers or it wasn't popular enough for reviewers to acquire with their own money.

Perhaps they're just protective and doesn't want their engineering leaked.

Members have been sending units to @amirm for review from all over the world, I don't think it would be a problem.

'Leaked'

 

[alaios]

'Leaked'

?????

 

[Galliardist]

It's just linked a few posts above...

With one hell of a lot of righteous anger about ABX testing in the comments.

 

[Musicofchance]

?????

Sorry i noticed a pun on the manufacturer's name in nawfal07's thread, but it wasnt noticed. Probably due to it not being funny. Ill get me coat.

 

[audio_tony]

I think anybody buying the Leak amps is buying them for the vintage looks.

The internal electronics are on a par with 99% of other Chinese manufactured amp offerings from the IAG group which includes Audiolab, Quad etc.

 

[alaios]

I think anybody buying the Leak amps is buying them for the vintage looks.

The internal electronics are on a par with 99% of other Chinese manufactured amp offerings from the IAG group which includes Audiolab, Quad etc.

But Audiolabs chinese stuff is considered "fine" . Yes I want the amp for the look but still I want to be decent not the cheapest chinese model.

 

[DSJR]

But Audiolabs chinese stuff is considered "fine" . Yes I want the amp for the look but still I want to be decent not the cheapest chinese model.

I'd like to find out how the Audiolab 8000 series altered if at all internally from the late issue and highly competent UK models, to the Tag McLaren restyled models with a couple of 'designer' caps here and there, to the much cheaper Chinese made examples which initially looked very much the same to the originals on th eface of it...

I thought the Leak 130 and Quad's Vena 2 were very closely related but can't substantiate that.