System edit. I've reduced my system to its primary components and I've removed my analogue components.
I gave my TT, my vinyl, a receiver and monitor speakers to my granddaughter and her husband, and by doing so have given new life to a future audiophile. An additional gift was a pair of Sonic Frontiers 160 wt mono tube amps which he has no present use for but is happily dreaming about. I really feel great about not selling or alternatively having to give my albums to a charity. I'm really!!!!! happy today.
System edited: System changes - downsizing and eliminating analogue set up. Removed ARC SP10 Pre-amp, Raysonic 128 CDP, Cayin Amp, Oracle TT, etc. Just digital left.
Don't know about the Bolero's being driven by a SET amp but Alan has designed one and was proud of its compatibility with the Bolero. I didn't listen to it.
I've used 4 different amps (so far) with these speakers. The amps all seem to be true to their intrinsic nature (based on my experience with them and other speakers). I get very respectible bass with some 30w Cary mono amps, and the Cayin. My PL amp never had really deep bass before or now, but ws otherwise fine.
The SFM's do have big bass balls and extended highs! I had lots of fun listening to RR's Fanfare for the Common Man (Copland) which has great dynamics including explosive bass drums and brass. Very 'audiophile approved' sound, I think! In fact it's hard to believe a small speaker could do that piece justice, even in my small room. Real impact!
FWIW, I've never heard a speaker that sufferred from too much current and I've always found I preferred 4ohm taps (even with speakers with an 8 ohm nominal impedence rating). Interestingly those old SFM's even have 2ohm tap capabilities though I've never reconfigured it to get there.
Other Silverlines may not be as easy to drive, I think, and I've often wondered it this has much to do with driver choice and cross over points. The Bolero's are very different from the Sonata's and LaFolias in that respect.
Hmmm. Very interesting. Does this suggest that the Silverlines, despite between spec'ed with high sensitivity, thrive on some real power (SFs' 160 over the PrimaLuna's 36), rather than performing near optimally with even lower powered class A SETs, as the specs might have led one to believe?
What are the mono amps--make, model--that you're driving the Boleros with nowadays? Did I miss this somewhere in the postings? Or? I'd be interested to know. Don't see them listed at the top of the thread.
Hi Mapman, Thanks for your recommendations. I'm not into high speed yet and local FM ain't what it used to be in my area. :-(
I agree with you about John Potis' reviews. I trust his sonic description of products, if not always share his priorities. Interesting he left 6moons. I wonder if that had anything to do with his candor relative to some of their advertiser's products.
I've never heard the Ohm 5's, only the original Ohm F's, a very nice sounding speaker I thought. Couldn't afford it or the power it took to drive it back then.
Yeh, the Boleros are nice. I've had them a year now and I've yet to buy anything new to drive them. A first for me. New speakers always seemed to require a parade of amps (etc) to find something that fit and brought out their best. Sometimes I think the Boleros were designed specifically to match my sensitivities. I can easily hear all of what is going on before them with different stuff, it just seems that I have so many viable alternatives which didn't previous work with other sources/amps. I've been having fun working thru all of the permutations with stuff I already own and have 3 very viable set ups, all different, but whereas in the past I was lucky to come close to getting one set up. But, folks, thay ain't dull! :-) Rave ends!
I was noticing the Silverline Boleros. Very nice! They physically reminded me a bit at first of some Avalons I've seen.
I also read John Potis' review of the Silverlines in sixmoons. From his description, the sound in general is not that different from the Ohms.
Coincidentally, John Potis has also owned and reviewed various Ohm models on several sites and I consulted with him for amp recommendations for my Ohm 5's when I was looking a few months back. I highly respect his observations and recommendations in general.
If you are a radio fan as I assume you are with the Accuphase Tuner, and you have a high speed internet connection in your home, consider adding a Roku Soundbridge (see pic in my system) for great sounding internet radio from all over the world to your system that can easily beat typical analog FM broadcast sound quality.
If interested do also plan to upgrade the stock IC to something better for best results. I use Audioquest G Snake to very good effect for this in my system.
System edited: Reintroduced vinyl to my CD based system (too many LP's around to ignore) and simplified the component chain. I listen to mainly classical and jazz and if nothing ever changes in this system I could be very happy. BTW, the vinyl sounds better than I remembered, and thats with a very modest TT/Arm and Grado cartridge. Go figure.
System edited: I've removed the Primaluna Three and am now driving the mono amps direct with the Wadia. Change in input tubes in the anps made all the difference between sounding 'driven/overly dynamic' to very dynamic yet retaining a sense of warmth throughout the frequency response. Using oldstock Tesla 6922's and SED 6550's. I'm going to take a break now and just enjoy.
System edited: Well this is fun! I tired of the subwoofer experiment and replaced the Primaluna 5 with a pair of mono amps out of my closet with real balls (but no bloat). I think the reason that the PL5 sounded more dimensional was the low end, but I've noticed that the highs are a tad soft - I've not yet figured out if it is a tube selection issue or if I should be trying different pre-amps. Love the Boleros. This is one experiment that is really fun! No frustrations at all (yet). Any suggestions?
I now have two sets of electronics available to drive my Silverlines (my absolutely best every purchase of anything!!!!). The first set consists of a Wadia 302, Primaluna 3/5 combo, and, get ready for this, a newly introduced cheapo (relatively) sub. I use SED KT88's in the amp.
Until a couple of weeks ago (sans sub) this was pretty good but the bass was a bit soft, not well defined. I chalked it up to a big null in the 40/50 hz zone. So just for fun I bought a cheapo sub with a plate amp that had a one band parametric equalizer. I set the low pass filter at 50hz and brought the level up to match them mains output at 60hz. I then used the equalizer to take off a 6db rise at 32hz. Only took me about 18 hours using test disc, a SPL meter, and lots of CD's and critical listening to find the magical point.
Just amazing result. Deep, tight, powerful bass, improved imaging (especially depth), excellent detail reproduction thru the mids and highs, never in your face. The only down side for me was that the audiophile qualities were so good that I found them impossible to ignore when multi-tasking like reading, I'd keep putting the book down to listen to the 'audiopile' effects, but not necessarily the musical content.
Enter the Cayin A100T (again with SED KT88's) and the Raysonic 128. This combo has a warmer and deeper bass/lower mid-range (not tight or particularily well defined) and a very 'musical' mid/upper mid-range. Don't need no stinking sub woofer with this amp. Probably a classically romantic tube sound. I could never get the balance I wanted from the sub with the Cayin. This set up speaks with one voice (so to speak) and does not draw attention to itself. I can really get into musical content using it.
I'd hate to have to part with either system but I think I could easily improve on the Primaluna/Wadia/sub system if I were willing to chase the money after it.
But without my audiophile hat on I don't rally know how I could improve on the Cayin/Raysonic/Silverline combo.
If I had to select just one I'd probably keep the simplist one and just forget about audiophilia but I won't because bottom line I enjoy the hobby (on a budget).
To answer your question re Primaluna v Cayin, I think they are both excellent values, but as with everything else they show their magic with proper matching, etc.
Re photos....I'm making progress, I finally got a digital camera. Now all I have to figure out is how to get it onto my computer and then how to get it up onto A-Gon. Frankly looking at some of the systems up I'm kind of embarassed to post them. One of these days.......:-)
Glad to see someone else go with a digital-only setup. I tried the turntable thing three times and it seemed I would have to spend too much money to beat my cd players. Besides I find it a hassle and then when you finally have it all right, you have surface noise and crappy manufacturing to deal with. It took a long time but my digital rig does everything I ever hoped for.
How you like the Cayin compared to the Primalunas? I have been impressed with Cayin several times but Primaluna seems to steal their thunder around here. Is it justified?
Congrats on your Bolero's!! I used to own Sonata II's and always fantasized moving up the Silverline foodchain, and powering it with tube gear. Well done... now you need to get a digital camera to memorialize your changes.
I would suggest the Silverline Audio Conductor speaker cable. Works exceptionally well with my Sonata III. Perhaps Alan might give you an audition set to try at home.
System edited: I was never able to get all that I wanted out of the Tylers in my room with tubed electronics so I started over, so to speak, with new Silverline Bolero's. After about 80 hours run in I started experimenting with amps and tubes I had on hand. The thing I had the least hope for, from past experience, was using the Primaluna 3/5 combo with EL34 tubes. Just wonderful - seems to do everything I want and allows me to focus on the music - its just so 'natural'. Am I happy? Oh yeh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now if I can just resist trying out 'better' electronics.
System edited: System edit - results of system symplification will, hopefully allow me to focus more on the music playing than 'how' it is playing. :-)
System edited: System modified by addition of new Cayin A100T integrated amp. An excellent addition I think. I'm having a difficult time fantasizing about what I could do to improve my system within my financial constraints. :-)
System edit and thanks to Ethanh for his comments. I am really enjoying this latest, and hopefully last iteration/combination of components for a long time. I think the sum of the components exceeds the single contribution of any one. For the first time in years I'm no longer evaluating components, I'm just listening to music. Hurray!
I recently heard the Tylers and they're really impressive speakers - I'm pretty new to this hobby and I haven't heard that much gear, but what I breifly experienced with the Linbrooks was incredible. It looks like you've got a really great and musical system over there; I'm sure the tubes really bring out the music.
