High Efficiency Speaker Asylum

Were they broken it?

12.72.182.127

Ivan303

In Reply to: RE: What amazes me are the same old arguments posted by Paully on July 08, 2007 at 06:44:53

What amp did you use?

Were you listening near-field?

FWIW, I prefer the Abby's to the BEN's.

The Abby's are very revealing of flaws upstream. Even can be harsh with a bad CD player(or even a fairly decent one).

I'd only use Abby's with vinyl or a VERY good "0" up-sampling DAC.

Nobody here but us chickens.
_________________________

Follow Ups:

RE: Were they broken in - I think they had been there quite some time - Paully 16:23:53 07/10/07 (2)
I think they were broken in, but I can't say for sure.

What amp did you use? - ASL 2a3 (Tulip?)

Were you listening near-field? - No, they were the regular abbys

FWIW, I prefer the Abby's to the BEN's - really? That's cool, my wife and I both thought the Ben's were smoother, though lacking in bass without a subwoofer. You could be right though.

The Abby's are very revealing of flaws upstream. Even can be harsh with a bad CD player(or even a fairly decent one) - I can't even remember what they had hooked up.

I'd only use Abby's with vinyl or a VERY good "0" up-sampling DAC - It was a CD player of some sort if memory serves, not vinyl for sure and I don't think it was an upsampling DAC (I don't particularly care for upsampling myself).
- Actually, your impressions seem pretty accurate, Paully.... - darkmoebius 21:47:28 07/11/07 (1)
  What amp did you use? - ASL 2a3 (Tulip?)
  
  Now, I can see why you came away with the impression you did. In my opinion, the Abbys aren't a good candidate for most 2A3 SETs and are better suited to "fleshier" tubes. Pairing Abbys with 2A3's would seem to be "too much of a good thing", since they share very similar traits.
  
  Oddly though, the Almarro A205A is a very accurate SEP and it is terrific match with the Abbys.
  
  That's cool, my wife and I both thought the Ben's were smoother, though lacking in bass without a subwoofer.
  
  Yes, that's my impression, too. The Abbys can sound far, far, better with a subwoofer involved. I own the much larger I-Bens(driver & cabinet) and I think their meatier midrange/midbass helps tremendously by sounding more fleshed out. Still, I think the Bens benefit greatly from a subwoofer - I use a pair of Cain Bailey subs. After, firing up the subs, i could never go back to the Bens without them.
  
  Ivan303 - The Abby's are very revealing of flaws upstream. Even can be harsh with a bad CD player(or even a fairly decent one)
  
  Yes they are. but, they are also walking that fine line close to a thin(but, not thin) sound which makes them almost hyper-revealing. So, any edgi-ness or hardness is going to tip the scales way over the line.
  
  With the right amps, though, the can be glorious.
  - RE: Set 2A3, agreed - Ivan303 08:06:05 07/12/07 (0)
    Although I have heard Abby's sound very good on Terry's ElectronLuv 2A3 mono-blocks, those were not your typical SET 2A3.
    
    The Abby's I heard in my system were driven by DIY HIFI Supply "Billies" with WE 300B's and a ton of upgraded parts which are fairly rich tonally.
    
    IMHO, 300B SET is about as low power wise as I would go with Abby's. Have also heard Abby's with Gordon Rankin's 300B amps and they were a very good match.
    
    Nobody here but us chickens.
    _________________________

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