Amplifier Advice Sought - Wilson Benesch Curves

Hello again Hamilton,


I am still interested in the Monarchy DACs that you suggested. Did you buy yours direct? Am I correct that this is the only way you can buy these?

How did you go on with shipping costs and more importantly the import duties and taxes? How much extra does that add to the cost?


Many thanks.


I have now had the Vincents since Friday. Although I have not got any of the other components for the system yet, I have them into my current (and very humble) NAD and wharfedale system and they are sounding really good.

I'm surprised how laid back the sound has become.
Vocals and brass instruments seem to have more life to them in particular.

 

Hi Woodnut - yes I got mine direct from Monarchy a few years back. I'm not aware of any dealers in the UK. Shipping was about $80 and HM Customs & Excise took their cut, which was maybe around 20%. Still came out to a really good deal and Monarchy set it up for UK mains voltage. If you're still interested maybe e-mail [email protected] first. From a quick look at their website it appears they're doing an offer on reconned M33's (an earlier model) at $799, which would be worth a thought if you want to save a bit. This basically has the same DAC as the one I use, but has aux line inputs and a volume control so's it doubles as a pre-amp. Main difference from the M24 is the lack of tubes - it has a class A line amp instead. On the other hand it uses the older Burr Brown PCM63pk Dac chips which I've always liked the sound of.

Glad the amps are sounding promising - let us know how it sounds when you get the W-B's hooked up.

 

Hello,


Thanks for the further info.

I have bitten the bullet regarding the preamp and ordered a Sonic Euphoria PLC passive TVC preamp.

I probably should have waited and used the cash to get a good DAC & Pre combo but I saw it on ebay advertised by Sonic Euphoria at special reduced price making it nearly half price and thought it was a bargain.

It comes with a remote which I have realised I really do need for keeping on top of the volume levels when listening late at night. The others i was looking at were either out of budget with a remote (Django, Placette, MF) or didnt have an option for a remote (Glasshouse).


As I now have a preamp on order I just need a straight forward DAC. Would be good if Monarchy did a version of the NM24 that didnt have the preamp functions and inputs and cost less as a result.

 

Does anyone have any advice for interconnects and a digital coaxical cable to look at?

Budget is around £125 ish (For each one) - I need to buy two sets of 0.5metre For DAC to preamp and preamp to mono's.

Also have a budget of around £90 for a digital coaxical to connect CD transport to DAC.

Manufacturer's I have been looking at are:

Chord Company

Clearer Audio

Acoustic Zen


Some folk seem to suggest pure copper or pure silver (probably too expensive) saying that silver plated copper can be bright or harsh sounding.

I hope i'm not opening a can of worms here as similar quesions I have seen on forums seem to have done...

 

Can you wield a soldering iron? If so DIYing will get you the i/c's you need at a fraction of the cost. For example, get some silver wire from www.wires.co.uk , some teflon tubing off e-bay, and a handful of Neutrik phonos and Bob's your uncle for the i/c's. For digital co-ax 1.5 metres of VHAudio Pulsar (www.vhaudio.com) works well and again you just need to solder a phono on each end. Then put the rest of the money towards your DAC - oh and I think there's an Audio Synthesis Dax Decade in the classifieds... seriously...

 

Try here for good cables at sensible prices......

http://markgrantcables.co.uk/?gclid=CMf1w57rmZYCFQtCMAodPXtXKA

 

Thanks folks for the info I shall investigate that link...


Quite like the idea of making them myself but I have never used a soldering iron and I was shockingly bad at D & T at school!

Have you made your own interconnects this way?

Is the Synthesis Dax Decade worth investigating? I dont know anything about the company or that product?