Audiolab Is Back !!!!!!!

Reminds me of the 1990's where hifi mags only contained marantz cd63mkiiispecialeditionSEgoldtrimCD's and audiolab 8000's. :SLEEP:

 

Alternatively....
I think most peoples' problem with Audiolab gear is its lack of colour compared to other amps.... its all just too black/grey/white.

depends which end of the telescope you are looking through.

 

yeah but in my opinion.. thats a good thing.. cos surely if your amp is a nice untainted window.. you can pick sources that influence the sound of your system without worrying about the effects of amplification.

i got sick of balancing out one flaw with another. the audiolabs were a revelation. clean, powerfull and uncluttered.. with bass that has serious punch (well on the monoblocks anyway)

 

Surely silver sounds better? Reflects the sound waves back towards the listener, rather than absorbing them as black would?

 

My room is far too bright sounding, so I could only go for the black, obviously. Do you think matt black would be too warm, compared to satin black?

 

I've heard a lot of amps demo'ed against my 8000S acting in poweramp mode, and have continued to be impressed by its simplicity and its vfm and performance. It now takes the juice from a Ncode/DacDecade to power a pair of EPOS ES22s delightfully. More expensive offerings have dne better mind you, but its much better than 'average'. It does not get in the way; its just the application of electricity!

 

Try a late-model Mk2 8000A into Mission 702es with a £100 Sony CDP (520????) - you'd be VERY surprised - I was! My mate has my aforementioned 8000A on loan (4 years and counting) and his system sounds really peppy, fun and funky, with LOTS of vibrancy.

...and none of that sloppy fall-onto-the-floor-out-of-the-woofers bass that many amps have (never forgot that interview with that Chico sculptur guy in HFC, sometime in 1998???; he said that, and it made me think. BTW he also had a Pioneer CT-F900, a Yamaha something-1000 tuner and an LP12, and Celestion SL1s - it looked well cool

Can't believe I can remember that...

 

I have a friend who is a long-time user of Audiolab, he uses a pair of P's (power amps) with a S pre-amp. He uses the 8000 DAC matched to a Meridian 500 transport all connected with IXOTICA Perimeter interconnects.
His speakers are Von Schweikert VR-2's which are bi-wired.
I have always found this system very well balanced and for the money excellent performance value.
Most of all, my friend loves it.

 

Just to put a few people in the picture.

TAG went down the drain and are no more. They were bought by IAG, who own QUAD and Wharfedale. They are a Chinese company so also make some other amps for the Far East.

As to the plans, when I chatted to a Quad rep he said that Audiolab is relaunched as it has a place British HiFi history and tends to appeal to a different market than Quad.

 

thanks for the comments ditton.. i have to agree that the 8000S sounds remarkable and it takes a lot of money to better it.. even my monoblocks were not a night and day improvement.

Its good clean sound that simply lets you hear what your source is putting out.. and thats all i think an amp should do.

 

p.s. pete (ditton) when are you wanting the rest of your epos bits??

i will need to keep the last box until i get the ES30's up here.. but i have all your spikes and jumpers sitting here as well as the rest of the foam packing

 

shrink old boy... two questions :

1: did adding a second pair of mono,s make a good upgrade?

2: have you heard the mx,s or tag 125,s as acomparison?

thinking of upgrading and might go down one of these routes...

also my twopeneth now ,i,ve heard a few (not exsessive amounts ) of hi fi and find the tag pa20r(8000q in a new suite) / 8000m,s to be the most neutral/boring ( delete where appropriate) but best for my taste. i wouldn,t change for the world.. found my spendor s9,s exactly the same ,not bright not bassy, just boring . but i could listen for days with no fatigue whatsoever. just plain old boring perfect

cheers B
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well. I'm home just now, but if you want to leave it until after you've collected your prize, that's OK with me. Then you can deliver all the bits & pieces.

 

You have to larf when people say that a piece of hifi kit added no coloration to the sound. Thats bullshit of course it has. Also how would you know any different? were you actually at the mastering stage of every CD you purchased?

Surely though this particular brand has been flogged to death by now, let the bloody thing lie.

 

batman....

1) they lended a credible sense of bass control and slightly more dynamics.. the difference doesnt quite justify twice the cost.. but its good fun and worth doing if you have the cash.

2)ive heard the MXs but not the tags (dont think theres much in it) they are slightly more upbeat than the older M's but also more forward at the same time. SO make of that what you will... i like my M's personally.

also i liek what you say about neutrality.. the audiolabs suit me well.. and dont do too much to taint my system. They cooperate well with almost anything i slot in

 

shrink


garyi,who asked you ya twat.....
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lol touchy batman.. they like their opinion... i like ours

im after a tag CDT20r and AV32r now

 

sounds good shrink . i got the cd20r, had the dac 20 to go with it but didn,t really agree with me ,sold it .. as for the av32r that could well be on my next upgrade audition list. what would be the primary difference between this and the pa 20r any idea ... cheers B
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Ford duratorq engine history

 

Batman, you should always finish a question with one of these ?

 

the av32r should in all ways be as good as the pa20r... the pa20r is just a glorified 8000Q and the tag AV32r is supposed to better it considerably.. plus you have the advantage of the DAC being inside.. so shorter signal paths