Calling All Audiolab Users

anyone had extensive listening experience between the 8000M monoblocks and 8000P power amp.

I currently have 4x 8000M monoblocks biamping a set of 3 way speakers... and would love to add another pair for the tweeters... but wonder if i couldnt get away with just using an 8000P instead.

Being almost half the cost or a pair of 8000M's id have to imagine somethings compromised other than power.

What about newer offerings like the 8000PX/SX (sx would do as its only for tweeters so huge power not needed)

ANy comments welcome and appreciated

 

Don't know if it would suit but I have a pair of MF xa50's going for slae in the classifieds, theyd be good on the treble, conservartive 50 watts each mostly run in classA and being mono's theyd help with the separation.

 

the gain would be all over the place. i dont wanna mix and match amplifiers from dif companies.. wanna stick with audiolab.. or i risk the chance that treble will be massively louder or quieter than the rest of the system.

also... the MF xa50's werent quite in the same sonic league as the audiolabs i think

Anyways thanks for the offer good luck in selling them

 

Hi shrink wasn't thinking about the difference in gain appologies, you might be better trying the your monos on the tweeters, i believe that often the tweeters are where the low impedances can be so you may be better with a P for bass and the monos for treble, i would try both, as for the other offerings well I'm not sure haven't much experience of them.

Yes the audiolabs will be better quality than the 50's but not by as big a margin as you would imagine.

 

hi shrink

friend of mine is running a pair of OB1's with audiolab amplification, he has a sx on the tweeters, px's on the mid's and mx's on the bass all controlled by the 8000Q.

prices for these amps have now dropped quite a bit so you could get an sx or px for about £350-ish.....

ur aware that the sx was a 60watt power amp and the px 100watts, forget the p far to old now would be a waste

pjhifi have a px for 425 give them a ring and make them an offer!

music matters also has some audiolab stuff

 

Really? I've got to say that would be the complete opposite of what I'd assumed. Surely it's usual to have the higher power amps on the bass? I certainly always assumed that's where the most power was needed.

My gut feeling is that using a pair of 8000M's for the tweeters would be rather overkill, and that as you suggested one of Audiolabs stereo power amps should be fine, but I don't have experience of the M's I'm afraid. Nothing wrong with the P's performance wise BTW, but if you can get a more modern amp for the same cash then go for it.

gshayer - remind me, didn't you find the M's sounded rather different to the stereo power amps? My recollection was you actually preferred the stereo ones?

Given the high 2nd hand value of the Audiolabs, the other obvious option is one of these for £350 new:



http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/product.asp?id=3384

I'm pretty certain this would be gain matched to the M's, but obviously check with IAG first.

 

This links to my earlier 'bi-amp' thread as I have the 60W stereo 8000S but need more grip/control over the JM Labs Electras and had been considering this P. The advice was to go for the 'single' monoblocs. Of course, Shrink seems to be cornering the market on the monoblocs ...

 

spot on martin i found the mx's to be lacking in control over the speakers i was using at the time, and found the px to have much more vibrancy about it. i would suggest shrink you get urself either a px, sx or a tag amp for the tweeters. the tag and audiolab amps have the same gain settings.

 

Impedance dips are much more common in the bass region than the treble. There may be a slight dip at the crossover point, depending on the crossover design and how much overlap there is between the driver, but any horror-story dips (like the well-known 3ohm dip of the "8 ohm" B&W DM602) are usually confined to the bottom end.

 

Yes. I used to have the 8000Q, some M's some MX's and some P's. You're probably pretty attached to what you've got but from personal experience I would suggest you sell your monoblocs and replace them with a single pair of higher quality monoblocs.

I replaced my Audiolab amps with Krell MDA 300 monoblocs and the difference was staggering. The 300's are old hat now but they still give some of the newer boys a run for their money, including the standard eVo-4 Gen 2 in biridged mode which I tried as a replacement recently. Also, reducing the number of boxes means you can then splash out on some really good quality power leads, interconnects and speakers leads as you'll fewer of them.

Regards
Gary

 

thanks for the suggestion gary but after much trail and error iev found that the audiolabs and my epos speakers make very good partners indeed so i'll be sticking with them for the moment.

as for using a smaller power amp for the tweeters.. my concern wasnt really the power as even an SX can drive a pair of tweeters... but i would be concerned about the loss of quality on going to a cheaper single chassis unit.

also to those that suggested Tag stuff... id rather not mix and match components from an aesthetic point of view... and from memory the PX/SX/MX are a damn site more musical than the TAG offerings anyway which i found too dry and bright.

lastly.... the impedance dip in my speakers is around the 40hz point where they become around a 4 ohm load so id rather keep the larger amps on the bass and mid leg.

Hmm anyways... a lot to think about. Might try slotting in an SX for treble

 

Here's my 10p worth:

Don't mix TAG and Audiolab for the reason you've already mentioned - the gain's the same, but the 'sound' is very different.

I'd definately try an SX an the tweeters before paying the premium for a PX.

 

Hi,

I'm curious can you explain/describe the likely effect soundwise of such an impedance dip. Forgive my ignorance but I do not know how impedance dips affect the sound.

S+P

 

they dont affect the sound directly.... but teh difficulty they cause some amplifiers can cause sound problems...

if the amp cant deal with the load... it will struggle to deliver the required power... and if for instance you have a dip of 4ohms starting at 80hz down to about 60... u'll get weak bass in that region and loss of control.

The dip itself doesnt cause a change in sound of any kind... and if your amp can deal with the load then it'll make no difference whatsoever.

 

Thanks, I get it now.