I've Gone Valve!

Well after a week consisting of long listening sessions, a plethora of visitors coming over for listening, blown speakers and some serious hard bargaining, I can now reveal my new toy.

I have taken the plunge and bought myself an Audio Research CA50 integrated. It is a 50W, remote controlled integrated valve amp that is really rather good. In fact it is an absolutely stunning match with the Proac 1SCs, I still cant get over how good it is. It just goes to show how getting the synergy right can reap huge rewards (Proac use AR amps when developing their speakers). I first heard this amp when merlin had it on dem and brought it round for a listen. We both were impressed so I investigated it further.

This baby really rocks with a superbly open and detailed sound, a fantastic midrange and clean tight bass with really good timing (did someone say Belcanto) Actually it is the complete antithesis of the archetypal valve sound. Anyway, the dpas are now up for sale. I will miss them, as they are excellent amps and do things very well indeed, but I just couldnt resist the allure of the glowing bottles.



mmm, valves


Cheers, Robbo

 

it looks great too!



congratulations mate, long and happy listening.

Chris

 

Well done Robbo, I take it you bled the dealer effectively.

How are the Proacs doing?

-- Ian

 

What have you bought a heap of sh*t like that for?

Nope seriously it looks great, how well does it cope with dymanics? It looks like a good valve amp that should cope well. 50wpc is a lot for valve amp, I could do with one of them in my system right now, it may mean I can listen to Elton John again without my ears being bitten of.

 

nice:MILD:

hope it wasn't the proacs that were blown?

Will have to make my appointment, and bring a few currant baps over for a light toasting.

 

Ian,

The dealer will probably be cursing me for quite a while, but he was desperate to sell, and I wasnt taking no for an answer

Touch wood, they are fixed now. I had had a look at the driver of the proac that went wrong and spotted the problem. On the back of the cone, there are a couple of blobs of glue which keep the connections between the voice coil and the braided flexible wire that runs from the driver terminals in place. One of these glue blobs has worked its way loose over time meaning that the connection has flexed with the cone excursion and the joint had come apart.

I removed the old glue, reconnected the wires (soldered) and attached them to the cone with a blob of silicone sealant. (as recommended by our very own Lee). I let the sealant cure, put everything back together and everything seems fine, and they sound as good as new, which is a relief as I didnt fancy shelling out on repairing the speakers.

Repaired drive unit

 

Hi Robbo,

So you've decided to take the plunge after all then!

Any idea what the mean time between valve replacements is (sorry to put a dampener on your new pride and joy but a question that was bound to be asked sooner or later I guess )?

Noticed that you've got your REL up for sale. Are you going completely sub-less, or do you have something else in the pipeline?

 

AR say its 2000 hours for the power valves and 5000 hours for the pre valves. Should work out to be a couple of years use for me.

This unit is ex display so I am assured that it has very low hours on it, but that remains to be seen.

The sub is going completely as it doesnt work that well with the amp.

cheers, Robbo

 

Sounds like a result all round. I must give it a listen some day without those hideous speakers Lee brought. For the two minutes before the Proacs came down with the pox it was sounding distinctly promising. Next time I'll leave at home my hex power to break hi-fi merely by looking at it.

-- Ian

 

Neil

Have you managed to get a manual. I can't find one on the web anywhere. IIRC you said it has some biasing pots inside so changing valves will be a doddle and will be cheaper than buying them from AR. A matched quad of Svetlana 6550C should be about £120.

 

Lee,

The dealer is trying to get one from absolute sounds.

Cheers, Neil

 

Robbo,

Sounds fair enough to me... One way of looking at it I suppose, is the valve replacement meantime is maybe equivalent to hardware upgrade meantime!! Even if we all have fullest intentions of saying, right this is my final box, I'm very happy and I can't imagine using anything else.

So no plans in the future to look for a sub which integrate better, or is it eventually going to be a case of bigger speakers that'll be up to the Proac's high setting standards.

ATB anyway and enjoy!

 

Ian, you are welcome anytime. Hows the SAT?

 

Oh god i'm jealous,just look at the beast,I love Audio Research,they would be my next step up from my Copland,I wasn't sure they made a integrated,can i be so rude and ask what sort of money they command? I was bidding for a AR pre on E-bay,then kept getting dodgy mails around the world offering it for silly money,but i would love one.Expect around 2 years at4-5 hours a day for valve life.

 

Adam,

Mine is an ex display discontinued model with very few hours on the clock. It retailed for £3500 when new. Out of respect for the dealer, I am not going to tell you how much I paid for it :JPS:

Audio Research have a new integrated called a VSi55 (I think) which is £2800 new. hifi world have reviewed it this month and they absolutely love it. It has very different aesthetics to the old model. Personally I think the old model looks much nicer, but then again the new one is much cheaper.

Cheers, Robbo

 

I think that's £10 you owe me Robbo
The nice thing about A/R stuff, it doesn't sound like the 'Preceptual valve sound', and it's pretty good, those proacs make some great sounds, and the bass has come on well too, quite nice to see S/mounts making a concerted effort, I feel you will be enjoying this for a long time to come. (Yes it does sound surprising close to the B/c especialy in the mid band, quite spooky really) WM

 

Looks like i need to save for a while or find one second hand,as its about £2,000 more than the copland.New model sounds intresting.

I don't quite get the valve slow and soggy bass misconception,as i use the Copland valve amp,along with the Cal Audio delta valve dac,and to my ears sounds the complete opposite,being quite fast,fluid,with a fast bass response.

 

Adam,

The CA50 is discontinued so you'll have to keep your eye out for a s/h one. There should be a few floating around.

 

Had it going all morning. Will have a better clue by the end of the day. So far, all I'm prepared to say is that I'm glad I've realised that the upsampler can be turned off.

-- Ian

 

Really glad to see the deed has been done Neil

I was fairly convinced, having listened to the CA50 at home an at Brackley that it would do the business. Even I was surprised at just how good the combo sounded though

Well, I didn't get any commission from the dealership for prompting the sale After Robbo's avid haggling, I felt I was lucky not to get thrown out of the shop last night

Well done mate System synergy proves to be everything once again.