Power amp recommendations?

Surely colouration and accuracy are intrinsically linked? You can not have one without a lack of the other.

 

Nothing, I haven't hooked it up yet. I bought it (for 200 euros) because I once heard the 300 and thought it sounded fabulous for the money.

Looking forward to your PM.

 

I agree with the statement, but not with many peoples interpretation of it.

Comparing (for example) a very coloured speaker with incredible life-like dynamics with a speaker with a very flat response and no noticeable colourations... but with the inability to portray life-like dynamics.

Many would say that one speaker is coloured, and the other is not coloured and therefore more accurate.

More truthful to say that one speaker is coloured by addition, the other coloured by omission.

 

Tenson,

Yes, in a sense. I just find the word "accurate" a misnomer when applied to hi-fi, as previously explained.

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Paul

 

ALL hi-fi equipment and loudspeakers are coloured to some degree. Therefore it's simply a matter of choosing what type and level of coloration you prefer!

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Paul

 

True, colouration is not just frequency response. When it comes to amps though you can get something pretty damn accurate for very little money (like Markus has just done).

 

Another fan of "accurate", I see!

<Shakes head in disbelief>

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Paul

 

Colouration is tonal - accuracy encompases that but also other effects - such as distortion or in the time domain. I agree there are sins of addition and sins of omission. I hate the former most - valve and horn lovers usually hate the latter

 

I wouldn't say colouration is tonal; colouration to me is anything that is added to the sound, usually tonal.

I have no problem with the word accurate, it means what goes in comes out with no changes, bar the one you wanted (like increased amplitude). You can get an amp that does that for very little money. I'm not talking about accurate to the performance as no amp, no matter what the colourations can give you that. So you have to make sure that each piece of equipment down the recording and replay chain is accurate in its own right, and then you will get closer to the ultimate goal of the original performance. So I’d say accurate is a perfectly sensible word.

 

are we talking about 'hi-fi' as a strict term, i.e. high fidelity (high truth) or are we talking about enjoyment of the music. for me the 2 can diverge depending upon many variables, not least the listener themself.
if we are talking about the first then i cannot see the problem with saying an amp is less or more accurate to the original signal compared to other amps however claiming total or complete accuracy is naive at best and deceitful at worst.
if we are talking about musical enjoyment then that's totally down to the individual, the rest of the system, the room and all the other variables that make one person like brand x and the other hate it.
personally i tend towards the 2nd point of view - once i can identify a piece of music and there are no obvious sonic nasties (and by obvious, that could be either superficially or in detail depending on whether it's background music or has my full attention) i judge a component totally on how it impacts my enjoyment of the music.

 

Tenson,

In that context your description is not incorrect. I was of course referring to the use of "accurate" in reference to sonically emulating the original performance. Although even when used in your context "accurate" is questionable because without the appropriate measurement apparatus how would you know which amp, or whatever, introduced the least change?

The point I was making was that subjective assertions are often made in reference to XYZ amp, or whatever, using the term "accurate" that often have no basis in reality.

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Paul

 

If you're still interested in the Monarchy, I have one that I might be willing to part with. One careful owner, good cosmetic condition, etc etc. How does £300 including P&P sound?

 

Theres a Monarchy SM70 pro just been put on ebay with a start bid of £399 if thats of interest

 

Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep an eye on that

 

That seems a bit steep I think I sold mine for about £220 IIRC! Not the pro version mind, but it was almost unused.

 

I have a pair of SM70s and they sound great.

£220- I'd say you got less for it than it's worth rather than £300 being expensive.