Match made in heaven (1 Viewer)

[Yogi]

Got my new B&K ref 7250 amp and hooked it up to my system. The other components in the system are a 3802 now used solely as a preamp. The main L/R channels are handled by a Proceed BPA2 and the other channels are now handled by the 7250. At first I was worried by the possible mismatch that might result due to two different amps in my system. The Proceed is very open and neutral with rock solid imaging and the B&K is very lush and warm with immense soundstaging. But guess what! I think they are the perfect match to my system. The Proceed gives me all the musicality that I need in my 2 channel listening (I am not a fan of multichannel music) and the B&K gives me the natural vocals and smooth soundstaging and surround effects. The thing I like most about the B&K is its natural presentation of the vocals. There is natural air and depth to human vocals from this amp. Maybe its the full bodied mid-range of the MOSFET stages. What ever it is I couldn't be happier.
I couldn't resist sharing my feelings with fellow members. I think I have met my amplification needs for the rest of my life. I wouldn't be looking to upgrade amplification ever again. Unless, maybe, I win the lotto....
Thank you all for listening.

 

[Rob Rodier]

Sounds like a great system.

Very interesting about the B&K working out well. I never would have thought to do that kind of thing but now it seems to make a lot of sense.

I also agree that upgrading from the BPA2 doesn't make much sense. Anything past that stage of the game really starts to loose the performance/price ratio. The Proceed stuff is killer. I could live with it for the rest of my life.

Are you going to keep the 3802 or is that next?

-rob

 

[DanaA]

Congratulations. I'm envious. As a two-channel fan myself, really like your idea of the Proceed. A lot of people think diminishing returns when building a system like yours. After all, you already have a very good receiver, but when I added my Parasound amp to my Onkyo, it made the whole system NEW, much greater and much better. When I added my Rotel pre/pro, two channel got much better and home theater exploded. I just get so happy hearing of great additions like yours. Every time I read something like your post, I experience the joy of the buyer vicariously, whether it be someones first system from Best Buy or someone who has made their system much more refined and able to SCREAM!!!

 

[Martice]

Congrats Yogi. Enjoy the extra power, headroom and control.

 

[Yogi]

The 3802 is what I have now. The 7250 ate up any money I had left for an upgrade so I am not going to upgrade for the next two years (I hope...more like I pray). The 3802 is an excellent prepro capable of competing with others in its class.

Very interesting about the B&K working out well. I never would have thought to do that kind of thing but now it seems to make a lot of sense.

I am now an advocate of MOSFETs for your center channel. No matter what kind of amplification you have on your main and other channels, you ought to have MOSFET amplification on your center channel. The warmth and air in human vocals is amazing with the B&K.


My next upgrade will be a separate prepro when I turn my unfinished basement into a HT room. I am thinking something like a B&K ref 50 or the AVM 20....but thats not to come in the near future.

Thank you all for listening.

 

[NickSP]

"I think I have met my amplification needs for the rest of my life. I wouldn't be looking to upgrade amplification ever again"
Define "Ever Aain"! (LOL). Enjoy your new gear Yogi.

 

[Yogi]

Define "Ever Aain"! (LOL). Enjoy your new gear Yogi.

'Ever again' meaning never again untill ofcourse one of these happens:
1) I win the lotto and become instant millionaire.
2) I discover the elixir of life and become immortal and then the upgrade might come before I die, which I never will.
3) Some millionaire leaves me a dying will.
4) A triple boxed honeycomb composite reinforced package falls out of a delivery truck in front of my driveway and I take it in my garage and pry it open only to discover a set of high end speakers valued at $100,000. Then I might have to upgrade my amplification and the rest of my system to go with those speakers.
5) Etc, etc,...Usuall things like this, you know, might trigger an upgrade.
Untill then I am sticking to my babies

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Wouldn't a "match made in heaven" match?
I could see it if you had one amp for two channel & different amp for multi channel. But the benefits of having non-matching amps in your system eludes me.
Sorry to rain on your parade.
But if it works for you, it works!

 

[Ed St. Clair]

1) I win the lotto and become instant millionaire.

Yep, Yogi!
I am with you on that one.
Tonights California Lotto is at $50 million.
After taxes, a heck of a lot of equipment!

 

[Yogi]

Non-matching amps because I like the vocals from B&K more than the Proceed. Vocals just come to life with the B&K as if there is someone really in the room. With the Proceed they are excellent but the Proceed is more transparent than the B&K and as a result any flaws in the recording come out sounding flawed. Like for example the vocals in Harry Potter are recorded badly with a lot of sibilance which is quite irritating to listen to with the Proceed. But with the B&K they get colored just right to sound good. The B&K is more warmer and sweeter sounding and it colors the sound just like a classic tube amp, with midrange bloom and a rolled upper end. Hence the 'match made in heaven': Proceed - defined, powerful, ultra transparent with a rock sold image on a huge front soundstage and B&K - warm and smooth with a sweet and lively midrange. It doesn't get better than this for me.

 

[Larry B]

Yogi:

But with the B&K they get colored just right to
sound good. The B&K is more warmer and sweeter sounding and it colors the sound just like a classic tube amp, with midrange bloom and a rolled upper end.

You seem to like those things that so many of us work so hard to avoid. Truly, to each his own.

Larry

 

[Yogi]

You seem to like those things that so many of us work so hard to avoid. Truly, to each his own.

How can you say that Larry, being a tubeophile yourself? Or am I wrong in assuming that?

 

[Larry B]

Yogi:

I most definitely do like (and use) tubes. The properties you describe are associated with older tube gear, or those of poor quality. Quite frankly, I think SS gear colors the sound to a far greater extent than do tubes.

Larry

 

[Yogi]

The first misconception is that the particular sound of an SET (single-ended triode) amplifier is due to its tube's linearity. Nothing is further from the truth. The pentode was developed exactly because of the triode's nonlinearity and its excessive second-harmonic distortion. The kinetic energy produced by the acceleration of electrons toward the plate produces a secondary emission of those electrons repelled from the plate, which are thus attracted by the positively charged screen grid, creating a reverse current to the screen. Those electrons with less kinetic energy remain by the plate, attracted back to it, and produce a variation in plate current that is not voltage- (signal-)change-related, and that, my friends, is distortion.

The pentode's third suppressor grid solves that problem. So much for the triode's linearity. The design and other problems and characteristics of tubes are more technical, but can be found in any good book on tubes. The sound so beloved by SET owners is probably due to its very large second-harmonic distortion ingredient. This makes it sound "warm," whereas in the pentode, second and third harmonics are almost identical in level, and usually banished by that dreaded negative feedback.

To say that a triode sound is "high fidelity" is therefore an oxymoron. The distortion may reinforce the fundamental, creating the sense of a dynamic sound, openness, and all the other accolades and apotheoses, but that is a personal liking; it is certainly not how the original music sounded. A triode makes its own music. It's like a musical instrument, and some like it a lot, but it's neither hi-fi nor linear.

Everybody listens to colored sound and likes it (weather they accept it or not). I am no different by accepting it. We can argue endlessly about how transparent our equipment is but in a subjective sense what you hear can't be heard by me and what I hear can't be heard by you. We can stick to our perceptions of transparency and coloring but in the end none of us would hear or like what the other likes or hears.

Peace.

 

[Larry B]

Yogi:

Everybody listens to colored sound and likes it (weather they accept it or not). I am no different by accepting it. We can argue endlessly about how transparent our equipment is but in a subjective sense what you hear can't be heard by me and what I hear can't be heard by you. We can stick to our perceptions of transparency and
coloring but in the end none of us would hear or like what the other likes or hears.

OK.

Larry