Finally moving on from Parasound A21. Looking to purchase final amp to go with Lab 12 Pre1, Graham LS 5/9 speakers and Weiss 204 dac.
Number one choice is Audio Note P2se tube amp.
Anyone with Audio Note experience comment on this combination?
I know the amplifier you desire, it’s a damned fine piece.
The speakers you are mating it with though are 87db and depending on your room size the 17wpc from the amp may not get you the dynamic, or volume you desire. I say this knowing nothing else about your room, seating position, listening and volume choices though.
That is not necessarily the pairing I would use to maximize my pleasure with those speakers, or at least not my first choice.
Maybe a Solid State amp with a tube pre-amplifier would give you the desired characteristics you want and also allow for the dynamic range and volume most folks are used to. ——-EDIT to add, you already have a tube based pre, what are you trying to change in character? You are using a great combo of pieces and now want to drop your power output I’m not sure what you feel you will gain/change using this particular Audio Note amp.
Really nice amplifier just not sure if 17wpc is a great synergistic match to those particular speakers. This is just my opinion and not a jab of any sort. Happy listening and I look forward to seeing what your desires and thought process are along with some pictures when you get where you want to be.
Thanks for your input… I do have a small listening room 11x16. I have never had a tube amp and heard great things about AN UK amps. My dealer thought it would match, but he is selling a product.
My other options were Coda 5.5 or Pass for SS. Prima Luna or AN for tubes.
What would be your suggestions?
What did you NOT like about your current combination? What are you trying to change in the sound character? You already have high quality equipment in place, do you simply feel the parasound unit is lacking in some fashion?
You have an 87 db rated speaker, in a medium-ish sized room, are you just bored of the Para? Are you trying to tune things slightly in a certain direction? The speaker will continue to sound extremely similar to what it sounds like now but with less power maybe a more subdued top and possibly sloppier bottom end and overall dynamic range.
I like switching things around, but have found that box speakers of less than 92 db sensitivity in general and this is a very broadly worded comment, prefer a bit more power to show off what they have.
Again, my comments are very open ended and generalized, and I very much like nice stuff but matching your speakers to the power requirements and your style of listening along w/ genre’s is generally a “best practice”.
If the speakers are 8ohm and rated at 87db i would focus on an amp rated at the minimum power requirement of the speaker which is 50 watts at 8ohm but is comfortable playing at lesser (ie 4ohm) too. This would be the minimum i would look at in a room your size.
There is sooo much more to consider and yes, something in the 20-35 watt class would be fine too, my assumption is that you are looking for more 2nd and 3rd order harmonics and maybe a sweeter more midrange based sound character?
I use a DHT tube based pre and SS class A/B integrated amplifier to push my lower sensitivity speakers and i honestly love the sound character thus i am already pre-biased.
I’ll answer what questions i can but won’t recommend any units in particular, that is for you to research and decide on based on your budget. (I’m also partial to very low / low power boutique stuff so my biases would be evident quickly)
It’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to think of a speaker and amp pairing as two components. The more things I’ve tried the more I’ve come to a conclusion that there is a pinnacle of synnergy between a speaker and amp that is hard to match/equal with simply changing an amp. You may get a different flavor but IMO you give up some of that synergy magic.
You’re probably better off from a rewards standpoint to get another speaker/amp pairing. Set a budget for that and then have two completely separate sounds, but more importantly both having the most synergistic combined output.
Not the cheapest route I know, but from my personal (albeit limited) experience, you can’t beat that natural speaker/amp paring when you find one. Everything else has sounded as a compromise.
Ask to borrow the amp and try it at home or take your speakers into his shop and power them up w/ the amplifier. Simple solution and it will give you an idea of the direction you want to go in next w/ the speakers.
They may be easier to drive than i am giving them credit for, and younmay love the combination.