A visit to Phil "The Count"'s Snell A2 system

[JANDL100]

I'm sure many of you will recall the "will I / won't I / where the hell can I find some" thread of Phil's a few months back where he was in search of a pair of A3 or A2 Snells.

Well, he got some A2's a month or so back, shipped from foreign parts.

I spent the morning with Phil today to a) enjoy his excellent company and b) have a gander at his recently acquired Snell A2 speakers.

Here's the proud owner with his new speakers ....

Impressive, eh! :^

Well, I have to tell you that they sound bloody good, too.

With Phil's AN OTO amp the sound was alive and nicely focussed. Nat King Cole sounded in-the-room with very natural presence. Very nice soundstaging - clear pure mids, nicely transparent. Bass was deep and well-textured but a little loose and ill-defined. There was a definite limit to the volume level that was achievable. The OTO does not really have the power to go full-range at realistic levels on some music.

This wasn't news to Phil and, with this limitation in mind, he had asked me to bring along my leetle Parasound A21 250wpc solid state power amp that sounds so good with my MBL speakers. Yup, power and depth and excellent control, huge dynamic swings easily encompassed, but ... a little too much presence at the treble end and imaging was a little broader than with the OTO. There seems a definite synergy of valves with the Snell A2 speakers.

Lovely speakers, very impressive - I enjoyed listening to them a lot - if I was still into speaker boxswapping I'd definitely have asked Phil for 1st refusal if he decides to move them on.

Thanks for hosting me today, Phil - and thanks for the pizza lunch as well.

More about some of our other hifi shenanigans later ....

 

[Hornucopia]

REAL speakers!

And it's obligatory to listen sans shoes!

You can feel the quality through the soles of your feet?

Might work well with a time-matched amp like a Hafler DH200 as well.

Always fancied big Snells, except for worry about decay in units/crossovers.

 

[russ abbott - royds broth]

They look fantastic.

 

[The Count]

Cheers Jerry, was a pleasure. Thanks for bringing round the Parasound, Dino and a carrier bag full of Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin for a multitude of mini bake-offs :^

We tried some interesting combinations, as well as vinyl to the Oto phonostage and the Dino with Never Connected PSU, the amp bake-offs were:

CDQ > Oto

CDQ > Parasound via the digital out

CDQ > Parasound via the analogue output stage of the CDQ

CDQ > Oto then Oto Pre-out > Parasound

Interesting stuff. The only thing we didn't try was bi-amping with the Parasound running the bass driver and the Oto handling the mid and tweeter.

I've been making notes over the weeks of owning the Type As and will try and write up my thoughts / experiences in a review over the next couple of weeks

 

[JANDL100]

... and ... we also played a bit with phonostages and compared the OTO's onboard one with my Trichord Dino / NCPSU.

No doubt about it, the OTO's is good, but the Dino/NC is more open and lets the music flow better. It simply lets the rhythms through more easily, it's not a subtle difference once you've been listening for a few minutes. But as Phil pointed out, the Dino/NC at used prices costs about half of the complete OTO - so both 'stages are good value.

This was with a Dynavector DV10X5 high-output MC cart (mine in fact, on long term loan to Phil! ) in Phil's lovely JVC direct drive deck with its plasticine DIY plinth damping and enviably fine automatic arm features. Bugger - I fancy a bit of that auto-stuff. :dunno: Lovely deck - great sound. :^

Phil's hoping that Jack will be coming round for a listen, and will bring the superb Ming Da 2006 phonostage ... I warned Phil that he'd better have the appropriate amount of ££££ spare in his bank account as it is f*cking amazing! :shock:

Here's a pic of Phil's rack ... no, not :bouncey: ...

 

[i_should_coco]

Snell As definitely like a bit of power. 50-100W needed, really. Just tried my 50W Sony VFET at a friends this afternoon and it wasn't a great match. I think big valves are preferable to big solid state.

 

[Lokes]

Ha, Phil you look like the cat that's got the cream

 

[Guest]

Glad you like them and surprised Jerry likes them as we tend to differ on hifi tastes.

As said the type A's need power and it has to be valves. I have found the beard ideal, but I still have a niggle that better is out there, probably a scratch I will have to itch after the Io arrives.

Perhaps we need a type A amp bake off?

 

[The Count]

Perhaps we need a type A amp bake off?

Splendid idea :^

I would have loved to hear these with Jules' Jolida amps - was a bit gutted when you sold those mate

 

[JANDL100]

Glad you like them and surprised Jerry likes them as we tend to differ on hifi tastes.

Very fine speakers - I liked them a lot. :^

I think big valves are preferable to big solid state.

Yep, when I was there, Phil was heard to be muttering "KT88?" ....

 

[mj446]

Wow, that's a fine pair.

 

[Iving]

I have a pair of Snell Type AIII. I love them. Their only failing is slight forwardness at the top end. But they are so open and transparent. I have never experienced such balmy wind from any Hi-Fi speaker. They need power. I use a Quad 909 and it is enough. Probably I will get another for bi-amping. The 909 is a good calming influence too. A Linn Kairn pre keeps things unobstructed. My Type As are not source-fussy and can please with a variety of inputs. I use a Linn Sondek / Ittok / Troika which of course is awesome - but also a Rega Planar 3 / RB300 / Rega Exact and that sounds great too. Even digits from my PC via Firewire can be enjoyable. I had the miserable refoaming problem (with the woofers; the mids have been OK), but a lovely guy in London (the reputable Dave Smith) sorted me out - and now they are just dandy. Hope the notes are a useful addition ...

 

[Bruce]

Agree Great Speaker-one of the Classics

Here's mine at my previous house Bi-Amped--they sound their best this way.

Bruce

 

[sunbeamgls]

thanks for the pictures and write-up gents

 

[JANDL100]

More amplifier fun at Phil's yesterday ....

I've never heard those A2 speakers sound so good as with that Viva amp!

.... mmmmm .... Phil now has a lovely 2-box Ming Da phonostage on the rack, too. Seriously nice! (I'm dead jealous, actually - best 'stage I have ever heard, and not by a little).

 

[The Count]

Didn’t spot the updates to this thread till now. Apologies.

Lovely speakers guys, great to see. Wow, I’d love to hear some A-IIIs. Are they A-IIIs or A-IIIis?

What a great time yesterday. We listened mainly to vinyl via my JVC direct drive deck, Dynavector 10x5 cartridge and the new addition of the lovely Ming Da 2006 phono stage (more on that another time).

As you can see we played with 3 valve amps. The Viva really gelled with the system, it’s clearly a great amp - it was certainly a great match for the A-IIs, they enjoyed that extra bit of power and it was a lovely engaging sound. I’m seriously thinking that I want one.

As an aside, I had only ever listened to my A-IIs connected to the 4 ohm taps of my Oto SE. Well, they’re 4 ohm speakers I thought… So I tried them for the first time on the 8 ohm taps – a little less focussed spatially but a more immediate and enjoyable sound. A lesson learned yet again.

 

[Guest]

Excellent news on the vinyl side :^

I have always found 8ohm the best choice too. More drive to the sound.

How many watts is the viva? What valves?

 

[JANDL100]

17wpc - 2x 300B per channel in push-pull configuration. It's my Viva 300p.

 

[Guest]

Amazed it had enough power. Gives me some more options for mine.