Amp and vintage speaker Bake-off - Surrey - Sunday 7 Feb.

[graham67]

Confirmed:

Jack - Non-Smoking Man.

Carl - Shakey_Studioincar

Martin - Disarmamant

I would like to invite 3-4 wammers to an amp & speaker bake-off.

I have recently purchased a nice pair of vintage JBL 4311 control monitors with the Troels Gravesen crossovers. The sound through my Net Audio 405 and AN Zero pre is really enjoyable, however I would like to hear how they sound with some different amps to see what they respond to. I am interested in hearing both transistor and valve options (probably push pull?). Compared to the Tannoys, the JBLs are not as pronounced in the midrange, so I think an amp with a fuller midrange but a grippy bass will complement these speakers.

I also have some interesting vintage speakers in the house including Tannoy 15" GRF, Rogers LS6, Rogers Studio 1. So before I thin them out, I think it would be fun to have a session and play around with a few combos.

So am thinking of Sunday 7 Feb between 12 and 5. I am in Surrey near the M25.

Graham

 

[Non-Smoking Man]

Im up for this Graham.

I can bring a Rogue Audio 88 with Definitive Audio mods - 6550 output valves x 4 in PP.

Jack NSM

 

[graham67]

hi Jack,

That sounds good, look forward to seeing you on the 7th.

Graham

 

[Disarmamant]

Hi Graham

I'd be interested in coming to your bake off. I could bring a pair of EL34 mono block push pull valve amplifiers and a JOB 225 soild state class AB amplifier if those are of interest

Martin

 

[graham67]

Hi martin, you are more than welcome to attend and those amps sound interesting. I will send address details soon

Graham

 

[oldius]

Shame you're in the South, I'd have loved to come.

 

[Shakey_Studioincar]

I would love to come to this!

I've not much to offer in terms of your specified amp's, I do have a wonderful fully refurbished Yamaha CA1000 that sounds quite pretty in Class A?

Either way, I would love to come simple to experience the JBL's, let me know, I don't take up much space

 

[graham67]

Hi Carl,

Yes sure, please come along. And if you like, please bring the Yamaha, its from a similar time so will be interesting to try. I will send details to you shortly.

Graham

I would love to come to this!I've not much to offer in terms of your specified amp's, I do have a wonderful fully refurbished Yamaha CA1000 that sounds quite pretty in Class A?

Either way, I would love to come simple to experience the JBL's, let me know, I don't take up much space

 

[graham67]

Address details now sent via pm. Look forward to seeing you on Sunday

 

[Non-Smoking Man]

Ive extracted Diceman's LFD PA2 from my set up and am bringing that along as well because I want to know how good it is. (It's on loan.) ( With 5 levels in an active system you cant compare the amps in there because they are all chosen to do a different job - you wouldnt dream of putting a SS amp on a compression driver would you..?)

 

[Non-Smoking Man]

Just back from Redhill and wanted to jot down my thoughts whilst they are fresh in my mind.

We had great fun rotating the amps we had at our disposal and discussing our impressions of them.

Graham has a fine front end - a Garrard 401 with an Arm2. Ive heard this combination before at Scalford (Dom) and in Frimley (Diceman); also, I'm familiar with George's cart - an AT33PTG as I am using one in an idler (TD124) in an RB300. The Moon 300 phono stage is new to me as is the Head SUT. This, I thought, was a very competent front part of the system and it remained a constant throughout.

One of the first tracks we played was 'The Chain' - first on the resident pre power (Quad 34/405) and then via the 34 and the Rogue 88. The Rogue was the clear winner in many aspects, separation, rhythmically and, in a major way, bass weight and articulation. The track sounded really different.

We replaced the Quad 34 pre with an AN Zero pre but none of us liked it, so we proceeded to try Carls refurbished Yamaha integrated.

This did a very good job considering its vintage but Carl explained he had spent a lot of money restoring the amp and it showed. Graham, who likes rock, particularly warmed to it on tracks such as 'Highway To Hell' and the difficult to reproduce 'Hunky Dory'.

Then we went for the Quad 34 with the LFD PA2. It was swings and roundabouts with the Yamaha. We all thought it sounded different but werent sure if there was a clear winner. The LFD had better separation and, arguably, detail, but the Yamaha had a lot of verve going for it.

The winner emerged when we went back to the Rogue (with 34) and replayed 'The Chain': the bass was really marvelous and we had a combination of listenability, bass power and lovely vocals. Its not a standard 88 as its not only the Magnum version with the larger transformers, but has £2,500 woth of Definitive mods.

Thanks to Graham for the nibbles and a very pleasant afternoon. It was good to meet Carl as well.

Oh, and the JBLs? Very good I thought. Alnico magnets on the bass and mids and new crossovers.

Jack

 

[graham67]

Thanks to Jack and Carl for a fun afternoon. Jacks posting above sums up the findings really well.

I really liked the extra impact and scale that the Rogue power amp brought to proceedings, it was particularly good in the bass getting a rhythmic grip on the 12" JBL Aquaplas driver.

The vintage Yamaha amp was a real surprise having a lovely midrange but also an open and revealing presentation I was not expecting from a 70s knob-festooned amp. It was a peach and mated very well with the JBLs either in AB or class A mode. IMO, only in the bass was it obvious that something was lacking compared to the big Rogue Audio.

So a great fun afternoon that confirmed that the JBLs still makes a fine speaker that deserves its cult status. Every change was immediately obvious via the JBLs so I can see why they were popular monitors in their day.

Thanks again to Jack and Carl for bring the kit and making is possible.

Graham.

 

[Shakey_Studioincar]

What a lovely afternoon!

It was great meeting you Jack and thanks for having me Graham.

I only took a few dodgy phone pictures, I should have remembered my camera really.

I find this situation the best possible when one section of your system is in question, get a few like mindeds round with a bunch of different options of the same section and back to back them...

Graham's system sounds lovely, and at points today sounded truly great although I think he is correct to question the Quad combo's capability of driving his new speakers. The rogue was the overall winner and just had a tight leash on the speakers, it gave me a very good impression of decent valve power, it didn't sound weak at any point and had an especially strong control of lower midbass.

I was very happy also with the Yamaha's performance, it remained on the system for much longer than the others as I think Graham was also enjoying it very much playing record after record. The 15 Watt Yamaha held its own in some serious competition today, pipped only by the incredible Rouge of Jack's I could have listened to this pairing all day.

The real star though? The speakers. Being honest it's the reason I was there, I really wanted to hear these. They played all day revealing large differences between all amplification and pre amp combo's.. Over the moon with how these sound.

Here's some pics - please excuse them!

All in all a great afternoon, good company and a lovely system to enjoyed.

Thanks again.

 

[orbscure]

It warms me cockles to see my old JBL monitors being enjoyed again... after an all to brief visit up north which culminated in them being poorly received for their sonic abilities at the last NEBO, its good to see them being experienced and enjoyed again... and that is the reason why they were lovingly restored for me by Paul at Reference Fidelity, as seen here

 

[graham67]

Thanks for the kind comments guys. I have to admit I also am thrilled with the JBLs and today showed me there is a lot more to get out of them. But even with the current modest amps I still really enjoy the sound. The key feature for me is that they can play pretty much anything and make it sound good. We played mainly pop and rock today but they also sound good on electro, vocal led music, reggae etc.

Pete, as you are so close, you must come around some time and have a listen to these again, they really are a credit to Paul at RFC and yourself for bringing them back to life.

Graham.

 

[orbscure]

Pete, as you are so close, you must come around some time and have a listen to these again, they really are a credit to Paul at RFC and yourself for bringing hem back to life.

Appreciate the invite Graham... I'll be in touch and it'll really be great to be reunited with the JBL's and hear them in somebody else's system

 

[toprepairman]

Hi Graham.

Good to hear you had a good day.

Annoyed to have missed this gig but would be up for a visit next time you have anyone round again.

henry

 

[graham67]

Hi Graham.Good to hear you had a good day.

Annoyed to have missed this gig but would be up for a visit next time you have anyone round again.

henry

Hi Henry, I will definitely mention it to you next time I do something similar. But you are more than welcome to pop over and have a listen when convenient. I would be really interested to get your views on the JBLs and what type of amps you think would suit them.

See you on Sunday!

Graham.

 

[Beckenham]

Nice pictures and lovely Garrard!