Post by Leonard on Mar 15, 2018 13:57:35 GMT -5
They arrived exactly 1 week ago. Here they are, flanking my XPA-5 Gen 2.
Got them hooked up to a pair of B&W CM10 S2 loudspeakers.
Here's the back of one of the XPA-1 amps. Yes, that trigger wire goes to an XSP-1 Gen 2 preamp. Why two pairs of speaker wires? See the next photo below.
Here's the back of one of the loudspeakers. I did not want to cut nor extend the ends of my speaker wires, and I had two pairs lying around, so I simply used them both.
I had an pair of old wooden stands in storage, so I whipped them out, cleaned them, and used them.
When I sit down to listen, I switch the amps to Class A mode, which gets them really toasty. So I used some old hardwood footers.
I placed three of those under each amp, in a spot where there were no protruding screw heads.
It doesn't raise the amp by much, but it makes a huge difference. The extra space below allows more cold air to enter as warm air rises up and out of the top of the amp.
Here's a bird's eye view of the both the amps and the speakers. Yes, I know the speaker wires are long, but that's OK. I don't want to cut them, so I'll just get shorter ones in the future.
To break the amps in, I leave them in Class AB mode, playing songs of different genre at low-to-medium volume the entire day. It has now been a week. I listen only after dinner, to the exact same songs and with a fresh set of ears, so the improvement in sound quality is obvious. Compared to my XPA-5 Gen 2 amp, it now sounds lush, full, vibrant, and inviting, with excellent grunt and slam while being fluid in the midrange and light and airy on the top end, all at the same time. The soundstage got deeper and wider, too. And that's in Class AB mode. When I switch them to Class A, it becomes so much easier to picture the singer and band right in front of me. Instruments are life-sized and occupy a distinct space. Call me impressed!
Now I know what Class A monoblocks are all about, and I am very happy.
Got them hooked up to a pair of B&W CM10 S2 loudspeakers.
Here's the back of one of the XPA-1 amps. Yes, that trigger wire goes to an XSP-1 Gen 2 preamp. Why two pairs of speaker wires? See the next photo below.
Here's the back of one of the loudspeakers. I did not want to cut nor extend the ends of my speaker wires, and I had two pairs lying around, so I simply used them both.
I had an pair of old wooden stands in storage, so I whipped them out, cleaned them, and used them.
When I sit down to listen, I switch the amps to Class A mode, which gets them really toasty. So I used some old hardwood footers.
I placed three of those under each amp, in a spot where there were no protruding screw heads.
It doesn't raise the amp by much, but it makes a huge difference. The extra space below allows more cold air to enter as warm air rises up and out of the top of the amp.
Here's a bird's eye view of the both the amps and the speakers. Yes, I know the speaker wires are long, but that's OK. I don't want to cut them, so I'll just get shorter ones in the future.
To break the amps in, I leave them in Class AB mode, playing songs of different genre at low-to-medium volume the entire day. It has now been a week. I listen only after dinner, to the exact same songs and with a fresh set of ears, so the improvement in sound quality is obvious. Compared to my XPA-5 Gen 2 amp, it now sounds lush, full, vibrant, and inviting, with excellent grunt and slam while being fluid in the midrange and light and airy on the top end, all at the same time. The soundstage got deeper and wider, too. And that's in Class AB mode. When I switch them to Class A, it becomes so much easier to picture the singer and band right in front of me. Instruments are life-sized and occupy a distinct space. Call me impressed!
Now I know what Class A monoblocks are all about, and I am very happy.
There is some delay in delivery to Europe. I expect that someone from the US will share his opinion earlier