Heaven

[Cooped]

I have died and gone to heaven. I just purchased a pair of Ascent speakers with a B&K EX-442 amp and Pro-10MC preamp. It has been over thirty years since I have listen to a quality stero system like this. I wish now I had not waited so long, the sound is just so incredible! Any comments would be appreciated as to how to improve my system within reason.
Thank you
Don

 

[tsv_1]

I have died and gone to heaven. I just purchased a pair of Ascent speakers with a B&K EX-442 amp and Pro-10MC preamp. It has been over thirty years since I have listen to a quality stero system like this. I wish now I had not waited so long, the sound is just so incredible! Any comments would be appreciated as to how to improve my system within reason.
Thank you
Don

Hi Don! Welcome to heaven! Great to have you here on this side of the planar-gates.

 

[Len44]

Hi Don!

Congrats on grabbing a terrific speaker! And, you have also found a great forum with lots of knowledgeable folks willing to help with any questions. Enjoy your music!

 

[Rich]

Actually . . . heaven would be putting that amp on the woofers and putting some tubes on the panels! The ascents sound incredible bi-amped with solid state on woofers and tubes on the panels.

 

[churchill]

Welcome to the club Don!

 

[Cooped]

Hey Rich,
Are there any decent tube amps at a price that won't send me to the poor house? Thanks for the suggestion, never would have thought of that combination.

 

[Rich]

Are there any decent tube amps at a price that won't send me to the poor house? Thanks for the suggestion, never would have thought of that combination.

Sure there are. Go to audiogon and check out the category: amplifiers: tube. You will find all kinds of brands at all kinds of price points. Too many good amps at reasonable prices to name them all, but be sure to check out Jolida, for a very lush sound at a reasonable price. Rogue Audio, Atma-sphere, and Prima Luna also have great reputations and often reasonable prices on used gear. You can even get old Mac, CJ, and ARC gear for reasonable prices a lot of times. The thing to remember is that you need to make sure the tube amp has the same (or very close) voltage gain that your SS bass amp has, or you will need a volume attenuator in the circuit. This requires scouring the specs to determine voltage gain of the amps you are interested in and matching to your solid state amp.

But the cost and effort is definitely worth it! The Ascents have long been a favorite to bi-amp with tubes on the panels and SS on the bass by people in the know. Takes the sound up to another level altogether. I originally had a CJ Premier 140 tube amp driving my Ascents. But when I put that amp on just the panels and put a (very basic) SS amp on the woofers . . . WOW!!! Everything got better, from the bass to the highs, the pace, rhythm and timing, just everything. Highly recommended. It is definitely worth the effort.

As an aside, this is basically what ML does with almost all their modern speakers. They put a SS amp on the woofers for you, and allow you to put whatever kind of amp you want on the panels. And they all sound great with a good tube amp on the panels.

 

[Rehan Azim Hashmi]

Welcome to Martin Logan Owners community.

Happy Listening to the great Ascent speakers!

 

[repman]

Welcome Cooped , enjoy heaven on earth. I love Ascents you found a good one Rich makes a good point about using a SS on the woofer and tubes on the panels. I have never had ascents but I use a Conrad Johnson premier 11-A tube amp on my Sequels and it sounds great . You will see them on Audiogon in the 1800-2200 range often.

Larry

 

[danvu]

I'm still waiting for my MW LS100 from Todd (tsv_1) and hopefully I will be in my heaven too when it arrives . Love the sound of the SWL9.0SE so it's just getting better.

 

[projectormovielover]

The Logan deliver

 

[thazeldean]

Hi Don,
Welcome, I am a new member also and find this site to be a great place to swap ideas on improvements to your sound system.
I am also new to tubes and will never look back.
Tony.

 

[Cooped]

Hey Rich,
I took your advice and bought some Jolida Fusion Mono block amps to replace one of my B & K stereo amps and you were right, I am amazed, they sound so much better. Thanks for the advice. Next on my list is to upgrade my preamp so again any suggestions would be appreciated. Also what are your thoughts on speaker cables?

 

[amey01]

Welcome. Yeah, it's a bit like that.