You were away. News to me, but then I sleep under rocks when bridges and highway overpasses are too hard to find.
Re-imagining "Class A" Amplification
- Thread starter gleeds
- Start date
Thank you, Steve. Showing them off with Kevin and Ed's highly capable SYSTEM THREE loudspeakers should be fun!
Steve et al., the Evolution Acoustics System Three speaker is so new that no photos will exist before The Show on June 7. I therefore asked Ed to share whatever he had available so folks would know what's in store. A rendering of the System Three can be seen below.
![System_3_5000_x_10000[1].JPG](https://www.whatsbestforum.com/data/attachments/122/122166-7ac413d7c54ca8ca82c3e1160be3dce8.jpg "System_3_5000_x_10000[1].JPG")
Hi All! I am back to Hong Kong finally! It was wonderful to meet all the friends, Lukas, Florian, Marc, Damon, Gary, Paul, Ivo at the show in Munich. It was fun and we really had a great time.
The System Three does look like a killer speaker and I am excited to hear the feedback from all of you after the show!
I just wanted to throw a comment in here that Gary @gleeds is an absolute pleasure to deal with. He was charitable with his time, taking the opportunity to discuss my system at length, what I was looking for and just overall sharing audio stories and advice.
If anyone is even thinking of adding the Westminster Reis to their setup, please take the time to talk with Gary!
If anyone is even thinking of adding the Westminster Reis to their setup, please take the time to talk with Gary!
Warren, it was great seeing you at The Show last week. Steve, Ron, and his posse, Matt K., aka mxk117, were there. My close colleagues, Damon V, Colin King, Ed Sudario, Dan Meinwald, Steven Norbert of Prana Fidelity, Bruce Ball and Julian Marguels, Ken Songer, and many others, were there. The show felt less well-attended than last year, but the sound was definitely up a notch, with some terrific rooms. Overall, this allowed visitors to linger, ask questions, and have a great listening experience.
We had a blast showing WestminsterLab electronics with Evolution Acoustics and their latest System Three loudspeakers. The sound from ATR Services' brilliant Ampex R2R machine was perhaps the most impressive music playback I have experienced! While there were at least three other R2R decks at the show, none compared with the ATR. The machine is roughly $30k with built-in electronics and $60k, as presented with their external pre-amp stage!
Mike L., I'm jealous you have one, and I don't!
We finally showed with bridged Rei amplifiers (800 watts into 4 ohms) with the Quest preamplifier, V2, and the new Monologue phono stage. Ed Suadario brought his one and only Jonathan Tinn Memorial NVS direct drive turntable in black, honoring our dear departed friend JT. Besides sounding incredible with Joel Durands Tosca tonearm and a DS Audio
DS-3 Master cartridge, the presentation was a fitting tribute to Jonathan and Kevin's next-gen Evolutions speakers.
Von Schweikert was killing it in one of the other big suites with the incredible Ultra 55 speakers and dual 12" Shockwave subwoofers controlling the room modes and producing the great imaging and powerful, tight clean bass VSA loudspeakers are known for. Lastly, in one of the smaller suites on floor three, we showed our new Trafomatic Audio 300B SE integrated amplifier with the magical Wolf Von Langa "Son" field coil hybrids.
We had a blast showing WestminsterLab electronics with Evolution Acoustics and their latest System Three loudspeakers. The sound from ATR Services' brilliant Ampex R2R machine was perhaps the most impressive music playback I have experienced! While there were at least three other R2R decks at the show, none compared with the ATR. The machine is roughly $30k with built-in electronics and $60k, as presented with their external pre-amp stage!
Mike L., I'm jealous you have one, and I don't!
We finally showed with bridged Rei amplifiers (800 watts into 4 ohms) with the Quest preamplifier, V2, and the new Monologue phono stage. Ed Suadario brought his one and only Jonathan Tinn Memorial NVS direct drive turntable in black, honoring our dear departed friend JT. Besides sounding incredible with Joel Durands Tosca tonearm and a DS Audio
DS-3 Master cartridge, the presentation was a fitting tribute to Jonathan and Kevin's next-gen Evolutions speakers.
Von Schweikert was killing it in one of the other big suites with the incredible Ultra 55 speakers and dual 12" Shockwave subwoofers controlling the room modes and producing the great imaging and powerful, tight clean bass VSA loudspeakers are known for. Lastly, in one of the smaller suites on floor three, we showed our new Trafomatic Audio 300B SE integrated amplifier with the magical Wolf Von Langa "Son" field coil hybrids.
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Gary,
Great stopping to talk with you as well. I also noticed that the show seemed to be less well attended. I also noticed that there seemed to be fewer good-sounding rooms. Just a feeling on my part.
Of the rooms you mentioned Gary, I found two rooms that I really liked, for one reason or another. Here in no particular order are the rooms that moved me.
The Hear This/Gestalt room with Trafomatic Audio 300B SE integrated amplifier with Wolf Von Langa "Son" field coil hybrids. On Saturday the ARS Machanae turntable was serving up some very beautiful music. Always a pleasure to hang with Colin and his great picks in eclectic music.
The Audio Association - Ed Sudario - The Evolution Acoustics System 3 with WestminsterLab amps/pre/phono was big and bold. Great sound.
(I edited my post to stay on topic)
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Wanted to give a big thanks and shoutout to @gleeds and @LampiNA for my new Westminsterlabs Quest V2. I have been running my Lampizator Horizon direct into my REI monoblocks, but finally could not resist the call of the Quest V2.
I'm now the proud owner of a shiny Quest V2. I have a odd setup where my source (Horizon) is about 30 ft from my amps. The plan is to place the Quest next to the REIs and have the Horizon run at full output level 63 through the long 30ft XLRs to the Quest, with very short XLRs from Quest to REIs.
My Horizon is in Poland for XDMI retrofitting, so my system is down right now. I am in the process of running another dedicated circuit for the Quest (each REI has its own circuit from a dedicated 100A subpanel).
The Quest V2 looks gorgeous as does everything designed by @lscangus - his architectural background really shines through!
More comments on sound once my Horizon gets back.
Again, muchos gracias to Gary and Fred for your exemplary service and dedication!
I'm now the proud owner of a shiny Quest V2. I have a odd setup where my source (Horizon) is about 30 ft from my amps. The plan is to place the Quest next to the REIs and have the Horizon run at full output level 63 through the long 30ft XLRs to the Quest, with very short XLRs from Quest to REIs.
My Horizon is in Poland for XDMI retrofitting, so my system is down right now. I am in the process of running another dedicated circuit for the Quest (each REI has its own circuit from a dedicated 100A subpanel).
The Quest V2 looks gorgeous as does everything designed by @lscangus - his architectural background really shines through!
More comments on sound once my Horizon gets back.
Again, muchos gracias to Gary and Fred for your exemplary service and dedication!
Our sincere pleasure Yeang! I'm looking forward to seeing how the new setup works out!
WestminsterLab Rei Class A Monoblock Power Amplifiers - The Absolute Sound
WestminsterLab Rei Class A Monoblock Power Amplifiers - Unlike most Class A amplifiers that run hot and are delivered by forklift, the Rei offers full Class A performance from a compact, relatively lightweight, and cool-running package. Robert Harley reports on this feat of audio legerdemain.
www.theabsolutesound.com
50+ years of tube amplification, replaced by a pair of Westminster Lab REIs. No more output tube problems, no feedback adjustments, no more heat (the EAR 890s generated 3 to 5 degree room temperature increases). Wonderful sound and the last amps I'll ever need.
WestminsterLab Rei Class A Monoblock Power Amplifiers - The Absolute Sound
WestminsterLab Rei Class A Monoblock Power Amplifiers - Unlike most Class A amplifiers that run hot and are delivered by forklift, the Rei offers full Class A performance from a compact, relatively lightweight, and cool-running package. Robert Harley reports on this feat of audio legerdemain.
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Thats funny I have a Pure Class A amp and experience NONE of what this ridiculous article asserts, the soft bass and lack of transparency you're quoting here. Before you shill for Gary ( I get it he's a nice guy) and Westminster know what you are talking about....Nothing on the market today truly replaces pure Class A amplification, I don't care how you want to market it, it simply doesn't. It's a matter of system building around the sound you get anyway, I get all the transparency I want from my Preamp (Ref6SE), and details from my dac (Totaldac Triunuty), and sense of space, and soundstage from my Streamer (Pulsar), and pure bliss from my amplifier (Sugden FBA 800), whcih is Pure Class A. Hot and inefficient, and absolutely LOVELY in it's sound presentation.
Marketing an amp as a replacement to Class A, or Class A thats better, reimagined whatever, is simply ridiculous. It's biased Class A, not Pure Class A... It's either Pure Class A or it's not, there is no in between.
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I could care less whether an amp is Class A (whether bias is fixed or variable), Class AB, Class D or whatever. The only thing I care about is the sound and the music. I have the Reis in my system, and they are outstanding for all of the reasons stated by Robert Harley in his Absolute Sound review and by all of the people on this forum who have heard them. I have compared them to amplifiers costing multiple times their price (and occupying a huge footprint like the Gryphon Apex and the Boulder 3050) and they either outperform or match them. I use the Tidal Audio Presencio and Prisma preamps, both of which mate well with the Reis.
Well thats just fine and dandy, but you aren't marketing and shilling for the brand at the expense of a technology that has stood the test of time as probably THE most respected form or amplification there is. Why else would you market an amp that isn't Class A and doesn't even sound like Class A. Simple, to benefit from the notion Class A is the one of the best forms of amplification by saying your amps are some reimagined form of Class A. Class A is Class A, period...It may sound good and may build a fine system for some, but it doesn't sound like Class A not even close. I've heard it and I'm tired of these claims. Sell your amps, market them, but they are not class A and they aren't anything new to the scene, and they do NOT sound like Pure Class A amplification. They aren't even reimagined. It's biased Class A, which is every single Class AB amp on the market today..Nelson Pass has been doing this for 50 years.
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...Pass and the sliding-bias approach has all been openly acknowledged. They don't appear to be hiding anything. This seems a bit like the almond/oat milk wars. Milk comes from cows, so you can't call a product almond or oat milk.
So it's not "pure" Class A. Can it just be Class A, or is that not allowed? Asking for a friend.
So it's not "pure" Class A. Can it just be Class A, or is that not allowed? Asking for a friend.
No, when referring to the Classing of an amp it's either biased, which is an AB amp or it's Pure Class A, or in your case "Class A". I don't know why this is confusing. Blurring the lines makes no sense. If you own a Westminster Amp it's an AB amp.
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