330 monoblocks finally finished

[Another Johnson]

View attachment 133731View attachment 133732

The 330M's sounded real good, but so did the 160M MK2's for half the price. Going to depend on room size and speaker selection, and I suppose what you can afford.

No glaring shortcomings, strong bass and musical.

One observation or excuse for not having more praise is that I do NOT like box speakers in general, the Wilsons did their best in vain to convert me. However I know these speakers so gauging the amp's contribution is easier than with unfamiliar speakers - so there is that.

Good amps, Audio Research continues to improve and I admit that their products over a decade ago just didn't move me (flat & dry). Much has changed for the better, but the prices are well beyond my reach, and that falls on me I guess - gotta earn more.

One thing I do NOT know for sure is how to report the soundstage characteristics, or better known as; apparently nobody appreciates a strong center stage as much as I do, and they all want the stage as wide as possible no matter what.
With the loudspeakers so far apart I cannot tell you much about depth and imaging, and are confined to frequency response or just natural flow.

I was sitting in the first row of both rooms, just off center by one seat. No panning or phase issues.
Overall a better evening than with Octave Audio, bless their efforts but that mystery about "phase" or "out of phase" is an issue I'd like to see fairly resolved.

To be fair the Audio Research evening was plagued with two of the building's three A/C units going out on a hot evening, but everyone joked about it. And late in the Room-2 presentation some server sync issues kept Harry Belafonte from getting us on the Banana Boat (Day-O), but the good tunes kept playing.
People were in a good mood because good music can do that.

The 330M, going back to AR's roots with all 3-stages tube everywhere (no J-fets if I heard right), but with a 4-layer circuit board. Some discussion on tube swapping, sounded like you will want to stay with the Tung-Sol KT170's (long story).

EDIT: The pair of silver 330M monoblocks were heard at the event are now owned by Paragon and one would think are up for sale - someone asked if the rep's owned them. I have always thought of Audio Research products as a silver face, and these did not disappoint.

FWIW, I am intimately familiar with the Paragon demo rooms used here. If you ask any of their knowledgeable staff (Larry, Richard, Matt, Chris, Dylan, etc) they will tell you that the sweet spot is in the back row at center. They will happily set up a private demo for you, after the AC is fixed, of course. I often attend these events, but medical issues have kept me away this year. I would have loved to interact with both Dave and Val. I wish I could have attended.

 

[kach22i]

FWIW, I am intimately familiar with the Paragon demo rooms used here. If you ask any of their knowledgeable staff (Larry, Richard, Matt, Chris, Dylan, etc) they will tell you that the sweet spot is in the back row at center. They will happily set up a private demo for you, after the AC is fixed, of course. I often attend these events, but medical issues have kept me away this year. I would have loved to interact with both Dave and Val. I wish I could have attended.

Thank you for the information. I am only 5'-5" tall and have been in the back row before, front and center works for me. However sitting farther back would indeed fill in the center stage a little if I understand equilateral triangles.

Larry did say that he and most everyone else likes the way Room-2 came out, but the larger pieces are inappropriate for it.

If I were serious about a purchase I would for sure contact Paragon for some private room time. They have the first pair of silver face 330M's in the country and are great to deal with.

 

[Dave Gordon]

Ask Jeff Fischel about his 300 watt monoblocks (ART 300). He ships everything hard wired for 4 ohms. Having owned both CJ and ARC big monoblocks, I know that either 4 or 8 can be chosen, but one will sound more pleasing to most. Jeff will rewire on request.

Speakers are not constant impedance devices. The complex impedance has frequency dependent real and imaginary components (resistance and reactance respectively). Tube output stages, with the exception of Futterman and related style designs, pair with their load via transformers. You can run as though the load is 4 ohms, or as though the load is 8 ohms… and in rare cases 2 or 16. Always a compromise … but loved by aficionados around the world.

What would you have done instead? Enlighten us.

At the Paragon event we used the 4-ohm taps with the XVX speakers. As Audiohertz2 mentioned, those speakers drop quite low in both the upper bass and midrange. When we were at Quintessence Audio the next week, using a virtually identical system with the XVX again, we used the 8-ohm tap in their better damped (over-damped?) room.
We also prefer the acoustics in Room 2, and thought the new Watt Puppy sounded excellent in an appropriate system and room. Clap your hands in both rooms, particularly by the speakers, and listen for yourself.

 

[Audiohertz2]

Ask Jeff Fischel about his 300 watt monoblocks (ART 300). He ships everything hard wired for 4 ohms. Having owned both CJ and ARC big monoblocks, I know that either 4 or 8 can be chosen, but one will sound more pleasing to most. Jeff will rewire on request.

Speakers are not constant impedance devices. The complex impedance has frequency dependent real and imaginary components (resistance and reactance respectively). Tube output stages, with the exception of Futterman and related style designs, pair with their load via transformers. You can run as though the load is 4 ohms, or as though the load is 8 ohms… and in rare cases 2 or 16. Always a compromise … but loved by aficionados around the world.

What would you have done instead? Enlighten us.

Well , such a powerful amplifier i would like to have 8/4/2 ohm taps as a min, its 300 watts most likely will be paired with a large multi driver setup where impedance will surely see below 4 ohm for load ..

Now you can run the amp into impedance mismatch , this will increase its output distortion, depending on The frequency where this takes place, it may or may not be pleasant to listen to , your output toobs wont be happy also.

my 2cents ..!