Best amplification for Wilson Audio Sascha DAW

[andromedaaudio]

ARC 160 M controls the sasha DAW very good.,i heard them at the Brussels show
The dutch importer of ARC Wilson has an expirience center.
Sounded indeed a lot better then the typical Wilson d agostino Dcs set up.

I ll be hearing D agostino / relentless again next weekend.
Pilium sounded nice too , although i have limited experience with the brand

 

[Jpspock]

I would not say arc are better than d’agostino +dcs , but different. Question of taste. When you see all tubes in an amp arc, and after a certain time you need to change doubt, or one of them failed, I prefer than a good Class A amp.fyi, I had an arc preamp.

 

[Jpspock]

… will give them a listen…

I have daw with xa160.5 , really amazing.

 

[Bobvin]

Pilium I have never heard before… care to share any experience on sound signature/characteristics? Always great to learn about new brands… cheers

Always hard to describe a “sound signature” without comparisons. And as I represent Pilium here in NW USA, I want to be kind to competing brands. You mentioned the DartZeel and I had a Dart amp here briefly and would say, among the other brands mentioned up-thread, the Pilium is probably closer to that sound, but certainly the Pilium has all the grunt, grip, and control in the bass one would ever want and is unflinching when faced with any speaker load. But there is a “liquidity” to the Pilium sound I find absent in the likes of many Euro brands like Solution or CH Precision. Pilium is a very neutral sound signature, and for sure will be ”faster” and “tighter” than Mcintosh (imho) which when I have heard is a little softer and not as quick on transient attack.

I felt the Audio Research was also more “dynamic” than McIntosh when I have heard it. I once took a friend for a road trip to hear the Wilson Sabrina at the dealer and the Sabrinas were setup with McIntosh. Again I found the McIntosh somewhat soft in comparison. Both my friend and I came away thinking the amp didn’t really make the speakers stand up and get noticed. That would never be the issue with Pilium, every speaker I have heard them with I get the impression I am hearing everything the speaker is capable of and really no “sound signature” of the amps themselves.

Pilium dealers in EU can be found here: https://www.piliumaudio.com/where-to-buy/

 

[chuck]

… basically saying, that if you want something that plays significantly better than the McIntosh, you need to spend a lot of money but then you might aswell add the bigger Wilsons… am I understanding that right?… and then there is still the question of „personal taste“…

The way it worked for me was I had B&W 802D with a Classe CA2200 amp, that was perfectly fine, but wanted better sound. Listened to a bunch of amps and the Boulder 2060 was the one that was way better so I got one even though it cost twice what I had originally planned to spend. Indeed, it made the 802Ds sound dramatically better -- night and day difference. But now I had an end game amp that would drive any speaker. So when a pair of used Wilson Alexandria X2S2s about six months later were at the local dealer ... I already had the amp. So eventually I traded my 802Ds and got the speakers, too. The Sasha DAW are great speakers so you might be done with a Boulder 2160. Just that having an amp like that removes a barrier to moving up in speakers.

 

[Dishman442]

4 plus months later, what did you decide? You sounded like your list was full, or I would have suggested the Pass Labs class A monoblocks. There are multiple choices, with tubelike presentation while maintaining strong bass control, plus they are tuned to be extremely good at soundstage depth and width.

 

[skinnyfla]

4 plus months later, what did you decide? You sounded like your list was full, or I would have suggested the Pass Labs class A monoblocks. There are multiple choices, with tubelike presentation while maintaining strong bass control, plus they are tuned to be extremely good at soundstage depth and width.

… still not found anything that I like significantly better - as I said before, considering all the „bashing“ that is going on towards McIntosh I thought this would be clear… turns out, that I like the McIntosh quite a lot, especially at their price point.. will probably have to spend a lot more to make a bigger boat that floats to my likings… maybe also because of my musical tastes, i am not very „audiophile“ but much more in the „music fan“ camp coming from subcultures and such… I like a sound that`s warm and colorful in the mids, has zero sharpness in the highs and tight/strong/rythmic in the bass… plus I do like a gig soundstage… CH precision for example is always considered a lot better than McIntsoh - now that may be so, but not for what I personally like… so „better“ in an objective sense is not always better “subjectively“ - personal taste plays a major role…

 

[skinnyfla]

… as I live in Germany, I might also look out for some european brands…

 

[Nemal1]

If you are enjoying what you are presently using, why not just keep doing so. Everyone will have an opinion but it’s your system, nobody else’s.

 

[skinnyfla]

If you are enjoying what you are presently using, why not just keep doing so. Everyone will have an opinion but it’s your system, nobody else’s.

… a thought that`s growing on me… ;-)

 

[DasguteOhr]

… as I live in Germany, I might also look out for some european brands…

If you want something with tubes I would look to Italy. Otherwise in Germany acoustic arts amp.

SMA180

99760334-75d7-4692-944c-f80f3487fdd7

www.angstromaudio.com

AMP IV

www.accusticarts.de

 

[chuck]

will probably have to spend a lot more to make a bigger boat that floats to my likings… maybe also because of my musical tastes, i am not very „audiophile“ but much more in the „music fan“ camp coming from subcultures and such… I like a sound that`s warm and colorful in the mids, has zero sharpness in the highs and tight/strong/rythmic in the bass… plus I do like a gig soundstage

This is a different approach to how I chose my amp. I chose a few test recordings that should sound quite different. Recordings that should sound warm and colorful in the mids and recordings that don't to see if the amp made them sound the way the musicians/engineers intended. If a recording has sharpness in the highs, I want to hear that sharpness. I did not want the amp to add sharpness but should not cover it up/smooth it over. The Psycho Motion Picture Soundtrack should not sound like Diana Krall and vice versa.

 

[Imperial]

Bigger ‘Tosh then? You could Get 1.25 mono’s for your budget. I bet you could, 2kw used
50 in budget. Go 1.25 ‘Tosh. its a safe choice.
But you Are trying to convince yourself that the grass is greener and maybe you should tru other things…

IF so? Demo, or don’t buy…

Now I have to add this video…

The grass WAS greener…

 

[andromedaaudio]

VTL CAT ARC

 

[Imperial]

Yeah so I edited My post #73….
Sasha Daw with Mc1.25kw vs neutral Amp.
A panel debate vid…
Check it out…

 

[skinnyfla]

Yeah so I edited My post #73….
Sasha Daw with Mc1.25kw vs neutral Amp.
A panel debate vid…
Check it out…

… the more I try the more I keep coming back to McIntosh… blame it on my personal taste in music or my listening tastes… are McIntosh neutral, no. Are they rich, full, organic, highly musical sounding and do they work great with almost every type of music and recording, yes. Thinking about demoing a few monos…

 

[defride]

… as I live in Germany, I might also look out for some european brands…

You're in Germany? Worth seeing if you can demo an Analog Domain Isis. I'm aware of a couple of people who moved big Mac amps on and replaced with this modest appearing integrated - on a purely sound basis. Based in Munich

 

[andromedaaudio]

Yeah so I edited My post #73….
Sasha Daw with Mc1.25kw vs neutral Amp.
A panel debate vid…
Check it out…

Who says d agostino is neutral?

Do you have some back ground info on that?

By the way sorry i didnt watch the vid .

I think i heard these Mac intosh at munich ,nice rich tube sound .

Best i ve heard SF as of yet

 

[andromedaaudio]

Same as propagating Boulder is neutral .

I ive heard now every Boulder in their line up.
(I ve owned a 1060 for a couple of years)
Incl 3050 monos / 3000 series pre amp .
Far from neutral .
I dont care what the measurements say .
I ve heard also the D agostino relentless pre power on several occasions same story .
Its a magazine hype/ fabrication.

If they would state sterile id say yes.
Why not go with Halcro if you like that kinda sound

 

[Imperial]

A song I like is called ‘Sonne’
The text goes:
Sie ist der hellste Stern von allen…

Presence of all the colours is what? Neutral. Light!
But, as it is to see what it illuminates, we must have
Alle kleuren,

So song by K3 - alle kleuren
Or song by Rammstein -Sonne…

I dare not say any Amp is truly neutral. But as long as it can reveal colours, it will do…