Better Than Class A amp?
- Thread starter dallasjustice
- Start date
So Awsmone, your dist says;
"He says they have not finalised case work yet, and are awaiting Fischer Germany to complete modifications"
And He says;
"That a number of dealerships have preproduction models to demo
But this is not final case configuration
Mola Mola will not recieve new case work or final electonic upgrade till September"
Jan-Peter van Amerongen of Mola Mola says;
"After several unforeseen delays the product is now in production"
So CK and Awsmone I would say your dist is wrong. If you guys want to believe otherwise that is fine with us guys in the US that have the PRODUCTION Mola Mola's and are really enjoying them. If anyone is in the D/FW area and would like to hear them don't hesitate to contact me.
"He says they have not finalised case work yet, and are awaiting Fischer Germany to complete modifications"
And He says;
"That a number of dealerships have preproduction models to demo
But this is not final case configuration
Mola Mola will not recieve new case work or final electonic upgrade till September"
Jan-Peter van Amerongen of Mola Mola says;
"After several unforeseen delays the product is now in production"
So CK and Awsmone I would say your dist is wrong. If you guys want to believe otherwise that is fine with us guys in the US that have the PRODUCTION Mola Mola's and are really enjoying them. If anyone is in the D/FW area and would like to hear them don't hesitate to contact me.
I need some time as I am breaking the Mola Mola's in. You may want to come over for a listen Art.
Totally fascinating lol
Well I cannot get a mola mola except through my distributor
So what are we to do or think?
Could it be they are supplying USA first ? and telling distributors elsewhere they are not ready yet ? If first production unit processing are slow could be this would be a logical worldwide distribution plan
Well I cannot get a mola mola except through my distributor
So what are we to do or think?
Could it be they are supplying USA first ? and telling distributors elsewhere they are not ready yet ? If first production unit processing are slow could be this would be a logical worldwide distribution plan
Hi Scott,
There is no official Mola Mola distributor in Hong Kong yet. There is one in Taiwan but it sells locally only.
Jan-Peter van Amerongen is a guy in Mola Mola Netherland who answers my email sent directly to Mola Mola.
Maybe he is withholding some info?
I tend to agree with Awsmone that Mola Mola is probably taking care of the North American market more than the European & Asian counterparts.
Hi Scott,
There is no official Mola Mola distributor in Hong Kong yet. There is one in Taiwan but it sells locally only.
Jan-Peter van Amerongen is a guy in Mola Mola Netherland who answers my email sent directly to Mola Mola.
Maybe he is withholding some info?
I tend to agree with Awsmone that Mola Mola is probably taking care of the North American market more than the European & Asian counterparts.
If this is the case it is because of limited production. Also our US Distributor has been showing these amps for 3 years. He probably placed his order 2 to 3 years ago. It would be only be fair that the dist who put his order in first gets the first production run.
I would tell you guys to just be patient. I am sure they will be available to you soon and they are well worth the wait
I was teasing bro, let me know when a good time for a visit would be. Have a great weekend Scotty!
I knew that big A. I am dying to have you over which will be soon
Interested in hearing how it compares to the BMC units.
I just got these baby's in my main rig today. I want to give about 200 hours before I give them a serious listen.
I used to own the BMC monos. My guess not having both in my system is the the mola mola is more refined with much better low end control/realism.
Hi Scott, after 200 hours the Mola-Mola Kalugas will probably sound quite nice... But I suspect they won't be even close to the magic that they are capable of delivering. You might even hear still traces of treble intermodulation sidebands... Those start fading later on down to the 0 mark.
I have broken in two NCore amps this far.... The Merrill Veritas that I reviewed for PFO continue to evolve for about 1K hours.... And my Rowland M925, which sport very large input transformers, took 1500 hours to mature completely.
To do break-in 24/7 without aging my CDp, I feed amps psudo-white noise from an FM tuner interstation hash.... I do it 24/7 at moderate volume, unless I am listening to music.
Guido
I have broken in two NCore amps this far.... The Merrill Veritas that I reviewed for PFO continue to evolve for about 1K hours.... And my Rowland M925, which sport very large input transformers, took 1500 hours to mature completely.
To do break-in 24/7 without aging my CDp, I feed amps psudo-white noise from an FM tuner interstation hash.... I do it 24/7 at moderate volume, unless I am listening to music.
Guido
Thank you Guido. I appreciate your advice on break in. I am using my music server and I have many types of music flowing thru the Mola Molas for break in
Veloce Saetta Monoblocks vs. Mola Mola Kaluga
Before I got the Mola Mola Kaluga monos into my system, I had been listening exclusively with the Veloce Saetta Monoblocks. For further background please read the many show reports pairing the Veloce gear with YG speakers. No doubt, it's a great combination. For those of you unfamiliar with Veloce's gear I'll give you a little background. Veloce audio is Vytas Vielsulas and Mark Conti. Vytas is a well known class D amp designer historically employing hypex modules, discrete tube input stage and battery power. Vytas is also the man behind the Ls-1 pre which many say is one of the finest pre-amps available at any price. I won't get into the Ls-1 here. However, I think now is a good time to give some context to my ravings about the OEM ncore 1200 module amps I've had in my system and in particular the mola mola. I use DIRAC Live in my sytem along with a pair of time/phase aligned subs utilizing the crossovers in my DEQX-HDP4, which is also my DAC/PRE. My room is very resolving and I've made every effort to neutralize any room, gain matching and subwoofer integration effects in my comparisons. So, the comparison between these two amps is really just the effect the amp has on the EXACT SAME SYTEM.
I've always been fascinated with class D amps. The promise of achieving better sound than traditional mega hot/inefficient amps and also not spending a fortune on electricity, adding another a/c unit to my room or taking my shirt off after only one hour of music listening, has been a goal of mine.
The Veloce Saetta Monoblocks are based on the older hypex UCD modules (not the newer hypex ncore) bridged to deliver approximately 400 watts of power. The Saetta also have a discrete tube input stage. The input stage is based on the 6H30 tubes and of course the output is a switching output stage. The entire amp is powered by battery. The Veloce Saetta Monos are very nice looking amps.
The Saetta are priced around the same price range as the mola mola kaluga and also use a hypex module at it's heart. It's for all of these reasons, I felt like this comparison is the most important one I could possibly write about in this thread. I've also recently owned the Krell 900e monoblocks so their sound is still fresh in my head. I also owned, not too long ago, the Soulution 710. However, Veloce is the best direct comparison I can render here.
Total Dynamic Power:
Compared to most amps I've heard, the Veloce is a very powerful amp. One thing I've noticed from going to hifi shows and listening to systems in hotel rooms, is the musical genres played are somewhat limited. I mean, how often have you heard the final movement to Saint-Saens Symphony no.3 (the organ symphony) played at full tilt in a hotel room? Would you ever want to? Now, would you want to hear it my room? Uh, yes! IMO, large scale symphony recorded with big dynamic range IS THE MOST DIFFICULT MUSIC TO REPRODUCE TOP TO BOTTOM. This is how I test the dynamic range for any amp in my system. This is also where I found that I could get the Veloce Saetta Monos to clip. When a class D amp clips, it's not a pretty thing. They don't distort the same way a Dartzeel would or a quality tube amp. In short, class D amps use alot of feedback because you don't want to hear THAT TYPE of distortion. This is also why I feel that it is imperative to find the most powerful class D amp possible along with the best power supply. With the mola mola or any of the other ncore 1200 amps I've heard, clipping is outside the amp's vocabulary. It's simply not possible. Could you get the Veloce Saetta monos to clip in your system, who knows? I can't say. My speakers are demanding and dip into 3 ohm range with approximately 87db efficiency. I could.
Total Resolution:
Let's start with the bottom end because that's where the Veloce Saetta is at it's best, IMO. The bass is very good. One of the best I've heard. Compared to the mola mola kaluga though, it's a little lacking control and realism. In the end, the mola mola is a much better arbiter of bass. The mid range is also more refined with the mola mola amps. I put the Mola Mola Kaluga mid range in league with the BEST I've heard; Krell and Soulution. The top end is where the Veloce Saetta isn't in the same class as the Mola Mola Kaluga. The top end in the Veloce Saetta compared to the mola mola is much harder and less refined. This is particularly true when I play the complex symphonic music. For example, I enjoy the Dallas Wind Symphony and the huge dynamics Keith Johnson extracts from their performances at the Dallas Meyerson. Dr. Johnson was able to eek out just a little more detail and dynamics from the Dallas Wind Symphony from the "Garden of Dreams" release. This David Maslanka musical performance released only in redbook 16/44 IS MY ANSWER to any who claim redbook is not capable of high resolution music reproduction. It's recordings like these that really separate the men from the boys when it comes to rooms and gear. Can the horns be reproduced without any hint of shrill edginess during their most expansive climax in the end of Maslanka's finest effort? The Veloce Saetta came close but the Mola Mola Kaluga does it without breaking a sweat; no shrill edge. I only get clear, true and beautiful music.
This is where we can talk about class D and tubes. To me, the Mola Mola Kaluga and to a slightly lesser extent, the aforementioned Acoustic Imagery Atsah and Merrill Veritas, bridge the gap between solid state and tubes. No longer can one look at the parts or design of an amp and make any accurate predictions about how the amp will sound. In the past, the older hypex UCD technology WAS susceptible to those who criticized them for their high frequencies being a little unnatural sounding. As to the older Hypex UCD designed amps, I agree with those criticisms. Even with the best UCD amp IMO, the Veloce Saetta, the top end isn't all that. Maybe the Saetta tries to bridge that gap by using a tube input stage. In the end, only a totally new and superior circuit design can truly bridge that gap. No doubt Bruno acheived what he set out to acheive. An amplifier that totally removes itself from the playback chain. That's all one can ask of an amplifier; just the music and nothing else.
It was my birthday last week and my wife took me to Vail to relax without the kids for 4 days and attend Bravo! Vail. For me, the highlight was John Pizzarelli Quartet's performance with the DSO. At the end of his encore, he left the stage after announcing: "Music is good." I agree. Music IS good and it's the only thing I strive to reproduce in my room at home; nothing else. I let my Mola Mola Kaluga amps play while I was away. When I came back, my breath was taken away. If these amps haven't yet reached their full potential, I will be surprised. However, I have been pleasantly surprised a lot lately.
Michael.
Before I got the Mola Mola Kaluga monos into my system, I had been listening exclusively with the Veloce Saetta Monoblocks. For further background please read the many show reports pairing the Veloce gear with YG speakers. No doubt, it's a great combination. For those of you unfamiliar with Veloce's gear I'll give you a little background. Veloce audio is Vytas Vielsulas and Mark Conti. Vytas is a well known class D amp designer historically employing hypex modules, discrete tube input stage and battery power. Vytas is also the man behind the Ls-1 pre which many say is one of the finest pre-amps available at any price. I won't get into the Ls-1 here. However, I think now is a good time to give some context to my ravings about the OEM ncore 1200 module amps I've had in my system and in particular the mola mola. I use DIRAC Live in my sytem along with a pair of time/phase aligned subs utilizing the crossovers in my DEQX-HDP4, which is also my DAC/PRE. My room is very resolving and I've made every effort to neutralize any room, gain matching and subwoofer integration effects in my comparisons. So, the comparison between these two amps is really just the effect the amp has on the EXACT SAME SYTEM.
I've always been fascinated with class D amps. The promise of achieving better sound than traditional mega hot/inefficient amps and also not spending a fortune on electricity, adding another a/c unit to my room or taking my shirt off after only one hour of music listening, has been a goal of mine.
The Veloce Saetta Monoblocks are based on the older hypex UCD modules (not the newer hypex ncore) bridged to deliver approximately 400 watts of power. The Saetta also have a discrete tube input stage. The input stage is based on the 6H30 tubes and of course the output is a switching output stage. The entire amp is powered by battery. The Veloce Saetta Monos are very nice looking amps.
The Saetta are priced around the same price range as the mola mola kaluga and also use a hypex module at it's heart. It's for all of these reasons, I felt like this comparison is the most important one I could possibly write about in this thread. I've also recently owned the Krell 900e monoblocks so their sound is still fresh in my head. I also owned, not too long ago, the Soulution 710. However, Veloce is the best direct comparison I can render here.
Total Dynamic Power:
Compared to most amps I've heard, the Veloce is a very powerful amp. One thing I've noticed from going to hifi shows and listening to systems in hotel rooms, is the musical genres played are somewhat limited. I mean, how often have you heard the final movement to Saint-Saens Symphony no.3 (the organ symphony) played at full tilt in a hotel room? Would you ever want to? Now, would you want to hear it my room? Uh, yes! IMO, large scale symphony recorded with big dynamic range IS THE MOST DIFFICULT MUSIC TO REPRODUCE TOP TO BOTTOM. This is how I test the dynamic range for any amp in my system. This is also where I found that I could get the Veloce Saetta Monos to clip. When a class D amp clips, it's not a pretty thing. They don't distort the same way a Dartzeel would or a quality tube amp. In short, class D amps use alot of feedback because you don't want to hear THAT TYPE of distortion. This is also why I feel that it is imperative to find the most powerful class D amp possible along with the best power supply. With the mola mola or any of the other ncore 1200 amps I've heard, clipping is outside the amp's vocabulary. It's simply not possible. Could you get the Veloce Saetta monos to clip in your system, who knows? I can't say. My speakers are demanding and dip into 3 ohm range with approximately 87db efficiency. I could.
Total Resolution:
Let's start with the bottom end because that's where the Veloce Saetta is at it's best, IMO. The bass is very good. One of the best I've heard. Compared to the mola mola kaluga though, it's a little lacking control and realism. In the end, the mola mola is a much better arbiter of bass. The mid range is also more refined with the mola mola amps. I put the Mola Mola Kaluga mid range in league with the BEST I've heard; Krell and Soulution. The top end is where the Veloce Saetta isn't in the same class as the Mola Mola Kaluga. The top end in the Veloce Saetta compared to the mola mola is much harder and less refined. This is particularly true when I play the complex symphonic music. For example, I enjoy the Dallas Wind Symphony and the huge dynamics Keith Johnson extracts from their performances at the Dallas Meyerson. Dr. Johnson was able to eek out just a little more detail and dynamics from the Dallas Wind Symphony from the "Garden of Dreams" release. This David Maslanka musical performance released only in redbook 16/44 IS MY ANSWER to any who claim redbook is not capable of high resolution music reproduction. It's recordings like these that really separate the men from the boys when it comes to rooms and gear. Can the horns be reproduced without any hint of shrill edginess during their most expansive climax in the end of Maslanka's finest effort? The Veloce Saetta came close but the Mola Mola Kaluga does it without breaking a sweat; no shrill edge. I only get clear, true and beautiful music.
This is where we can talk about class D and tubes. To me, the Mola Mola Kaluga and to a slightly lesser extent, the aforementioned Acoustic Imagery Atsah and Merrill Veritas, bridge the gap between solid state and tubes. No longer can one look at the parts or design of an amp and make any accurate predictions about how the amp will sound. In the past, the older hypex UCD technology WAS susceptible to those who criticized them for their high frequencies being a little unnatural sounding. As to the older Hypex UCD designed amps, I agree with those criticisms. Even with the best UCD amp IMO, the Veloce Saetta, the top end isn't all that. Maybe the Saetta tries to bridge that gap by using a tube input stage. In the end, only a totally new and superior circuit design can truly bridge that gap. No doubt Bruno acheived what he set out to acheive. An amplifier that totally removes itself from the playback chain. That's all one can ask of an amplifier; just the music and nothing else.
It was my birthday last week and my wife took me to Vail to relax without the kids for 4 days and attend Bravo! Vail. For me, the highlight was John Pizzarelli Quartet's performance with the DSO. At the end of his encore, he left the stage after announcing: "Music is good." I agree. Music IS good and it's the only thing I strive to reproduce in my room at home; nothing else. I let my Mola Mola Kaluga amps play while I was away. When I came back, my breath was taken away. If these amps haven't yet reached their full potential, I will be surprised. However, I have been pleasantly surprised a lot lately.
Michael.
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