SET amp owners thread

bonzo75

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How was the sound?

it was nice, not the best, possibly because system was too complicated. Lots of potential and minor corrections required, though lot of experiments will have to be done to find out what those changes are. Could be the filter, could be the Onken. Imo he should first just go back to simple 2/3 way Altec instead of a 4 way mix of drivers. Then try without the filter if that does not work.

but all the ingredients of bass, tone, are there, it is getting a bit more coherence, balance and EE in.

For me it was a good lesson in how such big horns did in a 5m wide room. The room is long but the seating position is standard 4m from the speakers, and speakers are in a corner. I think the room fit works fine, and I also checked sound from behind the piano.
 

F208Frank

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Mar 27, 2020
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Anyone with experience with NAT SET Amps? I do not see too many used ones available.
 

Ron Resnick

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Anyone with experience with NAT SET Amps? I do not see too many used ones available.
SpiritofMusic and Thundersnow have experience.
 

bonzo75

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Anyone with experience with NAT SET Amps? I do not see too many used ones available.

What are you looking for? To drive your focal scala?
 

Maril555

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bonzo75

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Those look like Altec 817 cabs, not Onken with 1505 multicells

they are 1.45m wide variants. The multi cells were made by Onken in their factory. In terms of drivers only the woofers are Altec above that all are Onken
 

adamaley

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Apr 15, 2016
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Hello, You are very welcome. Both amplifiers are quite outstanding. I’ve had many ultra high end amplifiers over the years and I have to agree with you. The Ongaku was a dream amp of mine for many years. I always said one day I will own one. Well I finally got it and love it. When I got it I loved it so much I thought I would take it to the grave with me. This was until the Destination Audio GM 70 arrived.
I am actually willing to part with the Ongaku. Hate to do it, but there is a lot of money tied up in it. for cables I switch back and forth. I use both Hemingway Audio cables. The ZCore Sigma series. And I use EnKlein XerXes. As well. Hemingway is Copper and EnKlein is silver. With the Ongaku it does seem to prefer Silver slightly more than copper. The GM 70 sounds great on both. According to Sam Copper should be better and it is preferred. But EnKlein cables are done so right. That it doesn’t sound like silver. It just sounds very musical.
Don’t laugh but I just ordered some Belden Cables to play with on the GM70 and Nika. there are a few Destination Audio Owners out there that swear by it. I need to test and compare so I ordered it.
How have you liked the Belden cables so far. Did you get interconnects, and did you build them yourself or purchase them already made?
 
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YGH

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Jun 16, 2022
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yes and yes
I have slightly more delay on upper FL than lower to focus more like a pinpoint with 4003
Rune at NNNN taught me this trick....they used at Cisco on speach systems to increase clarity
So the the twin midbass FLH drivers are delayed relative to each other? The top FLH driver is delayed by how many msec relative to the bottom FLH driver?
 

No Regrets

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Jan 24, 2012
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Love this thread! I especially enjoy seeing all of the great systems out there. Time to post mine, I thought I had but having just reviewed all of the posts I realized I hadn't.

My speakers are Coherent Audio Neo 18 designed and custom built by Frank Fazzalari in Ontario, Canada. They are a dual concentric design with Radian low mass woofer and compression driver. There is also a super tweeter. A ported design Frank has done some interesting structural work in the interior of the cabinet. These speakers are efficient and easy to drive aided by a well thought out crossover with quality parts and speakers with a fairly smooth impedance curve.

I have two amplifiers available. My primary amp is a Shindo Cortese 300b, a recent edition Model. In the summer I mix in the Decware Zen triode. My preamplifier is a Shindo Monbrison. The Shindo components are unlike most of what I have heard before, let's just say I am a fan.

The sources are a BrinkMann Bardo/Hana Umami for vinyl and an Antipodes S Series/Ayre 20 DAC for streaming.

I was really impressed with the listening spaces that our members have posted including some of the views. I have a dedicated room which just happens to feature a large picture window. Probably not the best thing sonically but it is nice to look outside, lol.
I would love to hear a video recording of your system... I've never heard your speakers before.
Best wishes,
Don
 

AudioHR

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I would love to hear a video recording of your system... I've never heard your speakers before.
Best wishes,
Don
It is difficult to audition them as Coherent is a small company and basically relies on word of mouth. In talking to the designer just the other day he admitted that he didn't want to be to big.

As far as video I will have to figure that out.
 

bonzo75

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As far as video I will have to figure that out.
It’s extremely difficult. You have to point your mobile and record.

upload on YouTube app
 

No Regrets

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It is difficult to audition them as Coherent is a small company and basically relies on word of mouth
Yes, that indeed makes it very difficult. I really hope you will be able to post some videos of your system as it looks like it could really sound very impressive.

I'll be spending 3 days at the upcoming AXPONA Show near Chicago in a couple of weeks. I tried to search thru the directory and I couldn't find Coherent exhibiting at the show at all :( so I don't know how I'd be able to hear what your speakers could do without a video.

Best wishes to you!
Don
 

Kingrex

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Feb 3, 2019
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I got my Audion 845 back. The internal ground loop is fixed. There is still some noise. A small amount of buzz/hum with my 96db PAP Trio 15 Coax. Not extreme but heard. I doubt these would work with over 100 db speakers.
The amps have a large lush midrange. Fat and full. The mid bass is good. The whole midrange throws a pleasing organic flow. Violins, guitars and vocals are engaging.

The top end is nothing like my Blade amps (KT88 PP). The Blade has far far superior control, textur and detail on a snare crack and cymbal shimmer. The Blade also has far better speed and definition on bass notes. The Audion has a full fleshy bass. The Blade has a tight detailed bass. You clearly hear fingers on the fret and the wood of the instrument with the Blade. The Audion gives more a body resonance of the bass. More full and liquid. More harmonic overtones. Both are engaging for their own reasons. Being I have to clear my house to prepare for the move I had to pack up one or the other amp. It wasn't that hard to keep the Blade in my rack. Its a far better amp all around. Would I like a little more flesh in the midrange. Yes. But I wouldn't give up the rest to have it.

I did try to biamp the Coax as the crossover can do as such. Complete disaster. Just fell apart on so many levels. Much better with 1 amp feeding the speaker.

The Audion also has to have the Elrog 845. Linlai is not the same air and space. The Audion also loves the Torus RM20. Its a good amp. I will hang onto it for a while. There are times a big fat sound is pleasant. But truthfully, the Audion can go to a new home and I'm not screwing anyone. It would have been a whole lot less money to just give them away after I got burned. But I got to hear them run properly and they are nice. Just not nice enough to last the long haul.
 

AudioHR

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Feb 11, 2023
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It’s extremely difficult. You have to point your mobile and record.

upload on YouTube app
Thanks for your assistance ! The figuring out has more to do with do I think it is worthwhile. Obviously you are an advocate, I have not decided yet.
 

AudioHR

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Feb 11, 2023
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High River, Alberta Canada
Yes, that indeed makes it very difficult. I really hope you will be able to post some videos of your system as it looks like it could really sound very impressive.

I'll be spending 3 days at the upcoming AXPONA Show near Chicago in a couple of weeks. I tried to search thru the directory and I couldn't find Coherent exhibiting at the show at all :( so I don't know how I'd be able to hear what your speakers could do without a video.

Best wishes to you!
Don
Don I will see what I can do.

To be honest I am not in the IPhone video camp. To me it seems rather counterintuitive to compare hi fidelity systems using the lowest common denominator. It does seem to be a thing so I should check it out but I haven't made the time at this point.
 

bonzo75

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The figuring out has more to do with do I think it is worthwhile.
Yes I am aware of that. Many people on the forum are going through that dilemma. Even if you don’t think worthwhile, would encourage you to post videos to make other people happy. That’s what it is about
 

morricab

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Apr 25, 2014
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I got my Audion 845 back. The internal ground loop is fixed. There is still some noise. A small amount of buzz/hum with my 96db PAP Trio 15 Coax. Not extreme but heard. I doubt these would work with over 100 db speakers.
The amps have a large lush midrange. Fat and full. The mid bass is good. The whole midrange throws a pleasing organic flow. Violins, guitars and vocals are engaging.

The top end is nothing like my Blade amps (KT88 PP). The Blade has far far superior control, textur and detail on a snare crack and cymbal shimmer. The Blade also has far better speed and definition on bass notes. The Audion has a full fleshy bass. The Blade has a tight detailed bass. You clearly hear fingers on the fret and the wood of the instrument with the Blade. The Audion gives more a body resonance of the bass. More full and liquid. More harmonic overtones. Both are engaging for their own reasons. Being I have to clear my house to prepare for the move I had to pack up one or the other amp. It wasn't that hard to keep the Blade in my rack. Its a far better amp all around. Would I like a little more flesh in the midrange. Yes. But I wouldn't give up the rest to have it.

I did try to biamp the Coax as the crossover can do as such. Complete disaster. Just fell apart on so many levels. Much better with 1 amp feeding the speaker.

The Audion also has to have the Elrog 845. Linlai is not the same air and space. The Audion also loves the Torus RM20. Its a good amp. I will hang onto it for a while. There are times a big fat sound is pleasant. But truthfully, the Audion can go to a new home and I'm not screwing anyone. It would have been a whole lot less money to just give them away after I got burned. But I got to hear them run properly and they are nice. Just not nice enough to last the long haul.
Many of the 845 based amps I have heard sound a bit like you describe but perhaps not as extreme as you are describing. My experience with 211, 813 and GM70 based amps has been totally different in a good way. I don't think the Audion is the best representative of the big bottle SET breed.
 

GroovySauce

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Nov 9, 2020
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Many of the 845 based amps I have heard sound a bit like you describe but perhaps not as extreme as you are describing. My experience with 211, 813 and GM70 based amps has been totally different in a good way. I don't think the Audion is the best representative of the big bottle SET breed.
What are some 845s that you have had a good experience with?
 

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