Jonny D

Hi LarryC, Thanks for your comments and pointers. I agree with break in too. The Ayre was a dealer demo unit and is a couple of years old so is well run in, I have already listened to the exact same amp I brought home on other speakers at the dealers. I set the amp up on Friday evening at around 7pm and listened through to 1am, I was working on Saturday but listened again from around 7pm through to 2am, on Sunday I listened from 10am through to 11pm (had a couple of dog walks in between!) I did really enjoy the Ayre, one track by King Creosote (Scottish artist) really stood out and was the best I've ever heard on any system, it was just the trumpet that got me on two albums (Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley). I feel I got a good handle on it during the time I spent with it.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice and suggestions so far, the forum has been a great help. I had an Ayre V5-XE on loan over the weekend to listen to with my Palladiums. I was enjoying it a lot, everything sounded so much better as I expected with an amp in this league. Acoustic music sounded excellent, bass was better than expected, all in all it was great. My general feeling was that I would go for this amp, until I played some Jazz on Sunday morning. I started out with a Cannonball Adderley CD (Somethin' else) and I couldn't listen any more, high frequencies were just a little too high. There was a slight piercing quality present which just gave me a sinking feeling, I thought I was onto a winner! I think this is a characteristic of the speakers rather than the amp, it's just that it was highlighted by the amp, evidently a mismatch. I returned the amp before work and had a chat with my local dealer (not a Klipsch dealer), he has suggested I try the Art Audio Diavolo SET amp. I am now seriously considering a tube amp. My dealer has ordered one for me to try, I have read in a few reviews that it can sound a bit bright which worries me a little. The SoundStage! review stated that the treble leans slightly to the bright side of ideal, this worries me a bit as this isn't the only reviewer that thought this. I'll give it a try anyway. The Art Audio Diavolo (http://www.artaudio.com/diavoloindex.html) is a 13 WPC single ended design, I have been told by my dealer this should work fine with my Palladiums (which he has never heard, however he is familiar with previous designs from Klipsch) from the reviews I've read relating to power I think it should be ok. Does anyone know if this 13 WPC Art Audio tube amp will have any problems driving my speakers? Most people on here seem to be steering me towards a tube amp, however I haven't heard from any other Klipsch Palladium owners which surprises me. As recommended I have emailed Klipsch for amp suggestions and received a very diplomatic response, they didn't really want to be seen promoting any one brand, which is fair enough I suppose. For anyone that's interested I have attached a photo of the Ayre amp with the speakers in my room. It does look excellent and is very well built.

I'm glad to hear you liked Ayre, I've enjoyed listening to Ayre at the local dealers place on a couple of occasions. Really looking forward to trying the V5 with my speakers. I am surprised no one that uses or visits this forum uses Ayre with the Palladiums. I think there is a user that has the Ayre MXR monos with some heritage speakers and another person that's tried an Ayre AX-7 with Klipsch, however no one uses the brand with Palladiums, can't figure out why, maybe I'll find out tomorrow! I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again.

Hi Hifi Jim, Thanks for the info. Your observations about Bel Canto being more tube like are exactly what the Klipsch and Nuforce dealer said about NuForce. They have offered a no obligation home demo on the latest Nuforce Ref monos, I nearly accepted, however after speaking with another dealer they put me right off the idea. There is a Bel Canto dealer within about 50 miles, I've never used them before though so haven't built up a good relationship. The Klipsch dealer told me they have sold quite a few Palladiums with NuForce Ref 9 SE monos and the customers have been very happy. I'll check ou the Ayre, a tube option and then possibly a Class D amp. Thanks again for sharing your opinions.

It's an old wives tale that solid state is more reliable than tube. I'll give it to you that SS is a little more simple than tube, but is the trade-off for inferior sound quality worth it? Before committing to SS you have to listen to a good tube set-up; tubes are not as complex as people think. Don't believe everything you hear. Besides with SS your stuck with what you get, with tube you can roll tubes and create that sound you want!! Tubes are not more costly. Tubes get hot, but take the cabinet off a SS unit and see how hot they get. It'd be a shame to have such nice speakers only to mate them with dry, cold, ear fatiguing digital technology. Klipsch speakers love tubes!!! Tube technology has advanced so far. It's so easy now to bias tubes. Tubes last a long time!!! Get some VRD's from NOSValves.com and you never regret it!!! Way under your budget too. I agree. Having awsome speakers and SS is not taking an oppurtunity to acheive exceptional realism. Home demos are nice but limitted in lenght. I have never had a home demo of any componemt i have bought. Conrad Johnson, BAT and Audio Reseach make great tube preamps. VRDs may have an equal ut I have not heard a tube power amp of equal bass weight and musical realism. For Kicks just buy a rebuilt Scott tube integrated (not a MapleShade rebuild they destroy the preamp section). In 2 weeks you can get a taste of what tubes can offer. If you do not like it you cann sell it for almost no loss. GREAT phono sections in a Scott compared to other vintage amps. I started with a Scott LK-48 9 years ago. Good luck Thanks for the suggestion. I like the BAT amps, however no local dealer. My local dealer which is within 3 miles, sells VAC, these look great but are a good bit over budget RRP on the VAC Phi200 is £7995 or almost $12,000. Valve amp manufacturers which are more readily available in the UK are Quad or Unison Research. I've never head of or seen a Scott amp, may not be available in Scotland. Can anyone tell me why so many expensive tube power amps use single ended inputs please? I have always associated balanced inputs on a power amp to be a sign of quality, this may not be the case; however my understanding is that balanced circuitry is more expensive to implement. I own JPS Labs SuperConductor 3 XLR interconnects which I would like to use with my furure amp, I used these with my old Parasound Halo power amp. I know there are adaptors available but I'd rather use the XLR connector. I currently use JPS SC Q RCA between my pre and power (usually use these for CD - pre) as the current Parasound doesn't have balanced inputs, my pre does have balanced outs though so I'd like to use the SC 3 again on my new amp. Thanks,

Thanks for the suggestion Hifi Jim. If I were to try a Class D amp I'd give Nuforce a go as this is what my Klipsch dealer sells and recommends. He does often have Bel Canto gear in his used trade in section which puts me off, he assures me these people trade in for Nuforce gear. There a lot of features that appeal to me with these amps, all of which you mention. I do feel I'd prefer a bit more for my money in terms of bulk, I might be more interested if they stuck them in a bigger box and filled it wirth lead! I'll be trying the Ayre tomorrow, I'll then try a Tube amp, If I'm still not satisfied then I'll check out class D.

It's an old wives tale that solid state is more reliable than tube. I'll give it to you that SS is a little more simple than tube, but is the trade-off for inferior sound quality worth it? Before committing to SS you have to listen to a good tube set-up; tubes are not as complex as people think. Don't believe everything you hear. Besides with SS your stuck with what you get, with tube you can roll tubes and create that sound you want!! Tubes are not more costly. Tubes get hot, but take the cabinet off a SS unit and see how hot they get. It'd be a shame to have such nice speakers only to mate them with dry, cold, ear fatiguing digital technology. Klipsch speakers love tubes!!! Tube technology has advanced so far. It's so easy now to bias tubes. Tubes last a long time!!! Get some VRD's from NOSValves.com and you never regret it!!! Way under your budget too. I really do want to keep things simple, I don't like the idea of changing tubes and playing around with an amp, I want a fit and forget solution. I have a Lector CD player which uses tubes, I recently fitted some NOS Siemans tubes to it, I beleive these last for some 10,000 hours. I will take your advice and listen to a tube power amp with my speakers. I believe my Palladium speakers were voiced using a McIntosh MC402 solid state power amp (please correct me if I'm wrong), this is what made me want a Mac, however as I said before the price in the UK is an absolute joke! There is a McIntosh dealer in Scotland which I could use, it's just the crazy pricing that puts me off. My understanding is that tube amps are best left powered on all the time, I'm not keen on this idea. I do listen most days (around 2 hours after work and most of Sunday), however I think leaving kit on is a bit of a waste of power. I'm not an environmentalist or anything, otherwise I'd just have a wind up radio and be done! I just feel it's a bit of an unnecessary waste. I would also like to add that I don't listen too loud, I listen at moderate to low levels. I find the Klipsch speakers sound great at low levels, this was a deciding factor in buying them in the first place. I'm farily young and don't want to ruin my hearing either! Thank you for sharing your opinions, I'll definitely try a tube amp!

I only want to buy new, I've not had good experiences buying second hand. As I live in the UK there isn't much Aragon kit around anyway. I really want to stick with SS, I've never owned a full tube amp, only a hybrid one, which I liked. From a reliability point of view I'd rather stick with SS, I feel going down a tube route will be too costly in the long term, I understand they get a little hot too, this is something I'd rather avoid. I would be interested in monos, however I don't think there's much around in my price range. The P37 speakers only have 2 pairs of terminals rather than 3 so tri amping won't be an option these, I'd also like to keep things as simple as possible. Thanks for the advice and suggestions. Have you heard Ayre with Klipsch? Doesn't seem to be common match, any idea why?

The Triangles were very nice, my local dealer has only just started to stock them, he doesn't do Klipsch, he stocks Zingali, Gryphon and Thiel. I had to travel a fair distance to audition my P37s. After hearing those Triangles I probably would have gone with them had I not heard the Palladiums. The preamp I have is a Parasound Halo P7 (multichannel version of the P3) I will change this to an Ayre K5 pre if I choose the Ayre power amp and use the Halo P7 in a seperate Home Theatre setup.

Thanks to runninshine and Larry, I am now using Explorer rather than Google Chrome and Safari, I am now able to post in paragraphs. I also adjusted the settings suggested. I have arranged to collect the Ayre V5-XE after work on Friday so I'll be able to get a home demo of this over the weekend. I've been wanting to listen this with the Palladiums for a while so can't wait! I've listened to the Tannoy DC8 and Triangle Magellan with a full Ayre front end and was impressed, I hope I like it at home with my speakers and equipment.

I appreciate the advice, thanks. Unfortunately I am unable to demo this brand so this isn't an option. Thanks for the recommendation though.

Thank you for the reply Larry and thanks for your comments. I remember looking at some pictures on the forum of the palladiums and noticed Aragon and also McIntosh. I may be wrong but I think Aragon are on the go again after 2 ex employees bought the company, I may look into this further. The dealer suggested Nuforce or Luxman, not so keen on the Nuforce option, Luxman are of interest though. I'm purely focusing on 2 channel, my intention was to buy the centre and surrounds, however 2ch is more important. I think I might create a completely seperate home theatre using the Klipsch THX Ultra II speakers, but that's another story! I want to have a good stereo system based around the Palladiums, I think Ayre may be my best option. I thought there may be someone somewhere using Palladiums with Klipsch but I can't find anyone. I'll try and contact the people you suggest. Thank you for the advice.

Can anyone please tell me how to split the above text into paragraphs? When I wrote the post it was split into seperate paragraphs, however when I posted it it was grouped together. I'm too new too all this, sorry!

Hi, I bought a pair of Palladium P-37F speakers in Sept. 09, I was using a Parasound A52 (now sold). I had an HT setup and am now focusing on 2 channel only. I currently use a Parasound NC 2250, I got a good price on this and am using it as a stop gap. I've owned power amps form Arcam, Unison Research and Parasound. I have only used Parasound with the Palladiums so far although I auditioned them using a Luxman power amp. Out of all the amps I have owned I liked the sound of the Unison Research Unico DM the most when paired with Opera Quintas I had at the time. I know the best way to find an amp is to try and listen to as much as possible, this isn't always an easy option. I would like to ask the Klipsch community what they have heard with the Palladiums and what they like or feel is a good match. I understand a lot of people use McIntosh, I live in the UK and the price of McIntosh is absolutely crazy! I wouldn't be willing to import as there wouldn't be any dealer support and this is important to me. For example the McIntosh MC252 is £5795 which currently equates to $8715 (US RRP is $5000 / £3325). The most I want to spend is £4,000 (GBP) which is currently around $6000 (USD). I'm very interested in the Ayre V5-XE which I can get within my budget. I'm going to get home dem soon. I like what I read about Ayre. Out of what I have seen the V5-XE ticks a lot of boxes, I would later like to add a K5-XEMP preamp if I decide to go with Ayre. I have also looked at a Luxman M600a power amp, although the RRP is higher than the Ayre I may be able to get a good price and a dem should be easy. I like the look of the Aesthetix Atlas too, this would be difficult for me to demo and I would like to try before I buy. I really want to stick with solid state as I believe this will provide with reliability and simplicity. I have never owned a full tube amp, only a hybrid one. I do use a Lector CDP which is a tube CD, however I don't fancy a tube power amp. I listen to a lot of Jazz, Folk, and a little Classical. Sorry for such a long post! Thanks.