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Topping PA5 is incredible.


CoryGillmore

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3 hours ago, babadono said:

Since you will cutting off the one end it could be a single TRS to dual TRS. Whatever is cheaper I guess. If it were me I would build it myself, but hey that's just me.

It will save him some money to do that. I have one too.

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1 hour ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

Of course you will give us your future UNbiased results here, correct?

 Yes I will. And to turn the tables on Rich when he buys 3 P5’s and finds he needs but 2 it is this third cast off I’ll report on. But my offer to RP is $250 not $300. He shouldn’t have been so greedy to buy three. Just because you have a lot of money doesn’t mean you should flaunt it - 😏

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59 minutes ago, richieb said:

 Yes I will. And to turn the tables on Rich when he buys 3 P5’s and finds he needs but 2 it is this third cast off I’ll report on. But my offer to RP is $250 not $300. He shouldn’t have been so greedy to buy three. Just because you have a lot of money doesn’t mean you should flaunt it - 😏

 

Work on the reading comprehension 😜  It would be a 2 then 1 purchase not 3 at once. If I had not recently redone my office system I think that cool 3-stack from them might be just what the Dr. ordered. Special price for you...$400.

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My red PA5 arrived a couple of days ago and got it hooked up this morning. In my case I am using it in my time alligned Klipschorn with K402s two channel setup. The PA5 is running the K402s with a Crown driving the bass bins and an Ashly 3.6 SP active crossover. I have been using a Schiit Aegir with the K402s since I got them.

 

After spending a bit of time getting the levels correct and letting the PA5 play for an hour or so I sat down and did some listening along with my violinist wife. I played a variety of recording including orchestral recordings, and then went back to Aegir and listened again.

 

My wife and I usually pretty much agree when listening to stereo stuff but in this case we were in total agreement. The Aegir came off as less detailed but with a warmer more pleasing soft sound. The PA5 was incredibly detailed. I could really hear articulations in brass and winds and background sounds popped right out. At first listen the Aegir sounded more corrct in how orchestral instruments should sound but after going back and forth a few times I think we both agreed the Aegir was coloring the sound while the PA5 was more neutral. 

 

Both are great amps and present a nice holographic sound stage. Either amp would keep me happy for a long time but right now the tiny PA5 is going to remain in the system for a while.

The picture below shows how tiny this thing is, dwarfed by the Ashly and less than 1/4 the size of a small Sony blu ray player. $350 shipped from China, an astonishing value IMO!

IMG_4553.jpg

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On 1/30/2022 at 10:52 AM, tromprof said:

The PA5 was incredibly detailed. I could really hear articulations in brass and winds and background sounds popped right out. At first listen the Aegir sounded more corrct in how orchestral instruments should sound but after going back and forth a few times I think we both agreed the Aegir was coloring the sound while the PA5 was more neutral. 

 

Both are great amps and present a nice holographic sound stage. Either amp would keep me happy for a long time but right now the tiny PA5 is going to remain in the system for a while.

 

$350 shipped from China, an astonishing value IMO!

 

 

Alright so I've had some time with mine now and pretty much came to the same conclusions when pitted against the Carver 275 with the exception of a few things: the Carver has significantly more bass output on about 9 out of 10 songs which is kind of weird because certain songs / type of music the PA5 is just as capable? Maybe its the Carver "magic doubling" of the low frequencies I read about? Almost feel the need for a sub with the PA5 but maybe I'll get used to it?

 

Also the Carver has a bigger presentation and deeper sound stage, more holographic although the PA5 does very well on its own much better than my Sunfire Receiver. While not drastic I agree the PA5 sounds probably more accurate under scrutiny but the Carver has a warmer, more natural sound (coloring?) that draws you in, more engaging. 

 

When I was scrolling through songs I tended to listen to the whole song more often when using the Carver and would tend to move on quicker with PA5 once I'd heard enough for comparison purposes. All in all I personally like the sound of the Carver better-- is it 7.5 times the price better? 🤷‍♂️ The PA5 is a very nice amplifier I'm glad I picked one up thanks.

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Nothing wrong with an amplifier giving a little color to the sound. Most of the time this means a little 2nd harmonic. Most all of Nelson Pass' Firstwatt amplifiers have some 2nd harmonic and a touch of third. Jean Hirago surmised this many years ago for a superb sounding amplifier. A little 2nd harmonic and a touch of third. Amplifier design is not all science. It is called the entertainment industry. Most, if given a choice, will pick an amplifier that sounds best to them. 

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On 1/27/2022 at 4:07 PM, rplace said:

 

Work on the reading comprehension 😜  It would be a 2 then 1 purchase not 3 at once. If I had not recently redone my office system I think that cool 3-stack from them might be just what the Dr. ordered. Special price for you...$400.

What is your office system? That's my next project.

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On 1/31/2022 at 6:25 PM, henry4841 said:

Nothing wrong with an amplifier giving a little color to the sound. Most of the time this means a little 2nd harmonic. Most all of Nelson Pass' Firstwatt amplifiers have some 2nd harmonic and a touch of third. Jean Hirago surmised this many years ago for a superb sounding amplifier. A little 2nd harmonic and a touch of third. Amplifier design is not all science. It is called the entertainment industry. Most, if given a choice, will pick an amplifier that sounds best to them. 

Dr. Bose created an entire business building products that people liked to hear. Not high fidelity, but pleasing to the ear.

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2 hours ago, CWelsh said:

Dr. Bose created an entire business building products that people liked to hear. Not high fidelity, but pleasing to the ear.

Not true. I met a female Bose employee from the design department. She came to my circuit board lecture. They made products that people liked to NOT SEE, especially Women. Like the bose "sugar cube" speakers that has a small sub in the corner. All overpriced plastic with lots of compromises in performance the "normal" consumers would buy. I have a copy of the original Bose 901 Patent by Amar Bose. PWK used the 901 backwards and in a corner to improve the distortion by more that 12 db! It was the flagship of the company in the 70's and was used by PWK to show how GROSS the intermodulation distortion was.

 

Only us "horn guys" could hear the EXTREME Intermodulation distortion that most Bose products produced. The best products that Bose ever came up with have been their MARKETING and SALES. Those have been exemplary! From an audiophile with golden ears perspective, one could even say Bose was even better at Advertising Distortion, which the purpose of their existence fundamentally!

 

Trumpet the up and squelch the down.............lying by omission.

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20 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

Not true. I met a female Bose employee from the design department. She came to my circuit board lecture. They made products that people liked to NOT SEE, especially Women.

 

I believe everything you said, but I'm not convinced my original statement was not true. It is possible that I misunderstood at the time, but my understanding was that Bose designed the sound of his products based on his studies in psychoacoustics. The 901s were highly equalized to tailor the sound to what focus groups thought sounded good. Am I missing something?

 

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8 minutes ago, CWelsh said:

 

I believe everything you said, but I'm not convinced my original statement was not true. It is possible that I misunderstood at the time, but my understanding was that Bose designed the sound of his products based on his studies in psychoacoustics. The 901s were highly equalized to tailor the sound to what focus groups thought sounded good. Am I missing something?

 

No. But as PWK pointed out EVERY speaker's sound output fires into a 90% Reverberant Field after about 4 feet, so the whole 8:1 ratio of the single front/8 rears firing into a flat wall, to create a bigger, more "ambient" source of music did have a "pleasant sound." So do my used Radio Shack speakers with that "special" tweeter, but I would never claim it as being "hi fi" as his ads read. The EQ, was just ramming bass and treble (typical smiley face EQ for consumers with Graphic Equalizers or even bass/treble controls). Nothing new there but more IM distortion production.

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1 minute ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

No. But as PWK pointed out EVERY speaker's sound output fires into a 90% Reverberant Field after about 4 feet, so the whole 8:1 ratio of the single front/8 rears firing into a flat wall, to create a bigger, more "ambient" source of music did have a "pleasant sound." So do my used Radio Shack speakers with that "special" tweeter, but I would never claim it as being "hi fi" as his ads read. The EQ, was just ramming bass and treble (typical smiley face EQ for consumers with Graphic Equalizers or even bass/treble controls). Nothing new there but more IM distortion production.

Maybe I didn't say it well, but that was my original point in response to the previous comment about an amplifier giving color to the sound. Contrary to their marketing claims, Bose products were in no way high-fidelity. They were (and still are) a very colored sound that average consumers equate with "quality". You and I know different.

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Since the PA5 worked so well with my system, I ended up getting a second. Now the Jubes are fully powered by the PA5s. Makes for a much more compact stack. See before/after pics below. As mentioned in a previous post, the 402s are dead quiet with the PA5 (vs the Denon AVR) and much clearer and more responsive. Powering the bass bins with the second PA5 really tightened up the base (vs. the Sherwood receiver). The fully PA5-amplified Jubes is a big step up over what I had. My complete system is a headless Intel NUC8i connected to the miniDSP 4x10HD via Toslink and then to the PA5s via balanced connections. I typically use a laptop to remote into the NUC, but sometimes an iPhone or iPad. Any device able to run Remote Desktop works for KVM. The NUC runs multiple functions: streamer (typical Amazon Music and Tidal), miniDSP controller and also hosts REW for test, analysis and correction. It’s way overkill for these functions; it’s set up as a gaming machine that I put together for analysis of 4K and 8K UHD video. Now I’m thinking “what next”? I’ve nearly completed a 16’ tapped horn for a sub, but after the improvement in the bass with the PA5, not sure how necessary it will be.


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Since the PA5 worked so well with my system, I ended up getting a second. Now the Jubes are fully powered by the PA5s. Makes for a much more compact stack. See before/after pics below. As mentioned in a previous post, the 402s are dead quiet with the PA5 (vs the Denon AVR) and much clearer and more responsive. Powering the bass bins with the second PA5 really tightened up the base (vs. the Sherwood receiver). The fully PA5-amplified Jubes is a big step up over what I had. My complete system is a headless Intel NUC8i connected to the miniDSP 4x10HD via Toslink and then to the PA5s via balanced connections. I typically use a laptop to remote into the NUC, but sometimes an iPhone or iPad. Any device able to run Remote Desktop works for KVM. The NUC runs multiple functions: streamer (typical Amazon Music and Tidal), miniDSP controller and also hosts REW for test, analysis and correction. It’s way overkill for these functions; it’s set up as a gaming machine that I put together for analysis of 4K and 8K UHD video. Now I’m thinking “what next”? I’ve nearly completed a 16’ tapped horn for a sub, but after the improvement in the bass with the PA5, not sure how necessary it will be.


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3aa8a027830ce3ad17c46cb2beb0540d.jpg


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9 hours ago, FFBman said:

Since the PA5 worked so well with my system, I ended up getting a second.

Nice! Yeah I'm in the same boat just ordered a second one yesterday going to bi-amp my kpt-335's. I didn't think it was really needed at first because one PA5 drives my speakers plenty loud but with two amps I can lower the gain on the upper section using the volume control on the amp to better match my woofer cabinet without using any EQ. The spec sheet says my speakers are 103db @ 1 watt but my bass cabinet is essentially a Chorus cabinet which is rated at 101db. 

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23 hours ago, FFBman said:

Since the PA5 worked so well with my system, I ended up getting a second. Now the Jubes are fully powered by the PA5s. Makes for a much more compact stack. See before/after pics below. As mentioned in a previous post, the 402s are dead quiet with the PA5 (vs the Denon AVR) and much clearer and more responsive. Powering the bass bins with the second PA5 really tightened up the base (vs. the Sherwood receiver). The fully PA5-amplified Jubes is a big step up over what I had. My complete system is a headless Intel NUC8i connected to the miniDSP 4x10HD via Toslink and then to the PA5s via balanced connections. I typically use a laptop to remote into the NUC, but sometimes an iPhone or iPad. Any device able to run Remote Desktop works for KVM. The NUC runs multiple functions: streamer (typical Amazon Music and Tidal), miniDSP controller and also hosts REW for test, analysis and correction. It’s way overkill for these functions; it’s set up as a gaming machine that I put together for analysis of 4K and 8K UHD video. Now I’m thinking “what next”? I’ve nearly completed a 16’ tapped horn for a sub, but after the improvement in the bass with the PA5, not sure how necessary it will be.


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I powered my Jubes with twin chip amps too (3 years ago). But, I paid less than $80 for both amps and power supplies. They the TI 3116 chips. Made in China of course. Best bang for buck for sure, but now this PA5 clearly provides superior performance, no matter what's inside the box. Who has looked? I have not been curious enough myself, but I found this image elsewhere on the web.

 

PA5inbox.jpg

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