Just ordered a Trends 10.1 Class T Digital Amp - A whopping $130

[DrWho]

I'll have to confess than the brightness of the room might push the end result (POS+CW) from Blah to Bad. I'm still stuck with a rather poor room that would benefit from mini-monitors instead.

That puts everything into perspective. When you gonna do something about that room?

[whell]

Well when are you going to get some better speakers?

You're hopeless.

You're a stick in the mudvayne anymore. How did you get so old so young?

Possibly by listening to tube amps designed and built in mid Michigan? []

[Erik Mandaville]

"I'll have to confess than the brightness of the room might push the end result (POS+CW) from Blah to Bad."

Okay, I stand corrected. I must have my acronyms confused -- I'm referring to those listed in parenthesis above. 'CW' stands for Cornwall, no? and the other part?

Maybe you can tame the room a bit with some soft wall hangings or woven throw rugs. Our room tends to be a little bright, too.

Erik

[Painful Reality]

"I'll have to confess than the brightness of the room might push the end result (POS+CW) from Blah to Bad."

Okay, I stand corrected. I must have my acronyms confused -- I'm referring to those listed in parenthesis above. 'CW' stands for Cornwall, no? and the other part?

Maybe you can tame the room a bit with some soft wall hangings or woven throw rugs. Our room tends to be a little bright, too.

Erik

POS = Piece of... filter won't allow the last one.

The room is too small in order to have any kind of useful treatment. Lamhorns need a long and relatively narrow room to be happy. CW are more forgiving but demand more than a cupboard.

It's a rented house so its only temporary.

[cjgeraci]

Well when are you going to get some better speakers?

You're hopeless.

You're a stick in the mudvayne anymore. How did you get so old so young?

Possibly by listening to tube amps designed and built in mid Michigan? []

Oh, that's right - Whell, you are a recent convert to the magical chip amps. [8-|]

Ahem, no - listening to tube amps designed and built in mid-Michigan will not do that to you..................

Unfortunately for my wife, exactly the opposite.

More like listening to "chip" amps at low to moderate volumes. [:|][]

Carl.

[Deang]

Paul, please PM me your shipping address so I can send it back. Thanks for the listen, much appreciated.

[whell]

OK, if the truth be told, I also just picked up a tube hybrid amp from another forum member. I'm liking it ALOT. The Trends are, for now, sitting on the shelf.

[Daddy Dee]

OK, if the truth be told, I also just picked up a tube hybrid amp from another forum member. I'm liking it ALOT. The Trends are, for now, sitting on the shelf.

What's the hybrid?

[pauln]

Paul, please PM me your shipping address so I can send it back. Thanks for the listen, much appreciated.

Now that the Sopranos is over, I think Lisa is next?

[whell]

OK, if the truth be told, I also just picked up a tube hybrid amp from another forum member. I'm liking it ALOT. The Trends are, for now, sitting on the shelf.

What's the hybrid?

Its an AMC CVT2030s. Its been in my system for almost 2 weeks now, and it is pro'ly the best sounding amp I've owned.

[HarryO]

Whell,

Killer sounding amps. I've had a couple of them. So has Speakerfritz. No complaints at all with that hybrid. Play it out a couple of months and find you a nice tube pre to go with it. Sweet!

Harry

[meagain]

I just got Pauln's Trends from Dean and will be fireing it up today. Despite knowing the physical dimensions, it's quite a shocker as to the size of this little guy in person. Almost hard to imagine this can produce music. Even if it turns out to be not good enough for 2-channel, it sure opens up a boatload of easy peasy options - bedroom, office, outdoors, traveling, etc. etc. It's adorable. I'll be plugging it into my new Furman volt regulator/conditioner gadget for protection - running the Khorns and Jolida CDP. It would be interesting to hear it compared to a Super-T, etc. but oh well.... Minimally, I hope it's worthy of recommending to a friend who has my Nakamichi Stasis amp (and Cornwalls) on loan so I can get it back. I've never heard that darn thing in my system yet. I assume my khorns would be a good judge on if it would work on Cornwalls. No preamp needed huh? Weird.

[Daddy Dee]

Meagain,

It is a cute little guy indeed. Will be looking forward to hearing your take on the sound. Wish you could hear the Super T. My take is that they don't sound as much alike as one would imagine.

[fini]

I just got Pauln's Trends from Dean and will be fireing it up today. Despite knowing the physical dimensions, it's quite a shocker as to the size of this little guy in person. Almost hard to imagine this can produce music. Even if it turns out to be not good enough for 2-channel, it sure opens up a boatload of easy peasy options - bedroom, office, outdoors, traveling, etc. etc. It's adorable. I'll be plugging it into my new Furman volt regulator/conditioner gadget for protection - running the Khorns and Jolida CDP. It would be interesting to hear it compared to a Super-T, etc. but oh well.... Minimally, I hope it's worthy of recommending to a friend who has my Nakamichi Stasis amp (and Cornwalls) on loan so I can get it back. I've never heard that darn thing in my system yet. I assume my khorns would be a good judge on if it would work on Cornwalls. No preamp needed huh? Weird.

I enjoyed my Nakamichi Stasis receiver, although the phono stage was lacking. Sa an aside, my wife works right next door to Furman/Panamax. I should tell her to keep an eye out for warehouse sales and such...

[meagain]

This is the Nak amp I bought and have yet to try before loaning out: Nak Stasis PA-5ii 150wpc http://www.geocities.com/p9019/nakamichi/Brochures/PA-5AII_Pg01.html

Yes Fini! Warehouse sales, etc.

[meagain]

WTH?!? This goofy little thing sounds great! What a shocker. Back to listening. There are things that I don't like but amazingly, a thing or 2 that it's giving to me maybe? I have it hooked up to my modded Jolida tube CDP. It's kind of freeking me out. Go figure. More later.

[wuzzzer]

WTH?!? This goofy little thing sounds great! What a shocker. Back to listening. There are things that I don't like but amazingly, a thing or 2 that it's giving to me maybe? I have it hooked up to my modded Jolida tube CDP. It's kind of freeking me out. Go figure. More later.

I felt that way with my Sonic Impact t-amp. I just today connected my oppo directly to the t-amp instead of using my HK as a pre-amp. Definitely has improved the sound.

[Cut-Throat]

Meagain,

It is a cute little guy indeed. Will be looking forward to hearing your take on the sound. Wish you could hear the Super T. My take is that they don't sound as much alike as one would imagine.

Have you heard the Super T and the Trends? - The shootout preferred the Trends, but I was wondering what you thought.

[meagain]

Yes Daddy Dee - I'd like to know too. I know where Dean stands. I wish I had one here right now to compare.

'Firstly' - I assumed this amp (it's hard to call it an 'amp') would only go up to low to moderate volumes. Or, if it got turned up, it would sound like crap. I'm sitting 11-12 feet from the speaker wall and it can crank! I'm not pushing it higher 1) because it's Pauln's 2) I don't want it louder. If I had the Behringer DEQ in the rack, I'd test it. I bet it was at least over 95, maybe 100? (I hope that's not bad, I had the volume at 12 o'clock). I didn't hear anything falling apart at this volume at all. I was getting some irritation in the highs but right now I'm running JBL 2404 which seem to need some tempering and is a bit irritating with my other gear. Though I feel I was getting a bit more SSSSsss, TTTtttt, SSsshhh. But totally doable.

2ndly, the bass really surprised me. Initially I thought it was boomier than what I was used to, but then started to enjoy the heck out of it. Maybe it needed to warm up? One time I almost thought it was too much which is weird coming from me (bass freek). It's certainly tight enough for me and definitely kicks. Very happy with the bass. Ummm... gee.

3rd - I played stuff with alot going on. I still heard everything distinctly. I thought it would all moosh together but it didn't. I thought everything was separated nicely still. I'm not missing any little tinkles, bells, etc that might occur remotely once in a song, etc. It's all there. Not missing detail imo. In fact, I had times when I thought I had more.

On the negative... Sometimes, certain things like electric guitar bothered me. Maybe a bit steely-ish. Then I was thinking there's some small range that was the culprit - that I wanted it to sound more natural or maybe warmer. I can't say exactly where this is. Some vocal hit me this way too. In this one range/area. Certainly not bad at all, but there was a bit of 'edge' there. For all I know, I could fix this with a tube change in my Jolida CDP? BUT, again, I'm running these JBL tweets so maybe I'm getting something from that. And then depth.... again in this higher area I think it could be a bit more 'somethin somethin' as far as feel goes. As if the music is all lined up in a row on the wall instead of a deep stage? That's an extreme example. I'm not saying this is 'flat' or dry sounding here, it sounds fantastic.... just that I'm used to more 3-d.

This is just my initial quick impression. Husband came home and was like.... "whoa". He was only home a few minutes but I already told him we should get one for the basement LaScalas which he works on music for playback of mixes. We have an 80's Yamaha down there which I'm sure sucks compared to this so it (minimally) will be replaced.

Then again....... What 'am' I hearing here? My Jolida CDP unencumbered? Is the source (CDP) even more critical with this setup? I would think so - right?

And if that's the case, the extent to which this sounds good or bad, good review or not, is seriously dependent on the quality of the source machine? ???

Oh yea... and it's adorable.

[meagain]

Ah... I don't suppose anyone has this album but I'm listening to David Sylvian's 'Secrets of the Beehive' (great album). David's got a very smooth beautiful bari type voice and the vocal on this album is very forward. His voice seems.... IDK, not as 'pretty' or velvety. I can't explain what I'm hearing or what to call this. It's... fuzzier around the edges. For all I know, this is more accurate to the recording. No, I don't think so. Sometimes it sounds great, but I can't pinpoint this. OK, I have 'Crime of the Century'..... having trouble with the higher areas of piano. Sounds less 'real' to me. Again, the vocal is fuzzier, not super crystal as what I'm used to. I guess there's just an area with these things especially notable on minimalistic music that's 'different'. When there's bass interjected and low mid? It sounds much better. I'd say this is great in the low areas, even some high areas, but there's something up there that's buggin' me. Overall it sounds darned great and I want to learn which brand of these to go with. For $130, everyone should have one of course (IMO). I'm going to listen again tomorrow with the k77m's. I appreciate Pauln for this opportunity. A real eye-opener.