Apogee Synergy 1.5 v2 - and VALVES!

[Graz]

Had a low key day at my place this week, with friendly audiophiles and non-audiophiles. We warmed up with my resident Nuvista amplifier driving some Apogee Synergy version 2's. Source was all digital - Nuvista M3 cd player. After a little listening we plugged in the DXT 45w valve monos, driven by the DXT pre-amp. The mono's were set to 2 ohm tap's on the transformers, a good match, one that has the amps working in their optimal range. There were instant improvements to the music over the Nuvista (itself a nice amp). At the advice of Don (DXT's mfr) and Niel (long term DXT owner, his amps in use) we retired to the local pie shop to allow the amps to warm up to potential. Listening commenced about an hour later - though improvements were heard as the day progressed.

Don pointed out that for most of the day we were running at about 5w, and rarely peaking above 12w. This was interesting for me, as a person with limited tube experience. It also raised some interesting issues of matching amps to efficient speakers such as Synergy. The "gain chain" of large high powered amplifiers will leave a power amp working closer to it's noise floor - and it's driving preamp working similarly, with the added negative of the volume pot being in it's most resistive range. Whilst the power is nice to have as headroom, it's never used in a high efficiency design. The theory are sensible...

This took me back to 2004 when I first tested the DEFINITIVE planars. The only amps I had were the ICE monos, and these put out a huge 500w of power into the DEFINITIVE's load potentially. When we turned them on in active mode using the first DEQX active pre, the electronics noise was HUGE! I sent the DEQX back for assessment as the noise was on all channels and with several sources. They worked out the unit was right at the lowest range of output and subsequently removed the digital volumes and replaced them with a high quality analog volume control - the first I believe they made. That was the fist time I had an idea of their true efficiency...

I believe the 45w amps are a good match for the Apogee Synergy's, plenty of real dynamic headroom available, working in the amps happiest range for most use. Don and Niel reckon I need to try the 12w versions and that they would be no less satisfying - who am I to argue

And they were kind enough to leave the Pre & 45w amps with me to play with for a while


Take care - Graz

[artm]

5W to 12W? That puts you in SET territory which may prove rather interesting...

[User211]

Graz - how wide is Synergy 2 (not 1.5 v2 though I expect they are the same) at the base?

Definately try the 12W versions and provide some feedback - be interested if they can do 90DB+++ and still sound clean. Also be interested if you prefer the lower wattage amps sonically.

They look excellent, BTW.

[Graz]

Just under 0.9m! They are wide compared to most other Ap's, though to me most other Ap's look thin

In terms of level I would expect the 12w amps to produce over 100dB. I will have to wait for Donald to get back from a trip before I find out though...



Take care - Graz