Great Commonwealth Amp Challenge - Exposure vs Redgum vs LFD vs Sonneteer

Bigerik

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Three Brits vs an Aussie! All made in their home countries. Two of the 4 hand made by their respective designers.

By some incredible luck and great timing, I'm gonna be able to try amps be all these great companies in my system. All are pretty well unaffordable, so it won't be an exercise about which to buy. Rather, it will just be a matter of choosing which I like the best. All will be recent, if not current models, so age won't be an issue. Should make for a fair comparison.

The speakers will be my good old Spendors, which should work well with any of them. Should be fun! Only downside is having to return them in the end. :thumbsdn:

But I figure it's like going to the Louvre. Just because I can't keep the Mona Lisa, doesn't mean I won't enjoy seeing it. :)
 
I can't wait to read your reviews.

This week, I will have a chance to meet Dan D'Agostino in person. I can't wait....

And I can't wait to write them. :)

First two amps are already in play. Both great so far, but one greater then the other at first blush.

Have fun with Dan. While I was never a huge Krell fan (just found them hyper detailed and a bit lacking in musicality), his new stuff is just stunning looking. I'd love to give any of his new amps a good listen.
 
I can't wait to read your reviews.

This week, I will have a chance to meet Dan D'Agostino in person. I can't wait....



I have always wondered if Dan played much of a part in designing my Krell S-300i? From all I have read and heard with my ears the S-300i is not like earlier Krell products.
 
The amps to be compared are:

Exposure 3010S2
Redgum RGi 120
Sonneteer Alabaster
LFA - Silver somethingorother.

The Exposure and Regum both have plenty more power, but it shouldn't really be an issue. Not driving any of them really hard with inefficient speakers. Gonna try to level match them anyway to keep things honest. I don't really have a horse in this race, so I don't have much in the way of biases going in, other than experience with the Exposure (which was very, VERY good).

Edit:
Redgum is 120WPC of high current MOSFET goodness.
Exposure 110 WPC with tons of current also.
Sonneteer at only 55 wpc
LFD is 60 (I think)
 
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In Novembers Stereophile Sam has a review of the LFD NCSE Mk.ll integrated amp. He is going to stick with his LE MkIV. He used it to drive his Harbeth 30.1 speakers. That is a combo I would like to hear.
 
I have heard from from a number of folks that the LFD amps really shine with LFD cables. When I heard one it they were using Chord cables.
 
Maybe I need to throw a Krell into the mix too? Moon? Naim? Krell would throw off the Commonwealth theme though. :)
 
Apparently this was the description used in some reviews at the time the Redgum debuted, and one can readily see why so.

Cool. Thanks. Haven't heard that yet, but I'll keep tweaking and listening. Is that your experience?
 
Well mine is a mere RGi60 :) But even then the tubey mid-range manifests itself especially when compared to other 'cool & clear' SS amps. I experienced this big time when I swapped the Redgum with Sansui AU-417. Apologies to the Sui fans but compared to the Redgum the Sui sounded like excessively micro-oven'd wagyu beef.
 
Well mine is a mere RGi60 :) But even then the tubey mid-range manifests itself especially when compared to other 'cool & clear' SS amps. I experienced this big time when I swapped the Redgum with Sansui AU-417. Apologies to the Sui fans but compared to the Redgum the Sui sounded like excessively micro-oven'd wagyu beef.

Did you compare it to any other modern SS amps?
 
No. At the time all I had was a couple of vintage SS amps. I could in my mind compare the Redgum against other modern SS amps that I've tried/auditioned previously though. But that's no direct comparison.
 
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