keithpgdrb
Super Member
He was probably dreaming that someone was swapping the quads for some white vans. :yes:
Leben. Thinking something drastic here.
- Thread starter JohnVF
- Start date
He was probably dreaming that someone was swapping the quads for some white vans. :yes:
Doc Zinger
Well-Known Member
I got to quit replying to this thread of I'll never quit, don't have either at this time. Like both but more of a dog person.
Last two dogs a pair of APBT's pit bulls, a female and grandson, the female a UKC Grand Champion, top 10 dog 2 years in a row, dam of a UKC National Grand Chanpion and 3 other Grand Champions, a fantastic dog with a great disposition. Her granson, a great example of the breed except for disqualifing bite, easly Grand Champion material. Had to put both of them down, guess you know you'll out live most pets and that day will come. Doesn't make it any easier though.
Better get back to the subject, what was it, oh the LEBEN.
Last two dogs a pair of APBT's pit bulls, a female and grandson, the female a UKC Grand Champion, top 10 dog 2 years in a row, dam of a UKC National Grand Chanpion and 3 other Grand Champions, a fantastic dog with a great disposition. Her granson, a great example of the breed except for disqualifing bite, easly Grand Champion material. Had to put both of them down, guess you know you'll out live most pets and that day will come. Doesn't make it any easier though.
Better get back to the subject, what was it, oh the LEBEN.
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Sounds like they were great pets. I know, odds are that we outlive them. Harry (the fat cat) just had all of his teeth pulled except 4, due to a hereditary gum disease. It was a nervous day.
Usually my 'should I get this?' threads go about 5 posts. Not sure what happened with this one.
Is the black and white on the leader? She/he doesn't look thrilled about somethin'
It's inevitable. I should just start all posts with a picture of my cats.
Mister Pig
Pigamus Maximus
Congratulations on the Klyne and Leben. However, the Cabasse is what offers you a real opportunity, that's right SET. You find a 300B or 2A3 based amp from Wavelength, Sun Audio, Audionote, Electraprint, or several other companies.....and you may very well toss that Quad and Levinson setup on Craigslist. Yes I know they don't have many watts, have lowish dampening, don't spec out well, but they are captivating. Very few people who go high efficiency and SET ever leave the fold. There are some, but it doesn't happen often.
Have a great time listening to the new stuff, its mighty fine gear.
Regards
Mister Pig
I think Mister Pig should be Master Pig. Like an audio Jedi (and I owe you a long PM about all of this...).
It's no accident that I bought the Cabasses. Researching the Leben CS-300x brought me across too many mentions of "it's like SET but with more power". I'm always skeptical of any "its like/but" posts, as I've seen too many "this so-and-so solid state unit has a tube-like sound" threads, and been let down when I tried the unit for myself, to believe that stuff anymore. I've only ever heard a few cases where solid state sounded like tubes, and it certainly wasn't in a receiver from the late '60s or whatever. Bedini Class-A being about the closest.
The Klyne/Levinson/Quad setup is so different as to be a perfect compliment to another system, however it goes. I REALLY like the Quads. But more importantly, I really like them with the Levinson.
One more thing, in regards to power output of the CS-300x into the Cabassa speakers. I keep getting into a case where I don't realize how loud I am playing my system- distortion is not setting in, the thing sounds incredibly clear, and normally the volume knob is around 10 o'clock. There is plenty of power in this little shoe-box to drive anybody out of the room.
We rock here. And sometimes we glam rock here. But we rarely prog rock here. And for the record, we never jazz-funk it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEydHNtBZmI&feature=related
Robie
Live it or live with it.
We rock here. And sometimes we glam rock here. But we rarely prog rock here. And for the record, we never jazz-funk it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEydHNtBZmI&feature=related
John, while I used to like jazz-funk, your video proved the errors of my ways. I am now de-converted back to Gary Numan who I always liked anyway.
IMO John's Quad-Levinson rig gives up nothing except ultimate dynamics to a SET-horn system and certainly nothing in tone, clarity, imaging and "attack". And I'm pretty sure it matches the dynamics of direct radiators like the Cabasses driven by a SET; my Altec 605s, speakers more sensitive than the Cabasses, ran out of gas early driven by an SET.
Now it would be swell to own a stat system and a horn system but given the conditions of medium sized high rise apartments I'd take John's rig over any of the horns I've owned. Of course I've taken my own advice, having ditched my horns for stats when I moved from a house to a high rise.
Peter Walker
Well-Known Member
Interesting TB. I started out with horns (Tannoy 'Westminsters' driven by Quad 22/202) graduated to a number of fairly ordinary dynamics when higher-powered SS amps became affordable, then to stats driven by valves (tube to you US bods) and finally back to dynamics driven first by SS ( Nuforce 'Refernce' VIII's) and than by valves.(Leben pre-amp & Icon Audio MB 845's)
My current speakers, Usher BE10's with beryllium mid and treble drivers have all the tonal richness and accuracy of stats with the transient power and attack of large horn systems. I suspect my power amps have something to do with this and reinforcement of everything below 70Hz by a pair of Velodyne DD15's. Listening recently to some very expensive Italian horn speakers I was impressed but found they still sounded like horns. Don't ask me to describe what a horn sounds like though, I can't.
My last exposure to Usher speakers left me very impressed. Might have been the BE-10s, actually, but I don't remember for sure. I wasn't convinced at the time that I was going to be spending that kind of money on my setup, but I eventually did.
Tom heard my system with the McCormack passive preamp. Since then, I've added a Klyne 6l, which has really helped close the dynamic differences between my systems. While I am a fan of the Leben and my other speakers, the Quads are something else. I knew the moment I first heard them, that my favorite speakers had been found. They're not going anywhere.
And then you can become converted to The Mighty Boosh, the BBC comedy that clip is from. Sabah and I have lost weekends to that show.
Peter Walker
Well-Known Member
Probably wandering off topic here so I'll be brief. There are TWO Usher BE10's, the earlier, which I have with beryllium mid and treble drivers ( as in the Yamaha NS1000), and the later with something they call an 'amorphous diamond tweeter. For reasons that really puzzle me both have the same model number. Go figure! And yes, they were absurdly expensive but I got a very good trade-in on my 6 month old Soundlap ULPX stats so bit the bullet and haven't regretted it for a second.
Mister Pig
Pigamus Maximus
I have been a fan of planar speakers ever since I was in my early twenties, and had the opportunity to hear the Martin Logans and Apogee speakers. One speaker that I fell in love with was the Martin Logan CLS, and to this day would love to have the opportunity to own a pair. Funny thing is that I always felt that planars and HE speakers with SET sounded similar in many ways.
Interesting note on the Altecs. Friend of mine a few miles down the road uses GPA 604 reissues in 10CF ported cabinets. I had an 8 wpc Electra Print amplifier with 300B output tubes over there, and it would run you out of the room. I never heard the amp run out of power at any sane level of music, nor did it ever compress dynamics, it was quite a nice combination. Actually those GPA 604 could possibly be my next option for speakers. Which SET amp did you use Tom, do you remember?
I recently had a chance to buy some very nice Quad 2908 speakers that a friend had decided to sell. I got the chance to listen to them with my Rowland Model 5 amplifier, and I could see certain aspects that people would enjoy. But in the end I found the dynamic attack of the speaker to be compromised to what I hear in SET and HE speakers. So thats why I make the choice I have, and I enjoy it. Just as you have. John on the other hand would have to chase down a SET amplifier and give it a listen to, before he can form an opinion on the subject.
Regarding the Leben being SET like, I too would take that with a grain of salt. Low powered tube amps have certain characteristics that are endearing, and I have no doubt the Leben has them. However, it is still a push pull topology with pentode tubes. These should have different sonic characteristics than a directly heated triode tube, that is used in a simple and direct circuit. The complexity of the push pull circuit is going to result in a different set of sonic characteristics. This is not to say the Leben is a bad amp, or inferior, or any other such nonsense.......but it should be different. Now here is the thing to remember, I don't own the CS300X, or have had it in my system, but I have heard it in causal conditions. So this is only my opinion, and there is conclusive evidence that what I surmise is correct. It is up to John to give this experiment a shot if he ever gets interested. However, I have owned Cabasse Farella 401 and Catalane 500'sw, so I have a good idea of what the 1990's era of Cabasse speakers are capable of.
But I still would love to spend some time in front of a pair of Martin Logan CLS and Apogee Duetta.
Regards
Mister Pig
I'm certainly going to pursue the SET angle. Its next on the list. And 604s, whether the GPs or Altecs, are the only other speakers that I'm actually thinking about right now. I spent some time with a smaller pair of Altec coaxials a while back and understood the magic of them, and there weren't nearly as highly regarded as 604s. So I still have room to move- and since I didn't sell off my whole stash chasing the Leben, I have things left to finance that adventure. But for the time being I'm taking a break and enjoying what I have. I want to sit on this current crop of gear for a while.