HX series of power amp
I have a long private PM with one of you and since you have point out something, I feel I need to get this out before anyone get the wrong idea. We feel Bob is thinking the Crimson and BC are getting close in term of sound. I would like to ask Bob to do what Double D has mentioned listen to the new BC gear before drawing the conclusion. I believe in the near future, you will have a chance to listen to the BC1022. May be then you can hear what the newer BC sound is about.
I understand why Bob like the Crimson because they are physically small which he can takes to trade show easier. BC are still big and guess what, it is not going to change anytime soon. I need the room to fit in those big power supply. If Bob doesn't like the physical lifting, which I totally understand, then he can take Crimson with him. It is his personal decision to do what he wants. It is also our personal decision to do what we like.
I understand why Bob like the Crimson because they are physically small which he can takes to trade show easier. BC are still big and guess what, it is not going to change anytime soon. I need the room to fit in those big power supply. If Bob doesn't like the physical lifting, which I totally understand, then he can take Crimson with him. It is his personal decision to do what he wants. It is also our personal decision to do what we like.
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bobneill
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Crimson and the new BC sound
As I wrote in giving my impressions of the NSL, Junior a while back, I felt the new BC sound, as represented in that amp, was very close to what the Crimson sound was in my 640 monoblocks. I said both sounded "utterly natural" and that unless you were comparing A/B, back and forth, you'd be hard put to tell them apart, let alone pick one over the other, which is why I concluded that Peter More and Gilbert were getting close to each other on these amps. And then I settled down to make what distinctions I could:
"While it
"While it
I like the concept of the HX - always nice to have flexibility. When I had the 208 converted to an NST, I wanted to retain the tube functionality but there wasn't enough room in the chassis to support both. The HX option is even better but I'm guessing that I wouldn't have room for that either. Mind you, I can't say that I miss the tube maintenance thing. Since I have had the 208-NST, the amps have virtually been on 24x7, something that I would never have done before.
garyj - the 2xx NST gets you a little closer to the NSL sound - greater clarity, vividness, detail, speed, etc. but it still sounds more like a 2xx series amp than a NSL. Don't know if you saw my thread, I tried to articulate my experiences but I'm not a talented writer.
Do I like the NSL sound better than my 208-NST ... yeah maybe ... quite possibly ... sometimes ... ???. Would I trade my 208-NST for the NSL ... not likely. Like I mentioned in my blog, I was truly impressed at how well the NSL was able to drive my CLXes (within reason), but the 208 is more comfortable with the CLX when pushed harder. It is about compromise, synergy and system context.
Would I take the NSL over my 206 ... yeah.
garyj - the 2xx NST gets you a little closer to the NSL sound - greater clarity, vividness, detail, speed, etc. but it still sounds more like a 2xx series amp than a NSL. Don't know if you saw my thread, I tried to articulate my experiences but I'm not a talented writer.
Do I like the NSL sound better than my 208-NST ... yeah maybe ... quite possibly ... sometimes ... ???. Would I trade my 208-NST for the NSL ... not likely. Like I mentioned in my blog, I was truly impressed at how well the NSL was able to drive my CLXes (within reason), but the 208 is more comfortable with the CLX when pushed harder. It is about compromise, synergy and system context.
Would I take the NSL over my 206 ... yeah.
Very fascinating reading the various opinions of both the new NSL (senior and Junior) NSP .. and now HX variants.
Prior to deciding to rehome my 206NST, (and it was tough decision.. ) I came to the conclusion after spending time with both the 1022 and the NSP pushing around my SHL5's that although the 206NST was still competitive on a number of levels, there was just "something" about the newer series that just was superior.
After living with my own NSP for a month now, (and it still has a LONG way to go on the settle in .. there is a LOT of caps in there to settle in..
)
I think I may have actually stumbled on the one magic bullet that the newer series of amps have over the older 200 series.. well, at least what I know of my 206.. in a word... TIMING. The critical timing, pacing, prat, whatever the devil you want to call it.. is, as the Brits' would say "Bloody Brilliant"
Now, I'm not just talking about the get down and boogie factor here, and make no mistake.. 1022 and NSP are good old "dancing machines".. in the best sense of the words.. but rather it also has to do with very subtle timing cues that add to the ultimate believability of a piece of reproduced music. The subtle interplay between musicians, the starting, stopping of notes, .. all these tiny bits that seemed not present or not nearly as obvious, are now in full evidence.
To be honest if I were in Nikki's place, with his speakers and ancillaries I would keep the 208's .. NST'd or not.. they are in a class all their own, the time I had the original 208's here was some of my fondest memories of audio in the last decade.
I do know that for as long as I own the SHL5's .. I believe the 303/NSP combo will be chained to them .. it is indeed a marriage made in heaven. As Nikki said .. it's about compromise, synergy, and system context. The 303 provides the liquidity, and is a true champion of space and grace, and the NSP is it's perfect foil adding it's own blend of virtues.. which I will confess to still getting to the bottom of, hey.. this one is a deep well of abilities, and I am still drinking from it.
I used to tease Gilbert about always wanting him to build "the perfect low watt pure Class A solid state amp" (a la Bedini 25/25 .. or Classe DR3VHC of days gone by) I told him as he was leaving after dropping off my NSP that he no longer needed to listen to me whine about building such a beast. I think in the NSL and NSP and 1022 he has now captured something akin to the magic that resides in some of those amps of yore, but without the penalty of those pure Class A devices I used to covet so much.
Prior to deciding to rehome my 206NST, (and it was tough decision.. ) I came to the conclusion after spending time with both the 1022 and the NSP pushing around my SHL5's that although the 206NST was still competitive on a number of levels, there was just "something" about the newer series that just was superior.
After living with my own NSP for a month now, (and it still has a LONG way to go on the settle in .. there is a LOT of caps in there to settle in..
) I think I may have actually stumbled on the one magic bullet that the newer series of amps have over the older 200 series.. well, at least what I know of my 206.. in a word... TIMING. The critical timing, pacing, prat, whatever the devil you want to call it.. is, as the Brits' would say "Bloody Brilliant"
Now, I'm not just talking about the get down and boogie factor here, and make no mistake.. 1022 and NSP are good old "dancing machines".. in the best sense of the words.. but rather it also has to do with very subtle timing cues that add to the ultimate believability of a piece of reproduced music. The subtle interplay between musicians, the starting, stopping of notes, .. all these tiny bits that seemed not present or not nearly as obvious, are now in full evidence.
To be honest if I were in Nikki's place, with his speakers and ancillaries I would keep the 208's .. NST'd or not.. they are in a class all their own, the time I had the original 208's here was some of my fondest memories of audio in the last decade.
I do know that for as long as I own the SHL5's .. I believe the 303/NSP combo will be chained to them .. it is indeed a marriage made in heaven. As Nikki said .. it's about compromise, synergy, and system context. The 303 provides the liquidity, and is a true champion of space and grace, and the NSP is it's perfect foil adding it's own blend of virtues.. which I will confess to still getting to the bottom of, hey.. this one is a deep well of abilities, and I am still drinking from it.
I used to tease Gilbert about always wanting him to build "the perfect low watt pure Class A solid state amp" (a la Bedini 25/25 .. or Classe DR3VHC of days gone by) I told him as he was leaving after dropping off my NSP that he no longer needed to listen to me whine about building such a beast. I think in the NSL and NSP and 1022 he has now captured something akin to the magic that resides in some of those amps of yore, but without the penalty of those pure Class A devices I used to covet so much.
DD
I've been waiting for you to say something about your new amp
. I imagine it must be pretty special indeed for you to make the move from your 206NST. Break-in is a bugger eh 
I have said it before, the NSL experience still haunts me, it does so many things so "Bloody Brilliant". Wish I could merge the strengths of the 208 and NSL into one.
I've been waiting for you to say something about your new amp
. I imagine it must be pretty special indeed for you to make the move from your 206NST. Break-in is a bugger eh I have said it before, the NSL experience still haunts me, it does so many things so "Bloody Brilliant". Wish I could merge the strengths of the 208 and NSL into one.
Yeah Nikki, the breakin time is a pain for sure.. however the rather neat thing is that the NSP has sounded REALLY good almost from day one.. with incremental improvements as time has passed... with only a couple of days that it has sounded "out of sorts" so far.. and hey.. that could just be me. 
I don't want to hijack threads about what the NSP does and doesn't do.. in my mind, the key is that Gilbert has hit the mark with these amps, along with the ability to allow people to tweak their existing stuff, is one of the biggest draws to BC gear, unlike other brands, which are "closed", Gilbert likes to work with BC owners to keep their "toys" current to their needs, and relevant to his latest thoughts on circuits and power supplies.
I don't want to hijack threads about what the NSP does and doesn't do.. in my mind, the key is that Gilbert has hit the mark with these amps, along with the ability to allow people to tweak their existing stuff, is one of the biggest draws to BC gear, unlike other brands, which are "closed", Gilbert likes to work with BC owners to keep their "toys" current to their needs, and relevant to his latest thoughts on circuits and power supplies.
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Chowder_head
- Advanced Member
- Posts: 635
- Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2005 1:29 pm
- Location: Copenhagen
Re: HX
I don't think i can ever be weaned off DHT amps, especially the 45 tubes, but some SS amps, like yours, are an enjoyable complement.bobneill wrote:I wonder how long it will be before we're all converted back to solid state. We've become so used to the enriched sound of tubes, even just as inputs, that solid state, even extremely good solid state, initially sounds too cool and lean to us. But if the solid state really is good enough, we can adapt to it and then actually come to prefer it, especially if our reference is 'live' music. Gilbert is taking us by the hand with these HX amps, I think: he's giving us the opportunity to wean ourselves off tubes.
Just wanted to update that after some break in the amp (also preamp with doubled power supply) have settled into that effortless state is so good about this equipment. So last night I ditched the eh tubes that I was leaving on to break stuff in and went with nos tubes in the preamp and a golden lion in the amp (only needs one). Cleaner and more extended sound -- just fabulous. Has that way of exposing the details but keeping the music together that is what blue circle does so well. I am still running a mix of 1/2 tube and 1/2 ss for the HX, but I probably will experiment again now that have better tubes.
As I was going through tube inventory last night, realized that just moving from 4 tubes to one really is a nice move. It is cheaper, but also it is just easier to find one tube with no noise than four.
As I was going through tube inventory last night, realized that just moving from 4 tubes to one really is a nice move. It is cheaper, but also it is just easier to find one tube with no noise than four.
gary