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While waiting for the delivery, I have a chance to set up an in-home demo on a Belles Aria Signature integrated amp, but before going through the logistics, I wonder if anyone have tried this amp or the little brother Aria with Sierra Tower with RAAL tweeter?
I haven't tried this amp with our towers, but I have listened to this amp with other speakers at various audio shows many times. It is excellent and will be a very good match with our ribbon towers.Quote:
Originally Posted by elan120
I've not heard this particular combination, but I've powered my Towers with an inexpensive Yamaha receiver, an Audiolab integrated amp, and currently an Anthem TLP 1 running through an MCA 20 amp. To my ears they have sounded stellar through all of the implementations, they are efficient enough that all of them have had enough power to drive them to satisfying levels without a hint of strain. There might be some placebo effect at play with the pre/power combination driving them, but it sets my mind at ease knowing there is a sizeable amount of headroom with the greater output of the MCA especially when I'm in the mood to crank them up.Quote:
Originally Posted by elan120
I'm relatively certain that I would not be able to ascertain which of the above components were driving the Towers in a level matched blind comparison. In my decades of interest in hifi gear, I've not ever found much difference in the sound quality attributed to the driving electronics with the exception of the capabilities of bass integration and room correction, which can be game changers for sure.
All of that being said, I'm as big a sucker for audio jewelry as anyone, but the McIntosh amp I bought almost 50 years ago didn't provide audible improvements anywhere near as much as upgrading source componentry/material and the speakers.
I read some reviews on the Belles amps, they are obviously well regarded by the folks that wrote the reviews. I usually don't put much stock in these kinds of reviews when there is usually a direct correlation between price and sound quality. I believe that the difference is entirely contained within the imagination of the reviewer's flowery prose, JMHO.
Jay
Looking forward to your impressions, what will you be using to drive the Towers for comparative purpose? Particularly interested if you hear a tube like sound signature, Cherry Amps has a DAC that they say has a similar sound quality, DAC DAC 1 TLQuote:
Originally Posted by elan120
https://www.cherryamp.com/dac-dac-d-to-a-convertor
Jay
Not too sure how I deleted the earlier reply, so here is a copy...Quote:
Originally Posted by davef
Thank you for the input, Dave,
I first heard about Belles amp came from Bobby Plakovic when I had a pair of Merlin VSM, and he too, was highly recommending David Belles's design, and ne of the key things caught my attention with Aria Signature is the use of MOSFET output devices, where both MOSFETs and vacuum tubes are both voltage controlled devices and their transfer functions are similar as well. My limited experience with MOSFETs impart a tube-like sound with the low-end grunt of amps using bi-polar transistors, if implements well, it is the best of both worlds.
I will go ahead get the demo setup when I am able to take Towers delivery. Very much looking forward to try this pairing.
Appreciate your inputs, Jay,Quote:
Originally Posted by petmotel
It will be interesting to do a test drive some time in December. I always like in-home demo, and think that is the best (only?) way to truly find out what works, so I am very much looking forward to this arrangement. I will report back my findings after the demo.
I am still gathering other amps to compare, but will have a Emotiva Gen3 and likely will have either a Luxman 590AXII or L509X as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by petmotel
As for the DAC, I will be using a Holo Spring first, but plan to switch-in my other DAC, a Terminator from Denafrips to see how it works in this setup as well.
Reviving this thread because I am thinking about upgrading my integrated to the Belles Aria Dual Mono Integrated Amp. Runs for 3.5k.
Anyone have experience pairing the RAAL Towers (originals) with this Belles Aria amp?
The Towers can take a decent amount of power, but I've been running them with a Job 225, which is based on a Goldmund design. I'd previously used the Job with Alta Rhea speakers and had great success. The amp is super fast and clean. Bass performance was fantastic with the Alta Rhea's, but has been disappointing with the v1 Towers. As such, I'm planning on upgrading my Towers with the v2 upgrade kit in hopes that the promised increases in dynamics and bass performance satisfy my expectations.
Really, I can't recommend the Job 225 enough. They can be had on the used market for around $1000. At that price, I consider the Job a steal.
Edit: The reason the Job 225 sounds so fast is because it is a high bandwidth amplifier. I'd previously owned a Simaudio Moon I5 integrated and until I'd obtained the Job 225, I'd never heard another amp that fast before.
I know I'm late on this but I use the vtv purifi eigentakt eval-1 amp along with a topping d90 and topping pre90. I can put my ear up to the speaker with the volume cranked and it's absolutely silent due to combined distortion specs beyond human perception. Just for fun I plugged my setup into a power meter at the wall and cranked it as loud as I could imagine ever wanting it and it was only using a few watts. My room is 15x15 so I'm not too far away but still, I was impressed. This setup has no sound signature. Just loud or quiet when you turn the knob one way or the other. At the towers 4ohm rating the amp can supply up to 400w at <1% distortion. No legit reason to pay more. https://vtvamplifier.com/product/vtv...sed-on-eval-1/
The VTV amplifiers are really good and reasonably priced. Customer service is also great. I'm using one (custom 7 channel Pascal - 1x250, 6x140) for my Horizon ELX Raal, S2 surrounds, and 4 HTM200 ATMOS).
Currently using a Rogue ST100 for fronts (Tower ELX Raal) although do have another VTV amplifier which I'm thinking about trying. It's a 4x150 wpc model but VTV can modify (bridge each module) to make it 2x250 wpc for the fronts if I want for a very reasonable price.