Lyrita Audio's New Amity Speaker

[stevieboy]

You should have mentioned it. we would have also found out whether the amitys can be used a 2.0 speaker set for movies with adequate thump. I think along with its price it would make a great speaker set for movies.

i listen to tv quite exclusively through the lyrita harmony ones and the 45 SET amp. 2 channel heaven i must say! clarity in dialog is superb! though am sure the taste wouldn't be for everyone

 

[Kamal]

We had a pretty interesting & lively session on the 1st Nov 2009.
It was great meeting the gentlemen behind the pseudonyms discussing their tastes in music & their perception of the SET Amps-both the higher powered 6C33CB & the 2A3-& the speakers-The Harmony One & the Amity.
I wanted to hear how the Amity sounded after the drivers had properly broken in & also how it fared with Solid State Amps.
-The Amity, after the break in, sounded extremely smooth-you could hear music thru them for hours & not perceive a hint of harshness or grain.
-Heliumflight has mentioned in his post above the various combinations of Amps & Speakers tried out during the session & also of the music that was played.
My impression was that the Amity paired very well with both the SS Amps.Interestingly,the difft sonic signatures of the two SS Amps, which were from well known & respected international companies, came thru clearly, which says a lot for the accuracy & transparency of the Amity.
It was very pleasant listening,with the music reproduced with all the detail & nuances.The mids & highs were pleasant & clean & the bass had a very nice tight quality, which is the forte of SS Amps.
However the diff between SS & SET tube Amps came thru clearly.
There was unanimous agreement that the same music sounded perceptibly nicer thru the SET,with richer harmonics,more sweetness in the mids & highs & very nice well controlled bass of a high quality, which I had emphasized in my earlier, detailed listening impression.
Tubes reportedly suffer from a looser, flabby bass control but this was nowhere evident in any of the SET Amps/speaker pairings-the bass was consistently of a high quality irrespective of the music we heard.
Among the SET Amps, the very high musical reputation of the 2A3 was clearly evident; they did indeed sound more involving than the other SET.
My choice of a combo would be the 2A3 SET + The Amity for the ultimate in Musicality ,Transparency & Versatility.Some others agreed.
Helium would differ but thats healthy & great -he has his own "ears" & trusts them.

 

[anm]

actually we already spent some 4 hours with Viren.
anyways, we have now a great excuse to walk into Viren's house and get that great coffee+cake.

regards

You should have mentioned it. we would have also found out whether the amitys can be used a 2.0 speaker set for movies with adequate thump. I think along with its price it would make a great speaker set for movies.

 

[heliumflight]

We had a pretty interesting & lively session on the 1st Nov 2009.
-Heliumflight has mentioned in his post above the various combinations of Amps & Speakers tried out during the session & also of the music that was played.

Helium would differ but thats healthy & great -he has his own "ears" & trusts them.

Kamalji I thank you for encouraging me and other budding audiophiles with your wisdom.

In this context I would also like to share my feelings so that others may benefit in this quest of 'Audio Nirvana'...

"You should endeavour to go past the brand name into that musical experience that makes you feel mesmerized"

--
Kindest regards,
helium

 

[Kamal]

Heliumflight wrote-
In this context I would also like to share my feelings so that others may benefit in this quest of 'Audio Nirvana'...

"You should endeavour to go past the brand name into that musical experience that makes you feel mesmerized"
Bang on, Helium !

 

[thevortex]

We had a pretty interesting & lively session on the 1st Nov 2009.
It was great meeting the gentlemen behind the pseudonyms discussing their tastes in music & their perception of the SET Amps-both the higher powered 6C33CB & the 2A3-& the speakers-The Harmony One & the Amity.
I wanted to hear how the Amity sounded after the drivers had properly broken in & also how it fared with Solid State Amps.
-The Amity, after the break in, sounded extremely smooth-you could hear music thru them for hours & not perceive a hint of harshness or grain.
-Heliumflight has mentioned in his post above the various combinations of Amps & Speakers tried out during the session & also of the music that was played.
My impression was that the Amity paired very well with both the SS Amps.Interestingly,the difft sonic signatures of the two SS Amps, which were from well known & respected international companies, came thru clearly, which says a lot for the accuracy & transparency of the Amity.
It was very pleasant listening,with the music reproduced with all the detail & nuances.The mids & highs were pleasant & clean & the bass had a very nice tight quality, which is the forte of SS Amps.
However the diff between SS & SET tube Amps came thru clearly.
There was unanimous agreement that the same music sounded perceptibly nicer thru the SET,with richer harmonics,more sweetness in the mids & highs & very nice well controlled bass of a high quality, which I had emphasized in my earlier, detailed listening impression.
Tubes reportedly suffer from a looser, flabby bass control but this was nowhere evident in any of the SET Amps/speaker pairings-the bass was consistently of a high quality irrespective of the music we heard.
Among the SET Amps, the very high musical reputation of the 2A3 was clearly evident; they did indeed sound more involving than the other SET.
My choice of a combo would be the 2A3 SET + The Amity for the ultimate in Musicality ,Transparency & Versatility.Some others agreed.
Helium would differ but thats healthy & great -he has his own "ears" & trusts them.

Kamal, I know I asked this question a while back. But what were the sonic differences and compromises when listening to music with the 2A3 SET as opposed to the 6CC3 SET? If you could list down a few comparative elements, that would be great.

Do also touch upon relative volume (db) level and position of volume knob in both cases. I know the Amity's do not lack in sensitivity. But I would also like yours and if possible, Viren's thoughts as well on who these two would do with speakers of moderate sensitivity.

 

[panditji]

I would recommend the Amity's over the Harmony One as they were very good all rounders and played all types of music well. The Harmony Ones are more suited for light acoustics and vocals and they play that music extremely well. But when playing music made up of electronic instruments, the Amity's are far superior and can be paired with all types of amps - both solid state and tubes... The Harmony One is a match made in heaven with tube amps and with certain kinds of music whereas the Amity's sound nice with any amplifier with any kind of music.

 

[heliumflight]

with speakers of moderate sensitivity.

Hi Vortex,
What speakers do you intend to run them with? I'm presently running my B&W DM4 sensitivity 88db @8 ohms with the SET 2A3.

Kindest regards,
--
helium

 

[thevortex]

Hi Vortex,
What speakers do you intend to run them with? I'm presently running my B&W DM4 sensitivity 88db @8 ohms with the SET 2A3.

Kindest regards,
--
helium

The EPOS M12.2 with 87db sensitivity. Impedence is at 8 ohms.

 

[heliumflight]

What's your room size?

 

[thevortex]

What's your room size?

11 X 14 feet.

 

[thevortex]

What's your room size?

11 X 14 feet.

 

[gobble]

Whats you room size ? .....

 

[thevortex]

Oops - can the moderator please delete the duplicate post?

And no, Gobble, you can look it up from one of my two 'authoritative' posts on this subject.

 

[heliumflight]

That's the same size of mine.

You can go till the 11 O' clock position. It wil be pleasing but after that then it's a different story unlike SS. Tube amps sound best when played at high volumes, that is where it sounds fat, chimy, very touch responsive and disorts musically.

For your needs I would recommend the Russian 6C33C SET (15 watts/channel)

Kindest regards,
--
helium

 

[heliumflight]

But if you are looking for music only, harmony one + set amp is excellent. As I have mentioned earlier also, I did not find bass lacking in harmony for music. Heliumflight can comment more on this as he was the one looking out for bass

regards

Thanks Anm, actually till now I thought it was bass I was looking for untill I heard the magic of the 2A3 tubes.

All this time I thought this may be the missing link that will solve the puzzle. I tried everything in the book and felt even more disappointed than before.

So folks I learnt the lesson the hard way.

So bottom line don't assume, listen for yourself.

A special thanks to Gopi, Dinyaar, Cranky, and all others I may have missed out for answering my millions questions.

 

[Kamal]

How does the 2A3 sound with your B&W's?
How does the pairing compare to the Bryston + B&W?
What music did you play for the comparison?

 

[rikhav]

For your needs I would recommend the Russian 6C33C SET (15 watts/channel)

Hi Helium
Lyrita's site does not mention about the 15 watt SET amp. So is the site not updated or the amp has been made recently?

 

[mahiruha]

Hi rikhav,
the website doesn't have it. I have certain information on it as provided by Viren. I don't understand much about it hope you get fair idea about it.Following is what viren wrote me.

" The 6C33C SET is a medium power valve, stereo integrated amplifier, offering superb reproduction of sound.
The 6C33C SET amplifier accepts three line level source inputs. The Line Out sockets provide the selected source signal for recording to tape. The signal path is kept as simple and as short as possible, to preserve the integrity of the music signal.
The design is a single-ended triode valve amplifier. The entire signal in each channel is handled by a single output valve, making this class A operation. All wiring is point-to-point. The valve input stage is capacitor coupled to the driver stage, which in turn is capacitor coupled to the valve output stage. The output stage uses a custom designed audio output transformer. No global feedback is used.

The 6C33C-B valve is unique in that it is two triodes paralleled internally. Dual heaters allow independent operation of each triode section. A switch provides operation of single plate or dual plate of the output valves.

The power supply has an oversized transformer, to provide good regulation for the supply voltages. Solid state rectification is used for the high current output stage, and valve rectification for the input stages. Each stage of the high voltage supply is independently filtered through chokes and RC filters. Individual filament transformers are used for low noise operation.
The 6C33C SET is housed in a naturally finished solid rosewood cabinet. The design elegantly showcases the beauty of the valves. "

Thnaks.

 

[heliumflight]

How does the 2A3 sound with your B&W's?
How does the pairing compare to the Bryston + B&W?
What music did you play for the comparison?

Bryston paired with vintage B&W DM4

• Neutral on the entire spectrum
• Punchy bottom end
• Clear highs
• Detailed highs
• Controlled bass
• Impact with authority

Set 2A3 paried with vintage B&W DM4

• Low end is missing
• Highs are wonderfully round off
• It is for the first time I felt that a Violins sound as a Violin and a trumpet sounds as a trumpet (Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon)
• Loose flabby bass
• Its pretty forgiving on bad recordings.
• Excels in vocals, acoustic stuff like acoustic guitar.
• Blooms the entire frequency spectrum
• Decay of textured notes that render defintion to body of instruments

Conclusion:
For what the amp looses on highs and lows makes up wonderfully in the midrange that will connect with your soul.

Realization:
What I realized after 2 hours of playing you will forget to dissect the music ex: loose flabby bass, airy trebbles as you will be so invloved with the music. But I have to warn you that this holds true only for serious music listening and not to back ground music.

Yes I have felt the urge to increase the volume as the sensitivity of my speakers is not that great. But I don't want to loose the typical 'English' sound.