what are you listening to?

[Bob Boyer]

Bunch of stuff. Loud. Mary Black's Shine, Reckless Kelly Wicked Twisted Road, Omar & The Howlers' Big Delta, Traffic Welcome To the Canteen (those congas), Johnny Cash The Man Comes Around. Trying to ascertain what I'm really hearing with these single drivers. One thing I will say, if Cash's Hurt is any indication, this is a pretty muscular little system. It's pretty much all I need in 12x14 feet.

Now about that occasional harshness...

 

[laatsch55]

Been doing JIB's all day...

Infected Mushroom--- "I'm The Supervisor", " Converting Vegetarians", " BP Empire"
Shpongle--- " Are You Shpongled" " Nothing Lasts But nothing Is Lost", "Tales Of the Inexpressible": " RedRocks 2015"
And finishing up with Tool---" Fear Inoculum"

 

[George S.]

Steve Winwood at Blossom, opening for The Doobie Bros.

 

[Bob Boyer]

Steve Winwood at Blossom, opening for The Doobie Bros.

That needs to be the other way around...

 

[gene french]

That needs to be the other way around...

i like them both!!

 

[Stratdoc]

So, spoke with Benchmark. They thought the thermal shutdown was from playing the amp for 3 hours or better at that volume level. Said no problems with the 4 0hm speakers. It is stable at all impedance levels. I told them once the amp cooled, we played at the same volume level for another hour with no issue. They said if it happened again let them know and I might need to send it in for a go over as a bit unusual. The album we were playing at the time should have had no impact on the amp's heat.

Second AHB2 on the way.

I have been living with the second AHB2 amp for a few days in a passive vertical bi-amp configuration. I have swapped back a forth between a single AHB2 and my A21+. To my ears, and my wife concurs, the two AHB2 amps vertically bi-amped provide a significant sound improvement. Bass is tighter and more punchy, particularly at lower volumes, wide dynamic range and separation, more nuanced highs and mid-range.

Am I deluded, or am I hearing what I think I am hearing - easy to convince yourself of improvements in this hobby. ? Many will argue that passive bi-amping provides no improvements, or marginal at best. Folks at Benchmark say they have experimented with passively bi-amping the AHB2 amps and that it is system/context dependent. Have measured improvement in some systems and not others.

 

[J!m]

I would say if the amp is in a happier place providing what the speakers need, sound will improve.

If a single amp struggles, or has less headroom for example, you will hear when that is NOT there. You won’t really be able to tell it’s not there, until it isn’t.

 

[laatsch55]

What is a passive, vertical , biamp configuration?

 

[Bob Boyer]

I think he's runnin

i like them both!!

Loved the Doobies before Michael McDonald, though they did better with him. Not a fan of his voice in the context of a rock and roll band, and for my money, he emasculated them. But I'm always grumpy before the coffee kicks in...

 

[BlazeES]

I think he's runnin


Loved the Doobies before Michael McDonald, though they did better with him. Not a fan of his voice in the context of a rock and roll band, and for my money, he emasculated them.

I fully agree. The Doobie Bros stopped being rock & roll and went 'Pop' mode, with a tinge of Steely Dan - with Michael.

 

[gene french]

I think he's runnin


Loved the Doobies before Michael McDonald, though they did better with him. Not a fan of his voice in the context of a rock and roll band, and for my money, he emasculated them. But I'm always grumpy before the coffee kicks in...

me too!!!
luv my coffee!!!

 

[gene french]

What is a passive, vertical , biamp configuration?

I think he's runnin


Loved the Doobies before Michael McDonald, though they did better with him. Not a fan of his voice in the context of a rock and roll band, and for my money, he emasculated them. But I'm always grumpy before the coffee kicks in...

black water is delicate ... it shows tests the tweeters!! love it...

 

[gene french]

What is a passive, vertical , biamp configuration?

sounds kinky !!!

 

[gene french]

What is a passive, vertical , biamp configuration?

found this online mr. laatsch...

 

[gene french]

best of smokie..

 

[gene french]

jockey full of bourbon...

 

[George S.]

Stoned Century....Psycho Land

 

[Stratdoc]

I have been living with the second AHB2 amp for a few days in a passive vertical bi-amp configuration. I have swapped back a forth between a single AHB2 and my A21+. To my ears, and my wife concurs, the two AHB2 amps vertically bi-amped provide a significant sound improvement. Bass is tighter and more punchy, particularly at lower volumes, wide dynamic range and separation, more nuanced highs and mid-range.

Am I deluded, or am I hearing what I think I am hearing - easy to convince yourself of improvements in this hobby. ? Many will argue that passive bi-amping provides no improvements, or marginal at best. Folks at Benchmark say they have experimented with passively bi-amping the AHB2 amps and that it is system/context dependent. Have measured improvement in some systems and not others.

Long listening session last night. I spent most of the evening off-axis on the right in front of the right speaker about 10 ft away.. The speakers were the Sonus Faber Olympica iiis.

Do some amps sound better for off axis listening? For the first time since listening to the AHB2 amps I was less impressed on some songs - forward sounding and more pronounced highs. Not all songs, but some. Return to center listening position and sounds great. I am guessing it is a combination of amp and speakers, maybe room as well.

 

[J!m]

It could be crosstalk within the old amp allowing the other channel to be heard in the one closer.

AH2B has no crosstalk so that may explain it.

 

[Bob Boyer]

Long listening session last night. I spent most of the evening off-axis on the right in front of the right speaker about 10 ft away.. The speakers were the Sonus Faber Olympica iiis.

Do some amps sound better for off axis listening? For the first time since listening to the AHB2 amps I was less impressed on some songs - forward sounding and more pronounced highs. Not all songs, but some. Return to center listening position and sounds great. I am guessing it is a combination of amp and speakers, maybe room as well.

Heard the dual AHBs in the center spot this afternoon and hadn't seen this post before going over to Bob's house. I can't speak to what Bob heard off-axis but what I heard on-axis was pretty spectacular. His bi-amp arrangement is indeed a step up from what I heard a couple of weeks ago. We went through some of what we listened to previously and I'm even more impressed with the soundstage specificity and the rendering of instruments. I finally heard why Charlie Watts tried to buy Muscle Shoals Sound's Neumann U-87 after they recorded Wild Horses. Single mic high and in front of his kit and it snapped. No other drum mics - from the story I read in SOS - they weren't really expecting the Stones to show up. Part of it is the mic but a part of it is the house and it was all there.

We did drive 'em into earbleed territory with Ramblin' Gamblin' Man from Bob Seger's Live Bullet album - I was trying to see if I could feel the Hammond B3/Leslie combo like I felt it all those years ago at Memorial Auditorium when he opened for BTO and I left after three songs into BTO's set - he was that much better. Felt the bass but couldn't summon the air from the Hammond and the clipping lights were starting to dance with no sign of strain. Backed it down to just below clipping threshold which was still plenty loud.

My ears were certainly impressed.

I will also say that they push plenty of volume as monoblocks but the sound was not as precise as the bi-amp setup. We both like the bi-amp setup better.