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Today I had the pleasure of listening to a pair of 801D's (in one of my supplier's showrooms) driven by a pair of droolable behemoths, Classé Omega Mono amplifiers.
The setup there was: Classé CDP300 DVD player, used as a digital transport and connected to a Meridian 861 processor, connected to a pair of Classé Omega mono amplifiers which drove the 801D's.
I played 3 CD’s: Brian Culbertson - It’s on tonight; Stacey Kent - Collection II (24 bit remastered); Jeff Lorber - Heard that.
This was only a brief listening session. No A/B comparisons, no detailed analyses and no other hardware changes.
My impression was that the soundstage and 3-dimensionality was excellent. The 801D’s dig deep. I turned the volume up to almost ear-splitting levels several times (while playing Jeff Lorber) and felt the full bodied punch of the Omega amps controlling the 15" woofers of the 801D’s. I had the distinct feeling that there was plenty of power reserve available. Total and solid power stability. I must mention that I have never listened to the Delta CA-M400 mono’s (which I think is newer technology) and so I am unable to compare.
The purpose of this post is to give credence to the 801D’s being driven by these big beautiful amps rather than focusing on the source hardware. What I will mention (and my intention is not to brag) is that in my opinion, the Meridian 808 CD player (I own version 1 which was manufactured using 2004 technologies) still tops the CDP300/Meridian 861 combo in terms of detail and resolution - for redbook CD use. Most probably due to its dedicated audio circuitry, its ROM drive allowing multiple passes, its 3 buffers 2 of which are used as FIFO’s which reduce jitter significantly and Meridian’s “Resolution Enhancement” DSP in which the original 44.1kHz, 16-bit audio is upsampled to 176.4kHz, 24-bit in one of three 150MIPs processors operating with 48-bit internal precision.
My conclusion ... an awesome combo! Could I live with a pair of Omega mono’s driving my 802D’s? Hell yeah!!!
Update, Friday 27 February 2009:
I've just popped in and listened to the same setup fed by a different source. This being a Meridian 808.2 Signature Reference CD player fed directly to the Omega mono's via balanced analog outs (the Meridian player being set to "variable" such that the volume is controlled by the CD player & no external pre-amp is necessary).
The sound? Lifelike! Detailed! Crystal Clear! Resolution feels full-bodied & complete! In short ... perfection!
In my opinion, if one is going to invest in a pair of Omega mono's then one would be wise to invest a in a matching source of substantial quality. What that should be is for you to decide. :T :T :T
The setup there was: Classé CDP300 DVD player, used as a digital transport and connected to a Meridian 861 processor, connected to a pair of Classé Omega mono amplifiers which drove the 801D's.
I played 3 CD’s: Brian Culbertson - It’s on tonight; Stacey Kent - Collection II (24 bit remastered); Jeff Lorber - Heard that.
This was only a brief listening session. No A/B comparisons, no detailed analyses and no other hardware changes.
My impression was that the soundstage and 3-dimensionality was excellent. The 801D’s dig deep. I turned the volume up to almost ear-splitting levels several times (while playing Jeff Lorber) and felt the full bodied punch of the Omega amps controlling the 15" woofers of the 801D’s. I had the distinct feeling that there was plenty of power reserve available. Total and solid power stability. I must mention that I have never listened to the Delta CA-M400 mono’s (which I think is newer technology) and so I am unable to compare.
The purpose of this post is to give credence to the 801D’s being driven by these big beautiful amps rather than focusing on the source hardware. What I will mention (and my intention is not to brag) is that in my opinion, the Meridian 808 CD player (I own version 1 which was manufactured using 2004 technologies) still tops the CDP300/Meridian 861 combo in terms of detail and resolution - for redbook CD use. Most probably due to its dedicated audio circuitry, its ROM drive allowing multiple passes, its 3 buffers 2 of which are used as FIFO’s which reduce jitter significantly and Meridian’s “Resolution Enhancement” DSP in which the original 44.1kHz, 16-bit audio is upsampled to 176.4kHz, 24-bit in one of three 150MIPs processors operating with 48-bit internal precision.
My conclusion ... an awesome combo! Could I live with a pair of Omega mono’s driving my 802D’s? Hell yeah!!!
Update, Friday 27 February 2009:
I've just popped in and listened to the same setup fed by a different source. This being a Meridian 808.2 Signature Reference CD player fed directly to the Omega mono's via balanced analog outs (the Meridian player being set to "variable" such that the volume is controlled by the CD player & no external pre-amp is necessary).
The sound? Lifelike! Detailed! Crystal Clear! Resolution feels full-bodied & complete! In short ... perfection!
In my opinion, if one is going to invest in a pair of Omega mono's then one would be wise to invest a in a matching source of substantial quality. What that should be is for you to decide. :T :T :T
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