Audiolab Amp combinations for Mission 753's

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pgr

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Hey everyone. I'm a high-school teacher who conducts hi-fi auditions for students. The aim is to discuss music and the trick the somewhat high-end hi-fi sound ;-)

That said - I don't really have much money to invest in this. I've been running on loaned material from a friend, now with some christmas gifts and friendly contributions I have been able to get some funds. I bought a pair of Mission 753 speakers (nice price, impressive speakers), and am now trying to buy a matching amp (or amps).

I read a ton of reviews and forum threads, and now I am looking at a couple of ads:

1. Audiolab 8000C Preamp + Audiolab 8000P Poweramp
2. Audiolab 8000Q Preamp + a pair of 8000M monoblocks

The first one costs around half of the what the second costs.

What is confusing me is that
a) some people swear that separating pre + power is the thing
b) some people swear that bi-amping is the thing (one amp for tweeters, one for woofers)
c) some people swear that bridging is the thing
d) some people swear that monoblocks are the thing (one amp for left, one for right)

If I understand correctly, my no.1 is a) with a possible upgrade path to b) if I later buy another 8000P
And my no. 2 is higher-end combo of a) and d)

I know that the real answer is "listen to it and see what sounds better to you", but listening is not really possible in this world of online sales. So while I am still browsing around, I would really appreciate some light on these variations.

I definitely can't afford no. 2 now. If I am told that it is very much worth going for, that would mean a longer wait.

Thanks in advance for any advice / casual chat
 
The first option will give you 95% if the second option with your missions. So I'd advise just to go with that.

I remember going through all this in my early hi-fi days. I chucked money at biamping and managed to hear a slight difference after hours of switching in and out. I think I had Mission Volares at the time.
 
pgr said:
Hey everyone. I'm a high-school teacher who conducts hi-fi auditions for students. The aim is to discuss music and the trick the somewhat high-end hi-fi sound ;-)

That said - I don't really have much money to invest in this. I've been running on loaned material from a friend, now with some christmas gifts and friendly contributions I have been able to get some funds. I bought a pair of Mission 753 speakers (nice price, impressive speakers), and am now trying to buy a matching amp (or amps).

I read a ton of reviews and forum threads, and now I am looking at a couple of ads:

1. Audiolab 8000C Preamp + Audiolab 8000P Poweramp
2. Audiolab 8000Q Preamp + a pair of 8000M monoblocks

The first one costs around half of the what the second costs.

What is confusing me is that
a) some people swear that separating pre + power is the thing
b) some people swear that bi-amping is the thing (one amp for tweeters, one for woofers)
c) some people swear that bridging is the thing
d) some people swear that monoblocks are the thing (one amp for left, one for right)

If I understand correctly, my no.1 is a) with a possible upgrade path to b) if I later buy another 8000P
And my no. 2 is higher-end combo of a) and d)

I know that the real answer is "listen to it and see what sounds better to you", but listening is not really possible in this world of online sales. So while I am still browsing around, I would really appreciate some light on these variations.

I definitely can't afford no. 2 now. If I am told that it is very much worth going for, that would mean a longer wait.

Thanks in advance for any advice / casual chat
Click to expand...
 
Ive heard people wax lyrical about bi amping but honestly I do not think its worth the effort and cost. Ive owned several audiolab amps. Many om ebay are getting a bit long in the tooth now. I recently had my 8000p blow up after 3 decades of use. Then i took it for repair yo a trusted source... they told me it was totally killed and was never going to work again. So get the most recent one you can if you are trawling used ones. I think the 8000q is newer than the a. But even one of those I was looking at recently had all the brass phono sockets hanging off or missing. Theyre good amps but there are many other good amps out there. Rotel ones are very robust. Nad and naim are all going for stupid money now
 
Passive biamping is a technical nonsense, as each power amp still has to swing the whole output voltage, and due to the Superposition Principle, there's no benefit from reducing either harmonic or intermodulation distortion.

The only theoretically possible benefit is if the power amps are so marginal on current delivery in their power supply, that the very small reduction in current due to splitting the outputs makes a difference. That certainly won't apply to any decent power amp, especially one of the Audiolab's current capability, which is exemplary.

Active biamping, i.e. with an electronic crossover before the power amps, has many benefits, especially if the crossover is implemented in DSP, as filters can be arbitrarily steep, and EQ applied.

Passive biamping only has benefit to the dealer selling more power amps and cable.
S
 
Hi PGR

Just to add my pennies worth, I used to have 753 speaker with an Audiolab 8000a amp and this was not a good match, the amp just did not have enough power and would cut out if driven hard. I think your option A will not suffer from this problem but the 753 speakers are tricky to drive without them sounding harsh. With regards to biamping I have played around with various options and agree this can produce very little gain for the expense, I cannot see the point of using two power amps one for the tweeters and one for the main drivers I think this is called horizontal biamping I have tried this and found no advantage at present I am vertically biamping so each power amp drives each speaker, I like to think I can hear the difference!!
 

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