Interesting Simon - kinda confirms my prejudices.
About 4 years ago CodaII of this Parish (Robert) hosted a great day to ostensibly try some larger speakers at home (Vandersteen 2.5s IIRC) , and Rob_Cyrus and a couple of others provided enough amps between them we could try almost all variants of Mission / Cyrus 1, 2, 3,6,7,8, and the ultra monoblocks, with or without PSUs, back to back(!) Also had a Unison S6 valve amp on hand. I took my Nait 2, just because it fits in a rucksack and it's a good leveller - not the greatest, just something else. Sources spanned various digital and Robert's fine NA vinyl setup.
Much hilarity, and good chat and food, ensued.
The 2 and the Nait were very, very similar - just different flavours of small amps, but totally liveable-with if both sounded slightly soft-centred. I liked the Cyrus 6 best - punchy, clear but smooth, enjoyable. Everything later, howsover it was configured, was just increasingly harsh in comparison. By the time we got to the monos it was a kind of 'cinema sound ' - an artificial boost obvious in the presence range, lots of apparent bass through being not so well controlled, relentless/hard overall. IOW a clearly tailored sound, not a 'low distortion at any cost' approach. I thought the Unison was baggy and indistinct by comparison with all the SS candidates, and the Cyrus 2 and 6 my best of the day. Make of that what you will!
Ah yes, I remember it well. Must do it again some time!
I'd actually been meaning to look for the thread relating to this, and find that it is still there in the
cyrusunnofficial archive. Looking back, it set in motion much of what I have been exploring since.
On the pre amp front, other than a Cyrus pre X we also had a Musical Fidelity passive to play with which I rather liked at the time and subsequently had both TVC and LDR passives before finally (four years later) returning to an active now.
The earliest Cyrus was in fact a 1 not a 2, so that must have been the one you liked Martin and yes, similar to the Nait is my memory.
Sadly the 3 was DOA - unhealthy cracking noises were all we got and it went back to Huntingdon shortly thereafter.
I fully expected the 7 to sound better than the 6 and was rather surprised
1. that it didn't
and
2. that all present agreed. (Given the varying audio tastes represented on the day.)
It should also be remembered that, in theory at least, the 6 is to the 8 as the 5 is to the 7, ie the lower powered sibling. You don't often hear the 5 mentioned though.
In addition to the mono Xs, I also had a Smartpower at the time, the Cyrus switchable stereo/mono amp and I think that was most likely the tipping point into 'cinema sound' - paired with a pre X I think there was only one of the assembled who expressed a liking for the results.
Getting back to the 6, I still have it and still use it - it runs the kitchen speakers.
I think that the pairing with the Vandersteens was probably the best it ever sounded in that room though. I never did get to a properly efficient speaker (though I did get to hear some, thanks Martin) and things like the big old Kefs that were one of the options at the time really didn't do it any favours.
The smartpower did go, the Cyrus CD6 stayed and has recently been back for a new laser. Again, on the day, it was blamed for the harshness that started to become apparent (at which point we switched to a CD player with valves in, make of that what you will.) It actually sounded best with the C6 which isn't particularly surprising and at the present time I think it still sounds rather good - though everything else around it has changed.
I also spent a number of years thinking I might like a valve amp and auditioned a fair few - the Unison wasn't particularly to my taste either, others I found better.
There was also an EAR 834P there on the day which I'd always assumed I'd move to as and when I changed phono stage.
And so to the present day, I never did buy an EAR but the phono stage of my pre is valve based and though the power amp does have a single valve the power is from MOSFETs. I caused some surprise at home the other day when I said that the current amps were likely to stay for a long time; I do think that may well be the case though.
