Recently Diagnosed > New Member Introductions

New member: gjm

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gjm:
I'm still wondering if I have been a member here before, but maybe not... I'm certainly a member on some other hifi-related forums, and have cancelled my membership to some others! I've certainly known about Audio Nervosa for many years.

This time my attention was drawn again when doing a quick search for my pre-amp, a B11a from Steve. Nice piece of kit.  :thumb:

A lot of my kit is DIY through financial necessity - turntable, 2A3 monoblock power amps, speakers (OB, or folded tapered horn), speaker wire, even the power conditioner/isolator... The power amps are very much overdue for a rebuild (and perhaps partial redesign - they are based on Bottlehead Paraglows (which dates them!) and were kinda put together in a hurry. I really should sort them properly. Or perhaps I should look for something with a little more power? We'll see.

Catch y'all later.  :beer:

P.I.:
Welcome to the zoo.  :thumb:

It looks like this place that will be great for you and for the animals here-in.  Your system sounds very cool actually.

Thus continues the never ending search for excellence.  People here won’t BS or pound on you.  :D

Nick B:
Hello and welcome to the forum!
Nick B
Administrator

gjm:
OK - more than a touch of thread resurrection about this.  :D

I still have my SAS B11a. It, and the balance of our system, has seen little use in the last few months for a host of reasons, but yesterday I was invited to a local dealer to have a listen to a system there. Pinus M10 Reference pre (http://www.pliniusaudio.evanta.co.nz/en/Plinius_Range/Preamplifiers/Reference_M-10.html), the Plinius A150 power amp (I think it was the A150, not the 300), Fyne F502 speakers, and a Marantz streamer for source.

I took the B11a along for a comparison.

The system as set up was very good, albeit in a room in need of treatment to control bass (in particular). We agreed it was hard, in isolation, to attribute any aspect of the reproduction to any given piece of kit, but that the speakers did sound very good. A variety of music was listened to, from Billie Eilish to Rammstein, acoustic guitar to hardcore electronica.

We swapped the B11a in, replacing the M10. At first it was understandably 'hard', but that's easily attributed to lack of use and that it was cold. As it warmed, that changed of course.

Upshot - the M10 was deemed better than the B11a with electronic music in particular, but the B11a was an easy winner in the detail stakes. It produced the sound and 'feel' of fingers or slide moving over guitar strings: you could hear the profile of the wound steel strings. The Plinius was not as good at this.

Plinius M10 - unsure of US availability, but it's listed in Australia at $16995.

Nick B:

--- Quote from: gjm on May 14, 2022, 02:45:51 PM ---OK - more than a touch of thread resurrection about this.  :D

I still have my SAS B11a. It, and the balance of our system, has seen little use in the last few months for a host of reasons, but yesterday I was invited to a local dealer to have a listen to a system there. Pinus M10 Reference pre (http://www.pliniusaudio.evanta.co.nz/en/Plinius_Range/Preamplifiers/Reference_M-10.html), the Plinius A150 power amp (I think it was the A150, not the 300), Fyne F502 speakers, and a Marantz streamer for source.

I took the B11a along for a comparison.

The system as set up was very good, albeit in a room in need of treatment to control bass (in particular). We agreed it was hard, in isolation, to attribute any aspect of the reproduction to any given piece of kit, but that the speakers did sound very good. A variety of music was listened to, from Billie Eilish to Rammstein, acoustic guitar to hardcore electronica.

We swapped the B11a in, replacing the M10. At first it was understandably 'hard', but that's easily attributed to lack of use and that it was cold. As it warmed, that changed of course.

Upshot - the M10 was deemed better than the B11a with electronic music in particular, but the B11a was an easy winner in the detail stakes. It produced the sound and 'feel' of fingers or slide moving over guitar strings: you could hear the profile of the wound steel strings. The Plinius was not as good at this.

Plinius M10 - unsure of US availability, but it's listed in Australia at $16995.

--- End quote ---

Thanks for posting. I had no idea Plinius had gear in that price range 😳  Quite interesting especially since Steve from SAS is a member here. I’m not surprised as to his preamp excelling in detail retrieval. I’ve known about SAS since the 90s when I was reading Marty DeWulf’s newsletter. Have not had the pleasure of hearing his products. Can I ask how long you’ve had the B11a and have you upgraded caps or anything else?

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