I have now had the opportunity to listen to the A5s with two further amplifiers.
The first is the Denon AVR2310 home 7.1 home theatre receiver, it being the only thing immediately available when my D-Premier died last week (power supply problem, smoke of doom, a molten chip, arranging a recuperative spa holiday to France for it at the moment).
With the Denon I can report that the drivers move and sound is produced, and sometimes it is even recognisable as music. If I devised a scale of musical satisfaction of 1 to 1000 and placed the D-Premier+A5 at 1000 I would have to place the Denon+A5 at about 5. Of course this is a completely unfair comparison but it was a shocking forced reminder for me of the quality of the amplification I'd taken for granted for many years.
The second amplifier is the 1000 Pro. This drives the A5s in much the same style as the D-Premier (which is to say jaw-on-the-floor) but every single aspect that I have enjoyed about the D-Premier is cranked up to new levels with the 1000 Pro.
I don't think I've fully figured out SAM yet. Engaging it with the A5 profile adds absolutely crazy levels of bass in the 16hz-26hz range. I mean so much that I can switch my REL Studio III off and not notice. Reducing the SAM percentage down from 100% makes no difference; only switching SAM off entirely on the middle-button menu makes any difference. That's a shame because I think a level of about 30% would be nice, if actually selecting that did anything. This is not a complaint: the Pro - driven A5 does not need SAM to shine very brightly and that bass at the very bottom of the bottom octave can be easily brought up with a little EQ, and/or a deep enough subwoofer with a low crossover such as the big REL.
(Later note: I had not understood SAM properly at this point. SAM works fine on the A5, and adjusting the % does make a difference)
On the topic of EQ, sweetroom is totally effective and is very welcome at it has allowed me to move my room mode notches onto the Devialet so now I can have EQ'd vinyl playback.
The A5s continue to astonish by how much they just get out of the way of the music. Those who like cuddly speakers with their own "character" will want to steer well clear!
But back to the thread topic - Magico A5s: wonderful with D-Premier. Double plus wonderful with 1000 Pro.
The first is the Denon AVR2310 home 7.1 home theatre receiver, it being the only thing immediately available when my D-Premier died last week (power supply problem, smoke of doom, a molten chip, arranging a recuperative spa holiday to France for it at the moment).
With the Denon I can report that the drivers move and sound is produced, and sometimes it is even recognisable as music. If I devised a scale of musical satisfaction of 1 to 1000 and placed the D-Premier+A5 at 1000 I would have to place the Denon+A5 at about 5. Of course this is a completely unfair comparison but it was a shocking forced reminder for me of the quality of the amplification I'd taken for granted for many years.
The second amplifier is the 1000 Pro. This drives the A5s in much the same style as the D-Premier (which is to say jaw-on-the-floor) but every single aspect that I have enjoyed about the D-Premier is cranked up to new levels with the 1000 Pro.
I don't think I've fully figured out SAM yet. Engaging it with the A5 profile adds absolutely crazy levels of bass in the 16hz-26hz range. I mean so much that I can switch my REL Studio III off and not notice. Reducing the SAM percentage down from 100% makes no difference; only switching SAM off entirely on the middle-button menu makes any difference. That's a shame because I think a level of about 30% would be nice, if actually selecting that did anything. This is not a complaint: the Pro - driven A5 does not need SAM to shine very brightly and that bass at the very bottom of the bottom octave can be easily brought up with a little EQ, and/or a deep enough subwoofer with a low crossover such as the big REL.
(Later note: I had not understood SAM properly at this point. SAM works fine on the A5, and adjusting the % does make a difference)
On the topic of EQ, sweetroom is totally effective and is very welcome at it has allowed me to move my room mode notches onto the Devialet so now I can have EQ'd vinyl playback.
The A5s continue to astonish by how much they just get out of the way of the music. Those who like cuddly speakers with their own "character" will want to steer well clear!
But back to the thread topic - Magico A5s: wonderful with D-Premier. Double plus wonderful with 1000 Pro.
1000 Pro / Magico A5 / REL Studio III
