Adding monoblocs to Pre/Power Setup

Associate
Joined
4 Nov 2018
Posts
5
I currently have an original Audiolab 8000Q and 8000PX pre/power setup driving a pair of Jamo Concert 8s.

I've seen a pair of Tag Mclaren 125M monoblocs for sale in the classifieds.

I was wondering if there would be any benefit if I used the 8000PX to drive the tweeters and the monoblocs to drive the left and right channel woofers.

Not sure if this would be a worthy upgrade.

As with all 2nd hand equipment there is no "try before you buy" option.
 
The gains should be the same as it's the same brand.

I have a q and two px system too. Biamping.

Whether your idea is worthwhile not sure I'd say not worth it for standmounts if you had multi driver bass drivers probably.

You may want to consider high pass in your system, filter out low end before amps between q and power amps. I've done e this before in standmount system.

Looking into getting a outlaw ICBM-1
 
I tested out a similar scenario, except with Cyrus gear.

Previously I was using a Cyrus Pre DAC into x2 APA 7.5 Mono Blocks. They were each driving a KEF R500. I had a couple of Smartpower amps spare. The smartpowers are configurable to work as a stereo unit, or as a monoblock.

Since I had those two lying around I decided to run some test scenarios.

1. x2 Monoblocks running each speaker's low frequencies. x1 smartpower in stereo running the treble.
2. x2 Monoblocks running each speaker's low frequencies. x2 Smartpower in Mono running each speaker's treble.

Admittedly there was very little difference in the above scenarios in comparison to when I was just using the APA 7.5s alone. This was when listening to Rock music, metal etc

However... I noticed a noteworthy difference when listening to actual well recorded classical music. For example listening to the track Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from a Nutcracker recording, there is a distinctive improved resonance and liveliness. There is a lot of treble work going on. The improvement is such that you can better "feel" sound from the instruments in the room. These kind of tracks are not as vibrant without the additional power amps running treble. The difference could be very subtle for some though.

I then kept the set up with x2 APA 7.5s and x2 Smartpowers.
 
Thank you *ALL* for your kind advice.
I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with my current setup other than the fact the I do have to turn the volume knob up half way to get decent volume.
I thought that indicated that I need additional power.
 
The more power you put into a system doesn't equate to more volume generally (It can to a point), but rather more control, precision etc
 
I did a similar upgrade, going from a couple of Audiolab 8000M monoblocks to a couple of 125's. Certainly made a huge difference and got me addicted to Tag, which is always costly, now I'm running a couple of 5x100 amps. I used Kevin Green of the AudioCellar to do the servicing on the 5x100's, he took the fifth channel out of both as payment converting them to 4x100 configuration.

Out of interest what is the serial number on your Audiolab gear? The ones with the serial number G are Chinese made using far cheaper components.
 
Thank you *ALL* for your kind advice.
I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with my current setup other than the fact the I do have to turn the volume knob up half way to get decent volume.
I thought that indicated that I need additional power.

That's normal about pre amp. Also the q has a gain switch not sure why it's there unless to match other power amp gain
 
I got my Audiolab gear back in 2000 so they are the original British made amps (I too visited Kevin for servicing).
This is back when 'What Hifi' used the 8000Q with 4x8000M as their reference system.
Are you using a pair of TMA 5x100R amps to drive a couple of speakers ?
Does that mean it is not possible to use one of these like 4 monoblocks ? (I assume it's because the channels are designated for AV use)
 
I have an audiolab 8000P mark 2 power amp that I use on my computer system. It starts with either one of the channels not working until it warms up after about 10 minutes.

I'll look into this Kevin dude.

I've typically been a Cyrus buyer, but I do have some audiolab stuff like the 8300CD as well.
 
If you had a stereo pre amplifier with x2 pre outs, you could use 4 of the 5 channels on an AV power amp to power 2 speakers bi amped. Never tried anything like that myself, but it should be possible if each channel has identical power and spec.

You would run 4 individual RCA (Or XLR) cables from the pre amp, into each individual channel of the AV power amp, and then make sure that one of each of the 4 channels runs the correct individual HF and LF on each speaker with link removed.
 
Back
Top Bottom