matching speakers for audiolab 8000se

Hi,
I need your opinions as mentioned above. Thanks

Its a very decent amp... you have alot of choices to try a wide range of speakers until u find a pair that suits your tastes.

Just don't expect the Audiolab to drive big heavy floorstanders costing RM10K+ and still give good sound.

i see...but i've already tried to pair it with my existing infinity speakers and it sounds flat..no bass at all, so i'm kinda worried this amp will only 'matched' with certain types of speakers..

fabianbong wrote:i see...but i've already tried to pair it with my existing infinity speakers and it sounds flat..no bass at all, so i'm kinda worried this amp will only 'matched' with certain types of speakers..

No Bass can be due to alot of factors such as Room acoustics, speaker placement, listening position, etc etc.

What model Infinity are u using ?

If you're really bass hungry ... perhaps a set of Cerwin-Vega! LOUD Speakers could just to the trick for you.

it's infinity kappa 5 series ..it's quite an old speaker, but it suits well with my marantz amp

So , the Kappa5 when driven by Marantz has bass, but with audiolab has no bass instead. Correct ?

Then may i enquire, what model Marantz amp is that ?

fabianbong wrote:Hi,
I need your opinions as mentioned above. Thanks

hi fabian...try mordaunt short avant series floor stander if ur room quite big..
book shelf if small room this speaker easy to drive ive been using this speaker before..recommended

mugenfoo wrote: No Bass can be due to alot of factors such as Room acoustics, speaker placement, listening position, etc etc..

Couldn't have agreed more.. various factors affect bass reproduction. Just suprised to hear Audiolab bass 'less'. Have heard various reincarnation of the venerable 8000 and comparing to the Marantz (owned a PM something previously and now using one for AV purpose)), I definitely would not say the Audiolab as bass shy. As recommended by others, the audiolab should be able to drive very well most good speakers around in the market today, I suppose of some British 'pedigree'. My two sens worth for the New Year..

Cheers,

zb

mugenfoo wrote:So , the Kappa5 when driven by Marantz has bass, but with audiolab has no bass instead. Correct ?

Then may i enquire, what model Marantz amp is that ?

The model is marantz PM6100 SA and I'm pairing with marantz 5400 cd player..

I tried to find some information on the Infiniti Kappa-5, to get an idea of how its like and its characteristic (loading, sensitivity, etc) but it seems Infiniti has since reused the name for their car-audio speakers so I couldn't get anything concrete, not even a photo.

The best I can contribute is my own experience. I have found that when an amp cannot drive a speaker, it can produce one of two characteristic. The more expected/logical one is that the sound will have no bass, the amp simply does not have enough juice to move the bass drivers. However, I have also found that sometimes the amp has enough power to move the bass drivers -but- is not powerful enough to -CONTROL- the bass drivers (I am limiting this to the bass drivers only since we are talking about bass from the system). In this condition, the sound will have lots and lots of bass - BOOMY and UNCONTROLLED bass. The issue is if the speaker itself is basically bass-light, then this boomy/uncontrolled bass sometimes can give the impression of 'good bass' and sometimes it fools us (myself included) into liking it.

The 2nd condition was what happened when I tried to put my Apogee Centaur Majors into the system I posted on another thread. The bass was a lot but it was clearly uncontrolled. The ARC Classic-60 was just unable to drive the Centaur Majors properly (in any case, Apogee manual states minimum amp of 80watts is needed so I didn't match the requirement in the 1st place). So in the end, I put the Centaur Minors back in.

I have also found that in another system, as better and better components goes in, superficially the system actually seems to produce less bass. This can be misleading at first because when I listen carefully I found that it is not really less bass but the bass is clean and controlled and there is no 'overhang' in the bass notes. So we hear less bass while in actual fact, the bass is now more accurate. Sometimes people don't like this (more accurate bass) and might go back to the previous less controlled but more bass. So it depends on the preference of the individual.

Also, I have discovered that good cables, e.g. speaker cable, interconnects, power cords, when they are running in, they tend to go through a phase where the bass is less. Then once they are near run-in, the good controlled high-quality bass returns.

For your case, my suspicion is that the Audiolab is able to control your Kappa5 way better than the Marantz which is why it -seems- to give less bass. Perhaps you have also accidentally placed the speakers in a bass cancellation point in the room. One thing which has been suggested and which I highly recommend is to put the Audiolab back in and then try to move the speakers around to see if you get more bass (make sure it's good bass, no boomy bass which you will get if you put the Kappa5 into a corner).

As for matching speakers for the Audiolab, I think it is pretty neutral and your only issue is whether it can drive the speakers well or not. I used to have an Audiolab 8000A int amp and it realy couldn't handle the Apogee Centaur Minor so that would perhaps be a good starting point for you to work downwards. You might want to google around and compare the specs of the Centaur Minor with the Kappa5 (the Centaur Minor on paper is straightforward load but it is difficult to control the speaker).

For my case, I then used an Arcam Alpha 8 power amp, delegating my Audiolab to pre-amp duties but eventually when my wallet is not so tight, I simply upgraded to the Audio Research pair.

I remember a time when Monitor Audio speakers were a good match for Audiolab amps ...

I previously partnered the Audiolab 8000S with Proac Studio 125s and a Rega Apollo. Pretty decent match and you shouldn't go for anything better as the 8000S will be a limiting factor.

you can also match the audiolab with kef or paradigm speakers.

Hi,
I've finally got myself a wharfedale 8.3 diamond series speakers and and it matches so well... thanks for the feedback

WongKN wrote:I tried to find some information on the Infiniti Kappa-5, to get an idea of how its like and its characteristic (loading, sensitivity, etc) but it seems Infiniti has since reused the name for their car-audio speakers so I couldn't get anything concrete, not even a photo.

The best I can contribute is my own experience. I have found that when an amp cannot drive a speaker, it can produce one of two characteristic. The more expected/logical one is that the sound will have no bass, the amp simply does not have enough juice to move the bass drivers. However, I have also found that sometimes the amp has enough power to move the bass drivers -but- is not powerful enough to -CONTROL- the bass drivers (I am limiting this to the bass drivers only since we are talking about bass from the system). In this condition, the sound will have lots and lots of bass - BOOMY and UNCONTROLLED bass. The issue is if the speaker itself is basically bass-light, then this boomy/uncontrolled bass sometimes can give the impression of 'good bass' and sometimes it fools us (myself included) into liking it.

The 2nd condition was what happened when I tried to put my Apogee Centaur Majors into the system I posted on another thread. The bass was a lot but it was clearly uncontrolled. The ARC Classic-60 was just unable to drive the Centaur Majors properly (in any case, Apogee manual states minimum amp of 80watts is needed so I didn't match the requirement in the 1st place). So in the end, I put the Centaur Minors back in.

I have also found that in another system, as better and better components goes in, superficially the system actually seems to produce less bass. This can be misleading at first because when I listen carefully I found that it is not really less bass but the bass is clean and controlled and there is no 'overhang' in the bass notes. So we hear less bass while in actual fact, the bass is now more accurate. Sometimes people don't like this (more accurate bass) and might go back to the previous less controlled but more bass. So it depends on the preference of the individual.

Also, I have discovered that good cables, e.g. speaker cable, interconnects, power cords, when they are running in, they tend to go through a phase where the bass is less. Then once they are near run-in, the good controlled high-quality bass returns.

For your case, my suspicion is that the Audiolab is able to control your Kappa5 way better than the Marantz which is why it -seems- to give less bass. Perhaps you have also accidentally placed the speakers in a bass cancellation point in the room. One thing which has been suggested and which I highly recommend is to put the Audiolab back in and then try to move the speakers around to see if you get more bass (make sure it's good bass, no boomy bass which you will get if you put the Kappa5 into a corner).

As for matching speakers for the Audiolab, I think it is pretty neutral and your only issue is whether it can drive the speakers well or not. I used to have an Audiolab 8000A int amp and it realy couldn't handle the Apogee Centaur Minor so that would perhaps be a good starting point for you to work downwards. You might want to google around and compare the specs of the Centaur Minor with the Kappa5 (the Centaur Minor on paper is straightforward load but it is difficult to control the speaker).

For my case, I then used an Arcam Alpha 8 power amp, delegating my Audiolab to pre-amp duties but eventually when my wallet is not so tight, I simply upgraded to the Audio Research pair.

You were right, as soon i re-positioned the speakers, it sounded so well and the bass even softer compared to marantz..

Good for you !! Are you using the Kappa5 or your new Whaferdales now ? Post a photo of your system in the 'member's system' thread lar. I am especially curious to take a look at the Kappa5.

Ok...will upload the pictures soon