I had to move my system to a smaller listening room in my home. Thankfully, the smaller room was still large enough to accommodate my, hard to drive, inefficient full range speakers. Due to space restraints, I needed to downsize from separates to an integrated, so I purchased an Hegel H590 integrated. Well, the H590 was a revelation in my system!!! The H590 actually made me forget about the fact that I was no longer using separates. The H590 definite ain't cheap, but I believe that when you take price-to-performance into consideration, the H590 is probably the best integrated amp on the market. The H590 is an absolutely phenomenal piece of gear. I haven't heard Hegel's P30A and H30A new separates, but based on my experience with their H390 as well as the H590 integrated amps, I'd be willing to bet that they're world- class.
So, as a devoted owner (for a couple of years now) of Magnepans (the 1.7is), I do want to clarify what NRD is saying about "hard to drive." This is a common statement about Maggies and it is not, strictly speaking, incorrect. But it IS inaccurate. ABSOLUTELY, Maggies are fussy about the power amplification they are matched with. But many, many drivers-in-box speakers are "harder to drive" than Maggies, particularly if they have large swings in impedance and go to 1 ohm or so at some points. Maggies produce a relatively stable 4 ohms through their entire curve. You can get good results from Maggies at below 100 watts (Hegel is one of the brands that does this), and you can drive Maggies well with many tube amps (albeit not flea-watt single ended triodes). To get Maggies to produce real, convincing dynamic range, though, and "be all they can be" they need CURRENT. Lots and lots of current. When the manufacturer (Magnepan) says in its literature that your amp should come close to doubling its rated wattage from 8 ohms to 4 ohms, please believe them. They're not pulling your leg. They mean it. They really, really do. There are tons of really fantastic amps out there that are great with many, many good speakers but just aren't designed to produce copious current. They're off limits if you want to feed Maggies. Sorry. Just not on the menu. Feed them right, though and they'll produce great sound. So, not "tough to drive" per se, and not a "difficult load requiring lots of wattage," per se, but definitely selective of amp paring. Only high current contenders need apply.
FYI: 1100w is in mono (Hegel website; "In its mono state it delivers a truly astounding 1100 watts in 8 ohm". It would have been fun to try out 2pcs H30A for a few weeks, to go head2head with my own dual stereo stages.
@@gregstevenson7401 I am going to look at stereo along with the Luxman. I am not sure if Safe & Sound will have a mono setup to test... I will also test with Maggies along with Magico and other hard to drive options..
I got to be completely honest with you guys. I listen to loud music and I have always listen to loud music. Starting as a preteen jamming out to 90s rock music in my bedroom to having competition subs in my SUV in my early 20s. now in my 30s I have to admit I wear hearing protection more often than I do blast music, and saying that I do like to occasionally turn up my system from time to time. I used to think that I listened to music at 100 to 105 db on rare occasions. This was until I went to a Mexican restaurant where a mariachi band decided to playing their music indoors through their concert speakers made for an open outdoor area. Take this with a grain of salt but my Apple Watch was reading 100 to 107 db. And my ears felt like they were going to burst!
Ron. Any chance these bad boys become a center piece of your new room. As an H390 owner they have my mouth watering. Please do an in-depth when possible.
Ron, you missed pointing out a pertinent fact. You are great and usually on top of things. The 1100 watts rating is just in mono. No wattage ratings are provided anywhere for stereo wattage. Epitome of marketing fluff going on here.
@@jon4715 no idea. Hegel just states 1100 into 8ohms mono. However! The Meridian Reference 857 amp is $12000 versus the 20k Hegel and does 1000 watts into 8 and 1500 watts into 4 when in mono. Plus, they give the stereo wattage specs. Its gorgeous looking, metal and glass construction.
Valve preamps can sound completely neutral. Try an Audio Music preamp like the AM R-T2. There’s a widespread assumption valves add colour, but that’s not necessarily the case.
Careful, that part at the end makes you sound like Steve Deckert at Decware High Fidelity Engineering, "If the first watt sucks..." I've got a Zen amp on order and I can't wait to have a terrific sounding system powered by those two beautiful watts!
@@Newrecordday2013 Might be that they're building so few copies. Kind of a shame, because it's a real flagship hifi product that is as exciting as the original Yggdrasil release.
Lol if I were looking to buy rather than build an ultra high-end power amp, I'd rather buy something like the Yamaha MX-10000 for less than $10k. The engineering and aesthetics of those ultra vintage units are just *chef's kiss.*
I wager -lots- of the time people think they've reached the headroom of their amp what is really happening is the system is overloading the room acoustics, which is very ugly.
Hey man, I actually had plans on doing sound clips with commentary but I didn’t have the gear long enough to pull it off. Maybe down the road they will let me do a longer term review so I can tackle that. - won’t be at CAF…
Hey Mikey, how about unblocking me on RU-vid? Never once said anything vulgar or out of line on your channel. Only challenged you on a couple things and then gave you some constructive criticism yet you blocked me. I see you going back and forth with many other people. Don't know why it would be any different with me. Are you just blocking anybody that gives you a challenge? I'm being dead serious and not sarcastic in any way.
@@ryanschipp8513 Hey Ryan, you always give good feedback on my channel and I appreciate your commentary. I am surprised Mike would do something like that. Maybe it’s something funky with YT?
Hegel has major competition and it's a juggernaut. I'd go Meridian Reference 857 amp. Save yourself $8000 and get a beautiful looking world class amp. Bridgable 1000 watts into 8ohms, 1500 into 4ohms. Much better value than the Hegel.
1,100 Watts, for what. Great review but too pure for me, need a little colour. Hey I got Klipsch, hmm, maybe a good match, the lower powered unit at least. Thanks.
First of all, I don’t know why Ron pronounces Hegel that way. He’s like the only one I’ve heard that pronounces it that way and it drives me a little bonkers. But what drives me more bonkers is his comment about no one ever listening to Music in the triple digits over 100 dB. Seriously?! I think I listen to most of my music around 100 DB. I have tested it numerous times from the listening position with two different dB meters and have often hit 110DB. I usually see 107, 109, and the highest I think I’ve ever seen was 114 DB. I’ve taken screenshots multiple times for proof. I would have liked to have a go louder but I have fear of blowing up the speakers and doing some damage to something. On three different occasions I’ve over powered and shut down of PS Audio P10 Power Plant when I let the volume get a little up there. Yeah, it can get a little scary when you go from rocking out with music really loud to instant dead silence! Whoopsie! I’ve also cranked up the Hegel’s loud enough and have blown the fuse on a H390 as well as the H590. And a little tip that I’ve gotten from Hegel, volume 80 is it’s happy place. Although often loud, there’s no gain used at that number. Isn’t this what this hobby is all about, having fun? Like the old saying goes, “If it’s too loud, you’re too old.“
head room is mostly misunderstood. The 1100 Hegel Watts will catapult you from your "listening"chair and I guarantee you, there is no headroom to the ceiling any longer...
I was really surprised at how my threshold FET 10 improved the sound of my Adcom GFA 555 I do miss all the buttons/dials that used to be on vintage preamps
I wish Audiophiles would spend time in a professional studio. I think they would have a better understanding of what makes music sound good or bad. When people say things like I like my $20,000 piece of gear to have no voice, to just let the music be as it was recorded. That is such nonsense. If you spend time in a studio you understand quickly how many things color the sound and how "Coloring" the sound is a tool to Make recordings sound better. You will not find a studio engineer in the world that says a Neve 8078 sounds bad because it colors the sound, quite the contrary. The Vintage Neve's colored the crap out of the recording and all in an amazing way. Rupert had an ear like no other. You take and API or an SSL or whatever and they all have a sound signature same with Fairchild compressor or a Pultec EQ. Fast forward to hearing a recording (through one of those console's influence) then through a hi fi system. A HI Fi system simply replays what the engineer intended so how do you talk about coloring or not coloring or getting out of the way? If a piece of gear makes a shrill recording sound better then it is not translating the recording as it was intended or "getting out of the way" I think we need to accept the fact that some recordings suck, some are amazing and some are in between. If a Hi Fi system tells you that, then it is doing its job properly.
@@bikdav my point isn't that it's not going to be enough my point is that they're barely telling any of the story. It's deceptive marketing. From a well-known hifi manufacturer it's pretty Bush League
Such a glowing review without a reference comparison? Let’s be real, Hegel for $19K?? 🙄The PASS Labs X350.8 at $4K LESS is the hands down winner in the $20K heavyweight division. Not to mention the insane amps you can get on the secondary market for well under $20K…D'Agostino, MAC, BAT…Pffft, Hegel doesn’t stand a chance trying to play in the big boy amp category.
