Well, it’s snowing outside. First major snow of 2011, it seems, and it looks like it’s just in time to cancel my plans to head down to Command Performance A/V this Friday. Bummer.
I need to take back that Manley Steelhead before I do something dumb, like buy it. I don’t know why I want it so bad. Ok, yes, I do — I have a gear fetish. There, I said it. [Sigh]. It’s just so MANLEY looking!
Anyway, I was hoping to steal Jeff’s Luxman L-590aII integrated while I was there so that I could do some more head-to-head comparisons against my Joule-Electra gear. That integrated is a $10k piece, and includes a dual tape loop and a full MC/MM phono preamp, too, which almost justifies the price. I’m a little concerned about the 30wpc that the amp has, not that that won’t drive the Merlins just fine, but rather that it won’t have the headroom I want it too and I’ll be doing horrible things to the current draw the entire time. On the other hand, it does have those fancy little power draw gauges, so it’ll be interesting to see what my normal listening levels (~80dB) will pull.
The question I want is — can I get my Merlins to sound as good as they do with the Joule-Electra gear with an amp that is quieter and a whole lot less fussy. Should be interesting.
