Yes...XLR Inputs only. RCA to XLR adapter connectors (what I used) are provided with the test unit! Ted
Full Optioned Starkrimson Stereo Ultra Amp on order (dual mono power supplies with extra 28,200uf per channel)...expect delivery in August!! Ted
My review: https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/98f371a9-0161-4be0-b668-85bde512384d/AAVC Newsletter 8-21.pdf In a nutshell. Feed it love and that’s what you’ll get out of it. Tom Martin and countless other reviewers and customers have said the same thing. I run a recently factory restored BAT VK50-SE with my fully loaded Ultra (six Caps per channel/Dual Hypex Power Supplies). No regrets. Trouble free for almost a year now. My current and end game (forever) Speakers are Klipsch Cornwall IV’s running off the Ultra’s. A single Heresy IV for the Center Channel, and a pair of 1968 Series 1 Resto-Modded Bose 901’s with miniDSP EQ with my own Bose curve dialed in. Ultimately all five Speakers will have an Ultra on them. My Home Theater Pre/Pro is an Onkyo PR-SC5530. My beloved PS Audio DirectStream Sr. I sold in order to put a down payment on the gently used Cornwall IV’s. I run Leo’s DAC with the dual mono http://www.ti.com/product/PCM1794A chips on board. Better than any Chi Fi DAC out there for under a grand including the much hyped up Aries II. It ain’t no DSD Sr. but it works fine for all things PCM related. For DSD, I could either PCM convert the DSD using my Sony UBP-X1000ES or use my mod’s added to the Sony’s external DAC board. Here’s the Video’s I did last year: https://youtu.be/p1byAeU24z0 Cheers, Joe
A review that just went up from Home Theater Hifi (Secrets of home theater Hifi) “…the most transparent amplifier I’ve ever had in my system.” and “There is a whole world of undiscovered microdetail waiting for you in your recordings.” Orchard Audio Starkrimson Stereo Ultra Amplifier Review - HomeTheaterHifi.com
Leo, send me one of these, I'll gladly review it. Looking for something to recommend to people at this price point..
There is a slight delay to the tour because the amp received some damage in shipping. I have just repaired it and the tour will be continuing next week.
This is just amazing, I want to thank Leo for doing this. Yes you want to get word out about your product, who wouldn’t but being so generous in allowing your demo to be shipped around needs to be commended and more manufacturers should take this as an example of how to market their audio products. You took a chance because you had a lot of confidence in your design/product and it seems to be paying off with such raving reviews. It could have gone the other way, but I knew it would not being a very satisfied Class D owner. Very nice.
For anybody who wants to join the tour, you can still do so. Please send me your full address and phone number as well as your forum name through the contact form on my website here: Contact Us – Orchard Audio
Long time lurker. Just signed up. First post. Considering joining the tour. Bought my first class D amp last month, a PS Audio S300. The Starkrimson 22k input impedance is a little worrisome for the Don Sachs DS2 tube preamp. It has output caps to play full range down to 20K input. That might be cutting it a little close? Lowest I've used is 47K. Also have a Sonic Euphoria transformer passive linestage. Guess if all else fails, I could use the Ayre Codex DAC's balanced out in preamp mode. What do you guys think? Thanks, barondla
I have replied to a few requests, those that submitted them please also check your junk mail folders.
That sounds like your best best. The tour unit is XLR only. You can use the provided RCA to XLR adapter but it will still be 22k input impedance this way.
The tracking shows the amp is expected to be delivered tomorrow. I'm currently building a new pair of line source open baffle speakers using BG NEO10 and NEO3 planar magnetic drivers. I'm going to build these initially with passive crossovers, but I'm considering building an active solution (DIY analog active crossover feeding a pair of amp channels for the NEO10s (6 per speaker) and NEO3s (16 per speaker). The Starkrimson DIY modules would be a good candidate for the amps given their high efficiency and compact size. So I'm looking forward to trying out this amp.
I'd like to thank Leo for providing the opportunity to listen to his amplifier. This is a great way to allow lots of audio enthusiasts to see if the amp is a good fit for their system and needs. I should also stress that my impressions are based on my system and my sonic preferences. Before I start in on my review, I'll provide a bit of detail about my system, listening environment, tastes, etc., since I think this is important to put the review in context. I enjoy building my own gear, so much of my system consists of DIY equipment. My only source is digital which has allowed me to invest more in my digital chain, which consists of a Sonic Transporter i9 connected over optical ethernet to a Sonore Signature Rendu SE. This connects via Audioquest Dragon USB to a Denafrips Gaia. The Gaia connects with a Tubulus Argentus i2s cable to a Denafrips Terminator Plus DAC. The DAC also provides clock lines to the Gaia. My preamp is a fully balanced DIY build with a Khozmo relay switched attenuator. It has both balanced and unbalanced outputs, the latter which feed my stereo subwoofers. I also have a PS-Audio Power Regenerator for the front-end components. Interconnects are balanced Iconoclast 4x4 UP-OCC. Speaker cables are Kimber Select KS-3035, and power cables are DIY, mostly DH Labs Red Wave cable with Furutech connectors. My speakers are DIY GR-Research NX-Otica open baffle with a number of upgrades to the crossovers. The subwoofers are DIY GR-Research Triple Threat servo-controlled open baffle subs. The speakers are 92-93db/w efficiency, and the subs are powered by their own amps and handle up to 60-70Hz. So the load on the main amps is fairly light and doesn't reach down to the bottom octave or so. I have a dedicated 17'x27'x8' listening room with considerable acoustic treatment including bass traps in the front corners, 64sq ft of QRD diffusers on the front wall, a ceiling "cloud" absorber, and numerous absorption and diffusion panels on the side walls. I listen to a variety of music, but mostly jazz, folk, indie, and classic rock. I prefer music with vocals, and vocal quality is particularly important to me. The amplifier I listen to the most is a pair of DIY PSET 300B tube amps. You can read about the build on this thread. I also have a pair of Pass XA60.8 monoblocks, and a pair of DIY Purifi monoblocks. The Purifi amps are built with a large linear power supply, and currently have a VTV tube input buffer with Weiss discrete opamps. My Pass amps are boxed up so I didn't use these to compare directly to the Starkrimson amps, but I did compare it to the Purifi and 300B amps. My Pass amps sound almost as good as the 300Bs and are slightly more dynamic, but fall short on soundstage and midrange tone. First, I should note that since my speakers are fairly efficient and the powered subs take care of the lower bass, my requirements don't really leverage the power and bass control of the Starkrimson. My 300B amp has neither the bass control nor nearly the power of the Starkrimson and has no trouble powering my main speakers. I listened to the Starkrimson for a couple of days (more as background music than critical listening) while I was working. On Sunday, I had a couple audiophile friends over to listen to the amp and compare it to my Purifi and 300B amps. Because it is a stereo amp and had to sit in between my speakers, I couldn't use my normal (4ft) speaker cables. The cables I used were GR-Research cables. These are nice sounding cables for the money but retail for 1/10th the price of the Kimber cables. We also used these cables with the Purifi amps, but switched back to the Kimber cables for the 300B amps. We listened to three songs on each amp, starting with the Starkrimson which had been powered up for about 60 hours and playing music for the preceding 6 hours. We then switched to the Purifi amps, and then to the 300Bs. Keep in mind that the parts cost of my Purifi amps was more than twice the retail price of the Starkrimson, and the parts cost of my 300B amps was twice that again. The three songs we played were Ray LaMontangue - This Love Is Over, Boz Scaggs - Thanks to You, and Ricky Lee Jones - Show Biz Kids. The Starkrimson amp sounded pleasant and somewhat warm with none of the glare that I've heard on many lower-priced amps, particularly many of the earlier class D amps. It had excellent control of the bass and never sounded strained. But compared to what I am used to, the amp sounded a bit soft, with vocals pushed back. On the Ray LaMontangue song, the strum of the guitar string was missing some of the bite I would expect. The rim taps on Thanks to You were somewhat muted, as was the triangle(?) used on Show Biz Kids. My friends commented that if they hadn't heard my system before, they would have thought it sounded very nice. There was nothing egregious about the way it sounded. It was quite pleasant, but a bit soft with a recessed sound stage. One of them commented that it sounded like musicians were behind the curtain at the front of my listening room. Earlier in the day, I listened to a few pop songs from Lana Del Rey and Elle King. On my amps, these recordings sound pretty harsh. While I can still enjoy listening to them, it's clear that the recording quality is far below my usual fare. The slight softness and more recessed soundstage of the Starkrimson amp was a benefit on these recordings, making them much more listenable. When we hooked up the Purifi monoblocks (which had been disconnected for about a month), the increased detail was immediately obvious. The soundstage was a bit wider and deeper (mostly due to a somewhat more forward presentation). Even cold, we all preferred the sound from these amps on the three songs we were comparing. The guitar string plucks, the rim shots, and the triangle rings sounded much more "there" with sharper attack and longer, more natural decay. The vocals had more texture, and we could hear every inhalation of the singers. I wouldn't necessarily attribute the sound differences to the Purifi module vs the Starkrimson. My Purifi amps are monoblocks instead of sharing a common power supply, have a huge linear supply (1500VA transformer with almost 200,000uF of filter capacitance) instead of a shared SMPS, and a pair of VTV tube input buffers with discrete Weiss opamps that retail for 2/3rds the cost of the complete Starkrimson amp. The 300B amps were another big step up in imaging specificity, soundstage depth and airiness, and vocal naturalness. These amps also have even more microdetails and a blacker background. Decay on guitar, piano, and the triangle on Show Biz Kids seem to go on much longer. I am sure the distortion on the 300B amps is MUCH higher than the other two amps, but it just sounds so natural and engaging (with good quality recordings). Comparing the Starkrimson to amps that cost many times as much is obviously not fair to this amp. I think in a system with components comparably priced to the Starkrimson, it would be an excellent fit. As I stated earlier, these amps are easy to listen to with no egregious artifacts or hardness that I've often associated with amps in this price range. And it makes less-than-stellar recordings more listenable. Most speaker systems are far less efficient than mine and need a higher damping factor to control the bass. The Starkrimson has the goods here, doubling power to 500w into 4ohms. My friends and I would like to again thank Leo for the opportunity to hear this amp in my own system. The amp will be on its way to the next person on the tour tomorrow. - Jay
I'm not seeing where you are apply high-pass to the main speaker amps, relieving them of having to handle the lower bass duties. Cheers, Robert
You are right - I'm not actually rolling off the input to the main amp(s) at this point. My preamp does have a separate output with a simple in-line cap to roll off the low end, but this depends on the input impedance of the amp and introduces a fair amount of phase error higher in the audio band, so I'm not using that. I found I was getting better integration with the subs without rolling off the lows to the mains. So I am probably wasting some power driving the mains at frequencies where they don't produce much output. That said, my main speakers don't play that low, so most of the sound in the 20-60Hz range is coming from the subs and the main amp performance in this region is less important to the perceived sound quality.
Wow Jay, you've really have put some "kits" together!! Good review and comparisons with some fine audio! Like you, ran my tour with monitors full range (left sub off). I had to use the adapters as I have no balanced upstream components. Just curious...did you test with the Starkrimson fully balanced inputs (XLR) or use the unbalanced RCA to XLR input adapters? Ted
I saw this thread and finally had to join. I have been thinking about experimenting with the new breed of Class D amps, and really enjoyed the reviews you folks have been doing. Thanks much!
Jay, I think your answer is going to be no, but did you take the time to listen to each of the three amps running your mains full range but without subs...but if your answer is yes, what can you say about the bass, midrange and top end of each of the amps?
No - unfortunately I didn't do that. My main purpose of auditioning these was to see if they might be a good choice to use with a active crossover to biamp the speakers I am working on, which only play down to about 180Hz. So I was really only interested in the sound quality for mid-bass and up.
