Ah knew it …would be right there soon …congrats !!
Now git ye back to woik …
…
Ah knew it …would be right there soon …congrats !!
Now git ye back to woik …
…
It’s installed in it’s new home.
Odd thing. When the pair arrived it was serno. 0131 & 0140. 0131 was returned and 0141 is the replacement. Almost like it was meant to be. Thanks to Kevin for working his magic and getting the replacement here so quickly.Yaay!! now your getting somewhere…so 1st impressions
Yep without burn in time …
I was told not to evaluate them before burning them in so I’ll just say a few words. I’ve already commented on how much heavier they 1200s are. My M700s have the flats on the binding posts horizontal. That makes installing lugged speaker wires like mine a pain in the ass! I was pleasantly surprised to see the flats vertical on the M1200s. Both appear to be the same high quality part but the orientation makes the ones on the new amps SO much easier to use. Thank you!
Sound. By the time I got every thing changed out it was getting late (at least for me). I’ve never owned a pair of amps this expensive or had anything like it in my system so I don’t have anything to compare them to other than the M700s. I can’t imagine anyone saying these sound bad right out of the box. I could immediately hear more detail, a much smoother presentation, a more musical, well defined bass line, etc. If these are just going to get better, bring it on.
As I said, it was late so I didn’t listen long. One odd thing I did hear and I remember it with the M700s early on. You’ll be listening and things are sounding great and then for brief periods of time the amps will become unfocused, almost as though a vale were passed in front of the speakers. Then it’s gone. Anyone else notice this?
I’m pretty sure these are keepers and the M700s will be traded in but I’ll hold judgement on that for the recommended 200 hour burn in.
This effect sounding geat one moment gone the next is the burn in
experience…I’ve been there with just about every piece of new equipment…you are on track…
Chesky labs has a cable and equipment burn in track that sounds like ocean waves breaking on a sandy beach…over and over I play this on repeat
playback…let er go… doesn’t have to be loud…I also use high dynamic
impact tracks on repeat as well…
Davidnapo thanks for sharing your experience…You are well on your
way to a wonderful new level of listening…
Please keep us updated with your M1200’s burn in exeriences though…
After nearly 3 days of them running 24 hours a day with the tuner I gave them a good listen. The first thing that strikes me is the absolute ease and lack of fatigue. I’m going to stop right there and let them burn in the rest of the way.
Way to go Davidnapo…thanks for the your brief encouraging review…
please keep them coming as you are able
Thanks…
It took me a while but I think I understand the admonishment to not judge the M1200s until they are burned in. My initial thoughts on powering them up was, "how could anyone think these sound bad out of the box? It’s all relative. I’ve never had anything like these amps in my system so of course they sounded good, better than my M700s, in fact, without the benefit of a burn in. Now I’m about half way through the burn in and I certainly wouldn’t want to return to day one. It’s all relative. My idea of what good sounds like gets better with my equipment. I’m still going to hold off on an evaluation but I’m certainly enjoying the journey.
Thank you for your update…
…Imagining the M1200s are wonderful…glad you are enjoying the journey!!!
So today is the day. The amps have been in my rack and running with music playing softly since May 21st at 8:00 PM. I did sit down and listen to them every night. Even though popular wisdom says not to judge them before 200 hours of burn in time, some impressions formed very quickly. They either haven’t changed or have been reinforced over time.
These are the smoothest, most non fatiguing amps I’ve ever had in my system. Somehow they manage that while revealing every subtle detail. I am hearing things in familiar recordings I’ve never noticed. The bass is unbelievable; strong, tight, deeper and much more musical and detailed than I’ve ever heard. The imaging and soundstage are also greatly improved.
OK, great, you say. All generalities. Heard that a million times when someone didn’t have concrete examples and they’re trying to justify an expensive audio purchase. I’m not a professional reviewer but I’m going to try my best to tell you what I heard
.When I put the amp in and fired them up, the first thing I reached for was Genesis, Trick of the Tail. Made sense after the burn in to do the same. Dance on a Volcano was riveting! They use some sort of bass pedal and the bass was something you could feel! Also, Phil uses a lot of cymbals and they were cymbals, not crashing, high frequency noise. These were cymbals where you could hear the stick hit them. Wow!
Next, I put in Emerson Lake and Palmer’s Tarkus. There was all the powerful Prog rock stuff but Lake’s voice was so clear. I know this is a heavily processed piece of music but I love it. These amps made it engaging in a way you only get hearing it live, which I’ve been lucky enough to hear twice.
Next, I threw in Transatlantic’s the Whirlwind. Yes, there’s a progressive rock thing going on here. The Whirlwind is a 78 minute long song with 12 segments. Here I could hear vocal harmonies that were smeared before. And again, the bass line was musical, you could easily follow the bass line apart from everything else.
lest you think Prog rock is all I listen to (That’s what my wife thinks) I dug into the new age stuff. Mannhieim Steamroller’s Fresh Aire III has a piece on it called Mere Image. Most people probably look to the first piece on the CD, Tocacata, as the the definitive piece. I think Mere image, with all the penny whistles are more telling for smooth high end. The M1200s really showed theirs stuff here.
Next I pulled out a CD from Checkfield called A View From the Edge. I wanted to listen to The Common Bond. It’s a song recorded with only at a Martin D-28 highstring guitar and a Goodall Jumbo guitar. Not much to hide behind here. You can hear their finger plucking, pulling the strings. Beautiful. This is the sound of music, not the sound of a recording.
One more piece, and then I’m going to give it up. The grateful dead CD American Beauty has a track call Box of Rain. No one would ever argue it the best recording they’ve heard but it’s honest. Guitar and vocal from six or seven places, you feel like you’re there.
I’m going to give it up for tonight. I will be keeping the M1200s and trading in the 700s. It’s not as there’s any thing wrong with the the M700s. The M1200s are just better I’m fortunate enough to be able to afford to trade my M700s in on M1200s.
Do the M1200s sound twice as good as the M700s? I’m going to say it depends on your past point of reference, but in general, no. Come on, you don’t really expect a two fold increase, do you? If I’d never heard the M1200s I’d have been happy with the M700s for years to come. Now I’m thinking I’ll be happy with the m1200s for years to come.
Lastly I want to thank Kevin and everyone else involved in replacing the amp that arrived defective. It only took them a couple days to turn it around and I really appreciated that.
@davidnapo very well written review of the M1200’s, makes me even more excited as mine are expected to be delivered on Tuesday. It sounds like we listen to the same type music, I will try those tracks out to see how they sound. Once again thanks for the outstanding review on the M1200’s
Happy Listening!!!
Great review Davidnapo…kudos thanks again
Hi once again Davidnapo
In your recall of the Adcom 555 soundstage depth width and height how do the M1200s compare in this respect?
Thanks again
Thanks for this and thank you for your patience for what must have been a frustrating experience. Glass you enjoy the M1200. They are truly something extraordinary.
This may be a silly question but here it goes. I powered the amps down last night, figuring they were pretty close to burned in. Today I powered everything up and sat down to do some listening. Do the M1200s benefit from a rest or does some cycling help to break them in? They seemed to have opened up and become more transparent from being off and powered back up. Could be my imagination but it sure seemed that way.
I missed davida’s question about the 555 soundstage last night. First, I had had the input stage of the 555 modified by the stereo in house repair center in Setauket, NY. The owner passed away 4 or 5 years ago and the company closed. Four about $250 the modifications he made on that amp really helped imaging and sound stage. I still have the 545 he worked on to run my upstairs and outdoor speakers. Those amps are surprisingly good but not M700s, which replaced it and not M1200s. The 555 could do quite the job with imaging or soundstage that the PSA mono blocks do. Also, the 555 wasn’t as detailed which would make the imaging and sound stage not as prevalent. Also, the 555 was grainy and gritty sounding in comparison. I’m not calling it a bad amp because I was very happy with it for 20 some years before I heard the M700s in my system.
Nice review Davidnapo. I received mine mid May but my mother in law died end of April so I haven’t been in the mood to listen to the amps. I finally listened to some music this weekend they are outstanding amps I going to keep them.
Sorry to hear about your mother in law. Sounds like you enjoyed her company. That’s a better situation than many guys find themselves in.
The loss of a loved one is never easy…having lost my mother even over 2 years ago…
the void - vacuum left behind is hard…
Praying consolations for you and your wife…
Ironically this seems like the spot for this post. I ordered a pair of M1200’s from the Music Room and I received one today. I’m hopeful the other M1200 will arrive on Monday.
I did place the lone M1200 in its new home. I only connected it for several minutes and with my JL Audio CR1 made it very simple to isolate the one speaker. Since the M1200 is preowned it’s almost impossible to figure out how many hours are on it but from the limited run time I’d say very little.
Compared to the M700 the 1200 sounded very constricted so I will wait patiently for its brother to arrive and from what I heard so far they will both need a hundred hours or more to properly compare them to my M700’s fairly.
I will contact PS Audio with the serial numbers and maybe they can assist me with the amps history. Looking forward to this new amplifier journey and letting all that are interested know what I hear from the M1200’s! Speaking of the M700’s damn they sound great! Hope I didn’t make a mistake!