[ozziegurkan]

I’m really enjoying 16ohm tap with my Susvara on the Bigger Ben v2. I have Sophia Electric KT88s and Sylvania 5751 Black Plates. I’m driving it with a Yggy LIM and Pre90. It sounds absolutely sublime. Really hard to put down the headphones once it starts thumping.

Am I missing out by not having a 300B?

 

[ampsandsound]

Bigger ben vs Agartha... its a sonic preference. (300b Agartha vs Bigger ben is on par, just preference)
Next level up things improve alot more.... If you like things thick... dense the Nautilus is the right choice... similar sonically to what you have but much improved.
Where as the Red October is more detailed and has better soundstage.

 

[cats4cans]

I know this is a headphone forum, and these are primarily headphone amps, but since they have speaker outputs, I’m curious how they compare in the greater scheme of things in that role. If I were to replace my speaker amp that could help justify the expense. (Oh, the lies we tell on ourselves in this hobby.) What speaker amps have you compared (with what speakers)? I imagine there are a few Decware comparisons.

My speakers are plenty efficient enough, Zu Soul Supreme. I’ve run them from an LTA MZ3 (<1W into 16 ohm) to almost sufficient for all occasions volume, but usually I run the MZ3 into a Primaluna power amp or a Schiit Aegir. I’m primarily considering a Mogwai or Bigger Ben, but I’m still at that wide eyed, want to try everything, biting off more than I can chew stage of my headphone journey.

 

[Smallpie]

Anyone try out a 1266 with a mogwai family amp? Good synergy?

 

[bdh]

I know this is a headphone forum, and these are primarily headphone amps, but since they have speaker outputs, I’m curious how they compare in the greater scheme of things in that role. If I were to replace my speaker amp that could help justify the expense. (Oh, the lies we tell on ourselves in this hobby.) What speaker amps have you compared (with what speakers)? I imagine there are a few Decware comparisons.

My speakers are plenty efficient enough, Zu Soul Supreme. I’ve run them from an LTA MZ3 (<1W into 16 ohm) to almost sufficient for all occasions volume, but usually I run the MZ3 into a Primaluna power amp or a Schiit Aegir. I’m primarily considering a Mogwai or Bigger Ben, but I’m still at that wide eyed, want to try everything, biting off more than I can chew stage of my headphone journey.

I'm using a Mogwai SE v1.5 (12ax7 + KT66) with Horning speakers and love it. No issues or problems and everything sounds natural and exciting. I've tried lots of different types and brands of tubes, and of the four or five different types of output tubes, I like the KT66 the best. I have tried different amps with these speaker though. The 45-based speaker amps (1.5W) I have don't have enough output, even bi-amped. And the Ovation has even less power. I do like the Ovation as a headphone amp better than Mogwai, and based on my preference for single-ended triodes, would most likely prefer the Mogwai to the Bigger Ben.

As far as Ampsandsound's reputation as speaker amps, here are a couple of reviews of some higher-end models, one of which is also a headphone amp:

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2021/07/23/ampsandsound-zion-monoblocks-review/
https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2022/09/25/ampsandsound-nautilus-integrated-review/

 

[ItHz]

Mogwai SE v1.5 (12ax7 + KT66)

What's v1.5? AFAIK Rev 1 uses an 8-pin front end; Rev 2 uses a 9-pin front end.

based on my preference for single-ended triodes, would most likely prefer the Mogwai to the Bigger Ben

Both are SET. The Forge/Mogwai OG, Mogwai SE, Bigger Ben, and Nautilus are all based on the Mogwai circuit; each is a different rung on the ladder of components and implementation.

 

[bdh]

I bought it used, but I was told it has improvements from the v1, but before Justin switched to the 9-pin input. I'm using an adapter for the 12ax7.

Ah, for some reason I thought the Bigger Ben was a pentode configuration. My mistake.

 

[WillieB]

I know this is a headphone forum, and these are primarily headphone amps, but since they have speaker outputs, I’m curious how they compare in the greater scheme of things in that role. If I were to replace my speaker amp that could help justify the expense. (Oh, the lies we tell on ourselves in this hobby.) What speaker amps have you compared (with what speakers)? I imagine there are a few Decware comparisons.

My speakers are plenty efficient enough, Zu Soul Supreme. I’ve run them from an LTA MZ3 (<1W into 16 ohm) to almost sufficient for all occasions volume, but usually I run the MZ3 into a Primaluna power amp or a Schiit Aegir. I’m primarily considering a Mogwai or Bigger Ben, but I’m still at that wide eyed, want to try everything, biting off more than I can chew stage of my headphone journey.

I use my Bigger Ben v2 with Zu Omen II almost daily. I seldom listen loud, because I have them setup in my office and it's rather small, but the few times that I have turned them up, there is more power than I will ever need in my application. I seem to get along with any tubes that I've tried. The only limitation that I can think of for some may be that it's fixed at 8 ohm impendence for speakers. The Omen II, being 12 ohm, sound the best that I've heard them. I have other speaker amps, but I bought the Zu's for use with the BB and that's exactly where they belong. I will say that I have recently discovered that it is important to make sure the BB in particular is getting a proper input signal. The website says it needs 3.1V to make full power and that is important. It definitely benefits from a hot front-end. I recently added a SUT and it is more settled with even better dynamics now.

 

[cats4cans]

The only limitation that I can think of for some may be that it's fixed at 8 ohm impendence for speakers. The Omen II, being 12 ohm, sound the best that I've heard them. I have other speaker amps, but I bought the Zu's for use with the BB and that's exactly where they belong. I will say that I have recently discovered that it is important to make sure the BB in particular is getting a proper input signal. The website says it needs 3.1V to make full power and that is important. It definitely benefits from a hot front-end. I recently added a SUT and it is more settled with even better dynamics now.

I’m not sure how much of an effect the 8 ohm taps will have. I’m using 16 ohm speaker taps now. It’s been a while since I compared the 8, but I vaguely remember having a clear preference even if I don’t remember why. I missed the high input sensitivity though. Funny enough there’s a review of the MZ3 where they mention using it as a pre into the Bigger Ben and thinking the combination had too much gain, but that was for headphones not speakers. I think that was also before the the MZ3 had the option to double the number of steps for finer volume control.

I’ll just have to be patient until I can listen for myself.

 

[ampsandsound]

I know this is a headphone forum, and these are primarily headphone amps, but since they have speaker outputs, I’m curious how they compare in the greater scheme of things in that role. If I were to replace my speaker amp that could help justify the expense. (Oh, the lies we tell on ourselves in this hobby.) What speaker amps have you compared (with what speakers)? I imagine there are a few Decware comparisons.

My speakers are plenty efficient enough, Zu Soul Supreme. I’ve run them from an LTA MZ3 (<1W into 16 ohm) to almost sufficient for all occasions volume, but usually I run the MZ3 into a Primaluna power amp or a Schiit Aegir. I’m primarily considering a Mogwai or Bigger Ben, but I’m still at that wide eyed, want to try everything, biting off more than I can chew stage of my headphone journey

I’ve had the soul supremes. They were pretty insanely good. Esp on a 16ohm tapp. You could request whatever amp you chose to have the speakers binding posts wired for 16ohm. It’s an esoteric choice. But you have such amazing speakers. They will in fact sound better on the 16ohm tapp

 

[ampsandsound]

2.5 questions….

1). Is the Bigger Ben 2 slightly quieter than the Ovation from a noise perspective at the 300 ohm tap? The A&S website says so (480 vs 540uV). Just want to confirm that.

2). Can anyone provide sound impression differences to expect on the ZMF VC between these two amps? If your music genre is mainly rock and blues, would one have a notably different experience over the other on the VCs?

Specs may need an update. It’s just me, so lots of hats to wear. The ovation is quieter. But the bigger Ben can change power and noise based on tube choices. There is no issue on an ovation rev2 or a bigger Ben rev2. Both will do it well.

 

[ampsandsound]

The 7581A drops in for KT88s? These look cool

It’s really a super duper 6l6gc. Was spec’d for use in the Harmon KardonnCitation V. It’s a kick ass tube. In our amps you can use without issue. If want more classic sound the Tungsol 6l6gc str. But very different yet 6l6s and made by Tungsol.

 

[cats4cans]

I’ve had the soul supremes. They were pretty insanely good. Esp on a 16ohm tapp. You could request whatever amp you chose to have the speakers binding posts wired for 16ohm. It’s an esoteric choice. But you have such amazing speakers. They will in fact sound better on the 16ohm tapp

I think I saw Soul Supremes in the background of some of your media, but didn’t remember you mentioning them directly. Nice to get confirmation. With your tidy wiring I was assuming switching the speaker outs between the 8 and 16 taps would be fairly straightforward if needed. I’m pretty committed to the Souls Supremes though. They’re only my 3rd set of speakers, but I had the first for 10 years and the second for 20. I’m fairly new to headphones, so I’m still trying a bunch of stuff but liking it all a lot.

 

[ampsandsound]

You might consider upgrading your Souls to the Jupiter Coupling cap... might already have... I really liked the improvement it made.

 

[duranxv]

So after using the Tung Sol 7581A's (thanks @WillieB for the recommendation) for a few days, I'm seriously impressed. I consider them just about as good as my NOS Tung Sol 6550's which is high praise indeed. I'm a sucker for the blue glow as well Setup is 7581A's, a 1960's Philips Heerlen 7062 and 1950's NOS GEC U52's.