[Ableza]

Measure does open the possibility that the component has drifted from its intended value (due to age or poor quality control).

Absolutely, and is one reason to not measure. You want to recreate the original design, not whatever it has become over time.

 

[adias]

FTFY

Beautiful and clean! the same thing no longer can be said for the City on the Bay.

 

[turtlerod]

You probably saw this coming… I bought the Tyrs.

The TL DR on the Tyrs is “Good amps.”

Yeah, I have no will power. I bought the Tyrs. I drove up to Newhall on Saturday and listened to several tracks that I knew well in the listening room. They had the Magnapans set up and I had to guess at what was the sound of the speakers vs. what was the sound of the amplifiers. It was kind of blind guessing since this was the first time I had listened to Magnapans and I hadn’t paid much attention to the Tyrs the last time I was there.

The main thing I was listening for was dynamics. I started with “Locomotive Breath” by Jethro Tull. I was primarily interested to hear how the opening transition sounds as it builds from the gently percussive sound of the piano to the driving guitar.

Then I queued up Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, 4th Movement. (Christopher Hoggwood and the Academy of Ancient Music) There are several sections that really work the dynamics of a speaker. There is a point where the choral section builds but then pauses as a set of sopranos take over the chorus. (Sorry, I don’t know music enough to properly describe this, but if you know the piece, you probably know the section I’m talking about.). The Tyrs handle explosive transitions from silence to suddenly loud sections very well. Apart from some surface noise, this track held up rather well.

Next was “3 Blind Mice” by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Art Blakey’s drumming is pretty intense, particularly at the end. The higher frequency percussion came in pretty hard on the Magnapans and I suspected it would not reproduce as sharply on my Polk RTi A9s. (This turned out to be true. Some of the sharpness is lost on the A9s, but they still perform really well.)

Kenny Burrell’s “Chitlins Con Carne” sounded good. Not much to say about it apart from that it sounded really nice.

“Down There By The Train” by Tom Waits is one of my favorite songs, but it’s a poor recording and every time I listen to it on a better system, it sounds worse. Same situation here. “Come On Up To The House” plays much better, but because the song doesn’t have much in the way of dynamics, it wasn’t an especially revealing track for this test.

There were a few other songs I listened to, but I ended with “Koyaniqatsi” by Phillip Glass. Again not much in the way of dynamics, but the low droning quality of the piece plays well and benefits from the strength of the amps.

So I bought the Tyrs.

I brought them home. Apart of lifting them, they were easy to set up. I just pulled the Vidars out and put the Tyrs in and I was up and running (after dusting off the shelves.)

So of course the proof was to be in how they sounded at home.

I listened to the first three tracks on “3 Blind Mice” by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Imaging is better than with the Vidars, although it will never be great with the A9 speakers. Dynamics are surprisingly good. I’m impressed with how much more I can hear within the music - there’s a piercing trumpet, but the spittle pops of the musician are clearly separate and distinct. And you can easily hear other musicians, off mic, talking somewhere off to the right.

Next was “Amazing Grace” by Aaron Neville from “Acadie” by Daniel Lanois. What I found really interesting here was there is a bed of fairly quiet instruments under Neville’s voice and when I have listened to this track before, it hasn’t really seemed clear or defined. With the Tyrs the instruments sound (I suppose the term is “forward”) but I would describe it as more present and detailed. It was as if a blurry image had come into focus. The separate instruments had their own space apart from each other, but coming together to create the bed of music.

Then there is the transition from Sting’s “I want my MTV” opening to Mark Knopfler’s guitar in “Money For Nothing”. That one actually gave me a shiver and an “oh wow!” reaction. I love the contrast from the quiet and languorous opening and the exciting distortion of the electric guitar. It’s a great transition on any system, but the Tyrs really emphasize it and make it much more visceral.

I guess this will all come down to the recording, but some tracks, like “Come Healing” by Leonard Cohen, as with “Amazing Grace” mentioned above, there were aspects that sounded present in a way I had never heard before… in this case it was the breathing of the women singing in the opening stanza - Of course it was always there, but with the Tyrs, each intake of breath was more forward and a distinct part of the sound. I like it as it gives more of a sense of the artists creating this music rather than just an instrument for creating tones. I guess in this case the Tyrs helped to emphasize the human quality of the music.

These amps definitely provide much better dynamics. I think it’s reasonable to say that if the dynamics are there in the recording, these amps can really bring it out. If they aren’t there, the results probably are not going to be that impressive.

One of the audio spirits I am chasing is better reproduction of piano notes. The first thing that made me feel like I was on the right path was getting the Bifrost 2/64 (Upgraded from a Modi) Suddenly I was getting something like the proper attack and decay on the notes that I remember from hearing a piano live on stage. It still didn’t sound real, but it was much, much closer. The dynamics on the Tyrs are another major step toward getting a recording to actually sound like the instrument in the room. I have been happy with what the Vidars did to “The Koln Concert” by Keith Jarrett but the Tyrs make the piano richer and more “there”.

The Tyrs can drive bass notes better than two Vidars in mono. Imaging is tighter although on my system, it’s still not sharply defined, as the Polk RTi A9s just aren’t going to image as well as a smaller speaker.

The amplifiers don’t get anywhere near as hot as I was expecting. My Vidars can get significantly warm. The heatsinks and chassis of the Tyrs are warmer than room temperature, but maybe only 10-15 degrees F over room temp.

While I do agree looking into different speakers is a good idea, I think the approach I want to take is to look for speakers that give me a different “voice” from the Polks. The nice thing about having the Tyrs is that I don’t feel like I have to limit myself to more efficient speakers. If I want to try Magnapans I won’t feel like my amps wouldn’t be able to handle them.

What the Tyrs give me is more contrast and richness in the music. They can go from very quiet to very loud without a struggle. I’m still a bit appalled at myself for spending so much money on a thing I didn’t really need, but I’m very happy with the results.

I can’t say I have any negatives to say about the amps. Yes, they are expensive, but as near as I can tell, they are pretty cheap for what you get. Yes, they are heavy, but they were not as difficult to maneuver into place as I had feared. They take up some space, but I knew that going in.

Actually the only real negative I can think of is that they don’t necessarily make everything 10 times more wonderful. These amps are not going to suddenly make a song rich and lush if the music doesn’t have the detail and dynamics to begin with. I have an Apple TV setup that I can run through the same audio system and the audio from the average YouTube channel is not made better by running through the Tyrs. (Note that the audio from the Apple TV is being fed to the TV via HDMI and from the TV to the Bifrost DAC via a toslink optical cable and that might affect the quality.)

That said, Postmodern Jukebox’s version of “Bad Romance” (Vocals: Ariana Savalas, Tap Dance: Sarah Reich) plays pretty well. I can still hear that the sound is very compressed - probably more noticeable on the Tyrs than on the Vidars - but the recording quality is good enough that I’ll overlook the mushy sound.

Anyway this is my very long winded way (does this guy ever shut up???) of saying I am very happy with the Tyrs. Granted this is just a brief overview of my experience from less than one day of listening, but my overall reaction is; while I expected some improvement to the sound, I was still surprised at how much better my system sounds with the Tyrs.

In the words of Darth Vidar, "Only now do you understand..."

 

[adias]

In the words of Darth Vidar, "Only now do you understand..."

An amp is as good as its power supply and the Tyr has a good one. Now... that was a comparison to a Vidar; would a comparison to a Vidar 2 be the same?

 

[MisterMudd]

My bad! It's Oregon Spirit Distillers Single Barrel Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon, bottled at 100 proof. I am Lead Blender at this distillery and we are a farm-to-glass distillery -- all Oregon-sourced grains and all of our whiskies are milled, mashed, fermented, double-distilled, matured, and bottled by us in Bend. Cheers!

Guess I am going to have ski Bend this winter and taste test. Bota bag at the ready. Cheers.

 

[OldRoadToad]

Don’t call it Frisco. Seriously, don’t.
San Francisco, San Fran, Hobo Toilet by The Bay, that’s all fine. But not Frisco.
Frisco is in Texas.

Hey! I think you meant to say, "Free Range Hobo Toilet by the Bay". But yeah, it is a toilet for a reason, "Free Range or Feral". And to those that feel otherwise, this ain't "politics" as I have a cousin that resides there and he says it is REALITY. Now then...Back to looking at Schiit online as I moved my Emotiva XDA-2 to my garage gym to use (a 1st for me!) as a preamp. I am looking for more stuff...

Cheers, brother!

D'ORTagnan

 

[mystaiced]

Hey! I think you meant to say, "Free Range Hobo Toilet by the Bay". By yeah, it is a toilet for a reason, "Free Range or Feral". And to those that feel otherwise, this ain't "politics" as I have a cousin that resides there and he says it is REALITY. Now then...Back to looking at Schiit online as I moved my Emotiva XDA-2 to my garage gym to use (a 1st for me!) as a preamp. I am looking for more stuff...

Cheers, brother!

D'ORTagnan

Sounds like you either need some Syn in your life or a Freya N

 

[OldRoadToad]

Sounds like you either need some Syn in your life or a Freya N

Well, one could say that I am without Syn...But I am always looking within and without for a piece of Schiit to call my own as I tend give away that which I buy for my self to those I know and love as family or friend. I may yet find an amp that I can afford to couple with the XDA-2 (I like the blue lighting!) and its balanced outputs. I can not hear a difference between Balanced and SE but I do like the look of the cabling of the former.

Schiit does not make crap. I never buy my loved ones junque. I just have a look I prefer. I am after all, a highly subjective about looks, very seasoned Schiitizen. "Freya N"? We shall see...Thank you for the smiles!

ORTson Welles

 

[Paladin79]

Guess I am going to have ski Bend this winter and taste test. Bota bag at the ready. Cheers.

I located a couple bottles where my daughter lives and she will buy them for me this weekend. She visits my son Sept 10 so some Oregon Spirits will make it to Virginia.

 

[Voidrunner]

Yep! Total Wine definitely gets our gin. It's my second favorite thing we make.

Total Wine

Welp, now I know what I'm getting next time I go to Total Wine!

 

[ImagesbyMurray]

Take them at face value.

I'll disagree in the case of inductors. In my case, rebuilding the crossovers for my Apogee Duetta Sig's, the coils marked at 2.8 measured out at 2.15mh, putting in the expensive 2.8 resulted in the bass ribbon being rolled off early, definitely did not sound right....

The 4.3 measured a bit over 6mh resulting in a higher dc resistance acroos the Midrange/Tweeter ribbon.

I would also recommend modding/replacing the crossovers one at a time and comparing the result

 

[mystaiced]

Well, one could say that I am without Syn...But I am always looking within and without for a piece of Schiit to call my own as I tend give away that which I buy for my self to those I know and love as family or friend. I may yet find an amp that I can afford to couple with the XDA-2 (I like the blue lighting!) and its balanced inputs. I can not hear a difference between Balanced and SE but I do like the look of the cabling of the former.

Schiit does not make crap. I never buy my loved ones junque. I just have a look I prefer. I am after all, a highly subjective about looks, very seasoned Schiitizen. F"reya N"? We shall see...Thank you for the smiles!

ORTson Welles

The Freya N is a phenomenal sounding piece of kit. And it doesn’t have blue lighting, but it does have sweet orange lighting on the top. And once you’ve heard it , (dare I say it?), it’s guaranteed to give you an Ort-gasm! Couldn’t help myself. I’ll show myself out now.

 

[valiant66]

Does your state allow direct sale/delivery from the distillery straight to the consumers door? Only way I'd be able to try it. Never seen it or heard about it. I love me some BiB.

Hmm. Not available in Alberta. We do have spirits from Oregon, though: primarily Bull Run, Rogue, and Aviation, along with a few others.

I'd love to try the Bottled-in-Bond someday too.
.

 

[valiant66]

Don’t call it Frisco. Seriously, don’t.
San Francisco, San Fran, Hobo Toilet by The Bay, that’s all fine. But not Frisco.
Frisco is in Texas.

It's always been Sam Frog's Disco to me.
.

 

[Ableza]

I'll disagree in the case of inductors. In my case, rebuilding the crossovers for my Apogee Duetta Sig's, the coils marked at 2.8 measured out at 2.15mh, putting in the expensive 2.8 resulted in the bass ribbon being rolled off early, definitely did not sound right....

The 4.3 measured a bit over 6mh resulting in a higher dc resistance acroos the Midrange/Tweeter ribbon.


I would also recommend modding/replacing the crossovers one at a time and comparing the result

So the questions you need to ask are> 1. were the coils modified from factory markings by the designer to create the proper sound profile? 2. Did the values change with time away from the factory markings? 3. Am I measuring correctly?

My advice would be to discard the OEM Xover, measure the drivers' outputs and redesign, but then that's always my advice.