Thread: ASR Emitter - Any opinion ?

Any one heard this beautiful ASR Emitter Int amp ? if so How you like them ?

Also what is the difference of Emitter 1 and 2 ?

Thanks

Thanks appreciated it. What did you ended up with ?

Originally Posted by arthurs

It's a fantastic piece Paul, it's alot of boxes though. Would be really interesting on your West's. Right now I'm listening to the Dartzeel Integrated bypassing the pre for the Vosne Romanee, intriguing setup...I would guess not far from how the ASR would sound, if memeory serves me. I has the II here for about a month but it was different speakers and setup...

Jeff Day told me it was fantastic on his Westies SE version. Got me intrigued

Well sell me some at bro price once you done with them

Paul,

I think the Job monos could surprise you on the Westies

Originally Posted by joeinid

Paul,

I think the Job monos could surprise you on the Westies

LM219A, PASS XA60.5, CARY 300B , MC225 ....hmmmm....I like to try on my speakers from your list

Originally Posted by arthurs

I'm finding my problem with the Westies is they sound great with a variety of front ends...I could end up with multiple setups...

I'm still in honeymoon with my Westies and loving the huge sound stage , Depth and holographic image. No more speakers for me- Wow...this words coming out from speaker whore LOL

Originally Posted by Paul

I'm still in honeymoon with my Westies and loving the huge sound stage , Depth and holographic image. No more speakers for me- Wow...this words coming out from speaker whore LOL

What have you done with my friend Paul? Who are you? What the heck is going on?

Originally Posted by joeinid

What have you done with my friend Paul? Who are you? What the heck is going on?

Ha! I don't even know who I am. One thing I know for sure. This is not BlueMcIntosh . I got none of them I'm sure you remember him . Miss him ?

Nah, glad YOU are here.

Originally Posted by bzr

Paul, 219ia, it will stump you for the coin..... with an asr phono

LM219 is killer. Hmmmm, maybe it's time to hook mine back up.

Art. Do you still have a 219 ? Wyetech was good but not close to shindo imo

Here are few pictures in my room with westies



I really like to try some Audio Note though...

Originally Posted by arthurs

What did you find lacking in the Wyetech?.

Organic. Thats most important thing to me .

On my modified Canterburys, the ASR Emitter II is the best I have heard, even including THE LARS Type II, which was my previous fav.

Took some tweaking here and there, though...

Originally Posted by Jim Smith

On my modified Canterburys, the ASR Emitter II is the best I have heard, even including THE LARS Type II, which was my previous fav.

Took some tweaking here and there, though...

WOW. Coming from you means a lot to me. I will definitely check out then. Jim my dealer only has a Emitter I. Do they make any difference on sound quality on I vs II? Also would you care to elaborate compare them with Tube amp sounds ?

Originally Posted by asiufy

Wow, Emitter... Cool
Even though it's huge, with many different parts, it's really an "integrated". As such, it's one of the best of its kind that I've ever heard!
The Emitter II with all the batteries is amazingly quiet, and incredibly powerful as well. Will play just about any speaker.
Another cool thing about the Emitter (and ASR) is that instead of releasing new products/models, they get yearly upgrades. So a 6-year old Emitter unit can be upgraded to 2014 spec, by replacing a few boards.


alexandre

Excellent. Good to know they can be upgrade it.

Originally Posted by CharlesL

I have been using an ASR E2 for the last 4 years. It drove my previous Wilson Sasha to its best (compared with CJ Premier 8, Krell KAS-2, Ayre MRXI used). It now drives my Magico S5 with excellent results. The ASR sound is relaxed, slightly dark and sweat, with an almost tube-like palpable mid-range (like the CJ), and yet has the power and control of good SS amp. Background is dead quiet/dark. I sometime may wish for slightly more extended highs but wouldn’t exchange for its quality. I also bought and borrowed some other SS amps to try on the S5 (Vitus RI-100, Plinius SA Ref) but I still ended up keeping the ASR. ASR's boss Frederic Schaefer is most friendly. He usually answers your emails within 24 hours.
I have heard the ASR E1 at a friend’s place. He was comparing with an E2 (boy, the number of boxes). In that session we actually slightly preferred the E1 for its more delicate and refined sound on smaller scale music, such as female vocals or quintets, although we felt the E2 threw a deeper soundstage. Definitely worth trying if you have efficient speakers.

Thanks Charles. Great post. I will try them on my Westminster very soon.

Well Paul, I can already see where this is going

Originally Posted by MDP

Well Paul, I can already see where this is going

Originally Posted by arthurs

Luckily, I have no ASR dealer nearby...

I can call UPS for you.

Paul- can you give us some thoughts on the parade of amps you've had recently?

I have the Emitter II Exclusive Blue with my modified Tannoys. It took several months of break-in and operational understanding, plus a few tweaks before I was totally enamoured with the sound.

After break-in, in a number of areas, the ASR was better than any other amps I'd heard, but the final hurdle was a mix of Presence & Tone, mostly in the vocal region. Got there, but it took a while. Even so, there was at least one compromise operationally.

Of course, I was comparing it to THE LARS Type II amps which were the best I ever heard (and with the required preamp and extra cables, easily four times more expensive)...

Originally Posted by KeithR

Paul- can you give us some thoughts on the parade of amps you've had recently?

Keith,

So far New Audio Frontiers 845SE with Shindo VR is best match in my system. The ASR is in my system for just few days need bit of more time to tell you more. it still did not quite emotionally involve me in a musical performance the same way Shindo and NAF gear does. This in no way means it’s not as incredible . It involves me emotionally better than any solid state gear I have ever heard.

As incredible as its midrange is, it just doesn’t have the magical way with voices that the NAF or Shindo does, though it betters any push-pull tube amp I have heard in this area. In the area of PRaT, it also falls a little short of NAF/Shindo combination.

I think this amplifier is a huge step forward for solid state amplifiers both because of things it does and does not do like other solid state amps. Its transparency, dramatically low noise floor, and real sense of “ease” that I’ve never heard from any solid-state product before, makes it a real statement product. It also packs genuine powerful bass with all the slam you expect from most of the serious state-of-the-art solid state amplifiers. Then there is always something special about having all that power in reserve. It seems to give you such a great sense of the music always seeming under control.

I really would love to have both systems in my room.

Originally Posted by nfnc

Paul, interesting - potential new acquisition

Emitters are supposed to be a good match for the big Tannoys. See the following links (Westminster SE with Emitter 2 Exclusive battery):

Review of Emitter II Exclusive battery March 2013 in Positive feedback :

Here's also a link to the article notice at Jeff Days personal blog:
http://jeffsplace.me/wordpress/?p=3487

On the difference between the Emitter 1 and 2, I have always wondered the same, and here is response that I received from Mr Schaefer (which I hope he does not mind me quoting):

"The Emitter I is a very similar construction to Emitter II. The sound figure is similar- but not the same.

From his huge PSU and Elkos etc. the Emitter II is also at very low levels much more powerful, has a much better bass response and deeper broader sound stage.

But it has not such a nearly endless power figure and has lower power especially in the low regions. But in comparison to many other amps of the same price and power rage also the Emitter I is very powerful !

He give the impression of a little bit faster sound - it is more an 3 Liter V6 engine in comparison to an 7 Liter V8 engine like the Emitter II."

Look forward to your impressions soon.

Thank you for the post. I read it some where the version I is slightly sweeter than Version II. Wish I can hear both of them .

Originally Posted by bzr

..you're terrible!!!

sounds like you found some gold here Paul, I've always enjoyed the ASR on occasions I've heard it, good stuff...........

Originally Posted by nfnc

Paul, any thoughts on the Emitter I? Or, too busy contemplating whether to go for the Emitter II ?

Did you see my signature ?

Originally Posted by nfnc

Congratulations! Signature not immediately obvious when using tapatalk...

How does it compare to the Shindo and NAF then? SET with power?

The NAF is being build in Italy as I speak. Expecting to ship it by 7th April. Who knows how long does it take to get here :o

Hi Rob,

Not sure if my saga will help, but you asked for it:

Having heard most of the amps out there (with the exception of the Vitus), today I feel that the ASR 2 Exclusive (only the Exclusive - with the battery power supply line stage) is the best amp I have ever heard. Here’s caveat #1 – that’s on my system with my Canterburys.

Some more caveats – again, on my system:

2 - This is with the direct unbalanced input. The balanced input is via transformer, and not exactly the direct connection that the balanced offers, even if you prefer balanced connections.

3 - I find that the amp - when operated in Position 2 - offers fabulous, musically involving sound – unmatched in that aspect IMO, for about 10 hours or so after after it was warmed up for at least an hour. It continues to sound very good for another 24 hours or so, but not quite at the fabulous level, IMO. But I never listen seriously for 10 hours at a stretch, so it is never a problem for me. And it recharges pretty fast. As long as the battery charge indicators have at least six lights illuminated, and it’s still in that eleven hour or so window (10 + 1 hour warm-up), it is in the zone. Don’t misunderstand – it is still among the best, maybe even THE best afterwards. But within that window, I honestly cannot hear anything to criticize.

4 - When listening seriously, I unplug the battery power supply from the wall. I know it is supposed to be isolated but I think it is better unplugged – not huge and I could be fooling myself on this one.

5 - I have to keep the 2 output stage power supplies as far removed from the control unit as possible.

6 - I use an internal switch on the control unit’s main circuit board – I think it is called Enhance – for my Tannoys.

7 - I didn’t like the ringing of the heat sinks (a not uncommon problem with most SS amps). So I damped each of them in a narrow area that would not effect heat dissipation.

8 - A taste caveat - This definitely gets into the realm of tuning to taste. Although I have all 4 of my ASR pieces on my preferred Grand Prix Audio F1 amp stands, I still preferred the overall Tone with the components on Ikea Bamboo cutting boards on the stands – not neutral in the purest sense – it was simply my preference. I also I used Cardas Myrtle Block a instead of the supplied feet. Lastly, I also used specially cut Ikea boards on top of each of the components.

Looking at my list above, it would probably deter me from the ASR2 Exclusive - except that I did the tweaks over time, and I have never encountered another amp nearly as musically involving in my system.

Below is an image of the set-up before my most recent system changes. The ASR is still the same. The battery power supply is behind the control unit, but it is set-up with the same F1 amp stands, Ikea, Cardas tweaks.

Just in case you don’t know, each of the three power supplies are heavy, and the control unit is very heavy (even without power supplies!).