Another weekend means another trip to my buddy Erwin's house. The same one who introduced me to the Magnificent Zenith 49cz852's. This time I was told that hey had found a better amplifier than the one his son had built--Which sounded incredible--: The Fisher 50a.
Initially I did not like his system. I use the same drivers--Zenith 49cz852's--however I had a "No-baffle' setup and I was used to the openness and imaging that my setup provided. The Zeniths in his room with the large baffles sounded constrained and needed more space to breath. The amplifier however allowed them to make some notable changes to their system.
They now use the Zenith 49cz852 on its own; No tweeter. Irwin described most amplifiers like "Looking outside through a dirty window" and how most amplifiers tend to fog up the higher frequencies, which means you need a tweeter to accentuate them.
The fisher 50a allowed the Zeniths to play full range with some beautiful sound, although I still would have liked the tweeter when listening to rock or metal. Classical music sounds fantastic with no tweeter.
On the side of his room, he had a pair of the Caintuck Audio Betsy open baffle loudspeakers. In his room, I liked the sound of the Betsys better. They have a smaller baffle, which allows them to breathe more and have a more focused imaging and liveliness. The 8" full range has a flat sounding response, and the only notable characteristics to the sound is that the highs are a little forward and have more presence in the soundstage. Overall the Betsys sound fantastic and almost rival the Zeniths and at $600 bucks a pair It's a steal. Surprisingly, the 10" eminence woofer provided fantastic bass. The amplifier however has no sonic characteristics. Erwin has stepped into the realm of what real hi-fi is about. The amplifier only amplifies the recording, without discoloring the sound. A good recording will sound 99.9% realistic with no interference from the Fisher 50a. The amps can supply plenty of power--50 watts-- but we probably only used 10 watts at most. The contrast between the quiet and loud sounds is fantastic and the imaging is sharp and focused on the Betsys. I will definitely be buying a pair of them I the future. As for the amps.....yikes. A decent pair will set you back $1200 bucks and roll have to spend an additional $1000 to get it recapped and updated.
I would highly recommend the Fisher 50a's, and thanks Erwin for letting me have a listen!
Initially I did not like his system. I use the same drivers--Zenith 49cz852's--however I had a "No-baffle' setup and I was used to the openness and imaging that my setup provided. The Zeniths in his room with the large baffles sounded constrained and needed more space to breath. The amplifier however allowed them to make some notable changes to their system.
They now use the Zenith 49cz852 on its own; No tweeter. Irwin described most amplifiers like "Looking outside through a dirty window" and how most amplifiers tend to fog up the higher frequencies, which means you need a tweeter to accentuate them.
The fisher 50a allowed the Zeniths to play full range with some beautiful sound, although I still would have liked the tweeter when listening to rock or metal. Classical music sounds fantastic with no tweeter.
On the side of his room, he had a pair of the Caintuck Audio Betsy open baffle loudspeakers. In his room, I liked the sound of the Betsys better. They have a smaller baffle, which allows them to breathe more and have a more focused imaging and liveliness. The 8" full range has a flat sounding response, and the only notable characteristics to the sound is that the highs are a little forward and have more presence in the soundstage. Overall the Betsys sound fantastic and almost rival the Zeniths and at $600 bucks a pair It's a steal. Surprisingly, the 10" eminence woofer provided fantastic bass. The amplifier however has no sonic characteristics. Erwin has stepped into the realm of what real hi-fi is about. The amplifier only amplifies the recording, without discoloring the sound. A good recording will sound 99.9% realistic with no interference from the Fisher 50a. The amps can supply plenty of power--50 watts-- but we probably only used 10 watts at most. The contrast between the quiet and loud sounds is fantastic and the imaging is sharp and focused on the Betsys. I will definitely be buying a pair of them I the future. As for the amps.....yikes. A decent pair will set you back $1200 bucks and roll have to spend an additional $1000 to get it recapped and updated.
I would highly recommend the Fisher 50a's, and thanks Erwin for letting me have a listen!
