I had a pair of olive 135s accompanying a pair of c/b 135s bi-amping my large ProAcs until a year ago, when I sold the Olives. I thought bi-amping was beneficial, especially in base control.

I wish to return to this situation by buying another pair of c/b 135s, BUT feel that this move may well pale into insignificance compared to improvements over a much larger sonic spectrum by simply upgrading to a 300 or 500.

One concern I have is that the c/b 135s are known as the more 'musical' of that genre, and I'm not at all sure how the 300/500 compare in that respect.

My CDP (Meridian G08), although sonically superb, lacks the tangibility/holography of, say, my record-player through my 552. Although changing to valved amplification might well give these qualities, especially with classical music, this is a road I'm loath to go down for practical reasons.

Any observations, especially from enthusiasts with high quality mains supply systems and with possibly a classical bent?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Adam Meredith,

Although I don't know which set of 'large ProAcs' you have, I have listened to some ProAcs D2.8s on many occasions. These were very inefficient and lacked any sense of verve of vitality with even a 52/500 upstream. They even caused a megaton Boulder 1060 power amp to go into clipping at only moderate volume levels. The owner eventually replaced with with far more efficient Wilson Watt/Puppies to great effect. Basically the more power you can throw in to these brutes, the better you will end up.

As far as the 135s vs the 300 vs the 500...there is no comparison. The 135s sound flat, coarse and smeared compared to either the 300 or the 500, but in isolation the 135s are still very competitive with many other amps out there, especially if you have relatively efficient speakers.