Post by apspr December 1, 2007 (1 of 19)
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Hi folks,
Another question as I inch toward a multichannel setup for SACD (mostly orchestral but other classical, jazz, and pop as well), and secondarily, for home theater.
I was contemplating a decent receiver for all my amplification needs (like Onkyo SR 805 or a comparable Denon). But as I was talking to the owner of one of the local hifi stores, he expressed concern that given my current 2-channel amp (DK Design VS-1 Reference Integrated, 160 watts p/c, retailed for about $3K), any receiver I swapped in would be a serious decline of the sound quality in 2-channel (for CDs, which I do listen to a lot of).
I know it's almost a professional responsibility for any hifi guy to turn his nose up at a receiver, so I would take this with a grain of salt, but he didn't try to sell me anything. He could have gone in the opposite direction when he heard what I wanted, and pushed the Yamaha multichannel receiver he stocks. But he said that nothing, not even receivers costing 3K, would get close to the quality of 2-channel power I'm getting from the DK.
So that got me to wondering-- maybe what I need is a higher-quality multichannel integrated amp, which I could probably stretch to if used. Audiogon shows not many of these -- Anthem, NAD, Primare -- there must be a few others.
Then I thought, OK, maybe I need a separate multichannel power amp and preamp. Saw some nice-looking power amps from Lexicon, Bel Canto, Krell, etc. Here price does become an issue. And there seem to be many fewer multichannel preamp/processors than there are multichannel power amps-- why is that?
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So I'd like to hear from as many folks as possible on these questions:
1. What do you use for MCH amplification for SACD?
2. Your opinion on a current-model $1000 receiver with HDMI and all the trappings, etc. vs. an older hifi multichannel integrated amp -- for SACD audio primarily-- and do you recommend any integrateds of this type?
3. If you use separates, what type of preamplification do you use with your power amp?
THANKS IN ADVANCE!
Tim
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Post by bholz December 1, 2007 (2 of 19)
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Well, I'll be the first. I rebuilt my stereo system over the past 2 years. Main focus was music with HT as a secondary element. I went with the NAD T763 A/V Receiver as I have a 16+ year old NAD 7240PE that is still in use. The T763 has no HDMI input (and neither does my Hitachi widescreen projection TV) so that was not a consideration. A year later I purchased the NAD M55 Universal player for playing everything, for SACD/DVD-A I obviously have to use the Analog outputs on the M55.
Had the NAD Master Series been available when I purchased the T763, I would have probably bought all of those components (if I could have justified the $). However, I have no regrets at all about the T763. It supplies all of the power I need (I have a large listening space) with very good sound quality.
Bill
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Post by Orpheus December 1, 2007 (3 of 19)
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If you look through various past postings on this forum you will probably find a lot of information about what you ask. I'm going the multichannel amplification route but the big problem here is that commercial multichannel preamplifiers tend to be very expensive so I'm going to get one made up for much less. I've started from a well done stereo setup which I didn't want to not use and I'm adding multichannel to it.
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Hi,
2 years ago, I changed my system from a dvd-player only and a/v-receiver to a multichannel-sacd/dvd-player and a a/v-receiver, which I connected via i-link. With this one I listen to stereo-cds (not very often) and mostly to multi-channel-hybrid-sacds in multichannel. This two are from Sony ES (see my personel whwn you click on my name), which are no more avaiable in germany. But this is enough for me and I enjoy it nearly every day, like today with Handels "Messiah" from Linn-Records (Dunedin Consort ans Players). For me thise componets sounds great.
Greetings and a thoughtful Adventtime
Joerg-Thomas
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Post by HV December 2, 2007 (5 of 19)
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What do you use for MCH amplification for SACD?
I'am using the AVR350 A/V receiver from Arcam. Pretty good, not cheap (2600 €).
Disadvantage, no audio per HDMI. I'am using cinch instead.
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I acquired a multi-channel analog preamp (Bel Canto Pre-6) and I feed from it, 3 separate stereo amplifiers (even my center channel is a pair of amps and speakers driven from a Y connection from the center channel preamp output. Someday I will probably replace the left and right channel amp with a pair of monoblocks that take the balanced line out from the preamp. My rear (stereo amp) does connect to the preamp via balanced connections. Last to go will be the unbalanced center connections.
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IF I should choose to use my Onkyo 805 for processing only (given it is fantastic to me as a DAC, as a movie sound processor, and therefore, I guess as a DSD processor) and I get a separate amplification stage, I have two questions, please....
1. Can I bi-amp all channels...the Onkyo just allows bi-amping of the mains?
2. Can you get "miniature" mono-amps, i.e. midi-sized instead of full separates, or alternatively, slimline ones?
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FunkyMonkey said:
IF I should choose to use my Onkyo 805 for processing only (given it is fantastic to me as a DAC, as a movie sound processor, and therefore, I guess as a DSD processor) and I get a separate amplification stage, I have two questions, please....
1. Can I bi-amp all channels...the Onkyo just allows bi-amping of the mains?
2. Can you get "miniature" mono-amps, i.e. midi-sized instead of full separates, or alternatively, slimline ones?
WOW?
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/1873
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FunkyMonkey said:
WOW?
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/1873
That is a good low price for bi-amping 6 channels isn't it?
But to answer your original question and to push a brand I am fond of:
Bel Canto offers class D amplification of high quality which puts out a lot of oomph and the watts per USD are not unreasonably expensive. Do a google on "Bel Canto" to see the current product line. LS3/5A loudspeakers are still available and with ample subwoofing do a really credible job in some listening situations. My brother-in-law has a pair of Chartwells dating from the early 80's and in his fairly live room and subwoofed they are so a quite impressive disappearing act.
He asked me what to upgrade to for going multi-channel and I truthfully had to tell him that if he acquired 3 more LS3/5A speakers he would be doing really well. Funky, if you are not familiar with that speaker, it was for a long time - maybe still is a BBC design on-location monitor and is really small! At least one manufacturer still produces them.
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Orpheus said:
the big problem here is that commercial multichannel preamplifiers tend to be very expensive so I'm going to get one made up for much less.
A couple years back, Audio Express, formerly Audio Amateur, had a construction article on such a preamp. Don't know if they offer a kit of parts though.
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