|   looking for advice on good new/used two channel amp | Raftus
Mar 8, 2001 8:17 AM | | My current system consists of two B&W CDM9NT's and a CDMCNT up front with a pair of 601's in the rear along with a sunfire jr sub. The system is being driven by a denon AVR-3300. My source is a pioneer 525 DVD player. I just recently upgraded the fronts from CDM1NT's and from some other advice I got, adding a good quality 2 channel amp and running the AVR-3300 in direct mode would give me a very noticeable difference in two channel stereo. I am interested in the adcom and Rotel lines, but would appreciate any other suggestions. I will probably end up going to a separate pre-processor/power eventually, but that is pretty far down the road. My ultimate goal is to increase my two channel stereo performance, I am extremely happy with the theater portion of my system. Any advice would be extremely appreciated. |
| re: looking for advice on good new/used two channel amp | agro1
Mar 8, 2001 1:12 PM | | There are a ton of great amps out there for 2 channel stereo, just depends on how much you wanna spend, NAD silver series, Bryston, Anthem, Parasound, Rotel, ATI...the list goes on. I would stay away from ADCOM though, especially if you have B&W's - That would be like putting a Honda motor in a Ferrari. |
| re: looking for advice on good new/used two channel amp | Alex - the good one.
Mar 9, 2001 10:14 AM | | >"I would stay away from ADCOM though, especially if you have B&W's
- That would be like putting a Honda motor in a Ferrari."<
No. Honda is not a Ferrari, Honda is still excellent.
I'd say Adcom + B&W will be like putting a Yogo engine into a Ferrari. :-)
Alex - the good one. |
| Alex seems extremely happy with his Stratos and B&Ws | KeithR
Mar 8, 2001 2:36 PM | | I am sure he can give you more input on the specific interaction. I bought one and receive it tomorrow....give Klaus a call and he can provide some good advice. 995 + 95 capacitance upgrade
www.odysseyaudio.com |
| Alex seems extremely happy with his Stratos and B&Ws | Alex - the good one.
Mar 9, 2001 10:04 AM | | Yes. I am EXTREMELY HAPPY with the Stratos + B&Ws (with the $95. 120,000uF cap upgrade.)
The soundstaging and imaging are just beautiful with good recordings.
One of the strongest point of the B&Ws are the mid range - where most of the music are.
The Stratos also has excellent mid-range. That will compliment the fine mid range of the B&Ws even better.
Once both are broken-in. The full frequency range just flows effordlessly. Silky smooth, but not roll-off, or bright-harsh highs, female vocals on good recording is so real and convincing, it will send tinkles up your spine.
The Stratos will sqreezies out every last drop of bass the speakers can physically able to produce. And NEVER sloppy, lumpy or monotonic.
The bass is deeeeeeeeeeeeeep, clean, clear, very musical, articulate, accurate, powerful and have excellent weight.
With my 603 S2 + Stratos (with cap upgrade), the bass performance is at least on par with the 604 S2.
With the Stratos+B&W combo. You can walk up to 3 ft in-between, and infront of the speakers, and you can still hear the depth of the soundstage that extended to almost the full length of the room.
The B&W Nautilius technology tweeter can images, and gives out very fine details like there's no tomorrow, so are the Stratos.
But not so much as to distracts you from the music. Just keep you enough interested on the finer subtle details, without going overboard, and makes you want to analyse your music, and the hardware.
With good recording, and especially with good analog, or 24/96 digital sources, the whole image/soundstage are HALOGRAPHIC! It'll just envelops you with beautiful, music.
Unless you want to spend unnecessary money. The Odyssey Stratos will keep your bank account intact, a smile on your face everytime you listen to your music, and pissed off your snobbish friends, who've spend a lot more on their gears, and not getting the sound and built quality than your affordable gears.
BTW. Bi-wire the B&Ws. With good amps like the Stratos. You can hear the improvment. Choose a neutral IC and speaker cables. Don't waste money on cable du jour.
Both the Groneberg (IC and speaker cables, carries by Odyssey Audio), or the Supra Ply 3.4/S speaker cables (www.jenving.se ) from Sweden (hard to get in the US. But getting them from Sweden is no problem. Excellent prices and services. Still cheap after including air-carrier fees to the US) are excellent, and affordable.
The B&W needs at least 100-150 hours to open up. The Stratos needs a minimum of a week, to start smoothing out, then steady improvment with use daily, and keep power on at all time.
By about 2.5-3 weeks. Another major improvment. By 2.5 to 3 months. You'll be in musical heaven.
BTW. If you decide to add a subwoofer. Choose a good one (not necessarily expensive. For music, 8 or 10 inches driver are better, and use speaker-level connection.)
You'll want to keep the Stratos around for a long time to come.
Don't let the affordable price turns you off. :-)
Hope that helps.
Alex - the good one. |
| BTW. The Stratos never gets more than luke warm... | Alex - the good one.
Mar 9, 2001 10:30 AM | | regardless of how hard, and how long I tried to push them.
My ears give up way before the amps even start breaking out a sweat.
Only a few degree over room temperature.
Just call Klaus at Odyssey with your question. Great guy to talk audio & music with. He'd even recommands products that he don't sell!
http://www.odysseyaudio.com/
Alex - the good one. |
| Good post Alex! | 46minaudio
Mar 9, 2001 3:52 PM | | You did that without cracking on any other manufactures.BTW I am a Nascar Fan!!!!!!!!! |
| Good post Alex! | Alex - the good one.
Mar 10, 2001 12:19 PM | | I'm a Formula-One, and, WRC (World Ralley Championship) fan.
But I do enjoy watching NHRA's top-fueler dragsters once in a while.
Alex - the good one. |
| re: looking for advice on good new/used two channel amp | PR
Mar 10, 2001 8:40 PM | | Acurus amps have good value for money. Look at used A-150 and A-250 amps in the AR classifieds and audiogon or new ones if your budget is higher. |
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