Amp threads on AVS

[Quinn]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Arial, Verdana, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by graphicguy

I think he does get a little "involved" when things are posted that he knows to be wrong. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I think it is more like he thinks he knows them to be wrong.

[graphicguy]

Randy...I'm actually looking at those Crown Amps for my front channels. It seems there are some people that are using them with success. I'm not totally sold on whether they'd actually offer an improvement over what I already have, though.

Quinn, you are right....TG is very opinionated. That said, he's come to my defense more than once when I challenged one of the frequent professional reviewers and his obvious bias towards certain brands and models of equipment that I had some issues with. The reviewer, for the most part, flamed me stating his status as a "professional reviewer" had a lot more weight than those of us who bought gear with our own money and pointed out some well founded issues which the reviewer failed to report (at the time). He also helped me out with faulty gear from a well regarded manufacturer (who kept claiming their gear couldn't be faulty, but ended up having "un-fixable" issues).

Since he's a musician and was involved in the pro audio industry, I do find a good portion of his posts to offer some worthwhile assessments. Plus, he's pretty tight with a very high end dealer where he lives and can offer some insights on some esoteric equipment that I'll probably never have in my HT.

Sony WE610 60" LCD RPTV
Pioneer Elite 59TXi AVR
Pioneer Elite 59AVi Universal DVD player
CBM 340 Front L/R
CBM 340c Center
CBM 170s for L/R Surround
1-HTM 200 Rear Surround (6.1)
HSU VTF-3
Monster THX certified interconnects
DIY speaker cable (that's better than anyhing I can purchase elsewhere)

[Lou-the-dog]

Graphicguy,

I have considered buying a couple of monoblocks for my mains and after reading some of this thread it appears these Crown 2 channel amps might be a very economical option. I haven't read ALL of this thread (60+ pages) but my impression is that alot of the posters' speakers are relatively inefficient. The exception is TubeGuy who is using a Carver pro amp (I believe) on the very efficient Klipsch speakers. Our Ascend's are pretty efficient so I wonder if we would see the success that some of those folks are? I dunno, but at $250 or less it would be a relatively low cost experiment. Tempting for sure!

Randy

[Quinn]

Gg - I'll try to read some of his stuff with an open mind instead of just skipping it like I do now.

[graphicguy]

Randy...like you, I'm debating what exactly could be derived by using seperate amps with efficient speakers like our Ascends. Particularly given the fact that using seperate amps could introduce yet another layer of complexity (in already complex set-ups) with additional cables and the potential problems associated with even more connections, potential compatability issues and the power/circuits you need coming out of the wall for those amps. I'm of the mind that simpler is better. I want as few cables and connections as possible to keep the signal paths to a minimum. There are plenty of people who will swear I'm a HT heretic by preferring a good AVR over seperates.

Even with well regarded gear, compatability is a large concern for me. I had a B&K piece in my HT for a while that couldn't play "nice" with my DVD player nor any HD cable box I could find. This was one of the fights TG helped me with. On one side was B&K saying that all the gear in my system was putting out garbage (huh????....3 different cable boxes, numerous interconnects and a top quality DVD player are all garbage?) and me saying that it was an issue with B&K. I took huge amounts of grief from the B&K fanatics over at AVS for that one--with TG staunchly on my side of the fence.

That's why I went the opposite direction with my set-up over the past few years in going from seperates (simple 2-channel, only) to high quality AVRs. If you get a good quality AVR, I'm of the mind you will bennefit more from the simpler connections than you will with racks of amps connected to an AVR or pre/pro.

I've debated TG about the need for seperate amps using super efficient speakers like the Klipsch he owns. But, as you've noticed, he's opinionated and I'm more of the mind of "if it works for you....great, but that's not my cup of tea"! I didin't let that conversation didn't get far.

I can certainly see the need for seperate amps if you have a very large HT room and/or you're running difficult load speakers. But, looking at the engineering and build of today's top AVRs, I don't know what, if anything can be gained in a regular size room with speakers that are moderately efficient. Matter of fact, I would think the best way to use a powerful monoblock would be to drive a sub....even one with an internal amp. IF I could lay my hands on a 300+W single channel amp with high current capabilities (and one that's cheap), I'd be very tempted to add something like that. I'd also be more willing to look at those pro amps if they came as 3-channel amps vs 2-channel. I could cutdown on the complexity issue with one 3-channel amp to drive the fronts and leave the surround speaker duty for the AVR (which is all a lot of people need to do anyway).

That said, I'm male and the prospect of more power is always tempting....especially at the prices you can get those Crown amps.

Quinn...I didn't mean to suggest you need to agree with me or TG. Just relaying my experiences with him. I've disagreed with him many times. Perhaps because he and I have "gone to battle" on the same side a couple of times, he's not as combative with me. IF you stay out of the "tussle", every once in a while, TG makes some valid arguments. Whether you find them useful in your situation, is entirely up to you.

Just as an FYI, and if you're interested, several months ago I was chastised on my choice of the 59 AVi DVD player over the much heralded Denon 5900. At the time, I had said the reason I liked the 59 AVi better than the Denon 5900 was because of the Denon's macroblocking issue (as well as some other Denon issues). I was told by Kris that I was a lunatic (paraphrasing) for choosing the Elite DVD player and that there was no way the 59 AVi was the better choice, nor that that macroblocking was an issue with the Denon since HE didn't see it. He made it known that I was just a "misinformed" lowly consumer and not a proffesional tester (as he is). Again, TG and others came to my defense. Now, everyone knows the Denon issues.

It's a fickle group over there, for sure!

Sony WE610 60" LCD RPTV
Pioneer Elite 59TXi AVR
Pioneer Elite 59AVi Universal DVD player
CBM 340 Front L/R
CBM 340c Center
CBM 170s for L/R Surround
1-HTM 200 Rear Surround (6.1)
HSU VTF-3
Monster THX certified interconnects
DIY speaker cable (that's better than anyhing I can purchase elsewhere)