2. amps-preamps
  3. 184206-67559

amp upgrade

I have been using CA CXA80 with B&W 604  speakers for about 5 years. I use Sonos streamer hooked up to the amp using optical cable. Also have some CD's and blue rays. overall sound is good but I always feel some punch and dynamic element is missing when I listen to the same titles with other random systems. Also the combo is not that expressive at lower volumes, sound gets a bit lost when volume is low. the other issue is lack of clarity in speech when watching movies. have to crank up the volume to hear the conversations but still a bit mushy.... When I bought the system I also auditioned an Arcam FMJ amp which sounded cleaner than the CXA80, I still remember it. it was not an option back then due to lack of availability. 
Wondering if upgrading the amp would solve this issue. I am looking at the newer stuff, preferably a steaming amp as most of my music is sourced from Tidal. Has anyone  used the Naim unity atom or the NAD m10 V2 ? are these any good? In particular something that can reproduce clean sound at lower volumes. I will at some point upgrade the speakers too but I feel I should be able to squeeze more out of them with a better amp? 

 

thanks 

speedmaster20d

Showing 2 responses by elliottbnewcombjr

elliottbnewcombjr
5,872 posts
 

using a two channel amp/pair of fl/fr speakers w/o center speaker, you will need to go into each movie disc and find the audio settings and change it to 2 channel stereo. 

they default to some surround version, usually dolby 5.1. In those default cases, all the dedicated center channel information will be missing (totally). Much voice info will simply not be present unless you tell the bluray player to send the center info to fl/fr. 

elliottbnewcombjr
5,872 posts
 

after fixing above so you are receiving center info in the fl and frL

for very low volume, you need to boost the bass just a bit, our ears do not hear bass well at low volumes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour

some equipment has night modes, that compresses any peaks so normal dynamics that would produce momentary volume changes are 'dulled', not a good solution if you can find a better way, but, better than nothing.

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