Yes, I am one of those who has gone through the journey of finding satisfying sound quality and currently use commercial amplifiers. I started with ordinary Sony speakers and then moved to Jamo, then Quad ESL, and then to Tannoy 12 inch, then Tannoy 15 inch, and currently on Function One. I am very keen to try the new direct AES/EBU input Genelec. That is on the speaker side. I also started off with Sony amplifier, then to Marantz, then to Quad, and compared some vintage valve amplifiers and then Chinese valve amps, then Musical Fidelity, Sudden, and tried commercial amplifiers like Crown, Nexo, QSC, Powersoft, MC2, Full Fat Audio, Lab G., etc. I found that commercial amplifiers can be retrofitted with slower fans to reduce fan noise in quieter home setups. Most commercial amplifiers do not heat up much at all during domestic use. Especially class D designs. I particularly like the sound of MC2 amplifiers in mid and high. FFA is fantastic for bass. Powersoft is an allrounder and convenient with onboard sound card, as you can then use digital AES signal further reducing noise. Lab Gruppen sounds very involving and has a great sound too. The overall sound is slightly different in QSC and Crown with a slightly bright feel. I know that there are many others that I have not tried in detail. Similarly, I find the sound cards like Lynx, Apogee, UA, XTA, etc, all give far better results than upgrading the CD player etc. There is a lot of b*** s*** being pedalled around in the consumer audio sector. There is some, but at least 85% less b s in the commercial audio sector. That, to me is the biggest benefit of moving to the commercial audio gear for home entertainment. I do not find the commercial solution more expensive than a Naim "Hi Fi" set up, for example. My current set up is computer >AES cable to > XTA 446 > MC2 e45 and e25 > F88 speakers + 15"subs. I recently went to a cinema and found the cinema sound system so appalling that I had to come out. I have visited several hi fi shops and found the sound they sell for a lot of money to be a joke. Some of the very biggest names in home audio sound silly compared to a a stereo pair of commercial Beyma speakers driven by a Lab Gruppen or a MC2. Period!!
Can pro amps possibly sound good? Crown, QSC, etc
I have been looking into pro amps for a to-be-built HT/music room. Recently I came across an old review in The Stereo Times: The Complete Audiophile Magazine, which reviewed 2 discontinued Crown amps, the K2 and the Studio Reference I. The K2 the reviewer thought "not distinguished or especially musically refined", but the Studio Ref he thought an EXCELLENT full-range amp. It does have some amazing specs:
Signal-to-Noise (A-weighted) below rated full bandwidth power: 120 dB.
Damping Factor: >20,000 from 10 Hz to 400Hz.
780WPC into 8 ohms, 1160WPC into 4 ohms.
The review is here.
From what I've found so far, there are possbile downsides to using pro gear in an otherwise consumer setup, but in my case I think these are non-issues:
-fan noise: not an issue for me since I will have an equipment closet. Won't have to do a "fan mod".
-ugly: again, not an issue for me with an equipment closet
-hum: I believe not an issue as long as I use balanced interconnects from the prepro. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
-expects pro-level input levels: I think not an issue if the amp has dip switches or gain controls?
And yet, over on a couple of AVS forum threads, I actually got asked to leave when I started suggesting pro amps. It seems as though some of the audiophiles there (and the same guys might be over here) don't even want to hear about a class of gear which imo just MIGHT sound good. It just isn't worth "polluting" an audiophile thread. Am I missing some other downside to pro amps, other than the above pints? Were these guys attitudes based on something substantive and audibly detectable, or just a form of audio bigotry?
I'm not saying all pro amps are going to be great (for instance I know the Behringer A500 is lousy), but might there be some good stuff too, like QSC DCA, or Crown Macro Reference (other suggestions would be welcome)?
Signal-to-Noise (A-weighted) below rated full bandwidth power: 120 dB.
Damping Factor: >20,000 from 10 Hz to 400Hz.
780WPC into 8 ohms, 1160WPC into 4 ohms.
The review is here.
From what I've found so far, there are possbile downsides to using pro gear in an otherwise consumer setup, but in my case I think these are non-issues:
-fan noise: not an issue for me since I will have an equipment closet. Won't have to do a "fan mod".
-ugly: again, not an issue for me with an equipment closet
-hum: I believe not an issue as long as I use balanced interconnects from the prepro. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
-expects pro-level input levels: I think not an issue if the amp has dip switches or gain controls?
And yet, over on a couple of AVS forum threads, I actually got asked to leave when I started suggesting pro amps. It seems as though some of the audiophiles there (and the same guys might be over here) don't even want to hear about a class of gear which imo just MIGHT sound good. It just isn't worth "polluting" an audiophile thread. Am I missing some other downside to pro amps, other than the above pints? Were these guys attitudes based on something substantive and audibly detectable, or just a form of audio bigotry?
I'm not saying all pro amps are going to be great (for instance I know the Behringer A500 is lousy), but might there be some good stuff too, like QSC DCA, or Crown Macro Reference (other suggestions would be welcome)?