A few specs do tell how well a piece of equipment performs. Not necessarily how it will sound. (Tuner specs revel alot and I have found that distortion figures are noticeable for many pieces of equipment.) Just for curiousity (and to support my local dealer), I bougt a Cambridge Audio 540 V2 int. amp. Let me say it is a vey nice sounding int. amp! Very well built. It looks and feels like a more expensive piece. For the $ new I good buy. More than enough power to drive any reasonably sensitive spk. I've owned tons of Int. amps over the yrs., nothing over say over $1700 new and currently I'm using and greatly enjoying an older Sansui that I bought for a song in my main system. (Lacks the deep bottom end drive but sound so sweet in the midrange and treble.) Go figure! How does it compare w/ the 540 V2? Each piece has its strengths and weeknesses. The Sansui has a very good phono stage and will drive my 600 ohm AKG headphones. The Cambridge lacks a phono stage and it will drive 32 ohm HP's w/no problem but you really have to crack the volume up on the AKG's. No guarantees. Lots of trial and error. Good Luck! Bill
Considering Int. Amp w/ limited features NEED HELP
Ok, so I've been researching my ass off on an intergrated amplifier that has a lot of power, is in my price range and is highly reviewed. Originally I had my eye on the Outlaw RR2150 as it has an incredible amount of features, but it seems that the Dussun DS99 gets much better reviews, and it is the same amount of money. The only problem is that it has some key features missing that I want.
It doesn't have a remote control, but I really don't care - I tend to never use them anyway.
The two things it IS missing though that I don't know how to overcome are an input for a sub (which I don't have yet, but would like to get eventually) and any kind of tone control - just volume control.
I'm a newbie to the audiophile world who is used to a loudness control and a graphic equalizer. I'm planning on jettisoning my graphic equalizer as I move into the lower end of hifi, but to not even have a knob that can give me more or less bass or treble seems a bit scary to me as I'll be stuck with whatever comes out of the thing with nothing to adjust but volume. Is there any way around this?
Also, is there any way to later add in a sub with no sub input?
I know the obvious solution is to choose another amp that has all the features I want. If you can find me another amp for $600 (new or used) that can give 100wpc and has everything I want including stellar reviews, I'm open to hearing about it. Otherwise, I'd like to find out how to make what I'm looking at here work...
It doesn't have a remote control, but I really don't care - I tend to never use them anyway.
The two things it IS missing though that I don't know how to overcome are an input for a sub (which I don't have yet, but would like to get eventually) and any kind of tone control - just volume control.
I'm a newbie to the audiophile world who is used to a loudness control and a graphic equalizer. I'm planning on jettisoning my graphic equalizer as I move into the lower end of hifi, but to not even have a knob that can give me more or less bass or treble seems a bit scary to me as I'll be stuck with whatever comes out of the thing with nothing to adjust but volume. Is there any way around this?
Also, is there any way to later add in a sub with no sub input?
I know the obvious solution is to choose another amp that has all the features I want. If you can find me another amp for $600 (new or used) that can give 100wpc and has everything I want including stellar reviews, I'm open to hearing about it. Otherwise, I'd like to find out how to make what I'm looking at here work...