Hegel H160 -> Hegel H390 upgrade suggestion


Hi - I am driving H160 with Focal Electra 1008Be bookshelves with Rythmik F12SE sub woofer for the low end. I was curious if upgrade to H390 which is almost double the power that H160 provides would make any difference to my bookshelves for which H160 (power wise) seems adequate. 

pkolakkar3

Showing 5 responses by pkolakkar3

@soix thanks for the reply. 

My concern was primarily going from H160 to H390 because my bookshelves dont even need so much power and hence i was wondering if it even made sense to do so. My Focal Electra bookshelves only need max 150W power which H160 already provides. 

Also did you mean adding a second sub might be a better option vs going with the amp upgrade? 

@audioman58 I agree with you on that. How do you compare say vintage sansui or pioneers (ofcourse without the dac) vs Hegel or amps today rather in general? Do you think they (vintage) amps still stand a chance knowing not much has evolved in terms of "amplification" over the years.

@soix thanks much Soix that was quite an indepth recommendation. I think I might consider starting with a second sub but do you think a second sub would make that much of a difference when the lower frequencies are directionless anyways? I am anyways not using the Hegel DAC. I am using CS4398 in my SA8005 Marantz SACD player and send analog over to Hegel except when I do stream Spotify which is very occasionally. Also as I just asked Audioman above, do you think giving Vintage amps a shot is also a good idea esp when Sansui also used feedforward mechanism that Hegel essentially employs in its amps? 

 

thanks @audioman58 makes sense. I will try them out and keep you guys posted. Luxman and Pass are indeed very sought after if price is ofcourse not the concern. The build quality speaks for itself.

@fastfreight I guess I should try that with one sub like you advised and then get the second one as advised. I never thought of adjustment in that sense ever honestly.