I am new to the higher end of music listening, actually I haven’t started the listening part yet. I have just purchased an Emotiva XSP-1 pre and a pair of Magnepan 1.7i’s. My listening room is 14x14 but one wall is not closed off completely and there is an additional open space connected that is 8x9. My budget has been unexpectedly diminished more by having to buy new connectors and speakers cables. I just assumed I would be able to use my old RCA connectors and my 50’ spool of speaker wire I bought from Radio Shack 25 years ago. I will pause while you laugh....Anyway, the jist of it is is that I’ve got $2500 left for an amp. I need advice on what would be good for my setup? What would last the next 25 years, as I am a poor man with expensive tastes and will probably not be able to make any further upgrades. Would something used and older be out of date technically in 10-15 years? Could I consider something new that would be adequate for that price point? Should I go mono or two channel? Thank you for your consideration and reply.
I have already answered you before about my experiences and my current setup (why do you keep asking). And no I do not claim all guitars sound the same. Amplifiers are not musical instruments, and they should not be. And indeed, I do not rate many tube amplifiers very highly - they may sound euphonic but that is not the same as accurate.
I do not doubt that you have heard differences, by the way. Apart from possible differences because you may have compared inaccurate tube amplifiers, the most common cause of perceived sonic differences is differences in loudness level. If that occurs, you do indeed hear a difference in ’sound quality’ - that is how the human brain interprets these level differences. Remove those loudness differences, and the sound quality differences disappear as well. But mind you, the remaining differences have to be very small - below about 0.2 dB, and you can only achieve that by using a good Volt meter on the speaker outputs. Just try and you will be amazed.
"....you have tests that demonstrate the contrary......"
I certainly do, my ears. If to your ears all audio amplifiers sound they same and Emotiva is your benchmark for excellence, then you're a lucky person. You probably claim all acoustic guitars sound the same as long as they "measure" identical. You still haven't said what amplifiers have you actually heard to arrive at this conclusion . Your conclusions seem to be just by reading the measurements. As mentioned before, if the measurements were the only criterion in sound quality, all tube electronics belonged in the dumpster .
Have you ever participated in a controlled experiment on this? I have, and it was a sobering experience (I expected to be able to tell them apart). So, can you substantiate your claim under controlled conditions? If you can you can earn the free Harbeth speaker of your choice that Alan Shaw has offered as a reward.
There are many silly stories going round here about the sonic character of amplifiers. If an amplifier is any good it will not gave a sonic character, even in the most revealing system.
Every amplifier has a sonic character, just like every musician and band has a sonic character. That said, it doesn't mean two or more different amplifiers cannot have the same sonic character.
Willem, perhaps the scientific test tools are not sensitive enough. I can assure you my amps can sound different by even changing the substance they sit upon.
I am not so sure this community is that knowledgeable about test protocol (and science is not a democracy I am afraid). Mind you, I recently did post some links to controlled tests that produced exactly the result that I claim. Do you have tests that demonstrate the contrary, or scientific data that prove/suggest that the kind of measured imperfections that we see in good electronics are above the threshold of human hearing acuity? There are enough audio professionals who will argue exactly as I do.
"
There are many silly stories going round here about the sonic character of amplifiers. If an amplifier is any good it will not gave a sonic character, even in the most revealing system. "
There are many silly posts from you such as this claiming everything sounds the same and yes among the contributors here there are a tiny noisy handful of those who make similar claims and who are quick to yell snake oil and yet among this same group of contributors there are many many more who do hear the difference. So either this tiny noisy minority are right and all the others have been deluded by this vast conspiracy of snake oilers, or the few who maintain that everything sounds the same are just misinformed or trolls. Perhaps you believe you have some nearly exclusive ability to define the truth but in much greater likelihood it is the rest of this vast diverse experienced and knowledgeable community that is right.
There are many silly stories going round here about the sonic character of amplifiers. If an amplifier is any good it will not gave a sonic character, even in the most revealing system. So my simple suggestion is to get a matching Emotiva with enough power to drive your speakers easily (more power is always better). Emotiva makes excellent stuff for realistic prices. If you want to spend more, get a Bryston for really bombproof engineering without any voodoo science. And by the way, if anyone duped you into spending serious money on cables, you know that was a snake oil seller. Just return/sell the stuff and save some money. Emotiva themselves have excellent cables for a decent price.
I have read on htguide.com how much the Magnepan fans love the Parasound A21 with their loudspeakers. Check out the Club Halo forum on that site. Some users also provide tips on how to optimize the sound of Magnepans. Read that years back; so you might have to search for that. So, like Elizabeth said, you might consider a used Parasound A21 and save the money for the "improvements". Good Luck.
Why buy used indeed is this not a website for selling used equipment? As Elizabeth correctly points out it's a great way to essentially home audition amps with little financial loss. I daresay many of us here have used that exact strategy over the years.
An typically beautiful amp from Jeff Rowland from before he moved to Class D.
All of these are below your $2500 budget some significantly all were well above your budget new. If it were me I would stretch my budget buying used. Good luck and have fun with it!
You can get good "value" in that price category by buying new. Curious why you wouldn’t stay with or at least consider Emotiva. Another brand you could look to is Schiit.
For $2.5K, you are probably looking at stereo amps. Maggie's need a fair bit of power to show their stuff. I would buy used and get the best bang for the buck. You can score a used McCormack DNA-1 for $1k, more if it has upgrades. The nice part of McC is that Steve still upgrades his units- He made my monoblocks this past year. Ayre also makes some fine amplifiers. There is a V-5xe on Ebay right now for around your budget. Those are my favs. I am sure others will offer other manufacturers for you to consider. Bob
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