HIGH end 7 channel amp

Nealrm, I have been wondering about the arcam. I do Have a arcam dealer here so I can practically try that one out. Does the arcam have an airy top end?

I have effecient speakers so power is not an issue.

Moremoneythansense....intersting name. You must have more money then you know what to do with so buy audio. I wish I could use more then one amp. I recently had a three and five channel in my system but need the extra shelf, thus one 7 channel.

The 7 monoblocks in the rack would be my dream system.

Nealrm,

I have a pair of highly modded kef ref 104/2, Vienna acoustics maestro center, kef ref 102 and kef ref 103 in surrounds, Gemstone 7 channel amp, modded avm 20, modded BPT signature 3.5, and modded arcam dv78.

I love the sound of what I have now. It seems to do most things right for an HT setup.

The Gemstone is awesome amp and will compare to the best out there, though its creating a bit of a hum in my system.

Steve at Gemstone is giving me a bit more time with it to see if I can alleviate it.

Thanks...

Musicman, you had the bennefit of hearing a Gemstone! It is very natual and smooth to my hears. I like that the highs and female voices have no harshness or ear fatigue.

Thats why I have been playing with interconnects, speakercables arangment etc. to try to get rid of the problem of the hum I am getting. Others seem to be using it to good effect. Seems like it may be my system and or room?

Anyway, the sim is comparable though I am curious about their big boy the titan. It's built quite different then the Aurora.

Holenneck, I could not find anything written yet on the axiom. You know a site with info?

Musicman, I would agree that Steve and Gemstone would rather see the amp be a perfect fit. (like child adoption!!)

Yes I do have xlr's. The speaker connectors and interconnects unfortunatly above and below one another does not help. They are all criss crossed. I tried bypassing the BPT 3.5 and also brough my Hydra back in with same results.

I also brought my previous amps in and tried them to see if the same effect would happen...it did

I am going to keep playing.

I actually still have my 5 channel sunfire. Good amp, and I needed the more warm laid back sound at one point but I have done a lot to my system and need something with more detail.

Davemitchell, I am glad you brought up the AR amp. That has been one also that may be decent. My Issue with AR on the amp is they have it priced way too high, or so it seems. $10,000!!!!!!!!!

I checked a little on the Axiom amp, and see its digital. I have to research to understand what that all means in laymans terms. Not sure of the pros and cons of that.

If I dont quickly get the Gemstone to work in my setup I am coming down to Ead 7300 or maybe a Mcintosh mc207. The Mac has the new dynamic power manager and sounds like their best sound multi yet. Anyone have experience with those two amps?

Boy, what an intersting day.I spent over half the afternoon at Hi fi sound in downtown Minneapolis.

I have narrowed the Mcintosh mc207 as one of the posibilities if I did not keep the Gemstone. I brought my Gemstone into the to store to a/b it against the Mcintosh mc207 to have a reference point. I spent about an hour each with both amps and listened to the same tracks from 3 different cds. The system consisted of Vienna acoustics top line speakers, a 5 thousand dollar cd player and a Mcintosh preamp.

I hate to use terminalogy like this but the Gemstone smoked the Mcintosh. I really had a hard time getting into this amp. It did not have the detail and resolution. The bass is good on the Mcintosh. I believe part of what was up with the amp is it may not be the fastest amp where the Gemstone is fast. Things sounded muddy and clouded. Not knowing the system I did not think it was the amp, but system as a whole.

I was wrong when the Gemstone was installed. All of the sudden I heard detail and clarity within the system and of course...music. The bass is where this amp is king...perhaps one of the very top 7 channel amps anywhere in this department. Its so authoratative and detailed in the bass notes. So thats why I wont say the Mcintosh had sub par bass, it just went up agaist Mike Tyson in his prime. The Gemstone had a better and extended airy treble. I have had people tell me the Mcintosh is rolled off in the highs and perhaps thats the part of its issues.

The crazy thing is in all this is the Gemstone retails at $2800, and the Mcintosh retails for $8000. Don't let price fool you...thats what I am learning. I guess Mac like most big names have so many costs with advertising and the middleman, but I guess in the end It comes down to us paying for it all. I may see about getting a different Gemstone amp in case the issue is isolated to the one I have, cause I am more motivated now to keep this thing!

As a sidenote,I heard for the money the ati amps are nice. I thought I heard that its similar to parasound.

Mnnc, I just checked on the Halo, and it don't look like they have a 7 channel,

Frank,

When I run surround with the two side and two back speakers, I will get (depending on recording of course) different sounds from the rear/side left and rear/side right. From what I have noticed, what differintiates the rear to side is more of a delay type thing to give the effect of more bigger and enveloping surround. I thought of it as what dolby surround was with traditional two channel recorded movies. This is of course if its the traditional 5.1, cause the rare 6.1 is a different ballgame. Of course, I could be wrong in that thinking.

Back to the forum topic, a seperate two channel or 3 mono blocks for the front channels would be my prefered way of amplifing, but that often requires much space. I have one shelf set aside for 1 amp, thus a 7 channel.

Madhf, I think you have a valid point. Though I would say I did get some decent results going up to 7.1

It was not night and day, but I did notice more of a larger, enveloping surround sound. My system stayed 5.1 for several months, till I could get some time and install some proper side surrounds. Just as I heard improvments when I could finally download prologic IIx from prologic II in my surround processor. It was just a tad more enveloping.

I would say that it does make a bigger difference for active surround movies then any music type concerts.