2. amps-preamps
  3. 1080498867

WHOA This isn't what I expected.

I'll try to make this as brief as possible. I am bi-amping my setup because of the new speakers I am getting. I am initially keeping my old integrated amp (Mac MA-6500)to use with the mid/high speakers. I borrrowed/bought a Nakamichi PA-7 from a friend to try out with the bass speakers. The Mac can be used as a preamp for the Nak.

I don't have the new speakers yet, but was dicking around with my old speakers this morning. I wanted to see what the volume level difference was between the Mac and Nak. I connected the Nak to the Mac using fairly good interconnects (Audioquest Pythons)and used my existing speakers and speaker cables (Audioquest Volcanos)and connected them to the Nak. After listening for a while, I reminded myself of why I was getting new speakers. Then I connected the speaker cables to the Mac, and as expected, the volume did decrease slightly. BUT, the sound quality increased in everyway and was immediately noticed. The Nak did not hold a candle to the old amp, and in fact it sounded pretty pathetic.

Can anyone tell me if this should have been the anticipated result? Or do you think something could be wrong with the Nak amp? What else am I missing? Power cords? I don't know, other than there was a VERY big drop off in sound quality that I sure wasn't expecting.

Thanks for any input.
angiemima

Showing 1 response by bigjoe

bigjoe's avatar
bigjoe
693 posts
 
here it is,plain & simple,its the mac,lets look at this for a minute,your using a "old integrated mac" & a nak from the stasis series which is supposed to be a fantastic amp & the mac blew it away & with good reason.

mcintosh is a far superior amp than nak,trust your ears & not all the hype,beacuse of some of the features that mac amps employ like autoformers & power gaurd most audiophiles look right past mcintosh.

if your gettin into ss gear i suspect that part of the reason is beacuse its less hassle than tubes,do you really want to start getting into gear that has to be left on all the time for it to sound good or let it warm up for 3 days prior to doing a demo? do you have to leave your tv on for 3 days to get a good picture? cmon.

when you get your new speakers try it again & ill bet the outcome is the same & if you still prefer the mcintosh then your path is clear.

i would go with my 1st impression,when you get gear that takes days & weeks for you to get used to that should tell you somthing.

not only is it fair to judge an amp when its 1st put into your system IMO its a must,1st impressions are important beacuse they tell you right off where your at.

you mentioned power cords,theese things should be the very last thing (if at all) you upgrade into your rig,it makes no sense to me to get a amp & be unhappy with the sound & right away start tweeking the thing.

when you do get the speakers in & try it again i would be very curious as to the results.

mike.
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