... an amp with lower THD will have less hiss with NO SIGNAL ...
I'm not sure what your point is. Any amp is likely to have less his with no signal.
Cerwin Vega owner
Good afternoon,
I consider myself a bit of a sound nerd and have been involved with music since I was young. I never sat down and put money into any particular hifi or audiophile system, but I do love music and I have a clear opinion on how it should sound.
About 3 months ago I came across a pair of VS-120s and picked them - great condition and all. All I had around to drive these with was a Yamaha amp (Rx-V371).
I hooked this up using some 16-gauge cables and the first thing I listened too was some lossless audio files from Apple with analog connection to the Yamaha from my Macbook. The amp has a "straight" setting with all controls being disabled. No Sub is present. So my playback has no EQ or filtering.
My listening space has all the problems with 1 wall being 3 windows, 2nd wall being behind the speakers, 3 wall being open to a dining room and the backwall (isnt a wall) open to my office double doors, 10 foot ceiling, uncovered wood floor, no speaker "spikes".
No matter what I play, it sounds terrific including opening this amp all the way up. I was expecting this to blow fuses. It doesn’t. I haven’t measured the SPL from my listening point, but it goes waay up. Still sounding clean.
I have been through about all tracks I have ever seen mentioned as "reference tracks" and I dont miss anything from what I can tell.
I would love to add some critical listening "skills" to my very basic setup here to show me what I could possibly be missing out on. There has to be a reason I am 10-20k under "good", but I don't seem to hear that...
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- 17 posts total
cleedsThe point is that you said that a signal is necessary to hear THD. That is not the case since there is no need for a signal going into the amp to hear hiss, and not all amps produce AUDIBLE hiss or noise on their own. My better ones are dead silent as far as hiss or any noise is concerned even when touching my ear on the tweeters. The OP asked what THD sounded like and I replied with my suggestion on how to hear it but you instead challenged my post and then when I clarified it for you, you suddenly didn't make sense of it. Good day... |
- If the dac in a MacBook and Cerwin Vega made you happy, that’s all there is to it (enjoy the music). - if curiosity got the better of you, get on Facebook, find a audiophile group local to your area and invite yourself to a few guys’ houses. Audit their rigs. If you audit a few rigs and feel that your rig sounds good enough, i.e., you are not missing anything sonically, that’s all there is to it (enjoy the music). - But, if you audit a few hifi rigs (obtain a few different points of reference) and now your rig suddenly seems less enjoyable, you could look into improving things a bit. For example, I get the feeling that this (following vid) is how most Cerwin Vegas tend to measure. You could always diy/mod it and make it sound better since all internals are built to a price point. DIY is also a good way to learn about various technical and economic matters, keeping things affordable, etc.... when you’re starting to explore things in hifi. Cerwin Vega - GR Research Measurements & Mod |
- 17 posts total