Need help, looking to buy NAD, Parasound, B&K or other? amp(s)

pkquat

You can all blame @Nightfall for story part of this post [all sarcasism and humor implied.... Plus it's erie and funny it's Nightfall similarly to @lightman1 (lighteningman / shocking avitar) commenting on the surge protection thread].

I was really tired but thinking about the new toys as I lay in bed, and could not quite fall asleep. I had to go play. I cobbled a setup where I had space and existing cables could reach.... the amp and pre-amp were stacked in front of the SDA PR cockeyed so the optical cable could reach. I still need to read the instructions further because the must be some interaction between the 12V trigger and the amp power switchand a delay. I could not get the amp to turn on. Everything WAS set right, so eventually magic happened and the amp would power on and off with the preamp 12V trigger. Pop in the CD, hit play, nothing. I checked the input was set right and manually moved the volume. Dead silence. I scrolled through the inputs. Still nothing. I'm wondering the optical is not working, or if the DAC part is messed up. When I listened to it breifly before I bought it, only the analog was hooked up and available. The system had been put in storage and was not his main system, so a simple listening setup was cobbled together.

I scrounged up an old crappy R+L+V cable and used the video cable for the coax digital from my DVR. Still nothing. The cable is too short to reach any other analog connections. I debate digging out a spare CD player with analog out into the mix. I slide some stuff around to make an analog connection. Still nothing. I've cycled power enough times that if some thing needed a reset it should have been reset. I looked over all the switch settings, and they were fine.

I dug around and got the analog out from my reciever and connected that to the amp. I finally got sound from the amp. I look back at the preamp and go to re-connect it when I realized I didn't have anything connected between the preamp and amp. There lies the problem, and why I should not have been doing this while tired.

I used the cable from the reciever. The preamp does work. It was only a short listen on the SDA's, but I would say it was very musical, and there was more detail. It is an improvement over the reviever in pure direct, but I am impressed with pure direct. The bass had impact like my hafler and similar musical feel, but I think more detail. This is all from memory. I didn't do any real comparisons. IMO it sounded better, and all worked that was enough for the night. I hope to do more listening maybe tonight, but not until tomorrow.

My peerless M5's are down for cabinet sealing that I need to do. I did the magnets last weekend finally, but was not able to get to the cabinets. Listening will have to be with SL2000's . The R830's are super heavy and not in the room so i may wait to move them until everything is setup.

I'll report back more when I finally can do some serious listening.

Thanks again for the replies.

pkquat

One note before the preliminary listening results. When I turn the 2250 on from cold, the transformer hums like I am turning on an old CRT or I hit the degauss button. It slowly fades away within maybe a minute. It still did this when it was warm, but it was less pronounced. I didn't think to check this or notice it before I bought it. Is this normal?

Sonically, I can say this is an improvement, both the amp and the preamp. I would say both are very musical, and there is added detail. The vocal range is highlighted, but not louder per se. There is some warmth to each, but I would not call it too warm, and I think the warmth is complimentary, not additive. I compared the p5 to my Yamaha receiver pre-out in Pure Direct mode, and the 2250 to my Hafler DH-220. I did all the combinations with my SDA's and 4a's. With the SDA's it does appear more power is a good thing. My Hafler may have been running low on juice for some content at loud levels, but it was no slouch. What I find interesting is even though all my sets of speakers could use a re-cap, the differences still come through, even on my 4a's.

I tried connecting the output from my Yamaha through the P5 to see if the P5 was adding anything. I think it was. There was some additional musicality to the Yamaha via the p5. I'll have to listen more for what the difference is or whether it was only in my mind.

I still have to find my good CD's to find more specifics, but I can definitely say there was an improvement.

Right now my only real complaint about the p5 in black is the volume indication is VERY hard to see. I think it will be getting a sticker.

I think these will be in my stable for a while.... the light at the end of the rabbit hole is getting further away.