Earthquake Cinenova is Coming Today!

wingnut4772

Oh my sweet Lord..what an amp. I did not expect such a HUGE difference. I was not convinced that I should even get it because I could not imagine anything sounding better than my set up with the Outlaws but man oh man..was I ever wrong!

Instant amazing difference in clarity, soundstage, imaging, bass response. I am hearing things that I never did before. The soundstage is phenominal. Spacious and smooth. I knew amps were important but I did not really realize how much they affect the actual sound.

And.....I would also like to add that I brought it in the house and put it on the rack all by my lonesome.

TroyD

Good on ya....always glad to hear someone enjoying thier gear.

Rock on!

BDT

cmy330go

Holy Crap....I just looked up the stats on that beast. :eek: I had no idea it was that powerful.

Does it come with it's own nuclear reactor to power it?

heiney9

wingnut4772 wrote:

Oh my sweet Lord..what an amp. I did not expect such a HUGE difference. I was not convinced that I should even get it because I could not imagine anything sounding better than my set up with the Outlaws but man oh man..was I ever wrong!

Instant amazing difference in clarity, soundstage, imaging, bass response. I am hearing things that I never did before. The soundstage is phenominal. Spacious and smooth. I knew amps were important but I did not really realize how much they affect the actual sound.

And.....I would also like to add that I brought it in the house and put it on the rack all by my lonesome.

.

Isn't this obsession.....ummmm....hobby fun!

H9

wingnut4772

Obsession is correct. I am still just amazed with the sound coming from my speakers. What is it about an amp that would make the sound just so much more spacious and seemless? I was watching scenes from several movies last night( this morning..zzz) and I heard details I had missed before. Also effects seem to be more fluid from speaker to speaker. Now my house REALLY sounds like a movie theater. I am thrilled with this purchase.

polkatese

Congrats, Wingnut! Power amp was my also my recently found passion. The key word is seamless and effortless, when one doesn't have to crank out the amp to hear full sound coming out. Enjoy and enjoy some more!

cfrizz

Congrats Darla! Enjoy!

Damn am I jealous!!!!

Ricardo

Good for you!!!

That's the same feeling I got when I switched form and Adcom 555 to the JBL Urei. I could not believe that the amp could make such a difference.


The problem is....that there is always something better out there.......

lanion

You are making it harder to convince myself that the outlaw 7125 is all I will ever need when I buy one.

Holydoc

Ok Darla... I need to be caught up.

Correct me where I am wrong. You have a 5.1 system. You have 5 mono outlaws m200's (200watt) that you used to power each of your speakers. You bought the Earthquake 5 channel amp (300watt/channel) to replace your 5 outlaw amps.

Is this all correct? Am I caught up?

audiobliss

And...does that mean you're going to be selling your Outlaw monoblocks?

wingnut4772

No. I have 7.1. I had an Outlaw 770 and 2 Outlaw mono blocks. I kept the monos for the back channels and replaced the 770 with the Earthquake. Trust me it's hard for me to even keep up.

Cathy don't be jealous just join me ! Mwah ha ha :

Lanion - if the budget allows you may want to consider upping the wattage and avoiding the whole upgrade rollercoaster in the future.

lanion

I'm almost happy enough with my very low powered reciever, so I really think I will be happy enough with a 7125. Any diposable income I save after that will probobly go toward finally getting an HDTV... and that will be in about 12-24 months when SED displays (they sound amazing) come on the market.

Holydoc

Ok, I am almost caught up.

So you have a 7.1 system. The 770 (7 x 200watt) was being used to power only 5 of your 7 channels. The other 2 back speakers was being powered by 2 m200 (200watt) amps.

So did you have 2 of your speakers bi-amped using the 770 with the 2 channels you had left on the 770? I suppose these were the front speakers, the LSi15's? This should of given you close to 700watts going to those 2 channels bi-amped. Regardless this would of given you over 300watts per channel on your 4ohm speaker system. More than enough power to push the LSi's to their potential according to the specs.

So the new Earthquake is giving you 300watts per channel. This would mean that 5 speakers are now getting close to 600watts of power (4ohm resistance) and 2 back speakers are getting 400watts.

On paper and if amplifiers only increase the ouput potential and not modify it, then you should not have heard such a drastic change since the system was already surpassing its potential. The fact that you did hear a difference means that either:
1) you had something not hooked up right on the original system (very, very doubtful since you are brilliant at HT)
2) the outlaw was introducing distortion or modification to your sound field (doubtful since it has such a great reputation) or..
3) there is something going on about having a huge amount of headroom with a system that makes it do better than specs account for that I do not understand (completely probably since I am such a novice at all this).

I am so sorry about all my rambling. As you can tell being able to learn anything else about this hobby gets me all excited.

CONGRATS on your purchase, and I am thrilled that you are happy with it. PLEASE keep describing the differences you hear and your thoughts on why they are occuring.

wingnut4772

Holydoc, no biamping here. ( too complicated) I actually had my fronts on the mono blocks because I was experiencing some clipping with the 770. My theory was to lighten its load a little and just let the 770 run my center and 4 surrounds.

You are right that the 770 and the M200s are rate 200w per channel at 8ohm and 300w at 4ohms. The Earthquake is rated 600w per channel at 4 ohms and has a peak of 1000 at 2 ohms. I think that this is the biggest difference( my whole set up is LSI- 4 ohms-) but someone smarter than me said that current also has a big impact...I am not exactly sure of the differences in that regard .

I can only tell you my experience is a great improvement as I described...and actually my rears sound better on the Outlaw Monos than they did on the 770.

This is fun though isn't it? I love it but I have tons to learn and always will as it is an ever changing hobby.

Hope that helps some.

venomclan

Hi Wingnut,
Greeting from a fellow S. Floridian.
How would you descibe the Earthquack sound to the Outlaws? How is the black level? I had all Outlaw amps and then went to a Krell. Big difference, lower noise floor, faster and tight bass. Better control. I still have 1 M200 for center duty. The reason I ask is that I read a review of my speaker system(B&W CD NT series with the Earthquake) The review put the system at 97%, excellent.
Venom

wingnut4772

Hi Venom,

The Outlaws had some slight hiss when you put your ear to the speaker. The Earthquake is nice and quiet. I noticed the same improvements you noticed with the Krell. I had a very nice improvement in the quality of the sound from the center channel...I would recommend maybe getting a 3 channel so you can include the center - I guess you have 5.1?( sorry if I missed your set up somewhere) If you get a 3 channel that's a great excuse to go 7.1

venomclan

Hi Wing,
My system is a bit imbalanced at this time. I run 5.0 now.
Krell 250 watts to the front 2
Outlaw M200 - Center
Adcom 60 watts to the rear.

I would love to get a really nice 3 channel amp. I am thinking about a used Rotel 200 watts x 3. Unless I get a great deal on an Earthquake, Krell, Bryston....

I still like the Outlaw sound, especially for HT. They can hold thier own repectfully. I had heard some great reviews of the Behringer A500 pro amp. 160 x 2 8 ohms. Can be bridged mono for 500 watts/8 ohms. For only $180 new. It is tempting.
Venom

tdeluce

venomclan wrote:

Hi Wing,
My system is a bit imbalanced at this time. I run 5.0 now.
Krell 250 watts to the front 2
Outlaw M200 - Center
Adcom 60 watts to the rear.

I would love to get a really nice 3 channel amp. I am thinking about a used Rotel 200 watts x 3. Unless I get a great deal on an Earthquake, Krell, Bryston....

I still like the Outlaw sound, especially for HT. They can hold thier own repectfully. I had heard some great reviews of the Behringer A500 pro amp. 160 x 2 8 ohms. Can be bridged mono for 500 watts/8 ohms. For only $180 new. It is tempting.
Venom

I got my 3-channel Cinenova Grande 3 for $1399 from Federal Stereo ( an
authorized on-line dealer ). With 600 super clean watts per channel into 4
ohms ( I have it all alone on an isolated 20 AMP circuit ), it is just impossible
to beat.

Its got to be the best kept secret in in HT today :-)

wingnut4772

Venom, If you are interested in the 3 channel Cinenova, the dealer who sold me mine told me he had one (brand new and authorized dealer) for considerably less than $1399. PM me for details.

Holydoc

Wing...uh Darla,

Very intriguing that the 770 was giving you a slight hiss and clipping at times. Makes me question whether the Outlaw amp is very suited for 4ohm impedence. With my 8ohm speakers, they are completely silent and have never experienced any clipping.

Was the clipping only coming from the front speakers? If it was, did you try to move the speakers around to a different connection? For instance run the receiver's front speakers RCA jacks to the amps rear speakers RCA jack to see if you still had the clipping? I am just wondering if you had something amiss with your amp. Maybe one of the torroids were acting up causing the front three speakers to have a weak power supply. Just surprises me that the M200's sounded better than the 770.

To answer your question, YES... this hobby is great. Expensive...but great. But what else do I have to spend my money on? Ok. There are the women. uh...and the booze. The cars... the waverunner...uh never mind. So I like toys!

tdeluce

wingnut4772 wrote:

Venom, If you are interested in the 3 channel Cinenova, the dealer who sold me mine told me he had one (brand new and authorized dealer) for considerably less than $1399. PM me for details.

Wow! This has to be the best deal in HT :-)

wingnut4772

I paid only $2050 shipped for my 5 channel- but he said that he dd not have any more at that price- I checked him out on the Earthquake site and he is a listed dealer for them.

wingnut4772

Venom,

I think that the 770 just clipped because I was asking too much from it for the volume and load. It sounded great at lower volumes--say -10 under reference but any higher and the sound would start getting slightly distorted then start to clip. The Earthquake is effortless even at reference. I just played the 'Depth Charge Scene' in U-571 and there was none of that digitally, edgy distortion on any of the explosions even at reference level.

heiney9

Kinda makes you want to call in sick on Monday . Sounds like you are enjoying it and discovering why some equipment sounds different than others, nothing like hearing it first hand!

H9

wingnut4772

I have Monday off

venomclan

Wing,
Perhaps the Outlaws were just not enough for reference level with 4ohm speakers. I have only run 8ohm speakers with my Outlaws, so far very good. Since an 8 ohm speaker can dip to 5 ohms, a 4 ohm speaker can dip below 2 ohms and really stress an amp.

Ideally an amp should double its output power when the resistance is reduced. The Earthquake does this, but the Outlaw only does 1.5x, that I think is where the trouble lies at reference levels and bass passages.
Venom

wingnut4772

I think so. I have read that was a good gauge on amp quality -the doubling down into 4 ohms- and I was aware that the Outlaw did not but the price was right for me at the time.

I used to fry eggs on my Outlaw 770 also it got so hot with even only 5 LSIs hooked up. The Earthquake is only running moderately warm even playing 10db louder. The LSIs are SO dependent upon amplification.

venomclan

You can fry a tank on my Krell. Class A amplification gets HOT. The Outlaw should not get that hot, especially with the a/b/g class amps.

I would love to try some LSI"s with my amp. It is underated at 250 w/8ohms, it is closer to the upper 300's. So that would put over 700 watts to the LSI's. Should sound nice.
Venom

wingnut4772

Yes it should.