Just landed the 4th Adcom

Ron-P

Thanks again to Russ for starting this addiction of mine.

Today, at 11am I picked up my 4th GFA-535. I bid on it early this week and 5 minutes before the auction closed the guy pulled his amp and closed the auction sighting it was going to cheap, the auction was at $117.50 just before closing. He re-listed it with a buy it now for $150. So I bought it. He lived close enough that we met today and made the exchange.

Watching the few others go for more than $150 I feel it was a good deal. The amp is in pristine condition, not a scratch, ding or dent. I've got the original box and instruction manual.

Can't wait to add it into the component rack tonight. She will power the surrounds. The Marantz is now just a pre/pro.

I'm gonna grab me a huge **** beer and disappear, into the Green Room for redoing the component flexy to make room for the newbie. WoooHooo!

Peace Out~:D

TroyD

Man, I'm ENVIOUS as a ****. Good on ya, Ron.

2ch rig next??

BDT

RuSsMaN

NICE, even though Polks really don't 'deserve' seperates to some people....

Enjoy my brotha....

Cheers,
Russ

mantis

Just an opnion brother just an opnion........LSI????different story.

madmax

Great deal Ron!
So that's a complete system except for a dedicated pre-pro. The receiver will work OK though. Let us know how it sounds. Could be that another amp for the surrounds will make no difference or maybe a lot of difference. It will be interesting to hear the results!

Polks dont deserve separates??? Very strange. Any speaker capable of producing any sort of quality sound can benifit.
madmax

TroyD

my thoughts, Ed Zachry, MM......

IMO, while it's very cool to have an amp for the rears, I do wonder how much real benefit there is to it.

BDT

madmax

Troy, Troy, Troy,
An amp for the rears is very cool. Does anything else matter? Nice to see you posting with the rest of us mugs!
madmax

Ron-P

Thanks guys.

Will see if the amp will make a difference or not. But hey, one can never have too many amps, right? Besides, 4 amps will look better than 3 in the rack:)

In the middle of building a new shelf for the amps and right now I've got the flexy rack gutted. Enjoying a very nice Slo Brewing Co. Extra Pale Ale right now as I tinker.....Yum!


Peace Out~:D

mantis

Theres the benefits of using an amp in hes setup......................................MATCHING.SAME sonic signature as the front 3........in home theater it is VERY benificial to use the same EXACT amps all the way around.

Kinda like using the same brand of speakers,same series with the same exact drivers..........

goingganzo

i see a amp on ebay for 10 no erserve and olny 2 days left if the price stays low i might just jump it looks like the cover was taken off or something hope i can get it for cheap

TroyD

I get the theory and agree with it, theoretically.

However, I just wonder, in the rear channel, if folks could reliably distinguish between amps.

BDT

madmax

Mantis,
That is a great point! I think often about matching speakers but never really thought much about matching amps other than for power rating. The sonic signature of the Adcom could be a little different than the receiver amp.
madmax

Ron-P

Rearranged all the components, installed the new shelf, wired all the amps back in and......the difference is quite noticeable at the higher volume levels, not so much at the lower volume levels.

Because I had watched The Time Machine twice over the last 2 nights, I figured it would be a good demo because I was very familiar with the sound track.

The 2 things I noticed the most were a more detailed sound and a substantial increase in clarity. The amp really did make a noticeable difference, for the better.

I timber matched all the speakers and now I have the same amps powering all the speakers. This was a goal after installing the first 3 Adcom's up front.

The sonic signature of the Adcom could be a little different than the receiver amp.

It is. I was not expecting to hear a difference, but it was there.


Peace Out~:D

HBombToo

Hey Ron, Would you list all your speakers that will be Bi-Amped?
It will really help me determine what I should do with my system.
Regards
HBomb

Ron-P

My RT55's and CS400 are bi-amped. The surrounds, RT25i's are, of course, not.


Peace Out~:D

HBombToo

Ron, 1 more Q...
What would be the big difference between your RT55 and my 800i's? They look like the same to me except 1 is floor standing and the other as in your case on stands. I guess what I'm really looking for is the delta in box cavity dims IF the drivers and tweets are the same...

Regards and thatnks for your time.

Ron-P

AFAIK, the RT800's are identical to the RT55's except for the cabinet size and maybe a little cross-over tweaking. Same duel 6.5" drivers with the same tri-lam tweeter.

Don't have any info on cabinet sizes.


Peace Out~:D

Aaron

What would be the big difference between your RT55 and my 800i's?

Check out the link below. It's a mini-review that I wrote last week when I test my RT800 against my RT55's. Dimension-wise the RT55's are about 2" wider and roughly half the height of the RT800's, and you are correct; they do use the same drivers.

http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4661

Aaron

HBombToo

After feeling like a fool missing your analysis Aaron, I would like to say great job on the comparison.

Hbomb

mantis

FOOL YOU???? Nah........that couldn't be true now .....could it?

mantis

TroyD,
why may I ask do you wonder????

Think about it for a minute.Got a movie with someone walking from front of the room to the back of the room.Talking the entire time.
Now with the same amps,the sound doesn't change,different amps it does.

Kinda like using 2 different monoblocks to drive left and right in a 2 channel rig.

You'll hear a difference.Even with untrained ears.

HBombToo

Oh Yaaaaa brother Mantis.... I step in it all the time:LOL and then if its really bad I'll roll in it to show how big of a man I really am.

mantis

Thats good your big and everything.......you roll man you roll.......I'll support it.

Ron-P

A perfect DVD to test your timber matching is from Red Planet.

There is a scene in which the commander is talking to the group and the camera pans around the group as he is talking. The voice of the commander starts in the CC and works it's way around, clockwise thru all speakers ending back at the center channel.

I believe that timber matching amps is just as important as timber matching speakers. Why would it not be? Sure the difference would not be as dramatic with the amps as with speakers, but I'm sure the difference is there, especially across the front sound stage.



Peace Out~:D

mantis

I agree with you Ron ,
BUT,
In my opnion it's as much of a difference with speakers as it is with amps.Sound changes,voices change..everything changes.

I didn't say it but good luck and congrads on your new found toy(s).The fever doesn't go away untill the bank does,then the bank comes back and it starts all over again.

Ron-P

Yeah, down the road a bit will be a pre/pro, but that may be awhile. Then, I can retire the Marantz to the livingroom and start a mini-theater in there.

Of course. I want to build cupholder armrests for my seating. Re-do the seats with a more firm foam. Build a 12" shiva subwoofer into the deck that my rear seating is on. Do more interconnect testing with different brands. I could go on...


Peace Out~:D

TroyD

OK, I was just more or less thinking out loud, and still am to be honest.....so nobody get all crazy on me here..

First, I'm not a critical listener of HT. All I'm saying is that I'm willing to bet that if I had 10 folks watching a movie in the HT and I had mismatched amps (which I do, Carver on the mains, Denon center and rear) I'm willing to bet that nobody ever said to themselves 'hmmmm......... something sounds different' I notice the disparity from time to time in the front soundstage but it's not terribly (to me) noticeable or bothersome. Much like, the tweets in the R10's mismatch the front soundstage, I don't give it much thought.

Let me just say, I'm not saying there isn't an audible difference nor do I think the amp in the rear is a bad idea, all I'm saying is I wonder how many, besides us, ever notice?

BDT

Ron-P

Not many I'm sure Troy, not many.


Peace Out~:D

madmax

I've thought about this a little. One experience we have all had is going to listen to speakers. Let's say we listened to a $1500 set of stereo speakers one day and then another day we went back to listen to another set of $1500 speakers. We would say "they both sound good". If we listen to one set of speakers then listen to another, within a few minutes of each other we would definitly be partial to one set over the other. HT comparisons are done at the same time. Although we may not know it, if they were not matched we would hear a HT, not have an experience. Even the smallest detail which alerts you that it is a re-production will ruin the whole experience. When I listened to the Polk demo the speakers were all matched and the amps were matched. Not to cause any disagreement but I did sit there and say to myself "hmmmm, I can't tell what is coming from the center as compared to the L and R or the surrounds". All of a sudden I was listening to the material, not the system. Even if you cannot pin point what is wrong if everything is not matched well you will dismiss it as a reproduction, not an experience.
madmax

mantis

TroyD,
I know your not into home theater anywhere close to 2 channel..its a given due 2 your posting.

Your logic just for audio alone,should tell you this isn't a good thing.Why would you want to inflick differences where they need not to be?

Your opnion is noted and have it as you will, but saying things like I bet not many people could hear a difference is plain wrong.
This could hold true if you watch a movie where someone walks around the room in a given scene and there voice changes sound.Your ears tell your brain that ..HEY THAT SOUNDED DIFFERENT.

So answer me this Troy......if you put 2 different monoblocks in a 2 channel rig,could people tell the difference...how many people would it take?

I'm trying my very best not to DEAL WITH THIS ISSUE but it buggs me to read you post things like that.I know your smarter in audio then that........put some more in logic into your thinking.

TroyD

Dan,

I think you might not be quite getting what I'm saying. Of course I think there is a difference, I'm a big proponent of amps. Given the same situation, I'd do exactly what Ron did and sit there with a HUGE ****-eatin' grin. I think that most of us here would appreciate the difference.

Let me put it this way, if you took your analogy of someone walking and it goes from the front to the rear, well, I think it is easier to isolate and hear the differences with just that noise and nothing else. Although I don't think the sound can ever be completely seamless due to a myriad of reasons but that is another discussion but I digress. I'm just saying that most movie soundtracks are so busy that it makes it more difficult to distinguish. I'm not saying there isn't an audible difference, I'm just saying I think in the rear channels, you really have to be paying close attention.

My real point is that if you take someone that is blissfully unaware of the intracacies of audio, they will neither notice nor care.

BDT