Sunfire or Cinepro?

bradm6406

Hi,

I am trying to find a used amp to go with my new speakers (3 LC265i's and 2 LSiFX). I was planning on buying a used Sunfire Cinema Grand based on the opinions I've found on these boards, but I'm having a hard time finding one.

The Sunfires I've seen have sold for around $1,000.

There is a Cinepro 3k6 for sale for around $1,400 that the guy is willing to ship to Canada (several of the Sunfire sellers weren't willing to ship their amps to Canada).

I am mostly going to be using the system for HT, but there will be some music listening. I do like to crank it up on occasion, but depending on who's watching with me I don't always run it too hot.

What are your suggestions? Would you hold out for a Sunfire, or go for the Cinepro? I was hoping to keep the budget closer to $1,000, is the extra $400 worth it for the Cinepro?

Or, would you buy something else?

Outlaw has a B-Stock 7500 on sale for $1,479 right now, again it's more money than I wanted to spend, but it's new.

Any opinions?


Thanks,

Brad

McLoki

I have not heard the Sunfire but I own a Cinepro and can answer some of the questions you may have.

The Cinepro has a quiet - side mounted fan that runs on mine all the time. (but I have never heard it.) Mine is mounted in a cabinet (could be why I have never heard the fan) and I have the back of the cabinet removed where the amp is. The back where the heat sinks are can get quite hot. You can set things on top of the cinepro (there are no ventilation holes in the top that would be blocked) but you need to have some airflow in the back where everything hooks up.

I love the sound of my Cinepro and I have never heard it clip on any movie at any volume. It is stable down to a 2 ohm load and is just rock solid.

The version I have is the Mk1 (1st generation) and it is incredible. I cannot forsee ever needing a more powerful amp (if you could find one). They supposedly got even better with each release ending with the 3k6 mk.III gold.

If you click on the link in my sig for the Cinepro it will take you to the Cinepro web site as it existed in 1999 (or so) when my amp was still current. From there you can get all the specs and reviews that are available. I have had mine in for repair and there are places you can send it for repair (that have the original blueprints for the amp) even though the company has gone out of business. If you go to www.cinepro.com that is not the same company. (they purchased the name after the original Cinepro owners death) The people who actually purchased all the plans / old stock of amps - and have improved upon them from there is Verastarr. Click here to see the latest vision of the 3k6 that I own.

I can safely say that I will have a seriously high end system (cables, pre/pro and speakers) before the Cinepro becomes the weak link in my system. Right now I consider it the best addition I have made to my home theater.

Michael

MikeC78

...and check out the insane watts per/channel output in a 4ohm load(500 whopping watts!):eek:

Mike

cfrizz

I have had an Outlaw & I now have a Sunfire 5 channel 405wpc amp. I love both of them. But I especially love the Sunfire for it's manageble weight, endless power, & always runs cool.

Both amps are worth the expense, & you will keep it regardless of what other upgrades you do!

bradm6406

That's a part of the reason that I was looking for a Sunfire amp, because they run so cool. I am going to have the amp inside a cabinet, more than likely completely hidden from view. If the cabinet ends up being built how I'm picturing it there should be a lot of room in there so heat may not be an issue, but I know with the Sunfire it definitely won't be an issue.

The hard part is actually finding a Sunfire and buying it before someone else does!

The extra power of the Cinepro would be nice but I am a little concerned about the heat, and I don't know if I will ever really use the extra power for the extra $400. Seeing as I'm putting in in-wall speakers I am not really planning on upgrading them ever, or at least not for a very long time. I think the 400wpc from the Sunfire would be more than adequate for the LC265i's.

The Outlaws sound like they are very nice, but I'm not scared of buying used and I would prefer to save some money if possible.


Brad

cfrizz

Right now there are a whole slew of Sunfires on Audiogon.

Shizelbs

I've not heard any Cinepro, but you have no reason to hesitate getting a Sunfire.

PolkWannabie

I have and use both in my HT rig ...

The CinePro for the subs and Sunfire(s) for the rest ...

It's hard to go wrong with either.

bradm6406

There are a bunch of Sunfires on Audiogon, but all of them are sold as far as I know. I've e-mailed several people about their Sunfires and they've all responded with "sold".

The Cinepro that I'm looking at is also on Audiogon, but he's asking $1,450 which is about $450 then I was hoping to spend. I could probably talk myself into $1,200 but that's stretching it.

My basement isn't finished yet, so I'm not in a big panic to get an amp just yet, but I definitely want to have it here by the time the basement is done. I'd hate to have the walls painted and the carpet in and not be able to try out my new speakers!

I'll probably just keep an eye out on Audiogon and eBay for a Sunfire, or a cheaper Cinepro and hopefully find one before the basement is done.


Thanks all for your input.


Brad

Lsi9

The Sunfire is a sweet amp, you have to respond to the audiogon listings within minutes of the postings. By luck I logged on to audiogon saw a sunfire up and then saw only 4 views in the ad, I was the first to inquire. The seller just put it up and was shocked by the instant response, there was 6 others directly after me. Timing is everything on audiogon (with certain pieces of equipment). I like the cinepro, but its just too big.

Deadof_knight

Sunfire is the creme dele creme of Carver correct ?

bradm6406

Well, I just pulled the trigger and bought a Cinepro 3K6. The guy that was asking $1,450 came down to $1,250. Still more than I really wanted to spend (especially by the time I convert it to the Canadian dollar ($1617)), but I think that's a pretty good deal for the amp. Hopefully it gets here safely and everything works out with it.

Thanks again for everyone's input. I'll let you all know how it sounds once I get everything up and running. I'm getting pretty tired of working in the basement, but now I've definitely got some motivation to get it finished... 109 inch screen with a Polk surround setup and my new Cinepro amp!


Brad

tonyb

Congrats !! I too have had the same amp and regret ever letting it go.
Keep in mind the heat issue and you should be ok.Once you get that puppy up and running you know your going to want to upgrade those speakers.

McLoki

Congrats on the new amp. Oddly enough - mine came from Canada...

Michael

bradm6406

Don't even tell me I'm going to want to upgrade my speakers! I haven't even plugged them in yet!

From what I've read the LC265i's are very good speakers, hopefully they're good enough to do me right for a long long time. We're putting a projection screen (actually a Goo screen) on the wall in the basement and I wanted the clean look of having in-walls. There is also going to be a fireplace in the corner on the left, so having a floor standing speaker right in front of the fireplace probably wouldn't be a great idea.

I guess the shipping companies love us, shipping these 70 lb beasts all over the continent. I was hoping to find one in Canada to avoid the brokerage fees and tax I have to pay when it comes across the border but no luck.

As far as the heat goes, hopefully I don't have to do anything special in the cabinet I'm building because there should be quite a lot of air in there. But if I need to I can put a couple of vents on the back side of it and put two fans, one blowing air out and the other sucking it in. The cabinet will be open on the movie room side where I'm putting my components and then there will be an access door from my office on the other side so I can easily get at all of the connections. I'm planning on having the amp sitting right inside the cabinet so I won't even see it from the front side. I'm not sure exactly how big this beast is though so I guess I'll figure it out for sure when I get it.


Brad

tonyb

Those Polk in-walls will do you fine.If money was no object though,I would look at Legacy's in-wall.What are your plans for a sub?Just curious.

bradm6406

Thos Legacy speakers do look very nice. They're definitely out of my budget for a while though.

I've actually got a Nuance sub from my previous 5.1 Nuance system. I can't remember the exact specs on it but I think it's got 2 12" down-firing speakers. It's powered and I think it's 120 watt or so. I'm sure there are way better quality subs out there but for now this one will have to do. It can definitely shake the pictures off the walls, but it's probably not nearly as clean as it could be. I haven't honestly had a lot of experience with different subs so I probably don't really know what I'm missing from a great sub.

The next upgrade I do (if my wife ever lets me do another audio purchase again!) is to get a pre-processor. The one I'm going to be using for now is a Yamaha receiver that a friend is giving me because he got a new receiver. My old HK doesn't have pre-outs so I am going to use his Yamaha.

After that I would probably look at subs. I'd have to find one that I could bring home and demo though to make sure it was actually a big improvement over my current sub.

Oh, and at some point I would need to buy my rear speakers as well. Sometime after upgrading the pre-pro because the Yamaha I'm getting is only 5.1.

It's been a long time since I've done any equipment upgrades, but it seems that once I start spending money on new toys it's hard to stop!


Brad

Midnite Mick

bradm6406 wrote:

Well, I just pulled the trigger and bought a Cinepro 3K6. The guy that was asking $1,450 came down to $1,250. Still more than I really wanted to spend (especially by the time I convert it to the Canadian dollar ($1617)), but I think that's a pretty good deal for the amp.


Brad

Congrats on the new amp. However, I am not sure what conversion you are using. Isn't the dollar around .85 cents right now.....which would be 1437.50. Are you including shipping costs and everything in that price?

Mike

McLoki

According to Google :

1,250 U.S. dollars = 1,479.125 Canadian dollars

(to do your own money conversion just put in "1250usd in cad" without the quotes.)

Michael

bradm6406

Yeah, there was $80 in shipping, so $1330 US.... and according to PayPal $1,330 US = $1,617 Cdn. They have to make money on the exchange you know!

I'll probably get hit with about $100 in tax coming across the border, hopefully no duty, and then whatever brokerage fees FedEx decides to hit me with. I'm guessing it'll be around $1,800 Cdn by the time all is said and done.

I had better watch a lot of movies, and very loudly to make it worth it!


Brad

MikeC78

Don't worry...

That amp will make your in-walls sing nicely! Enjoy!

Mike