Sunfire Series 1 vs series 2

vmaxer

Does anyone know what the differences are between the series 1 and series 2 cinema grand signature amps. I know the series 1 is 405 watts X5 and the series 2 is 425 watts X5....What else is different??

nooshinjohn

vmaxer wrote: »

Does anyone know what the differences are between the series 1 and series 2 cinema grand signature amps. I know the series 1 is 405 watts X5 and the series 2 is 425 watts X5....What else is different??

A great question... I have the signature 7/400 and love the performance of it... I do not know the differences between the different series however. That said I don't thing there is much of a sound quality difference in them.. I could be wrong however.

TNRabbit

Minor upgrades; some of the older amps hard wired power cord versus the newer ones with the removable cords.

amulford

The differences are minor. Sonic signatures are the same.

vmaxer

Okay, It seems there really isn't a lot of differences, a few watts....the age. With that said, how much more is a series II worth?

nooshinjohn

I don't see to much of a price gap between the two, and IMHO don't believe there is enough of a difference to justify one. Are you buying one?

vmaxer

I bought a Cinema Grand 200X5 a while back and just bought a Signature Series II 425X5...I thought. When it arrived it is a Series I??? I don't know if it was an honest mistake on the sellers part or not yet. I also don't know if I want to return it and wait on a Series II or not??

I bought the Signature Series because I have a pair of LSI 15's coming and all I read says the more power you give them the better. I am thinking of bi-amping the 15's with the Signature Series and using the 5th channel for the center speaker. I would then use the 200X5 for the surrounds.

What do you think??

cfrizz

Sounds like a good plan. You will be giving the LSI's all the power they need to run to their full potential regardless of what series Sunfire you have.

TNRabbit

As vmaxer said, there isn't a hill of beans difference between them other than age. Some very minor refinements. Little to no price difference, mostly due to age. These amps are damned bulletproof.

nooshinjohn

they are UPS proof too...

vmaxer

UPS is unbelivable....I think the heavier the package the more they throw and drop them. Then they say the packaging wasn't good enough and deny the claim. They just cost me $284.00 on a CS1000p they destroyed. The amp was also handled very rough, but as nooshijon said they seem to take it well.

nooshinjohn

I heard of one that got a forklift shoved thru the case by the aforementioned UPS and it still worked. They also denied the claim saying it was improperly packed.

nooshinjohn

correct me if I am wrong here, but are there not three versions of the Sig series?
Mk1 would be the 400wpc versions with an attached power cable
Mk2 would be the detachable power cable @405wpc
Mk3 would be the 425wpc version...

do I have this right?

vmaxer

I certainly don't know, but I did call Elan and gave them the serial number and they told me mine was a series 1 405 watt X 5. I bought it as a Series II 425 X 5....I'm still not sure of how I am going to handle this.

XJRGUY

I thought the power supplies and caps were changed to larger capacity in the later units.

See here for details

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_6_3/sunfire-cinema-grand-signature.html

vmaxer

XJRGUY wrote: »

I thought the power supplies and caps were changed to larger capacity in the later units.

See here for details

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_6_3/sunfire-cinema-grand-signature.html

Thanks a lot, this information helps!!

TNRabbit

nooshinjohn wrote: »

I heard of one that got a forklift shoved thru the case by the aforementioned UPS and it still worked. They also denied the claim saying it was improperly packed.

Thread revival....

That was one I sent; they didn't deny the claim because they couldn't; THEY packaged it! Paid to ship it back to Sunfire, put a new top on it (the LAST ONE Sunfire had), and ship it back to the new owner in Maine.