Sunfire Theater Grand mkV, a review

nooshinjohn

I have only had the pleasure of running this in my rig for a day, so my assesment is not complete, but wanted to record my initial impressions about this latest addition to my system. It arrived this morning early and was well packed. Opening the box, I was pleased to see the care its previous owner had shown in preparing it. I removed the unit from the box and was first struck by the fact that it is nearly as heavy as my Cinema Grand 7/400.

Cosmetically the Pre/Pro is very clean in it's design and control layout, and although pleasing in it's own right, I prefer the sleeker rounded corners of the older generations. I also prefer the case treatment from previous generations as they had the "solid block of aluminum" look. This case has a cheaper, more commonplace look to it. Another small gripe is that they chose to use a blue light for the display and buttons on the faceplate. It would have been nice to be able to have the display match the amber glow of the light on my amp.

Installing it in my rig is still an ongoing process (more on that later), but it's initial setup went off pretty easily. This unit has 2 HDMI inputs and 1 output that have been put to use for the TV, Bluray, and Cable, but another letdown is that I needed to run optical from the cable and bluray boxes for audio signal. My ear cannot distinguish a difference between the formats, but it was a pain to have to go buy more wires to get the job done. I have elected to use the tape input for my phono input as the built in phono-pre of the Sunfire is for only moving magnet cartridges, another small letdown for a unit that cost 4K when new. From start, it took close to three hours before I was ready to finally hear some sound.

The very first thing I became aware of when I placed Henry Mancini on my Yamaha PX-3 was a complete lack of hum from the speakers. I had been experiencing a bit of hum since I got back into vinyl, but dismissed it as a natural occurence. Turns out that when I moved things around, I moved the location of my Parasound Z-phono pre. There is no doubt this solved my troubles. The next thing I heard was a more forward presentation of the soundstage, and everything was much more open and detailed. The sound of the big saxaphones were clear and velvety... smooth. Drums were punchy and tight, cymbals had a nice crisp sound with proper decay. The next up was Dire Straights "Brothers in Arms", and it shared some of the characteristics I found with the first choice, combined with richly detailed vocal presentation.

I am certain that I could have run any preamp/processor combination and observed a bit of improvement over my Yamaha RX-v861, but I chose the TGP-5 because I felt it would be a good match for my Cinema Grand, and so far it appears to have been a wise choice. I have uet to experience a movie with it, and still need to configure the surround sound. The remote provided does not work at all controlling the unit and my all-in-one-must be right on top of it to get it to work. A call to Sunfire earlier today resulted in them sending me a brand new remote at no cost. Kudos to them for great service and support.
I will post again with my impressions of movie viewing, but for now, I am pleased overall with my choice.:)

BlueFox

Nice. When I decide to replace my AVR, used as a pre/pro, Sunfire is on my list. I have the Sunfire TGA5400 amp and it smokes the LSi15s (all 4) along with the PSB Synchrony One Center while only drawing a couple of amps. It sounds as if you have an older model Sunfire since the power LED on mine is blue.

Are you using XLR or RCA interconnects? Using XLR is a big reason why I want to upgrade. And try to help the economy. (cough cough)

Hawkeye

BlueFox wrote: »

Nice. When I decide to replace my AVR, used as a pre/pro, Sunfire is on my list. I have the Sunfire TGA5400 amp and it smokes the LSi15s (all 4) along with the PSB Synchrony One Center while only drawing a couple of amps. It sounds as if you have an older model Sunfire since the power LED on mine is blue.

Are you using XLR or RCA interconnects? Using XLR is a big reason why I want to upgrade. And try to help the economy. (cough cough)

BlueFox, aren't you a MS user? It is too bad Pierre only has RCA's :mad: Look into WireWorld (Eclipse 6.0) for a very close match to MS.

P.S. Nicely written review!

Gordon

BlueFox

Hawkeye wrote: »

BlueFox, aren't you a MS user? It is too bad Pierre only has RCA's :mad: Look into WireWorld (Eclipse 6.0) for a very close match to MS.

Not to hijack the thread, but yes I do have Mapleshade analog ICs between the AVR and amp. A great upgrade. I am amazed at the level of detail they bring out (glass breaking, leaves rustling, etc.).

nooshinjohn

I set it up with rca for now, but will switch to XLR at a later time.

BB3

Simply beautiful, John.

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Bill.

cfrizz

Nice writeup John. I also prefer my sleeker look for the gear, and how lcd is centered rather than off to the left handside like yours is.

But so long as it is doing what it's supposed to do, these are just minor quibbles.

nooshinjohn

cfrizz wrote: »

Nice writeup John. I also prefer my sleeker look for the gear, and how lcd is centered rather than off to the left handside like yours is.

But so long as it is doing what it's supposed to do, these are just minor quibbles.

Thanks Cathy. I am pulling the TGP-5 out next week and sending it to Sunfire. Appearently during shipping the sensor for the infrared sensor shifted and I cannot control the preamp with the remote. I am the second owner of the unit, but they are treating me like family over there.:) While they have it, they are going to do a couple upgrades and have Bob Carver sign it. Better yet, it will all be covered under factory warranty.

cfrizz

Damn, now that's GREAT customer service!!!