Found........bass

hotwheelman

Well I just cannot believe it, I have been trying to dope out the problem with bass extension from the rta 15's and had pretty much chalked it up to room acoustics. I guess a wake up call was in order. Dad had been given an older reciever with a turntable built in of the fisher brand and I would have to guess it to be about mid to late 70's model, anyway he sent it home with me to look it over and see if it worked or not. Took it out to the gargage and hooked it up to minimus 7's and it seemed to be working just fine, I guess curiousity got the better of me and just for snickers I brought it inside hooked up the rta's and my c.d. unit. I put in a c.d. that I knew would have good bass extension pre adjusted the controls to what I thought would be a good starting point and proceded to the couch for a listen.

Well lets just say that I was amazed, that old fisher all in one reciever was blowing my pioneer pro logic reciever out of the water and the bottom end from the rta's just seemed to be effortless for the first time since I have had them and thats middle of the room with a vaulted ceiling to boot. I was finally reminded why I loved my sda's that I had so much, I had my bass back but minus the sda feature.

Income tax will be here shortly and as soon as I catch up on my present obligations I am thinking about trying to find a new reciever that can compete with the sound of the fisher but not at a bank breaking price, any suggestions?


Cheers,
Mike

Steve@3dai

Do you need the dolby digital stuff? Or just a 2 channel amp?

Might check out the Arcam A65Plus 2 channel integrated amp.
(www.arcam.co.uk)

They retail for ~$600, but I might have one for sale

RuSsMaN

Steve, I still have your Arcam on my mind, a discussion might be in order in the not-so-distant future.

Great integrated.

Cheers,
Russ

byteme

There are a couple different routes you could go here. Upgrading your receiver is one way, but you may very well end up in the same situation as you are with your current receiver - lack of real power. If you look at the specs of most digital receivers they have everything but the kitchen sink, including 5-7 amplifiers in them and weigh less than a decent 2 channel amp! The receiver just runs out of steam, which I'm sure wasn't happening with the Fischer. Another option, if your receiver has pre-outs, is to pick up a decent 2 channel (or more) amp. The best way to go for this (in my book) is used from audiogon.com or ebay. You can get a ton of amp for very little money.

If the receiver meets your requirements right now and has pre outs a new amp is the way to go. That way, you've still got it in the future if/when you want to upgrade your receiver. You should also be able to get away with less receiver in the future since you won't really care about the power too much.

I started with a Denon 3802 which is great as a pre/pro and for HT, but just OK for 2 channel. When I added a 5 channel sherwood Newcastle amp it was a huge change. Now I'm adding another 2 channel amp for my mains of much higher quality and am anticipating another leap of the same magnitude.

Good luck!

Ceruleance

don't buy from audiogon, anything you can find there you can find on ebay for AT LEAST 30% less, everytime.

byteme

In my experience it's exactly the opposite. I think it depends on what you are after, but I bought two of my DACs on audiogon for much less than blue book ran them through my system, found something I liked better and sold them on ebay for more than I paid on a-gon. Same thing with a preamp. On the other hand, I got my sherwood newcastle CD player on ebay and sold it on audiogon for more than I paid...it goes both ways.

If you're willing to do even a little bit of research and looking at both places you'll do fine, but I certainly wouldn't rule one or the other out flatly!

hotwheelman

I guess I am going to go with dolby digital as my mains support the ht and two channel. Looks like it might be best if I could find a reciever that would allow me to use pre outs and then build the funds back up and start the search for some decent amplification. Any suggestions on a decent dolby digital unit with pre-outs? I have had the pioneer since 93 and it has been a workhorse reciever but just lacks that quality sound for two channel listening. Spotted this today on a local for sale site and wonder if I should contact this guy about the adcom and carver amp?

2 PAIRS OF CERWIN VEGA TOP OF THE LINE SPEAKERS (2)AT-15 & (2) D-9 BOTH WITH 15" WOOFERS. ADCOM PRE-AMP/TUNER, CARVER POWER AMP, PIONEER CD PLAYER, YAMAHA EQUALIZER, AND ADCOM SPEAKER WITH/CIRCUIT PROTECTOR. NEED TO SELL (NEED THE ROOM) WILL SACRAFICE FOR $600.00

Cheers,
Mike

byteme

If you are for sure going to go with outboard amplification, then I'd suggest getting a "cheaper" model with 7.1 pre-outs, like the newer Onkyo, Denon 1802/3 2802/3, HK 502. My point is, you won't need the power of the higher end models if you're going to get amplified. I think you'd do very well with that and (depending on your surround setup) a 5 or 7 channel amp. You can get B&K, Sherwood Newcastle or Rotel amps that are 5 channel for less than $500 on audiogon. That coupled with a $300-400 receiver and you'll have a pretty sweet setup!

From the ad you posted, the Adcom/carver setup would probably be just fine, but the adcom isn't going to be a pre/pro, only a preamp and how much power does the Carver have?? If it were me, I'd stay away from that and go with the first idea.

byteme

Here are a couple possibilites

Denon 2802 - http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-6iseoebdPgL/ProdView.asp?s=0&cc=01&g=10420&id=morephotos&pi=2&i=130VSXD812&display=XL
Pioneer VSX-D812 - http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-6iseoebdPgL/ProdView.asp?s=0&cc=01&g=10420&id=morephotos&pi=2&i=130VSXD812&display=XL

The Denon is more expensive, but does have 7.1 preouts and a second zone audio, which you may not use but is pretty cool. The pioneer is really cheap ($299) but only has 6.1 preouts, which isn't that big a deal because it does have 7.1 power if you went with a 7.1 setup you could use an outboard 5 channel amp for mains, center and surrounds and then us the receiver to power the surround back! You could also just use a 2 channel amp to run the mains and have the receiver power the other 3-5 speakers. The Pioneer also has component video switching, a ton of digital inputs and DTS-ES, Dolby PLII and DD-EX. Besides, it looks like you like the Pioneer stuff!

avelanchefan

Oh man I thought this was a fishing thread....:D

hotwheelman

Thanks for all the suggestions, I am going to start my search as soon as the tax moneys arrive. I will keep you posted as to what I have found and what I have decided to go with, wouldn't mind to score a good deal on an pioneer elite model.

Mike