Review of Sunfire TGP III

cfrizz
cfrizz Posts: 13,415
edited October 2007 in Electronics
Well, I came home today, plugged my video cable into my tv vid 2 terminal & was finally able to access the OSD. I went in and set the sub crossover from 40 up to 80, calibrated my speakers, & setup all my radio stations that I listen to. Lessons that were really brought home through all of this are...

Calibration of all speakers is essential! Having a subwoofer for movies but also for ALL music 2 channels or more is also essential. And having a separate prepro makes a big difference!

Last night listening to the music 2 things were made clear.

I had a thin blanket over my speakers, even WITH a separate amplifier driving them. Everything is clearer, cleaner, wider, more defined then ever before. Each change to my system has brought my normal listening volume down 10 points from -30 to -40 to -50.

My music playing just through my speakers without the subwoofer to supplement the bass was severely lacking. They simply aren't designed to go beyond a certain point. I don't know where exactly that point is, but I do know that it was missing last night & it's back now.

One big revelation is the quality of the radio. When I upgraded to my Sunfire amp, the radio stations I listened to sounded absolutely AWFULL. I kept hearing an annoying hiss, or bad static. I expected that it would get even worse. It got alot better! No more hiss, no more static. Just clear reception. Outstanding!

Well folks I'm one very happy camper! This will keep me happy for a LOOOOOOOOONG time.

Which is a good thing, since I'm so SORE from all the lifting & bending with 37lbs of receiver & prepros. I can barely move. I will be more than happy to just sit in my recliner & enjoy my music and movies!:D
Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
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Comments

  • ben62670
    ben62670 Posts: 15,969
    edited October 2007
    Congrats!
    I love to hear good news on an upgrade.
    My outlaw 990 is lacking in the tuner department, and I love to explore music not in my collection.
    Please. Please contact me a ben62670 @ yahoo.com. Make sure to include who you are, and you are from Polk so I don't delete your email. Also I am now physically unable to work on any projects. If you need help let these guys know. There are many people who will help if you let them know where you are.
    Thanks
    Ben
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  • bikezappa
    bikezappa Posts: 2,463
    edited October 2007
    What type of antenna are you using for FM?

    Dipole, Rabbit ears, roof antenna? Worst to best
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  • ben62670
    ben62670 Posts: 15,969
    edited October 2007
    My HK smoked my outlaw hands down in the radio department, but I am partial to roof antennas.
    Please. Please contact me a ben62670 @ yahoo.com. Make sure to include who you are, and you are from Polk so I don't delete your email. Also I am now physically unable to work on any projects. If you need help let these guys know. There are many people who will help if you let them know where you are.
    Thanks
    Ben
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  • beardog03
    beardog03 Posts: 5,550
    edited October 2007
    CONGRATS MS.FRIZZ...!!!

    Good to hear that your enjoying your new gear...

    Your not one to get "the bug" too often, so it`s good to hear that you made a good choice and that you will be happy for a long time...

    I remember when I got my Cary...man I will never forget the feeling, and the discovery of what I had been missing, and what it should really sound like !

    sounds to me like your there right now....

    good on ya !

    enjoy !
    Cary SLP-98L F1 DC Pre Amp (Jag Blue)
    Parasound HCA-3500
    Cary Audio V12 amp (Jag Red)
    Polk Audio Xm Reciever (Autographed by THE MAN Himself) :cool:
    Magnum Dynalab MD-102 Analog Tuna
    Jolida JD-100 CDP
    Polk Audio LSi9 Speaks (ebony)
    SVS PC-Ultra Sub
    AQ Bedrock Speaker Cables (Bi-Wired)
    MIT Shotgun S1 I/C`s
    AQ Black Thunder Sub Cables
    PS Audio Plus Power Cords
    Magnum Dynalab ST-2 FM Antenna
    Sanus Cherry wood Speak Stands
    Adona AV45CS3 / 3 Tier Rack (Black /Gold)

    :cool:
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  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,669
    edited October 2007
    Good to hear all is well with delivery and musical bliss. Kick back and enjoy.

    Congrats,
    engtaz
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
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  • cfrizz
    cfrizz Posts: 13,415
    edited October 2007
    I have dipole.
    bikezappa wrote: »
    What type of antenna are you using for FM?

    Dipole, Rabbit ears, roof antenna? Worst to best
    Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
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  • bikezappa
    bikezappa Posts: 2,463
    edited October 2007
    cfrizz wrote: »
    I have dipole.

    Amazing. Consider trying the $10 Radio Shack rabbit ears.
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  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited October 2007
    cfrizz wrote: »
    I had a thin blanket over my speakers, even WITH a separate amplifier driving them.


    Winter is coming up, might want to go with a thicker blanket when not listening.
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited October 2007
    Cathy, congrats on your new pre pro.. you've taken things up a whole other level now.. and it sounds like the upgrade was well worth it. That's exactly what you want to hear with every upgrade.. cleaner, clearer sound.

    enjoy, AL
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • bikezappa
    bikezappa Posts: 2,463
    edited October 2007
    Sona wrote: »
    BTW I went and bought the RS rabbit ears to see if I could get better radio reception and no dice. Need to build and string something to the roof/trees or get a better tuner.

    That's disappointing. Did you try to get the antenna up as high as possible?

    Sometimes making the antenna into an L shape works. A long coax cable between the antenna and tuner will allow you to move the rabbit ears in more locations. Try locating the antenna near the window. Can you locate the antenna outside a window?

    What is your tuner?

    Peter
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  • cfrizz
    cfrizz Posts: 13,415
    edited October 2007
    Hi Sona. Of course I didn't have anything covering my speakers. What I meant was, as much as having a separate amplifier made everything sound clearer, going to a separate prepro made it more clearer still!

    I have always used a sub with my music. The former operator had the crossover on the prepro set too low/high? at 40 for my sub to kick in. Once I raised the crossover to 80 (which is where they recommend it to be) my sub would turn on as it should.

    Sona wrote: »
    That's really nice to hear you're enjoying your new piece.

    I thought the blanket was strictly metaphorical? Or is it just a short-term, break in fix? I'm just in love with the physical presence of speakers so I couldn't cover them. That and my personal aesthetic seems to be going upstream as I think fat speakers with big drivers are where it's at, even though I keep reading how much better multiple dinky drivers sound.

    So did you formerly not use your sub for music and now you do, or did you lose its voice while making the change to the new pre and realize what a difference it made having it off? Or were you formerly happy with the xover at 40?

    I love making discoveries like this and it seems that one nice thing about trying new equipment can be the elements you can discover and reconsider that aren't even directly related to the new equipment. I was listening to Madonna recently while cleaning and I realized how different her stuff sounds on bigger speakers and with a sub. All the stuff I was missing during my cheap table radio era...

    BTW I went and bought the RS rabbit ears to see if I could get better radio reception and no dice. Need to build and string something to the roof/trees or get a better tuner.
    Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
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  • snow
    snow Posts: 4,358
    edited October 2007
    cfrizz wrote: »
    I had a thin blanket over my speakers, even WITH a separate amplifier driving them. Everything is clearer, cleaner, wider, more defined then ever before.
    Congrats on the new pre. Its always nice when you find more clarity and detail with a change. I always think my system sounds pretty good until I make the next improvement, sometimes its a small one, other times its like wow what a world of difference. I think my next audio step will probablly be the TADAC that ive heard so many good things about.


    REGARDS SNOW
    Well, I just pulled off the impossible by doing a double-blind comparison all by myself, purely by virtue of the fact that I completely and stupidly forgot what I did last. I guess that getting old does have its advantages after all :D
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  • McLoki
    McLoki Posts: 5,231
    edited October 2007
    Congrats on the new piece Cathy. Glad to hear you are enjoying it. In my system, my room really messes with the bass. I have to correct the bass coming from my sub (as much as I can) with a BFD (equalizer).

    Since the bass from my sub is corrected, the bass from it ALWAYS sounds better than bass coming from my speakers. Long story short - my system is the same way and the bass sounds much better coming from my sub than it does from my speakers. I always have to run 2 channels as 2.1 if I want the best sound.

    I also experimented with lower crossovers (since all my speakers can play 60hz with no problem) and found that the more bass I let my (non-subwoofer) speakers pay - the worse it sounds (due to my room). Now that I have dual 25-31's I plan to try and increase my crossover to 100hz and see if that sounds better yet.

    Anyway - long story short - Glad you like your new pre and now that you have a new piece in your system, don't forget to play around with a few settings, you may find something that you like better than what you were using before.

    Michael
    Mains.............Polk LSi15 (Cherry)
    Center............Polk LSiC (Crossover upgraded)
    Surrounds.......Polk LSi7 (Gloss Black - wood sides removed and crossovers upgraded)
    Subwoofers.....SVS 25-31 CS+ and PC+ (both 20hz tune)
    Pre\Pro...........NAD T163 (Modded with LM4562 opamps)
    Amplifier.........Cinepro 3k6 (6-channel, 500wpc@4ohms)
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 33,065
    edited October 2007
    Congrats Cathy.Crank it up!!

    Wanna hear it in Chicago!!!:)
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • Ron Temple
    Ron Temple Posts: 3,212
    edited October 2007
    Congrats Cathy...now you've got me thinking about it...thanks alot :p .

    Combo rig:

    Onkyo NR1007 pre-pro, Carver TFM 45(fronts), Carver TFM 35 (surrounds)
    SDA 1C, CS400i, SDA 2B
    PB13Ultra RO
    BW Silvers
    Oppo BDP-83SE
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  • cfrizz
    cfrizz Posts: 13,415
    edited October 2007
    Thanks Tony. :D What you didn't hear the blast of music that came out when I first turned in on Wednesday night? He had the volume to turn on automatically to -30. If I didn't have the amp, I'm pretty sure I would have roasted my speakers!:eek: I probably lost a little of my hearing with it.

    I set the volume to -55 when it first comes on. Then turn it up from there!

    tonyb wrote: »
    Congrats Cathy.Crank it up!!

    Wanna hear it in Chicago!!!:)
    Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
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  • cfrizz
    cfrizz Posts: 13,415
    edited October 2007
    :D :eek: :D ROTFLMAO!!! Thanks Ron, but don't blame me. You are on your own.:D :p:D
    Ron Temple wrote: »
    Congrats Cathy...now you've got me thinking about it...thanks alot :p .
    Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
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  • cfrizz
    cfrizz Posts: 13,415
    edited October 2007
    Thanks everyone, I'm having a blast!
    Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
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  • Bill Ayotte
    Bill Ayotte Posts: 1,860
    edited October 2007
    Those tuners are really nice, I have an older Carver TX-11 tuner, where a lot of that technology comes from, and that is an amazing piece as well....I have a TG1 and was very happy with the tuner in it as well, and all I had was a set of rabbit ears....The SQ is pretty amazing for 2 ch. as well, and HT was a blast for the whole 2 weeks I had it set up...I decided that for the space I am working with, 2 ch. with a sub is all I need to get some good noise....Otherwise I would get it refurbished and set it back up....
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