AV123 X-Amp stereo 70wpc
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I have been listening for an hour or so. So far a little crackle when it is turned on, and it is either soft or wide open not much in between lol. (9am on the volume control is ok but 9:30am is way too loud. I have the 20db muting on the preamp engaged to get a little more latitude out of it. No a lot of room on the back end for cable connections and speaker wires though. It could also use some rubber feet to keep it from scratching things underneath it.
So far the sound coming out is clear and seems pretty crisp. I have had to tweak the low end a little with the pre-amp tone controls. Other than that I need to listen a little more to make any better evaluations.
So far the sound coming out is clear and seems pretty crisp. I have had to tweak the low end a little with the pre-amp tone controls. Other than that I need to listen a little more to make any better evaluations.
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I turned on the pre first without a source and the volume all the way down. It seems like the amp doesn't want to turn on till it receives and input signal. It just make a little audible crackle nothing serious or speaker busting, just a hey what am I minced meat type of crackle. Kinda like an audible of a cap charging up. If it had a speaker on off switch I would have never noticed it.
But what do you want for a borrowed amp.
But what do you want for a borrowed amp.
I think one of these amps makes good utility amp and would work great for surround sound or not so demanding applications. I am not sure yet if it is up to demanding music or not but for easy or casual listening other than a shortage of reserve power on the low end it seems to sound good. I need to listen some more and throw it some more power hungry speakers so I can get the gain up to the levels where is sounds better without my ears bleeding. As I open up the volume control more of course the bass starts responding much better however it is too loud overall for my listening pleasure. I have tried it with both two way and three way speakers with the two way Wharfedales sounding better that the Advents till I really opened her up.
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Well, tonight (seeing as how I'm getting my "tron-tech" 13 year rust off).. I had to first fix the Carver pre-amp, and then put that in front of the mono's instead of the Nak AV-1.
I like 'em! Just the clarity I am hearing is really nice. They seem to be good for speakers with good efficiency, although the Infinity Reference Sixes I had hooked up last night weren't bad either.
Listening to the "kazoos" on "Lucky Man" right now... yeah... damn, sounds nice...
I like 'em! Just the clarity I am hearing is really nice. They seem to be good for speakers with good efficiency, although the Infinity Reference Sixes I had hooked up last night weren't bad either.
Listening to the "kazoos" on "Lucky Man" right now... yeah... damn, sounds nice...
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One thing I noticed about the little X-Amp, is it has a sound, maybe one I'l not used to hearing being a new design and all that. It's not 'dark' it's not 'in your face', it sure is different than the other amps I've owned.
After the breaking in, I had Dale listen to it, he thought it sounded digital, I told him it wasn't really but it was a switcher with d-chips (what ever those are).
It seemed to me it sounded better loaded down, kinda like my little SAE A202. Sounded kind of flat and uninvolving with my JBL's. But on the ML's, what a bass monster, and the grip it has on the panels ! On stuff like Kraftwerk, Alan Parsons electronica stuff it kind of lost the vibe a bit, not much of Linn-like pace and rhythem, toe tapping sound, maybe the switching in and out, on and off going on inside it affects that? I hope the mods don't change the sound too much on the mono's, cuz I dig it!
Percussive music was a hoot an a half! big
time! the high hat tings and shimmer went way up like it should, I think I could hear the different skins on the bongos 
After the breaking in, I had Dale listen to it, he thought it sounded digital, I told him it wasn't really but it was a switcher with d-chips (what ever those are).
It seemed to me it sounded better loaded down, kinda like my little SAE A202. Sounded kind of flat and uninvolving with my JBL's. But on the ML's, what a bass monster, and the grip it has on the panels ! On stuff like Kraftwerk, Alan Parsons electronica stuff it kind of lost the vibe a bit, not much of Linn-like pace and rhythem, toe tapping sound, maybe the switching in and out, on and off going on inside it affects that? I hope the mods don't change the sound too much on the mono's, cuz I dig it!
Percussive music was a hoot an a half! big
time! the high hat tings and shimmer went way up like it should, I think I could hear the different skins on the bongos
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I guess this site doesn't like long winded posts lol!
Anywho, the soundstage was huge, especially the back, it was like the back wall wasn't there, Logans push as much sound out the back as the front except for the ported bass cabs, me thinks I might have to mess with the placement a wee bit to dial in more of the back reflections. Gonna be fun!!
I didn't try the little AR 4a's with it, when I hooked them up to the Yamaha, they soaked up a lot of juice, I was pushing way to hard for what those tiny boxes were designed for(the AR's, not the X amp). They sounded pretty damn good for their size, I'm lucky I didn't blow the little things up with peaks at around 150 or so
Anywho, the soundstage was huge, especially the back, it was like the back wall wasn't there, Logans push as much sound out the back as the front except for the ported bass cabs, me thinks I might have to mess with the placement a wee bit to dial in more of the back reflections. Gonna be fun!!
I didn't try the little AR 4a's with it, when I hooked them up to the Yamaha, they soaked up a lot of juice, I was pushing way to hard for what those tiny boxes were designed for(the AR's, not the X amp). They sounded pretty damn good for their size, I'm lucky I didn't blow the little things up with peaks at around 150 or so
You see, that's hard to say, what am I used to hearing? Maybe I'm used to a bit more coloring, the Marantz as a pre deffinately has a warm tone, I think the big Yamaha does too, But the amount of bass (which adds to the fundamentals in the higher freqs) Must be having an effect as well. So I could be hearing more of what the recording was, or as you said neutral. Dunno, it sure sounded great to me with what I was using.
I need to get me one of these fancy CDP's, the old one I'm using is known for it's great DAC for an early 90's changer, but I think I could do better!
I need to get me one of these fancy CDP's, the old one I'm using is known for it's great DAC for an early 90's changer, but I think I could do better!