- Joined
- Mar 10, 2012
- Messages
- 14,293
- Location
- Independence, MO
- Tagline
- I'm the Red Knight, by grant of the Black
My Monoprice wire (real copper this time!) arrived some time ago, and I finished the bi-wire connection yesterday, using all banana connectors. I put it together carefully and came off the "Front" speaker connections. I put on a CD. Nothing. Tuner. Nothing. I knew the amp had been off the whole time I did the speaker wiring, but I panicked, thinking I had cooked the amp somehow - went upstairs, had a Coke, and began trouble shooting in my mind. Went back downstairs, rechecked the speaker wiring, and plugged in headphones - they sounded so good, I made a mental note to listen more that way. Then I remembered --- I had turned the gain down (with the remote) on the unused center and surround channels. Without thinking, I did the Fronts too. OK, run that back to max - music!
I then listened to some music I was familiar with, and was hearing detail I had never suspected was there. I played around with some of the spatial effects, and they make quite a difference even with two-channel use - there are about a dozen. I have not even addressed things like input trim, which enables you to make all inputs play at about the same level. I've never had an amp with such a learning curve! The sheer sound quality is worth it, however. BTW, this amp, I have learned, was Yamaha's flagship amp when it was new in 1993, and won at least one award.
I then listened to some music I was familiar with, and was hearing detail I had never suspected was there. I played around with some of the spatial effects, and they make quite a difference even with two-channel use - there are about a dozen. I have not even addressed things like input trim, which enables you to make all inputs play at about the same level. I've never had an amp with such a learning curve! The sheer sound quality is worth it, however. BTW, this amp, I have learned, was Yamaha's flagship amp when it was new in 1993, and won at least one award.
