Stick a Fork in Me - I'm Done

[Lazarus Short]

As you all may know, I did some horse trading and acquired a Denon POA-2400A. With the Acoustat pre bartered off, I needed a preamp. I tried the Arcam Delta 60, but as a pre, it is little more than a switching unit. The fellow I had horse traded with brought over an NAD 7140 receiver, and I tried it as a pre (it has pre outs/main ins). OK, but just OK - it was just nothing special. After the 7140 arrived, I remembered that I had used my Yamaha DSP-A2070 as a preamp before. I switched cables around, and...WOW! The Yamaha blew the doors off the NAD! I could even hear people on recordings taking breath, which is a rare thing. So there - I'm set.

 

[Fishoz]

Till next week Laz....till next week...

 

[Lazarus Short]

Till next week Laz....till next week...

Well, at least until Twangfest.

 

[orange]

Can't go any further when you are just over a foot from the ceiling, only sideways. I'm there.

 

[Lazarus Short]

The light came on in my head today - I've got the Denon power amp, fed by the Yamaha integrated, so why can't I just use a "Y" connector from the pre outs of the Yamaha to both sets of main ins, Yamaha and Denon? I even have a suitable "Y" connector, made by me years ago. That will give me 280 wpc, and knowing the Yamaha is conservatively rated, the system should be within shouting distance of 300 wpc. I'll post results later...

 

[laatsch55]

Main in to the Denon AND the Yamaha??

 

[Lazarus Short]

Main in to the Denon AND the Yamaha??

Yup - passive, horizontal biamping like before, but 80 + 200 wpc instead of 35 + 70 wpc.

Fishoz was right - I didn't make even a week before I changed it.

 

[Lazarus Short]

Well, the system has been set up and running for a few days now, so here are my impressions.

Background instruments can be heard now as distinct - they are not just "lost in the mix."

I can hear the sheen around strings and each time a string is plucked, it is a distinct event.

The vibration of strings, especially bass strings, is almost palpable - I keep having, while listening, visions of the string vibrating in front of me.

The overall sound is full and natural, no straining. Bass is not too much.

FM has no typical radio artifacts at all - it would be a delight if there was more worth listening to.

CD playback is a delight with well-recorded discs - the speakers have yet to reach a limit of sounding better with better gear upstream. This is a long way from powering them with a 35 wpc Aiwa amp from a mini system, with a Sony Blu-ray player for a source.