RE: Re: AVR300

["Phil Harris" <phil@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>  Lets try that again shall we, without hitting the "send
key"=20
> accidentally :/

LOL - Having fingering trouble again Tony? :-D
=20
> Top review there phil - interesting that you like the Arcam=20
> over the Denon.

There's degrees of "like" there ... I actually didn't *LIKE*
either of them
on the PMCs but I disliked the Arcam less than I disliked the Denon. I am
however willing to give the Arcam a shot on the Miller & Kreisel
sub/sat
system (and also to try it bi-amped into my TDL RTL2's) I have at home and
=
I
am reasonably intreagued to see what sort of a job it makes with those as
electrically they are a much easier load to drive than either the KEF
References or the PMCs - KEF in particular have this annoying habit of
making their speakers around 6 ohms (nominal) impedance (I saw an impedance
plot for a KEF THX Reference centre channel speaker that some magazine did
that showed that it's impedance actually varied between 12.something ohms
and 3.6 ohms) which is a pain in the ass when most cheaper amps have to be
switched between 8ohm (higher voltage) and 4ohm (higher current) output
modes (the Arcam is no exception).

Ideally an amp *SHOULD* be able to maintain a constant output voltage as
load impedance changes (half the load - double the current) but building
amps like that costs money and the people that buy audio kit in the main
ar=
e
the same as people here on UKHA_D - *TIGHT*! :-D

Anyway - I have two weeks to play now and so will try to get the Pronto's
reprogrammed tonight once Jo's gone to bed - if it doesn't all work the
sam=
e
the next time she wants the TV on them I'm up sh*t creek!

> I agree with you about the arcam not being terribly=20
> involving/exciting.
> I wasn't sure how much was down to the sub/sat combo (can't=20
> even remember what they were now - looked very cheap though=20
> :)), and in fairness, the guy did offer to get a decent set=20
> of floorstanders in if I wasn't happy (he was surprised at my=20
> comments on the arcam), but I had specifically asked for=20
> sub/sat since that's what I have at home and there's no=20
> prospect of changing it, so there was no point in seeing what=20
> *might* have been with the right combination of speakers....

Oh I agree completely - and I should have asked for a similar setup but I
saw they did the PMCs and knew they would be less forgiving ... I'd rather
have been disappointed in the demo and now be approaching the Arcam more
cautiously than give it a very easy load and be impresed in the demo, buy
it, get it home here and find it doesn't handle the M&K's. (Although
being =
a
BADA dealer then I guess I could take it back if I didn't like it.)

> Again, the denon did not excite, but seemed better with music=20
> than the arcam
> - though maybe it was colouring the sound somewhat producing=20
> a pseudo midband that sub/sats struggle with anyway ime....
> No doubt about it, the arcam had a clearer top end and=20
> perhaps revealed a little more detail, but it was a bit too=20
> clinical maybe, and a little harsh at times.

See that confuses me ... I couldn't class the Arcam as harsh from what I
heard today. I couldn't have lived with the Denon though ... It was just so
dull that for a moment I thought we'd lost the tweeters on the PMCs.

> > > ...I wish I'd been able to afford that ruddy AX10 that
> > Pioneer loaned
> > > me a year and a half ago.
>=20
> If I wasn't getting all plasma'd up, then I'd be considering this
myself,
> but 2.5k is a bit hard to swallow - and the speakers are only a 1.5k
setu=
p
> anyway, so perhaps a trifle wasted......

Nope - I've always been a great believer that (generalising here of course)
a poor set of speakers driven by a good amp will sound better (and be less
prone to being fried) than a good set of speakers driven by a cheap amp.
When I was in to car audio in a big way I used to run a pair of Rockford
Fosgate audiophile subs (=A3300 the pair) from a =A32k / 1.2kW Orion power
=
amp
and powering line-fit "6x4's" (rated at a huge 8 watts) in the
old 200SX
from an appropriately crossed over 4 x 75 watt Orion amp (=A3700) worked
superbly - I *NEVER* fried a speaker in that setup however I did have to
have the subs reconed several times as the spiders and roll surrounds would
fatigue and fail after 6 months or so.

> Bah, why are these things never simple? :(

Because if they were simple then life would be easy, no-one would need a
Go=
d
to believe in and blame for all the unfair things that happen to them in
life and we wouldn't have the media using sanitised phrases such as
"beheaded" rather than the more appropriate and realistic
"hacked off their
head with an old penknife"...

Phil