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Vintage Asylum Classic gear from yesteryear; vintage audio standing the test of time. |
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Vintage Asylum Classic gear from yesteryear; vintage audio standing the test of time. |
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In Reply to: RE: Adcom GFA-545 II arrived! posted by Bold Eagle on July 26, 2016 at 04:38:42:
I had been using a NAD 326BEE for some time now with great results. NAD has always offered a great balance of sound quality for the money.
Following one of many Class D amp threads, however, I decided to test one out. Previous auditions have not been favorable. So I purchased used a Crown XLS-1500 for $300. Which, coincidentally has a 300 watt/channel output into 8 ohms. I confess a negative bias for Crown products having owned one long ago and with others I've heard always found the top harsh and unsatisfactory. While I didn't expect Merrill Audio or Mola Mola performance using Bruno Putzey's designs, I thought it a fair comparison.
I was really surprised by the comparison.
With bass response, it was a draw. At the top where I find that switching amps typically sound overly lean, the NAD was the clear winner. It had a more natural presentation and extension that sounded more like live instruments. By contrast, the Crown is somewhat flat sounding. Not dull, but natural harmonics just hit a brick wall and go nowhere. I shared this impression at another forum and one poster (who's a big Crown fan) thought:
I think that we might be concerned about a DC offset in your Advent's woofers, caused by the clipping NAD on asymmetrical (all music clipping is of this type of wave form (especially percussive sounds) causing an increase in distortion that (just like a "good" SET) has lots of "Air" and "Transparency".
A. I hear clipping and never clipped the NAD
B. Thinking that the perception of natural air and correlated hall ambience is a function of "good" distortion? Uh, NO!
He and I live in two completely different worlds. :)
So, NAD clearly won the top. What surprised the heck out of me, however, was that the Crown has a more palpable midrange. Again, it's not a tonal balance thing. Voices just sound more realistic like I get in the main system. And there's no question that Advents really respond to power - especially in this environment where I typically listen at considerable distance outside the garage.
Another challenge with the NAD was high heat radiation. Actually more than my old Threshold Stasis generated. Which would probably not be an issue in the house, but since the garage system lives in a closet, the sucker ran downright HOT. The Crown switcher never really generates any heat.
Surprisingly (at least to me), I ended up keeping the Crown and sold the NAD - a wash in terms of investment. And while the Crown's top isn't refined, it isn't offensive like models of yore either. So, now I'm running a Touch digital player (with aftermarket linear) networked to the music server for content feeding the Crown and New Advents. Even at high listening levels, the Crown's indicators rarely indicate even -10 db.
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Follow Ups
- I recently experimented with amps for the Advents - E-Stat 11:57:15 07/26/16 (4)
- RE: I recently experimented with amps for the Advents - Bold Eagle 18:41:35 07/26/16 (3)
- recently experimented - hifitommy 10:34:10 08/03/16 (0)
- Actually - E-Stat 10:30:18 07/27/16 (1)
- RE: Nevermind (nt) - Bold Eagle 11:34:15 07/27/16 (0)
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