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In Reply to: Yamaha CR-800 filling in nicely for hospitalized Aragon 2004. posted by hesson11 on April 15, 2007 at 08:51:04:
Pretty interesting. I think a lot of the perceptions about amps stem from differences in the preamps, and particularly in the phono section. Since 55 watts is only a shade under 3 dB less than 100, it won't make a lot of difference.I have several power amps that do sound different, partly because of different source impedances (Damping Factor) and in a couple of cases a quite different bass sound that can't be attributed to source impedance. The mids and highs of the amps with similar source impedances all sound the same in the mids and highs, if you feed them only mid and highs music (like a violin concert), but because the bass range sounds different, the overall balance is different; and as a result the perception of the mids and highs is different as well on full range music.
It's funny how our brains work. If I EQ the bass on the two amps with quite different bass, so that it sounds very close, then the mids and highs sound the same as well. This is as true of speakers as it is of amps.
Thanks for posting. When the magazine was still being published, the Audio Critic used to claim that two amps that measured the same in frequency response, input impedance and output (source) impedance would sound the same if played within their power range. They went on to say that in blind tests nobody could tell those amps apart. I won't go that far, but I think they were closer than most folks realize.
Follow Ups:
Thanks, Jerry. I've always tended to agree with the Audio Critic position, based on my experience. I think even minor changes in speaker or listening position simply swamp any sonic differences amps might make. But I thought if I were ever to hear a difference, a 30-some year-old receiver might make one!
-Bob
You should try the preamp section of the receiver. You might be surprised at that too. I am currently using a Yamaha C-60 preamp and have lots of expierience with Yamaha integrated amps and recievers. They all had good preamp sections. You might be pleasantly surprised! Yamaha preamps are very sought after in Japan. Here they parcically giving them away.Dave
The 800 has one of the better tuners from the vintage era to boot. Pretty nice piece all in all.
I to think I sold my MX-2000...Huge mistake,, in top 2 biggest I have made in audio
I agree! Ymaha made some very nice tuners.
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