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View Full Version : To be born again


Zero
08-02-2002, 12:13 AM
It is with deep regret that I am not one of the blessed individuals given the ability to articulate and capture words to intrigue and transcend others into the authors experience. Be it as it may, I will attempt to surpress the intoxicating bliss.

Taking into consideration the audience who participates in the board quite frequently, I will be so foolishly bold as to say that most "audiophiles" have been "born again" once in their journey in the audio world. Many of whom may have experienced this multiple times. At this moment I can proudly attest to co-existing with the pack.

Upon the advice of some very experienced, wise and class-act gentlmen from these forums, I purchased an AMC-1100 pre amp, Carver M200t, and an AMC CD6. Today, the final piece arrived and after what seemed like an eternity, things were ready to go.

After fiddling around with my low grade cables and inter-connects I switched the power on, selected "cd". I fully admit here and now, I was expecting to be completely disappointed taking into consideration the cost of all the items, which when all totalled was still concerningly less then the Onkyo SR-TX600 I purchased (and returned) at Circuit City.

Every now and then, expectations are suprassed by great bounds, but this occurance unfortunately seems to be quite a rarity. Not only did things perform, but they simply amazed me. I grabbed the nearest CD (self titled Eric Johnson " While experiencing the clarity and sheer volume I had to take a moment to grasp it all in, and reflect back to the minutes before, which in retrospect sounded so flat. It was as if blankets were removed from the grill.

I had incredible suspecions on if the Carver M200t could indeed do its job powering the Polks, it being almost as old as I am. Much to my suprise, this 80's amp not only powered them, but almost man-handles the Polks, with the volume only up to what I would estimate to be , 20 percent... I was being hammered with sound. The highs suddenly opened up, became clear. The instruments were defined and determinable by position... there was an obvious soundstage. Previously, the RT-2000p's seemed to lack mid-range, now its there and in your face.

Unfortunatly with every positive invites a negative. Now that the hunger for high-end sound has been fed a small respectable meal, in the process there has developed a questionable if not negative feeling towards powered towers. The amps for the four 8' drivers are not even plugged in at the moment. Though temporarily satisfied, that inner ambition remains, and the hunt is now focused on the cables/interconnects. An upgrade which will most likely see its way to light in the fall. Such is the world of audio for I, a pleasent misery. :)

mantis
08-02-2002, 07:32 AM
Powered tower owner to another.............enter the lsi15's..period.

ATCVENOM,
great post man,I know all about what your saying.Powered towers seemed like a good idea when you(we)bought them.But over time there becomes a love/hate battle that cannot be understood by others who don't live with them.
I have been asked so many times why I love them one day and want to hit them with a missle another.You know the answers to these questions.......
There comes a time in power tower owners that hunger for passive bass.I have ventured out.
My feeling's with adding better amps and such witht the rt line are well noted.But getting better sound No matter how you achive it ....I support in almost every way...
All is not lost with the powered tower,if you have the time(years)to get them matched with the right amp/pre wire and such,I believe you can be sadisfied..for awhile.But the hunger doesn't go away for long.
Dan

Aaron
08-02-2002, 07:50 AM
But over time there becomes a love/hate battle that cannot be understood by others who don't live with them.....You know the answers to these questions.......
Can I join the secret society of powered tower owners? Is there a secret handshake? Is Mantis the president?

Aaron

mantis
08-02-2002, 07:54 AM
All you need to do is own a pair.....experience this and you in.
Dan

you made me chuckle my friend...LOL

RuSsMaN
08-02-2002, 09:48 AM
The 200 is a good amp. I've enjoyed mine since the day I brought it home. I still think you are one-lucky bastard bagging that CD6, I am VERY jealous of how that worked out, but glad to see you got a STEAL also....

Who finally coughed up the 1100 pre, and for how much? Without going too far off topic, I'm not so sure I'm in love with the Yam C40 I've got mated to the Carver. Nad and AMC are very similar, and the Nad just plain sounds better (to me) as a pre...
In short, I'd like to bag an 1100 myself in the not so distant future..... so details man, details....

Cheers,
Russ

Zero
08-02-2002, 10:26 AM
Mantis,

I know all too well what you describe. The relationship with my RT2000p's are primarely the same. This must be a quite universal experience for powered-tower owners who seek harmonic and sonic balance. The satisfactory performance really seems to vary between applications and music type. To me, the RT line has more of a "theatre" saturated sound, and is not as capable in reproducing music.

Russman,

The 200's can create quite an illusion between its power and optical size.

Perhaps to ease your jealousy, let me tell you a story of something which happened a few days ago. Due to the problems I had with audiovideoshopper (who sold the AMC1100 unit for $107.42 tax and shipping included) I quickly began searching on Ebay for a modestly used pre-amp. specificly Carver or Conrad Johnson.

I ended up finding a Carver CT-3 that I was closlely watching, unfortunately the bid was going to end a half-hour after I was to be at work, so I sucked up my courage not wanting to loose this thing, and used the "buy it now" for $189.00

I come home from work, and check the E-mail and recieve 2 messages. One of them being the owner of the CT-3 confirming the bid. The other, was from AudioVideoShopper with the AMC1100. Sure enough, on that day, they processed the order and had it shipped, the money was taken from the account.

Ok, so the CD6 was a friggen deal, but things didnt work out so well with this one. :)

Unfortunately due to my lack of experience with pre-amps I cannot give you many details. Once the Carver comes in I should be able to do some comparing. For the price though, the unit does not sound that bad at all. But lets see how the Carver performs.

TroyD
08-02-2002, 03:45 PM
ATC.....

Power is power, regardless of age. That Carver will drive just about any speaker that you could possibly hook up to it.

As far as your thirst for 'high end', I dunno. I think as far as sources and power goes, from here on out, your upgrades are going to be very costly for subtle and modest improvements. I would argue, and this is ONLY opinion, that you could spend a small fortune 'upgrading' and gain very little.

Speakers, different ball of wax.

Glad things are working out for you, broham.

BDT

BTW, Russ, did you ever post a review of the C-40? I'm very interested in your comments vis-a-vis the NAD.

Zero
08-02-2002, 04:33 PM
Troy,

Believe me when I say the search for sources has come to an end. Maybe at some point an upgrade will be forseeable, but Im far from that point.

The clarity is exactly what Im looking for, and hell, there is almost too much volume for me! I simply cannot imagine owning one of those Krell Amps that produce 300 watts rms with a grade a amp. *shudders*

At the moment, the cables are the next things on my list. Im essentially taking the same approach, best bang for your buck. I have found some new life in the Polks with these upgrades, yet the same limitations are still there. Im intensely looking for the LSi series near my location.

I cannot thank you gentlemen enough for guiding me in the right direction. I went against the philisophy of "listening yourself" to others word, and it was well worth it. Thanks guys! :)! :)!

gidrah
08-03-2002, 11:44 PM
Great to hear it! I'm with you in spirit. I came close with a rcvr upgrade, which then got me going with a 2nd rig with seperates. No Carver yet, but my Dynaco serves as an incentive and a stepping-stone.

I agree with Troy in that further upgrades will not be as dramatic. When you do upgrade your cables I'd think spkr wire first. Then again this may already be a non-issue. I don't know.

"Such is the world of audio for I, a pleasant misery." Man that's good.

jmasterj
08-08-2002, 09:48 PM
I too have powered towers, I get my Carver tomorrow, and just ordered my MP-HTS5000 it should arrive on the 15th, looking for
interconnects, and wire tomorrow. Looked at the Transparent at
used cable.com mantis I'll have to save up for those. I'll get to know these RT1000s a little better. Don't you just love it?

mantis
08-08-2002, 10:40 PM
Yeah it's fun!!