D-Sonic custom Audio amps - Page 40

Originally Posted by d00m 

Thanks. I have an old Primare A30.5 5 channel power amp for the center and surrounds, and it's powerful and sounds good enough for that purpose, even though it's huge and heavy. I used to bi-amp my last center, but the Swans center doesn't provide that option. The subs are active with a built-in 800 watt class D amp each (custom core from the manufacturer). I only use them for movies, not for music. And since I replaced my Primare SP31 surround preamp with a Primare PRE32 stereo preamp + a Marantz AV7701 (expected to arrive any day) it's not even possible to use the subs for music since they're hooked up to the surround preamp. The PRE32 stereo preamp has a surround processor bypass feature so that the music signal for the front channels can be passed on to the power amps when watching movies.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

I understand the d sonics do very well on the higher voltage. It's sounds like your 230 volt 10&16 amp is used like our 110 v 15&20 amps here, one for lighting and living area receptacles and the higher one for kitchen appliances.

Originally Posted by d00m 

I think most houses here have 10A outlets in every room actually, sometimes garages might have 16A or three-phase outlets for welding and heavy machinery. Heating systems might need more than 10A though. 10*230 = 2300 watts which still is more than 20*110 = 2200 watts, so 10A is usually enough for most purposes.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

I'm impressed, you've got some nice kit my friend. You'll love the Marantz, I have the 8801 and its an amazing piece. A couple bugs here and there but as far as sound goes its very tough to beat. What really speaks volumes is that you picked the d sonic to run some of it. It appears to me that class d amps have arrived, for more than putting the boom boom into your subs. I only read one article where the author totally and I mean totally tries to diminish (putting it nicely) the class D amps for anything but your subs. Being a business man I've got a theory as to why, and lets just say I believe the new technology amps are IMO a threat to the giant amplifier companies.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

I think the key word is most. You definitely need more juice. That's a great room man.

Originally Posted by d00m 

Thank you.

I've also been offered a good price on the AV8801. If I were going to use it for music too I'd probably go for the AV8801, but since I have a separate pre amp for music I'll settle with the cheaper model which I'm confident will handle movies just great.




Yes, I know there are some conservative voices that really don't like class D amps. A dealer in New York told me he thought Bel Canto's ICE amps were crap. He said to me, and I quote: "They're empty! There's nothing in them!". That says a lot actually. Of course an enormous beast of an amp looks like it's gonna sound better than a small class D amp, especially when it costs a lot more. But DOES it sound better? I also think it's not about class A/AB vs class D, it's about amp vs amp. There are good class D amps, and there are bad class D amps, just as with traditional amps. It's a quite new technology, at least compared to traditional amps, and some old companies might have a hard time catching up when all their know-how is in the old territory. But I think they can live side by side and the customers can decide what they prefer, just as CD vs LP, and nowadays digitally stored music vs the physical formats. But of course it can be seen as a threat since class D amps can be made so affordable compared to those giant beasts.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

Wow empty! Haha I've seen the insides of some of the big name amplifiers, and he's got nerve calling them empty. Some of them have enough leftover room that you could crate a small dog in them.

Originally Posted by d00m 

*LOL*

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

When is your Marantz supposed to arrive?

Originally Posted by d00m 

My dealer drove by with it one hour ago, so it's waiting to be installed right now! I'm gonna watch a movie with my wife first though, so I'll go ahead an replace my old processor after the movie.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

Your a good man for taking care of the wife first. I'm not sure I could wait to do the install! Let me know what your impressions are man. Have a good night.

Originally Posted by d00m 

Finally everything's setup and calibrated. Phew... Things didn't start out well. When I first turned on the AV7701 there was a horrible noise, a mix between a ground loop hum and some other buzz. I immediately recognized it as a ground loop which really surprised me since the electronics have a dedicated fuse. The reason turned out to be the fact that the Marantz isn't grounded (only two pins are used in the IEC320 connector), which probably makes it use the signal cables for grounding. All of them except for one run to equipment on the same phase/fuse, and the exception is the HDMI cable which runs to the projector. When I ran the wires I did a mistake, I connected the (projector) outlet in the ceiling to the same circuit as the lightning. I've never had a problem with my Primare gear though, it has been dead silent, but that was for sure not the case with the AV7701. Luckily I had put some empty protective hoses inside the ceiling for future upgrades, in case HDMI cables become obsolete some day, so I could run a new wire for the projector. Problem solved!

Everything sounds just great now, I'm really pleased with the AV7701. Audyssey Multi XT was a nice improvement over my old gear which didn't have that kind of stuff. The manual is a beast though, because of all the settings. My old gear had only the useful stuff and the manual was around ten pages compared to 180 pages for the AV7701! A lot of stuff to disable...

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

Hopefully by now you have all the bugs worked put. Always something to tinker with.

Originally Posted by d00m 

Yep, everything is working great now! I played some XBox for the first time (with the new pre) yesterday, Dead Space with that kind of details and realism in the surround effects was really scary.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

Cool and I'm taking the scary part as meaning your liking it?

Originally Posted by d00m 

Yep, it scared the crap out of me, had to turn the game off eventually because it almost felt too real.

Originally Posted by d00m 

Yep, it scared the crap out of me, had to turn the game off eventually because it almost felt too real.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

Changing the subject, my new speakers are set to arrive today and I'm about ready to climb out of my skin in anticipation. I'm getting a pair of Revel F52's to replace my PSB golds.

Originally Posted by d00m 

Wow nice! Revel make fantastic speakers, I'm confident that you will love them. I couple of years ago I was considering Revel F32 after great reviews but couldn't find a dealer so I ended up with Energy Veritas 2.4i (+matching center and surrounds) instead.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

Thanks, I got a great deal, and couldn't pass them up. Your Energy's look amazing! (I googled them) the array of speakers look similar to the Revel's.

Originally Posted by d00m 

They're sold now though (apart from the rear speakers which I still have in my cinema). The 2.4's were great, but the Swans are better, at least in my room.

Originally Posted by dmsdms 

I just got an M2-500S yesterday and I'm really pleased with it. Small, light, unobtrusive, stout build quality, etc. I'm using it with a Marantz NR1402 as a DAC/preamp to drive some Salk Supercharged Songtowers for a music only setup. It's got crazy amounts of power if needed and, after listening for 8+ hours at my normal levels (70-80dB about 10 feet away) it's cool to the touch.

One thing that I will say, and this is similar to what d00m found, is that it's very unforgiving of input problems. Initially I was using a Jolida JD-5T tube preamp that I've been trying out and I got an audible hum from one of the speakers. I tried various things and talked with Dennis about the problem, thinking the amp was faulty. However, hooking up the d-sonic to the Marantz I normally use, it was dead silent. With some more testing, I discovered that the Jolida was the cause of the hum and some amps were just less sensitive to it (tried several amps after this and, sure enough, they all hummed with the Jolida). So, if you've got upstream electrical problems, you are probably going to know about them once you hook up the d-sonic. Annoying to learn in the short term but, probably very helpful to know in the long term.

Now that I have everything sorted, it's a great amp and Dennis was very helpful throughout the process. If I ever move my home theater to a larger room and needed more power, I'd probably order another d-sonic.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

Cool, happy to hear you like the d-sonic. What amp were you using before, and did you have to get used to the new one or was it love at first listen?

Originally Posted by dmsdms 

I actually bought it for size/weight/efficiency/aesthetic/power reasons (approximately in that order). It's replacing an Emotiva UPA-200 and, at my normal listening levels, I doubt there is a difference in sound quality but, for the reasons I bought it, it's exceptional.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

It sounds as if you like it, that's great. A pair of his mono blocks are on my list of upgrades.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

Ah I hear you, the never ending "pursuit" lol! What model are your Swans? Forgive my ignorance, although I've heard they are a great speaker I'm just not familiar with them.

Originally Posted by dmsdms 

I just got an M2-500S yesterday and I'm really pleased with it. Small, light, unobtrusive, stout build quality, etc. I'm using it with a Marantz NR1402 as a DAC/preamp to drive some Salk Supercharged Songtowers for a music only setup. It's got crazy amounts of power if needed and, after listening for 8+ hours at my normal levels (70-80dB about 10 feet away) it's cool to the touch.

One thing that I will say, and this is similar to what d00m found, is that it's very unforgiving of input problems. Initially I was using a Jolida JD-5T tube preamp that I've been trying out and I got an audible hum from one of the speakers. I tried various things and talked with Dennis about the problem, thinking the amp was faulty. However, hooking up the d-sonic to the Marantz I normally use, it was dead silent. With some more testing, I discovered that the Jolida was the cause of the hum and some amps were just less sensitive to it (tried several amps after this and, sure enough, they all hummed with the Jolida). So, if you've got upstream electrical problems, you are probably going to know about them once you hook up the d-sonic. Annoying to learn in the short term but, probably very helpful to know in the long term.

Now that I have everything sorted, it's a great amp and Dennis was very helpful throughout the process. If I ever move my home theater to a larger room and needed more power, I'd probably order another d-sonic.

Originally Posted by d00m 

The mains are F1.1A and the center is a matching 2.3C.

Originally Posted by comfynumb 

I checked them out online, they look really nice!