Official Classe SSP-800 thread. - Page 172

So Owl you are happy with that combo? McIntosh has quite bit of power. Did you have the McIntosh amp before you bought the Classe?

How did you like Pass labs Class A! I would have thought they would be better than Classe?

I use two CA-M600 for my (2) 800Diamonds and one CA-5200 for the rest (3) 802D & (2) CT7

I like how you have the two amps stacked in the photo Roger.

The Pass were great for music but were not practical for my setup. They ran very hot and I needed something rack mountable but with lot's of power. Prior to the Classe CT amps, not too many options. The Classe fits the bill.

I got pitched both the McIntosh 207 and the Classe CA 5300 when I was shopping for the Classe Pre/Pro.
I am happy with the Theta but maybe I should look around over the next year!
I had heard a lot of great things about the Pass Labs but a hot running amp could be a negative. It is very interesting that many of you use multiple amps in your home theater system. I would guess you are getting better sound that way!

Mark Levinson 335 for the front 2 main channels. Mark Levinson 433 for center and rear channels.
If I change it will be to Classe amps. When I first demoed the SSP-800 it was an all Classe system.

Those are great looking amps Sharp. If you replaced them with
Classe would you use two amps to do so?

Roger, have you always used two amps in your Home Theater set-up?

When it was a 5.1 system I just used the 6-ch CAV150. For the last 4 years it's been 7.1, so I needed another amp. Was lucky to find one of the right vintage a short drive away.
Edited by Roger Dressler - 12/27/12 at 11:58am

I use Audio Research Ref 210s for L/R and a 5 channel Anthem Statement amp for the rest of the channels. Works well for me.

Nice Amps Guys- I have always wanted to try Pass Labs but I have used the Simaudio Titan with the SSP-800 for a number of years and it's been awesome. Kind of nice to not worry about amps. It's been a great stereo/HT solution. I run balanced and once again very nice.

http://www.simaudio.com/moontitan.htm

Rick

Nice amps Roger. The first Classe amp I demoed was the CA201 luckily who at that time was still a Classe dealer. I listened thru Martin Logan Odyssey's which I ended up buying,LOL

No it would be an all out assault with three monoblocks on the front channels and a stereo amp for the rears. I am sticking with 5.1 for now as it works well in my present room and equipment configuration.

It seems you now have a working SSP-800! I recall you had some mysterious failures. Did they ever figure out what went wrong?
Edited by Roger Dressler - 12/27/12 at 8:54pm

Use the CT-5300 with Revel Gems and surrounds + Performa sub. This is in the family room where it is used mainly for TV (my wife) and music (me). Replaced a Marantz 8003, so can't compare with other amps discussed.

#5 was the charm 3 had the same power supply issue -- Classe finally IDd it with the help of some other units with the same prob. Another had a video issue. #5 went silent once, an audio cap blew as it turned out, but has been problem-free and sounding good otherwise. It's been frustrating obviously -- in twenty-five years of owning components have had few problems.

This frustration had me looking around for alternatives but didn't find anything that I thought would be a substantive improvement. Pretty impressive that a processor nearly five years old is still SOTA as far as I'm concerned in SQ and functionality/ergonomics if you're willing to accept PEQ instead of RC. That doesn't speak too well of industry innovation, whatever the market for these things may be. The only processor I considered switching to was the proposed Lexicon w/Quantum Logic (transformative tech), but alas...

.
Edited by rblnr - 12/27/12 at 8:50pm

Now that you're past the infant mortality phase, let's hope you're good for the long haul. Do you know any details of the power supply issue? Did it call for a different component or other production change? The blown cap just sounds like a defective component.
The next spate of processors will probably follow in the wake of G2 Blu-ray with 4k video and who-knows-what 3D audio. In the meantime, I am eagerly awaiting Carl Huff's DiracLive outboard unit, the DL2.

That would sound awesome!

It's great to read all these different combinations of The Classe Pre/Pro and amps.

The guy I talked to on the phone wouldn't elaborate except to say that other units have had the problem. Very tight lipped. Blown cap was just that, a defective component. One moment I had sound, next it was gone.

Saw a demo of the Redray player and have seen a lot of 4K video in the course of my work -- it's supercool but I'm a bit of a resolution freak. Not sure how important it will be to the masses unless/until costs are similar to today's HD sets. I wonder too whether who-knows-what audio, if it requires more speakers, will ever get much traction. That said, hearing Quantum Logic at Cedia '11 had me scheming about bolting four surrounds to the ceiling.

Why the DL2 vs., say, a Trinnov unit, 2 ch DSP anti-mode, etc.? Or simply an RS20 and skip the A/D/A?
Edited by rblnr - 12/28/12 at 8:41am

Here is another interesting question that I would love to hear what SSP-800 owners are using. What power cord are you using with your Classe SSP-800? Stock cord or some high quality after market power cord. If you have used several different ones love to know what you have tried and liked the best.
And if you want you can mention what you use with your power amp. But I am mainly interested in what power cords SSP-800 owners are using!
Thanks

I want to keep my pre-pro. It's solid and I'm emotionally attached.

The DL2 will be the most affordable "add-on" that exceeds what PEQ can do. I think I will learn from it, even if it is not a permanent part of my system.
Stock cords all around. Never let me down.

+1

Dave

Roger, you're going all gooey on us:)

What's the price of the DL2 and any expected release date? Curious -- anything particular you're looking to learn from working the DL2?

Stock cords here too.

Using the ca-5300 with my ssp-800 and loving my music !

Edit- in process of having 4 dedicated 20 amp electrical circuits added to power my equipment. Then I can add two cA-m600 monoblocks for my FL and FR.
Edited by wadeh911 - 12/28/12 at 6:56pm

Trying to program my harmony remote to set the ssp-800 to discrete mode for a specific input handling my network streamer for multi-channel or stereo files. Discrete not a choice for the harmony and no discrete button on the classe remote to learn from. Suggestions ?

Rather than teaching the Harmony from the SSP's remote, teach it from the IR emitter on the front panel (same red window next to Mute button as the receiver uses).

Go to the System Setup menu, select Teach IR. Scroll to the command you want for discrete (for 2-ch use "Stereo," for 5.1 use "Multi-channel").
Edited by Roger Dressler - 12/29/12 at 12:11pm

In the mirror, it looks more like flab...
Not sure of the date. MSRP is $2300.
For one, I want to see how the corrections that Dirac creates compare with REW using the same mic pattern. Stuff like that.

So you have the matching Classe amp to the Classe SSP-800. Bet that sounds good.
I am sure dedicated electrical circuits will add some umph to your system.

Does everyone use stock cords on their SSP-800's? interesting. Even on your amps?