The MN Home Theater User Group (MNHTUG) will be hosting an amplifier shootout on June 4th 6:30PM here in MN. Please RSVP to Joe (me) at
jmhays1@comcast.net if you are interested in attending. The last one we had was very successful, but we did not have enough variety. I can fill you in on directions via email.
Our main goal is to listen to the difference in nuances between various high end amplifiers. We will be having the pleasure of listening to brands SIDE-BY SIDE like Plinius Odeon ($10K), Theta DreadnaughtII ($6500), Citation, Bryston 9BSST, Sherbourn, EAD, Lexicon, Gemstone Audio (a new multi-channel “Factory Direct Amp”), and others. Bring $5 for Pizza, beer, and soda. After some beers, it all will sound better!!!!! By all means, please drag your amp over to hear the difference. In fact, we are looking for others amps not listed. Do you have a tube amp then bring it over.
We have had a couple of projector shootouts that we posted on AVS in years past and we are looking forward to learning a lot and posting our results. If people are interested in flying in to MN (airline employees, addicted home theater enthusiasts) I can point you to some cheap hotels that are nice.
I have always wondered what the differences are. Are these differences obvious, subtle? We will find out.
We will hear all of these amps all side by side in one sitting in a controlled environment. None of the magazines have ever bothered doing this and writing about the results. This will prove to be an interesting experiment!!! If anyone has some over priced connectors, we can try some experiments with this as well and compare it to the cheap stuff.
Please let us know if you want us to try anything. I think the focus is to listen in stereo (for speed of change outs) as well as understanding the nuances. If you are like me, you want a home theater system that will perform in stereo listening as well. Later, we will hook-up the better amps in multichannel.
Here are my ideas. We will be studying the top end extension, bottom end (depth tightness), transparency, clarity, low level dynamics, etc. This should be fun!
If we could find a Parasound, Rotel, and Outlaw that would be helpful as we have the high-end covered. Also, someone requested to try a Sunfire. Does anyone have one to compare in MN?
Again, please RSVP to me as we expect a houseful! For those who are passionate about audio and home theater like I am, this is an event you won’t want to miss!!!
Joe
