dream theater and amps? (1 Viewer)

[Brad Hamme]

I have been trying to research seperates for a while and thought i had decided to go with anthem for a stereo amp. I heard one, and wasn't very happy with how it played dream theater, and some other rock/metal bands. I have paradigm monitor 9 v2 and was curious if there was actually anybody in the world that had the same problem. Right now i have the 9's running off of an older kenwood receiver; vr-209. I think the sound needs more detail, so i wonderein on reccomendations. Everywhere I look here people say rotel, parasound, outlaw, and acrus. I like a warmer sound to my music, and that is the primary use of the stereo. I do like some music in pro-logic though. I would like to have an idea of what i want before I go in to the shop, so if anyone wants to steer me away, towards anything go for it. Here was my original idea that fell through; HK avr-5 as a pre going to an anthem 130x2, with the internal amps on the hk powering my bose 301 in the rear. Thanks a lot to who ever helps out.

 

[Evan S]

Brad, interesting.

You say you want more detail, but like a warmer sound. Usually setups that favor warmth usually sacrifice a little detail to get it, but YMMV.

I have an Anthem MCA-5 (170x5) paired with Paradigm Reference 40's and 20's. I also happen to LOVE Dream Theater. I find out that this setup (using an Anthem AVM-20 as the processor) lacks absolutely ZERO detail. In fact, I have detail out the wazoo. I will agree the Anthem is not a warm amp...it's fairly neutral and what I do find is that for hard rock and metal music, the sound can be a little "in your face" when it comes to higher volumes. I won't say it's harsh sounding, but I will agree the soundstage becomes a tad congested for this type of music.

It's a fair tradeoff in my mind however, because that same detail works wonders in my setup for both movies and basically every other type of music out there. The added detail and clarity I get with this setup is great for Jazz and classical...awesome for R&B as well as Blues Rock. Perfect for SACD.

I would imagine that Dream Theater is a hard band to reproduce for any speaker. There is so much complexity to the music that I'm sure it's quite a challenge for most setups.

I would try to get my hands on another amp if I were you just to try to pinpoint what the differences may be. If you don't like what you hear from a "warmer" amp in the B&K, Parasound, Rotel mode, maybe it's time to evaluate going to a speaker with a less forward profile as Paradigms are known to be slightly forward in nature, but in my experience, they are not bright per se.

Hope that helps.

 

[John Beavers]

For warmer (more musical) sounding amps I'd look at B&K or Plinius. I have both myself. I'm using the B&K Ref 7250 to power my Center & Rears (Dynaudio Contour Center & 1.3MKII speakers) now that the Plinius 8200P is powering my mains (Dynaudio Contour 3.3s). I thought the B&K was doing a decent job with the mains, and it was, but the Plinius has really taken them to the next level in detail, with some very serious bass response now present. I haven't played my Dream Theater CDs yet, but based on what I've heard so far (I've had the 8200P for a week & a half) they will truly rock with this amp. The 8200P can be, with some judicious shopping, be had for $1500, and the B&K Ref 2220 for under a thousand.

 

[Han]

I have an HK 310 preout to an Anthem MCA-5II and through Energy eXL series speakers. What I hear is pretty astounding, but that's compared to the HK 310 by itself as a receiver as well as my old Yamaha 2095 receiver. That Yamaha is no slouch. I'm pretty content with the way the music sounds, because I know it'll only get better in a couple of years. That's when I'll have a real pre/pro, upgraded speakers, and one of the high resolution formats will pull ahead (hopefully).
I don't know if this is the case with you guys, but I've always found Images and Wordsto be slightly noisier than the DT CDs that were released afterwards. I've heard it on all my setups from cheapo to the current to headphones, and there always seems to be more background noise than, say, Awake. It's a shame, because I've always considered it to be my favorite metal album of all-time.

 

[Daniel Lindgren]

Hey, who thought that a Dream Theater lovefest would break out on HTF ... I'm listening to "Scenes from a memory" as I'm typing this.
I don't know much about Outlaw, Parasound and Acrus, but I like my Rotel hardware because they are warm sounding.
So, my humble advise would be to try Rotel.
Daniel Lindgren

 

[Bruce Chang]

Ah Dream theater, those guys are really talented but the music is sucking latley. From When dream and day unite to the awake album, IMHO the band is going down hill. Kevin Moore there old keyboardist, did most of the lyrics and songs back in the day. And what's the deal with Mike Portnoy copying Neil Peart's drum solos.

 

[Brad Hamme]

Images and words is one of my favorites also, and i do agree there seems to be a little more noise in that one. I love Scenes from a memory, as my former favorite song of theirs was Metropolis, which the whole album was based off of. The newest 6 degrees... isn't so hot, but it usually takes a month before i love one of their albums. I was looking at marantz mono amp. Anyone have any experience?