Please Help With Post Purchace Dissonance (Buyers Remorse) (1 Viewer)

[Shion_ca]

Hello All,

I just spent (what for me is) a pretty big sum of money and bought a musical fidelity A3 CR pre-amp and amp. I spent the morning comparing it with a Harman Kardon AVR320. It's got tighter base, better clarity (noticable with chimes and cymbals) and in general a sweeter fuller sound to the vocals and greater separation to the sound. I really did have to A&B a couple of times before I could figure out what the differences are. The Harman Kardon is a damn fine integrated for the money. Of course I was using radio shack inter-connects and a pioneer DVD-440 as a source. I think maybe the difference would be more noticable with a better interconnect from source and from pre to amp. I'm not sure on the quality of my 12 guage speaker cable as their from this nuance company, I'd imagine fairly low but that wouldn't be my first area to target for upgrade.

Any recommendations for a matching speaker set for rock/alternative would be appreciated. As well has anyone else heard this combo and what did you think of it?

 

[Arthur S]

Shion

I have not heard your new equipment, so I can't comment on it specifically or even venture to suggest speakers. But I can empathize with you to this extent. I have always wanted a big ass amp. The sheer bulk of them implies that they are going to sound wonderful. Couple years ago I got caught up in a feeding frenzy on Citation amps that were going for about 35% of original MSRP. So after fighting off the urge to buy for quite a while. I gave in. There were many of them for sale on UBid cause the manufacturer was clearing them all out of the warehouse.

So I finally had a 70 pound amp.

I was using a Nakamichi AV-1 Dolby ProLogic receiver. Nakamichi made good amps. Although rated at 100 watts each side for the front compared to using the Citation in bridged mode with 425 watts per channel, the Nak sounded at least 98% as good as the Citation.

I certainly was surprised that the Nak sound was so close to the Citation. I probably had some buyers remorse at the time, but it faded quickly because I new that I would eventually need separate amplication to go to 7.1. Also, I had spent less than $900 for the amp.

I am not surprised that the differences with the Musical Fidelity are subtle. Some people claim night and day differences. That has not been my experience.

It seems now you are looking to spend even more money for speakers that will bring out the differences more clearly. This can be a vicious cycle.

Is there time to return the Musical Fidelity pieces?

If not, I would just be careful about spending another bundle on new speakers.

I hope this is of some help.

Artie

 

[John A. Casler]

I would suggest that depending on how good your speakers are at "resolving" detail, that you would hear much more significant differences at higher SPLs.

Geneally most "good amps" will sound quite similar at medium listening levels, but you seperate the men fom the boys when you pump up the juice.

Power reserves and "head room" will make a difference.

Also you have to remember that the HK is one sweet sounding amp.

Best Regards,

John

 

[Bobby T]

Klipsch reference series is the best for rock and alternative.