Dan Driscoll
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2000
- Messages
- 937
My 5/1500A arrived yesterday afternoon and was waiting for me when I got home from work. This is one of the demo units that AVS had on their classified section last week, so it isn't brand new, but it looks fine and should be pretty much broken in. According to Jason @ AVS, it has about 50 hours on it.
First impressions after getting it out of the box: This sucka is heavy! It weighs in right about 80 lbs., 3/4 of that in the front with the 5 toroids, so you need to be careful when lifting it. This unit has the 19" rack mount front panel that is about 3/8" thick and I am sure that it is steel, not aluminum. The main power button and blue LED are in the lower left and the white silkscreened Sherbourn logo is in the upper right. The finish is a brushed, slightly glossy black, probably a powder coat. There are ventilation perfs everywhere on the top and bottom of the unit and it is easy to see the components inside the amp. There is also a 5th foot on the bottom of the amp, centered left to right and about 4 inches back from the front. It is clearly intended to help support the torroids. There are a few very slight nicks on the unit, just enough to tell that it isn't brand new. The amp has a very clean, understated appearance without any unnecesary embelishments or frills. IOW, it looks damn fine.
I had to completely disassemble my system to get it in, but other than the weight, the amp itself installed easily on the floor shelf of my rack. The back panel is well laid out and I had no trouble making my connections. I didn't have time to reconnect everything, but I did get my RX-V596 receiver, SD/A-360 CD player and Monitor 90P mains hooked up so I could listen to a few songs off the Elton John classic, Madman Across the Water, albeit at very low volume (it was getting close to midnite).
Keeping in mind that I have not calibrated and that I haven't listened at anything even approaching my normal listening levels, all I can say is WOW! I'm not sure how to explain it, but even at low levels the sound seemed to fill the room more than before. I occasionally do listen at low levels late at night, so this wasn't a competely unfamiliar listening situation. Something else that I noticed almost immediately was the clarity. The notes seemd more distinct and better resolved.
Of course, this wasn't a good test of the amp and some of it is probably 'new toy enthusiasm', but so far it seems very promising. Tonight I'll finish hooking everything up and try to do some listening at more typical volumes and perhaps some 5 channel DVD-A.
First impressions after getting it out of the box: This sucka is heavy! It weighs in right about 80 lbs., 3/4 of that in the front with the 5 toroids, so you need to be careful when lifting it. This unit has the 19" rack mount front panel that is about 3/8" thick and I am sure that it is steel, not aluminum. The main power button and blue LED are in the lower left and the white silkscreened Sherbourn logo is in the upper right. The finish is a brushed, slightly glossy black, probably a powder coat. There are ventilation perfs everywhere on the top and bottom of the unit and it is easy to see the components inside the amp. There is also a 5th foot on the bottom of the amp, centered left to right and about 4 inches back from the front. It is clearly intended to help support the torroids. There are a few very slight nicks on the unit, just enough to tell that it isn't brand new. The amp has a very clean, understated appearance without any unnecesary embelishments or frills. IOW, it looks damn fine.
I had to completely disassemble my system to get it in, but other than the weight, the amp itself installed easily on the floor shelf of my rack. The back panel is well laid out and I had no trouble making my connections. I didn't have time to reconnect everything, but I did get my RX-V596 receiver, SD/A-360 CD player and Monitor 90P mains hooked up so I could listen to a few songs off the Elton John classic, Madman Across the Water, albeit at very low volume (it was getting close to midnite).
Keeping in mind that I have not calibrated and that I haven't listened at anything even approaching my normal listening levels, all I can say is WOW! I'm not sure how to explain it, but even at low levels the sound seemed to fill the room more than before. I occasionally do listen at low levels late at night, so this wasn't a competely unfamiliar listening situation. Something else that I noticed almost immediately was the clarity. The notes seemd more distinct and better resolved.
Of course, this wasn't a good test of the amp and some of it is probably 'new toy enthusiasm', but so far it seems very promising. Tonight I'll finish hooking everything up and try to do some listening at more typical volumes and perhaps some 5 channel DVD-A.
