Suggestions for 3 or 5 channel amp for Denon 4802 (1 Viewer)

[Robert M]

I'm not sure how helpfull I will be, comming up with all the costs associated with the import of this product. I will be using our corp Fed-x account for shipping and our corp broker for import. Outside of exchange, which will appear on my Visa 30 days later, this is a NAFTA product, therefor as long as Klaus prepares his export doc's correctly there should be no surprises with the import costs.

I too purchased subs from SVS, and am very happy with the value I received. Yes it is a shame our dollar is nearly worthless, perhaps we should be spending it as fast as possible before it actually equals zero on the world stage.

Bob

 

[Brandon B]

I'm using my Stratos (HT3) to drive a pair of Magnepan MMG's right now.

Later it will drive the two way portions of my front 3 speakers, which will have actively XO'ed woofers driven by other amps (speakers under construction).

The MMG's are a pretty straightforward 4 ohm load, and the Stratos drives them with absolutely no problem up to rather loud levels.

I drove these same MMG's with a Sony Prologic receiver with more (on paper) power than the Stratos (no other speakers, 2 channel only) and the Stratos is far stronger in both overall sound and bass response (as one would expect). Also ran them with a Alesis RA100 pro studio monitor amp, which has about half the power of the Stratos. High end was OK, but no bass at all.

Mine has the cap upgrade all around.

BB

 

[John Morris]

Thanks for the responses on my question about power, still, I have some concerns. I initially tried driving my Mirage M-3si speakers (87dB efficiency) with a few amps and found that I needed a bunch of power to get good performance at high levels. This was especially apparent in the bass frequencies, probably due to having to drive a 10" passive subwoofer along with 4 other drivers per speaker. My ATI 1502 amp (150 x 2 into 8 ohms; 225 into 4)left me wanting more control and clarity, especially in the lower frequencies. I found that in the ATI 2505, but now I am looking for some more finesse too. Why would the Strato's 150/180 watts power my speakers more powerfully than the 150w of the 1502?

Also, I've got some more Odyssey questions.

What advantage does the Monoblock give you versus the Stratos w/ upgraded caps?

Do all Odyssey amps include switchable balanced inputs?

I am thinking of upgrading in the future to a trio of Monoblocks and a pair of stratos. At the same time, I may also look at the Adcom GFP-750 preamp, to put between the Outlaw 950 and the amps, using a balanced connection.

 

[Tyson]

John Morris,
Generally I find that wattage gets you loud, but current gets you control. In other words, if the sound of a speaker "falls apart" at higher levels, it is either because the amps is clipping (due to insufficient power), with will quickly damage/fry a tweeter or 2, OR the amp is simply able to not deliver enough current at high levels to control the speaker properly. The stereo stratos (in my experience) will probably not have a problem with your speakers, but the Mono's almost certainly won't. My only other suggestion in reasonbly priced amps would be some Aragon 8008BB's and 8008x3. These amps you can arc weld with (yes, they will drive a 2ohm load with ease). And the newer ones are sweeter and less strident than the ones made a few years ago. However, I prefer the sound of the Stratos. Even the new Aragons are still tonally a little too "up front" for my tastes.
One other thing I really like about the stratos on comparison to most other amps I have heard - most amps will get loud, but they are not very "involving", even at high levels. With the stratos, there is a certain "physicallity" to the sound, a palpable-ness to the mids and highs, and a percussiveness in the bass that is EXTREMELY rare in amps, and that I have not heard in other brands for less than several thousand dollars (Think similarly powered Mark Levinson or Krell, but without the "analytical" sound)
I haven't heard the Stratos Mono's, but there is a Odyssey forum at www.harmonicdiscord.com - I think someone has done a stereo/stratos comparison there - let me check. . .

 

[Tyson]

Here is a good post on the stereo stratos vs the mono's:
http://harmonicdiscord.com/forums/vi...=2145&forum=14
Particularly check WC's response - he is driving some Infinity Kappa 9's, an insanely tough load (dips to 1ohm in 2 places), and the mono's seem to do great.
Here is another:
http://harmonicdiscord.com/forums/vi...05&forum=14&14
Look for audiojerry's response in particular on that thread.

 

[Mariusz Filonowicz]

Thank you all for the replies. They are very helpful. I'm sorry I didn't show my appreciation before but I ran into some family problems and was off the forum since.

 

[John Morris]

Tyson: Thank you very much for your advice! Current is not a problem for me now, hell my amps require a 20 amp circuit each to operate at full power. What I am looking for is some finesse. I also do not want a rolled off top end since my tastes lie in the revealing to bright sounding components. Finally, I've decided that I would also like my last amps to have balanced inputs.

 

[Rob Curtis]

Merc,

The Odyssey has an extended top end without being bright or causing sibelence. It is also much better at revealing inner details that I had not noticed with other amps before.

It also has balanced inputs...sort of. They are not truely balanced as they are shorted inside the cabinet.

It includes balanced inputs only as a convienence to those people who already have balanced IC's.

I think you will find that people who have these amps think very highly of them (I know I do) in fact it is tough to find someone who owns them, or owned them that will say a word against them.

 

[John Morris]

It also has balanced inputs...sort of. They are not truely balanced as they are shorted inside the cabinet.

Rob: Son of a gun! My bubble has burst. Why in the world are companies doing this??? IMO, these fake balanced inputs are just plain misleading as they offer no advantage to the standard RCA's with regard to noise rejection. And the convenience stuff has no merit, if you ask me? Why would someone use the balanced outputs from their pre/pros with the added expense of balanced cables if it provided no benefit. I am sure that Klaus would have told me about these if I had called him, so I don't think he was trying to mislead anyone... I just can't understand why else they exist? AND, Odyssey isn't the only one nor the first...! I recently tried a few other amps, and was frustrated because I found the balanced inputs to be just as noisy as the RCAs... I'd guess at the company but it was only one of three that I tried recently. Now, it is two of four.

 

[SteveRS]

A question for the Odyssey owners.
I have a pair of PSB Stratus Goldi 4 ohm speakers.
What is the power rating of the Odyssey Stratos at 4 ohms?
Can the Stratos drive the Stratus?

 

[Rob Curtis]

Merc,
Klaus not only would have told you that, he posted it in his forum at Harmonicdiscord. Unfortunetly HD seems to be having trouble right now.
I beleive he added them only as a convienence to people who already had balanced IC's, so they did not have to replace them.
As far as noise is concernerd, it was my understanding that it was only a problem on longer IC runs. For most HT IC runs there should not be a difference in noise levels.
Steve,
While I have not specifically heard of them being used with those speakers, you can read the reviews at www.audioreview.com They list many speakers that are as hard to drive, being driven very easily with great macro dynamics and very detailed micro dynamics.
I beleive that the rating is in the 180w @ 4 ohm level.
As has been mentioned before, becareful of specs as the amps send a lot of current to your speakers.
For not much $$ ($25) Klaus could put a larger PS in these amps to get the 4 ohm specs up much higher, but he mentioned it hurt the dynamics so he didn't. He would rather have them sounding their best then having the best specs.