the move to separates..worth it? (1 Viewer)

[Jeffrey Chin]

nak av-10 rcvr --> anthem avm2 preamp/surr/tuner
marantz ma-700 monoblocks --> anthem mca5 amp
nak mb10 5 cd chgr --> anthem cd-1 6cd chgr
nak dvd10s dvd --> sony dvp-ns700p dvd
salamander archetype 5.0 a/v rack --> boltz c5s a/v rack
maggie 2.5r mains --> bg radia 520dx mains
maggie mgcc1 center --> bg radia 220dx center
maggie 1.4 rears --> bg radia 420dx rears
svs 20-39pc sub, kimber cable, 36" wega tv stays =)
total cost of upgrade at discount prices: +$3k
going for the all chrome look and the move to separates.
worth it?
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MY PHAT CRIB PIMPIN HT SETUP
[Edited last by Jeffrey Chin on October 04, 2001 at 02:44 PM]

 

[MarkO]

With that set up you better belive it. Drool Drool,,,,,

 

[Selden Ball]

Are you sure you want the silver fronts? They'll reflect a lot of distracting light while you're watching movies. I'll take them off your hands for cheap!

More seriously, I'd suggest trying to get a loaner of the multichannel amp so you can compare it with your current monoblocks. Some claim that the shared power supply can cause some limitations in extreme cases.
Of course, by replacing everything at once, you'll have a completely different sound, so you'll be starting all over again from scratch tweeking everything. Sounds like fun

 

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

I went with the 520dx's all around (6 of the 7.1) and am thinking about the 220dx for the centre (right now running in phantom mode which is remarkably good). I have to agree about the brushed aluminum being distracting especially in my case with a front-projection system, and supposedly the charcoal-coating is a couple of hundred dollars cheaper - at least at retail. I do like the 520's over the 420's for surrounds, I figured the extra height was worth it because my sofa and chairs are all high-backs. I am still breaking them all in and there is a definitely a vertical sweet-spot, my head is right in the sweet spot when sitting upright anywhere on the sofa, but stand up and it still sounds good, just not as full. I've been told that breaking them in will increase the vertical size of the sweet spot.
FWIW, I went with a couple of A200x3 acurus amps (300 watts at 4ohms) for my BG's and I run them in a funny kind of parallel - the top one runs the Left Front, Left Surround, and Left Rear Surround, the bottom one runs the Right Rear Surround, Right Surround and Right Front - wired up just like that. I figure that it is a compromise between a mono-block design and a multi-channel design - making the most important front speakers able to draw their juice independently and on oppossite sides of each other in "the stack" thus distributing heat more evenly (these amps do get *hot* running the BG's at high volume).