Deang

impressive (pat). very cool (pat pat) ------------------ deanG

My opinion is that a dedicated two channel power amp will sound better for two channel than using just two channels from a 5 channel amp. Haven't you noticed how most two channel amps and 5 channel amps weigh practically the same? I used to look at the 'watts' spec. I now look at the 'amperage' spec. There are exceptions to the rule however. B&K and Bryston come to mind. You may be able to do better than the Yahmaha depending on what your friend is considering selling it for. Make sure to compare to what you might find on AudiogoN. ------------------ deanG

AE-25 Super Amp: Class A, Push-Pull Triode Amp UPS delivered my AudiogoN purchased AE-25 Super Amp Wednesday evening. Since then, I've been living in front of the RF7's basking in a rich, textured, wrap around me kind of sound. The amp showed up in a rather large box. The box was roughly the same size as the box uBid shipped my LF-10 in. Opening the box revealed styrofoam peanuts around the edges and a huge wad of bubble wrap in the middle of the box. The bubble wrap was wrapped with packing tape. The seller evidently wasn't taking any chances with UPS. I lifted 'the wad' out of the middle of the box and was surprised at the heft - considering it's size - which is rather small as far as amps go. The seller had wrapped the amp in over a dozen layers and it took a while to get to the object of my desire. After what seemed like forever - the amp finally appeared. Now, when you see this thing in pictures it appears that some of it is fashioned out of sheet metal. At least, that's what I thought. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is in fact - built like the proverbial tank. In every respect - it exudes quality. Even the RCA jacks are like I've never seen before. They are not the usual gold colored chinzy inputs - but instead, resemble stubby steel gun barrels. They have the look of something built to last forever. This in fact sums up the build quality of the entire amp. Mine comes wired (point-to-point) in the 15 watt triode configuration. It has the upgraded oil filled caps and is fitted with a volume control knob for directly driving a CD player. This amp came with stock tubes. 4 Chinese KT88's, 2 Russian 6922's, and 2 GE 6GC7's. It also has nice big squishy feet on the bottom - a nice touch. I wired everything up and powered it up. The Super Amp has a standby switch which I made sure was on before I put power to the amp. I let it sit this way for about 10 minutes. I then flipped the switch from 'standby' to 'operate'. I was greeted by an obnoxious 'POP' through the speakers. I was not happy about this. It continues to do this and though I have already gotten used to it - I would rather it didn't do it. It gets hot. Very hot. Very, very, hot. You can feel the heat coming off of this thing up to almost a foot away with your hand. Users with small children need to make sure it is out of reach. There is no question it could cause a 2nd degree burn in no time. Listening was done with both my Anthem CD1 with Amperex 6922 output tube and a Marantz DV7010 DVD/CD player. The speakers are of course - my RF7's. Speaker cables are the slightly dark MIT Biwire 2's. Interconnects are my beloved Monster M550i's. This cable combination works well with Reference. It's always tough to decide what to play first. I used to like to start out with nice 'audiophile' discs and pick apart the musical spectrum. I now like to start out with CD's that have music I really like. As far as I'm concerned - music is as much an emotional experience as it is a listening experience. I now first listen to the music - and then pick apart later. Basically, I first want to know if the sound moves me. Most reviewers use music I have never heard of. This is my chance to get even with them. I started out with the Marantz (because I wanted to try out some movies as well). The first two cuts were 'Cowboys from Hell' and 'Concrete Primal Sledge' by Pantera. I was very pleased. The guitars were thick and chuncky and the double kick drums had weight and a semblance of solidity not even matched by my Bryston. The voices were thrown well past the front baffle of the speaker and hung in the air in front of me. Very cool. It is difficult to figure out where clipping starts with this amp. I started off with volume control knob at the 12 o'clock position. This was fairly loud and about what I figured 15 watts would sound like. Then I remembered the seller had told me that if I ever decided to use a preamp with it - to turn the volume control knob all the way over to the right. Before I knew it I was at the 3 o'clock position and things were still sounding very good. At a little past 4 o'clock things started to sound a little 'pinchy' or congested. I guess this is what clipping sounds like with this amp - but I really don't know! At any rate - 15 watts sounds quite a bit louder than I expected. A good thing. Typically - I just turn the damn knob until it sounds damn good. It varies with the program material. Done with Pantera I moved on to some BTO. The first cut, 'Not Fragile' - rocked me pretty good. The bass filled the air and made the membranes in my ears smile. My wife Debbie was surprised when I looked at her and mouthed 'No Sub'. Again, nice rich grinding guitars, and good pace on the drums. Evidently, when people refer to the lack of bass and appropriate associated weight - they are referring to a non-Klipsch experience. Poor devils. Next I threw on Judas Priest. 'Sad Wings of Destiny' is their best effort and even after 25 years it still holds it own against most metal. It suprised me by sounding a little shrill at the higher volume levels and I thought it would probably sound better on the Anthem CD1. It did. I had a lot of fun listening to the first two cuts, "Victim of Changes", and "The Ripper". I ended up listening to the whole CD. I might have been air guitaring during "Island of Domination" but I'm not sure. Being completely happy I decided it was time for some picking apart. Al Diamola's 'Elegant Gypsy' is a great CD for this. No voices. Lot's of guitar, both acoustic and electric. Good bass and solid drumming. I was not dissapointed. The 4th cut - 'Race with the Devil' was fairly intense. When Diamola finally breaks loose the sounds from his Les Paul literally jump out from behind the speakers and fill the whole room. Everything sounds great. Well, almost everything. As with my Anthem combo - movies still sound unimpressive. It sounds good as far as sound goes - but doesn't sound completely right. Music however, is nothing short of fabulous. If one thing sounds better than another - it is because of the source material and nothing more. Musically, this amp is a winner in a major way. I have now gone from an Anthem Amp1/Pre1L tube combo, to a Bryston 3B-ST/BP-20 solid state combo - to this now AE-25 Super Amp stand alone unit all in less than a month. I thought the Bryston combo sounded better than the Anthem combo because it was so clean, and it certainly seemed to be easier to listen to for longer periods of time - although the Anthem combo actually did image better. The Bryston combo never seemed to be able to push an image much past the front baffles of the speakers unless driven to the higher SPL's. The AE-25 Super Amp sounds cleaner than the Bryston and pushes the image further out than the Anthem. On some source material the Super Amp wraps the image completely around you. It also sounds somewhat richer than the EL34 driven Anthem. If it gets any better than this - I probably can't afford it. I'm sure to have this amp for a very long time. ------------------ deanG This message has been edited by deang on 03-02-2002 at 07:34 PM

Favorite Bruce Lee movie quote: Dan Wallace walks up to Bruce Lee and speed breaks a board in his face. Bruce Lee says: "Boards don't punch back." Bruce Lee the person had several interesting things to say. The ones I remember: "Empty heads have long tongues" "A man is destined to achieve great things - if he has the courage to conquer himself." ------------------ deanG

Your Yamahammer receiver will work just fine. To get your setup to the next level you would need to go with separates. To do this for multi-channel would require a substantial investment. ------------------ deanG

This is a test of the Emergency Klipsch Broadcasting System. Any similarity between this system and others - is strictly coincidental. ------------------ deanG

The RF7's reproduce bass ACCURATELY. If you want pumped up, bloated, artificial sounding bass you won't find it with the RF7. I had my hooked up to a Bryston and although it was very tight - it was not exaggerated. I actually find the somewhat, slightly loose bass from a tube amp more pleasing - but that's me. Looks like you're doing HT and will be using the sub anyways. However - to keep up with those RF7's you will probably find one sub will not do. ------------------ deanG This message has been edited by deang on 03-01-2002 at 10:42 PM

I can't believe no one has commented on the fact that this is a two-way that crosses over at less than 400Hz. I bet these babies sounds outstanding. ------------------ deanG

No doubt - A pair in very good condition just sold here for less than $2000. ------------------ deanG

Why not use the search utility and type in a speaker in question? You'll have plenty to read and you'll save the rest of us keystrokes. ------------------ deanG This message has been edited by deang on 02-28-2002 at 10:48 PM

rotflol - what a great thread. The timing was perfect - i really needed that. ------------------ deanG

I'm so happy you're happy HornEd. It's good you took the package deal (with the Belle) or those beasts would be sitting in my house! It looks like buying these is a major event in your household bordering on a religious experience!! With me, it would have been more of a novelty as - I pretty much just wanted to experiment with them. I'm not sure my sissy ears could have handled the pressure You already have a great HT room. Why not just concentrate on seeing how good you can make 2 K-horns sound? Dean, This message has been edited by deang on 02-28-2002 at 10:07 AM

whatchusmokinboy? ------------------ deanG

This board is the true 'asylum' ------------------ deanG

"...very, very clear sounding." yep ------------------ deanG

I should try that. "Sweetheart - you know I built this nice Reference system for you and the kids. Now I think it's time you let me build one for me. It may necessitate getting rid of the furniture, and you and the kids will have to watch T.V. in the kitchen because...well...these K-horns I'm getting are kinda big. Not too bad though - you'll get used to them, and after a while - you might even start to like them. I may even let you set a knick-knack or two on them. Why are you mad? I don't get it! You're so sensitive!" Actually Horn - I'm aware of your situation at home and I'm only kidding around. But it's tough to feel sorry for a guy that has stacked SVS subs and 3 sets of Legends! This message has been edited by deang on 02-27-2002 at 01:33 PM

After 3 days I finally received a response to my email: Dean: Thank you for your inquiry. The MSRP is $8,200. Sincere Regards, Ronnie Hook ------------------ deanG

my cubes are bigger than your cubes ------------------ deanG

yes...hold out and buy one used on AudiogoN - I see one about once a week. www.audiogon.com ------------------ deanG

Atom, We have been beating this subject to death over the last several weeks. Use the 'search' utility here on the site and search on the words - tube tubes triode superamp jolida ASL To give good advice we need more info from you: what speakers do you use what music do you listen to how loud do you want it to go how much are you willing to spend ------------------ deanG

i think he's O.K. on 1/21/02 his first post was to say hi, liked his speakers, and was looking forward to learning off of this site. He failed however to let everyone know what kind of speakers he had. Part of everyone's response was asking him what he had. He came back thanking everyone for the warm reception and answered everyone by telling us he own the K-horns. He then tells everyone about these other speakers - maybe because he knows you can't buy Heritage new anymore right now. He doesn't seem like the type that hangs out - just pops in every once in a while. I wouldn't get to excited. As far as this other speaker goes. We might send email letting him know how tacky his advertising is - and would probably gain more loyal customers by telling the truth and giving credit where credit is due. ------------------ deanG

I use my HD-600's with my portable Panasonic and it actually gets fairly loud. ------------------ deanG

i can't believe the negativity regarding Bose on this board everyone knows the Bose Wave Radio rules ------------------ deanG

Yes, and so maybe less is more So could it be? that a wire and pot might be more accurate than a preamp that weighs as much as a fridge? ------------------ deanG

guess I'll be enjoying the simpler system thanks for the education mdeneen! ------------------ deanG