starz

"What this country needs is a good 5 watt amplifier" - Paul W. Klipsch I have had several speakers hooked up to a Marantz-2330 and nothing sounds as nice as the Klipsch line -- even the Heresy II's, which absolutely blew the away the (much more expensive) Bose-901's in an A/B comparison. The Bose 901 comparison was so dramatic, that I think everyone present now regards the entire BOSE line as "Sham Wow" audio ( ... come to think of it, Bose is doing a lot of TV info-mercials these days ... ).

When I had to get some maintenance work done on a MARANTZ 2330B (light replacement -- also replaced some capacitors, had it checked for anything else that was marginal), I bought a re-furbished Marantz 2235B. I was surprised to discover that the "low end" Marantz receivers sound as clean as the "high end" ones -- they just don't have the top-end power, and lack some of the nice extra features. I've kept the 2235B, and debated whether or not to sell it ... for now, it's a "headphone listening" station (which seems like a waste of equipment), but it abolutely blows away anytinhg else you'll find for $300 or less (and with the wood case and soft blue lights, it looks much better than any of the cheap-plastic crap you can find at Best Buy or Fry's). Hooked up to a pair of Klipsch La Scalas, the 2235B amplifier section has more than enough power than you'll need for most home listening. I agreee with the overall recommendations here: any Marantz in the 2220B - 2330B series (including 2275, 2325, etc.) restored or just well-maintained, is going to be very satisfying.

I've owned several Kenwood items (currently, just a KT 8300, and a KA 9100), but never had any trouble with any of it. Owners of KR9600 recievers love them... so I can't imagine thre would be any problem with a well-kept/well-maintained KR 8050. Make sure the seller is not a 'scavenger' (picks up stuff at estate sales, flea markets, auctions, bankruptcies, etc.); best chance of getting a good one if the seller/owner is either a hi-fi repair engineer, or the original owner / non-smoker & audiophile.

The skills of the recording engineers and producers generally determine what you'll get out of a recording (performar talent is an underlying or b'ackground' assumption). Ideally, a great recording should be able to give a listener the experience of sitting in the 'sweet spot' of an excellent performance hall. Since most people don't listen to music in anything like a great concert hall, and probably don't get many opportunities to experience live music at the optimum points in those halls even if they go there, the potential for a recording to meet or exceed the quality of live performances likely to be experienced by a typical listener is huge. In an audiophile context, being able to leverage a well engineered/well produced recording to maximize the quality of the listening experience (get as close to being in the ideal spot in a great concert hall) is probably the answer to ''What, then, is it that we are trying to recreate with two speakers?'' That being said .... most of the recording engineers and producers today are producing and engineering for the (largely 'tin-eared') iPod/MP3 market -- with almost zero-db dynamic range, heavily reverbed mid-range, boomy bass, etc. (none of which may matter much, since most of the 'music' is electronically generated by computers, and many of the 'vocals' are so heavily 'processed' that they might as well be computer generated [comng in 2012: will HAL-9000 and the 'Lost In Space' Robot team up for Beatlemania?]). The results are predictable: overall music sales have dropped by 9 - 10 percent annually in each of the past 6 years, led by a 17 - 22% drop in new music sales.

Powered Sub-Woofers? Not needed in my estimation. I have a pair of Klipsch La Scala speakers hooked up to an old Marantz 510-M amplifier, and get more than enough bass -- with a 32-band EQ I can boost or trim, as needed (or desired). After trying out several 'consumer' and 'pro' audio configurations, it became clear that space optimization, total cost of ownership, simplicity, and overall listening enjoyment were all far better with a great pair of speakers, plenty of amplifer 'headroom', and whatever media/playback inputs I hook up and switch between.

Were The Night Hawk Band formerly known as "The Nighthawks" (a blues/rock band that put out several records -- and had a few minor hits) -- back in the 1980's?