B&K OR SUNFIRE

[SonicSeeker]

Well how bout some feed back between A B&K Reference 200.7 and a Sunfire signature grand cinema. Using my Yamaha RX Z-11 for a pre-amp for now powering my RF-7II's and RC-64II and my ksp-s6's.

[willland]

Henry,

I am a little biased to either brand. I do highly recommend the B&K Reference 200.7 multichannel amp. Very musical, warmish midrange, punchy lows, top shelf build quality, balance imputs(if desired), and plenty of high current to drive most speakers. On the other hand, my only Sunfire experience is with the True Subwoofer Signature(that is now sold[]). Excellent sub with a ton of headroom(2700w) to rattle your house off it's foundation. I hear their Signature amps are just as good as the subs and can handle low impedences with ease..

I really enjoy the sound my B&K amps pushes through my RF-63/RC-64 combo. Your Yamaha RX Z-11 should mate very well with the B&K.

Others should chime in about the Sunfire amps.

Bill

[SonicSeeker]

Would there be a noticable difference in sound form what I here with my current set-up.

[SuBXeRo]

check out parasound and rotel as well just to throw some other good brands in the mix, all of which should be priced relatively in the same arena, dont forget outlaw audio and emotiva too!

+1 for balanced inputs.

Personally, i think there is a difference when you hook up a 200wpc amp to your system. I have a 2 channel 100wpc rotel receiver hooked up to my 7's right now and they sound good, not as good as when i use my emo gear since they have tuning capabilities that this rotel doesnt, but that good quality power availability gives more...full bodiededness and authority to what ever you are listening to especially with lower volumes and it just gets better as you turn the volume up. Your yamaha will do the job, for most its enough power but you also have 7's and a 64 which you should feed more power to. The 7's IMO are a more hungry speaker just due to size, FEED THE BEAST!

[willland]

Would there be a noticable difference in sound form what I here with my current set-up.

Henry,

I really can't answer that without hearing your current setup first. What I can say is that your Yamaha has a very potent amp section for an AVR and I am sure sounds pretty good on it's own.

When I added my B&K Ref 4430(200w/ch, 3-channel) to my Onkyo TX-SR705(100w/ch in stereo), the difference was dramatic. Your Yamaha is a behemoth flagship receiver and definitely has a better power supply and amp section, DAC's, and all other internal components than my Onkyo.

HT Labs Measures: Yamaha RX-Z11 A/V Receiver

Five channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads:
0.1 percent distortion at 153.2 watts
1 percent distortion at 183.1 watts

Seven channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads:
0.1 percent distortion at 139.4 watts
1 percent distortion at 160.4 watts

Analog frequency response in Pure Direct mode:
+0.07 dB at 10 Hz; +0.01 dB at 20 Hz
–0.01 dB at 20 kHz; –2.75 dB at 50 kHz

Analog frequency response with stereo signal processing:
–1.48 dB at 10 Hz; –0.44 dB at 20 Hz
–0.02 dB at 20 kHz; –25.17 dB at 50 kHz

The RX-Z11’s left channel, from CD input to speaker output with two channels driving 8-ohm loads, reaches 0.1 percent distortion at 214.8 watts and 1 percent distortion at 243.6 watts. Into 4 ohms, the amplifier reaches 0.1 percent distortion at 311.3 watts and 1 percent distortion at 387.4 watts.

Even with the Yamaha's excellent test results(2-channels, 5-channels, 7-channels driven), the best AVR amp section really can't touch a quality high current, low impedence driving amplifier in headroom/dynamics, musicality, and low end grunt. Your Yamaha would definitely give some outboard multichannel amps a run for their money and best some along the way.

Bill

[SonicSeeker]

This is my concern will I be spending money without a noticable difference, also would I be better of with just a 3 channel for the fronts or should I just get the seven. I had a DSP-A1 with marantz mono blocks for the surrounds and there was noticable hiss when no music was playing, dont want that again.

[willland]

This is my concern will I be spending money without a noticable difference, also would I be better of with just a 3 channel for the fronts or should I just get the seven.

I think a 3-channel amp may be a better option, your Yamaha can surely handle the rest of the channels with ease.

I have this exact amp and it has been trouble free, cool running, and sounds great with my system.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220796815326&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I have the 2-channel version of this TX-4430.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230582341500&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

This is a good one if you must have new.

http://emotiva.com/xpa3.shtm

Bill

[elitedemo]

after looking around and around between rotel b&k sunfire and emotiva i opted for the xpa2/5 after hearing a xpa3 against my marantz mono's, if your looking at cost/preformance you cant beat emotiva's amps, about the same as spending on a 200.7 but its a little more juice on the towers and 2 amps to do it with, also needless to say matching up with the prepro is considerbly cheaper than doing that with any other brand, if i only wanted one amp id take the b&k or try to find a used mps-2 from emotiva (the only strong 7 channel they have til new lineup)