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Sonic Impact back in stock


Tom Mobley

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Holy cow, mine showed up today. Holy cow, the thing is tiny. even holier cow, I've got to go over to Home Depot and buy some 16 or 18 gauge speaker wire. Those are the tiniest speaker wire clips I've ever seen.

putting 8 AA's in it will give it some heft, with no batteries it feels like the box is empty.

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well, it's pretty much like everybody said, this little thing really kicks. I've got it hooked up to a walkman and the Khorns listening to some Krall, Norah Jones, Orbison Black and White Night and Santana Shaman. It images better than the EICO, as good as the Telefunken loaded Scott. Santanas' sharp transients are no problem for it, and it's also able to point up the musicality of the female vocalists. The Orbison disc has cool acoustic bass that comes across near perfect. I'm not trying to get 110dB out of it, but did notice that it doesn't have any trouble getting 100dB out of the Khorns. they're on a 24 foot wall, seating is across the 13 foot wide room right in the middle. Effortless is the term that comes to mind. Amazing considering that without batteries it weighs about as much as a pack of cigarettes. My HF-81 is pretty nice but doesn't really have much on this $20 piece of plastic. This is nuts.

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Got mine today. Bought the Rat Shack adaptor and plugged it in. "Gee wizz how did they get that much sound into that little box" factor aside, initial impression is it's OK, but not fantastic. Clarity is ok but not awe inspiring. Soundstage is wide but not deep. Has that SS grainess. Distorts rapidly above mid point on the volume control.

Have had two really wierd moments with it, it's suddenly spiked to very large sound levels. Guess I'm going to have to open it up and check the volume control.

After it's run in for a few more hours, I'll hook it up to my main system and try running in through my Dean modified KG 5'2's and a tube cd player, and report back.

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Thanks Tom!

The SIs (I ordered the night you posted your heads-up) arrived today.

PCMall e-mailed that they were back-ordered....but never told me they were back in stock, so it was a suprise.

FYI--these:

http://www.tributariescable.com/catalog_view.php?id=94

Are designed to step-down from larger cable to the spring clips like on the SI.

Just bought some last week for my old Allisons--they fit in the SI.

Mark

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"Got mine today. Bought the Rat Shack adaptor and plugged it in. "Gee wizz how did they get that much sound into that little box" factor aside, initial impression is it's OK, but not fantastic. Clarity is ok but not awe inspiring. Soundstage is wide but not deep. Has that SS grainess. Distorts rapidly above mid point on the volume control.

Have had two really wierd moments with it, it's suddenly spiked to very large sound levels. Guess I'm going to have to open it up and check the volume control.

After it's run in for a few more hours, I'll hook it up to my main system and try running in through my Dean modified KG 5'2's and a tube cd player, and report back."

A good regulated DC supply or some good clean batteries/battery would help the grain issue.

IMO, the stock volume pot and the way it's configured is pretty worthless. Once I ditched that VC the amp did improve in noise.

If anything, you can look at that 50 dollar Marantz EL-34 push-pull. Then look at the plastic SI kiddie amp, set it on the floor, and grind it into the carpet with your foot.

I'd feel ripped-off if I were you.......

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Thanks for the heads up on the pot and power source Mike.

Yup, with shipping and power supply the SI comes to just about $50 bucks, the same as the Marantz 8b. Of course Craig's got the 8b right now and he's making expensive sounding noises at me. I guess the price of the surgical gloves he needs to work on the baby have gone up!3.gif

Haven't reached any definite conclusion yet, just first impressions.

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