MPNX2 Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 I am looking to upgrade my HK AVR7200 (if its worthwhile). I was thinking of getting a good Pre/Pro setup since I am moving into a new home after it is completed with an HT room. The room measures 19X19 with a 14' tray ceiling. I am also upgrading my speakers to the new Ref flagships and an SVS PB-12 Plus/2. I have looked at the new Sunfire stuff online but it sure seems a bit pricey. I would estimate my budget to be about 3K for the Pre/Pro setup. I welcome all of your comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 with the 19X 19 you will get some nasty room nodes..... Its a perfect square which is not great at all for acoustics. As for pre/pro I'd look for nads they sell some good stuff for reasonable prices. And again the RF-83 will not sound as good with the room being the shape it is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPNX2 Posted July 9, 2006 Author Share Posted July 9, 2006 I have attached a picof the room. It is not perfectly square and I was wrong on the measurements as well..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 Hmm that is an interesting room. Again I will say try nads or use the reciever you have as an pre and as there is much talk lately about using crown or qsc pro amps to power their speakers. People say the crown and qsc sound just as good as the big guys like Aragon, Rotel etc. Might be worth it to do a search on that. Its also a hell of a lot cheaper that way too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcarlton Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 Outlaw would be another one to consider. Try the Outlaw 990 combo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPNX2 Posted July 9, 2006 Author Share Posted July 9, 2006 The Outlaw combo seems like its price right. I can get the 990 processor and the 7700 amp for $3300. Would this be a big improvment over my current HK AVR 7200? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me Loves Khorns Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 I too am trying to figure out a change in my system. Have any of you had experience with how the Nad or Outlaw type gear sounds in 2 channel analog audio situations? Do they present a good sound with vinyl, cds, etc. I am wanting to get tube amps for 2 channel and then ss for the rest of the surround sound uses and am wondering how clean and so forth these units sound. I've been told that the NAD is rather musical in 2 channel. Is it much more so than my Yammy that I am currently using. Thanks for comments, Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcarlton Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 This thread did a good job discussing the pros and cons of the Outlaw 990. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arky Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 The Outlaw combo seems like its price right. I can get the 990 processor and the 7700 amp for $3300. Would this be a big improvment over my current HK AVR 7200? My experience... moved my HK 7200 to bedroom duty. Bought Outlaw 990/7500. Huge improvement - cleaner, better seperation etc. Added QSC plx 2402 amp for mains. Drastic improvement - cleaner still, huge sound, dead quiet, bass has come alive & hits hard (this fact confuses me). The QSC fan isn't noticable at any appreciable volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPNX2 Posted July 9, 2006 Author Share Posted July 9, 2006 Another alternitive is to use my HK AVR7200 and use the pre outs on it and use a 5 channel amp. Has anyone used the pre outs on the 7200. I thought about and Earthquake Cinenova.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arky Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 Another alternitive is to use my HK AVR7200 and use the pre outs on it and use a 5 channel amp. Has anyone used the pre outs on the 7200. I thought about and Earthquake Cinenova.... I tried my Outlaw 7500 with my HK. The sound was really nice. The Outlaw forum says it is basically a rebadged ATI amp. I would describe the sound as neutral. When I put the 990 back in place of the HK the sound is just more pleasing to my ears. Much more live like, which is what i'm seeking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 I'm a big fan of using recievers as a pre-amp stage. If you do your research you'll notice that there are very few chips on the market being used and each chip pretty much requires the same implementation...so you're getting close to the top of the line preamp quality with just the normal everyday receiver (of course nobody wants anyboy to know this) [] My personal favorites are the Denon recievers sporting the "Burr-Brown Dacs" ya, it's mostly marketing, but they are still good chips. The other nice thing about going this route is that you can start with just a dedicated 2-channel amp for your mains and keep everything powered off the reciever...it's usually cheaper to find a 2-channel amp that you like versus swapping out 5,6,7 channel amps - and then of course you've got all the other benefits of dedicated amps. Depending on the amp you get you can then purchase a multi-channel version in the same family for the rest of the speakers or you can just duplicate it all around (for a total of 4 amps - leaving one unused channel). But before you go playing with electronics I would highly recommend tackling the acoustics of your room. You can spend thousands for differences in nuance, or you can spend a few hundred and bring your system to a whole new level. If aesthetics are an issue then you can expect it costing a bit more, but the difference is definetly worth the hassle. And then after that you can start worrying about nuances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPNX2 Posted July 10, 2006 Author Share Posted July 10, 2006 I'm a big fan of using recievers as a pre-amp stage. If you do your research you'll notice that there are very few chips on the market being used and each chip pretty much requires the same implementation...so you're getting close to the top of the line preamp quality with just the normal everyday receiver (of course nobody wants anyboy to know this) [] My personal favorites are the Denon recievers sporting the "Burr-Brown Dacs" ya, it's mostly marketing, but they are still good chips. The other nice thing about going this route is that you can start with just a dedicated 2-channel amp for your mains and keep everything powered off the reciever...it's usually cheaper to find a 2-channel amp that you like versus swapping out 5,6,7 channel amps - and then of course you've got all the other benefits of dedicated amps. Depending on the amp you get you can then purchase a multi-channel version in the same family for the rest of the speakers or you can just duplicate it all around (for a total of 4 amps - leaving one unused channel). But before you go playing with electronics I would highly recommend tackling the acoustics of your room. You can spend thousands for differences in nuance, or you can spend a few hundred and bring your system to a whole new level. If aesthetics are an issue then you can expect it costing a bit more, but the difference is definetly worth the hassle. And then after that you can start worrying about nuances. The room has not been completed yet. For all I know my current equipment may sound a lot better in the new environment. It doesnt sound bad now. I was looking to upgrade just because the area that I am trying to fill with the sound is going to be alot larger. Also, I will be upgrading my current RF-35 setup to the new flagship line so I was looking for some more power since I know that Klipsch recommends that the RF-7 line have 200 watts. Do you happen to have a prefernece on what amps I should be looking for? I like the way the HK sounds with the RF-35's being that I am in a small town and I am about 120 miles for a city that would have dealers to audition the equipment in I was looking for a short list for when I do happen to make the trip to listen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 I really like the Sunfire Theatre Grand or whatever they call it multichannel amps...very smooth, but ballsy sound and should work wonders with that "lacking" midrange in the RF7's. I personally like to go with pro gear and would use something like the Crown K2: http://www.crownaudio.com/amp_htm/k.htm 2 ohm stable and 500W into 8ohms - cleanest amp you'll find. (It doesn't exactly double down probably due to heat issues and not so much the amp topology). I'm not a huge fan of Rotel or Mcintosh because they have a "flavored" sound - if you dig it then great, go that route, but I'm more about the transparency than signature sound. Btw, the 200W recommendation for the RF-7 has more to do with the fact that most of those amps can handle low impedance swings well. I believe they dip as low as 2.5 ohms? (I forget) which means you'll need a "2 ohm stable" amp and preferably one where the output doubles for every halving of frequency (so 50W into 8 ohms, 100W into 4 ohms, 200W into 2 ohms). As far as your new room, is it a dedicated room? And are there already plans for the acoustical treatment? The building stage is the best time to implement a lot of the tricks without hurting the aesthetics of the room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fgarib Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 MPNX2, I've heard nothing but good things about the Outlaw, so you may want to check these out. My suggestion (because I'm a die hard fan) is go Lexicon. Their new (well, not new anymore) receiver, the RV-8 has gotten TREMENDOUS reveiws, and having used their little-brother-to-the-flagship MC-8 pre/pro, I know how flexible Lexicon can be. Plus Logic 7 just rocks!! I'm not sure, but a toned down version of L7 is featured in teh HK receivers also... so you may already be familiar with it. I was just going through Audiogon for you, and I didn't see any RV-8's... I did see a couple MC-8's for sale for a good price... you can add amps to that and perhaps even still stay within budget. http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?homeproc&1155505654 Other than that, a good price for the RV-8 (used) would be around 3,500. I don't have blue book access to Audiogon, so I don't know for sure, but that would be my guess. Good luck! -Fauzi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPNX2 Posted July 12, 2006 Author Share Posted July 12, 2006 With so choices out there it is hard to make a decision. I have seen some Outlaw components used as well as B&K, Lexicon, and Rotel. I have also ran across some of the Aragon stuff a Stage One and the 2007 amp is anyone filimar with these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 It's really pretty easy to make a choice,set your budget and there's only gonna be so many available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schurkey Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 This Stage One is a good deal. As I type this, there's only 12 hours left 'til the auction ends, though. Comes right from Klipsch, with a 90-day warranty. AUCTION Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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