Seb Posted December 23, 2001 Share Posted December 23, 2001 hi, after much consideration and a lot of help from the guys over at hometheaterforum.com, I have decided to go with the Denon 3802 over the 4802 for my future RF-7/RC-7 speakers. I am now considering outboard amplification, either for now or the near future, knowing full well I will never be completely satisfied with the level of performance the 3802 offers, and knowing that some good separates solutions could be had for the same price as a 4802. Therefore, I am now looking at the Sony TA-N9000ES amplifier. The specs look impressive, people all over the internet and on this forum seem to like it, and it is available to me. It seems to qualify, but I have a few questions: -if you have it or have auditioned it, how is it? looking for any relevant info here. -would the sound be too harsh, or aggressive, for my horn-loaded Klipsch, as opposed to the supposedly more mellow sound of Denon products? -how about the following solution: running the amp in its bridged 3-channel mode (200 watts L/R and 120 watts for the center) and using the 3802's amplification for the rear and rear surround channels?? I would think that it would fit my speaker combo and philosophy perfectly, no? (lots of money in the front, the rears aren't as important, they need to be there but they don't need to be as accurate/musical/powerful as the fronts because of the limited amounts and voulmes of sound coming out of them) i would of course use the 3802 for all pre/pro functions, as I hear it is often used that way and quite good at it. ------------------ 'cuz not a lot of people have ever said "Pump up the treble!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audible Nectar Posted December 23, 2001 Share Posted December 23, 2001 I've heard the piece briefly, and my impression of it is much like all recent ES series amplifiers. They do seem more "warm", like the Denons. I do not own either, but have certainly heard a few of both brands. I haven't done any A/B comparisons, but I did hear this piece recently - and based on your comments so far, I think you will like it. I do not think it will be "harsh" - it seemed far from it to me. Probably not the most educated opinion you may find here, but FWIW..... ------------------ First we Rock, then we Roll! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted December 23, 2001 Author Share Posted December 23, 2001 thank you. keep 'em coming guys, I'm especially interested in TheEars' opinion... ------------------ 'cuz not a lot of people have ever said "Pump up the treble!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddvj Posted December 24, 2001 Share Posted December 24, 2001 I know that it is a very cool amp and can do a lot of cool stuff, but I have only heard it in the store, and that was through a switcher, etc. so it is hard to tell. I think it is a good idea to use the 3802 as a preamp, because it also does some very cool stuff. The Sony ES is a very high quality amp, the only question is the sound quality. Most Sony's I've heard were kind of thin sounding, but this amp is certainly a cut above any other Sony I've heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted December 25, 2001 Author Share Posted December 25, 2001 i don't want to believe that nobody else here has heard or had experience or has any opinion on that piece of gear... any of you superfreaks care to look at its architecture and tell me whether it looks like an amp worthy of the RF-7? I have seen people say that it is underpowered compared to specs, but I won't need all that much power anyways for those super efficient RF-7s. I have also read that it is better to run it in 2 channel mode than in its BTL mode. true? ------------------ 'cuz not a lot of people have ever said "Pump up the treble!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted December 25, 2001 Share Posted December 25, 2001 seb, w/ rf-7, i'd take a look at that 4802 again. one nice additional thing is it'll let u drop the cross down to 60 or 40hz in it's bass mgmt whereas the 3802 only goes up from 80hz. that is if u want to use the processor for that, which is best imo. don't know if that's a deal breaker for u, but just a head's up. i just about got the 4802 but instead went w/ a pre/pro at the last hour. haven't used that sony amp, but just make sure it has a good bit more power (that's current not just wattage) than your receiver to avoid a let down. good way to look at that on paper is, for consistant methods, compare the rated wattage at 8ohms vs 4ohms. the better higher current amps will or will come close to doubling that number. ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forresthump Posted December 26, 2001 Share Posted December 26, 2001 Sony amp that's one oxymoron LOL That denon 3802 has more power ------------------ go forth & hump the world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted December 26, 2001 Share Posted December 26, 2001 Seb, Check this great post from ForrestGump "Sony amp that's one oxymoron LOL That denon 3802 has more power" The Denon 3802 has more power! Hm LOL Forrest will never fail to amaze me with his informative posts. Seb no worry,the Sony ES amps are more than OK,they are quite good.Better then the 3802.Its nor hard to beat a mid range reciever.The 3802 is a mid range reciever...err a great reciever may I add. TheEAR(s) Now theears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted December 26, 2001 Author Share Posted December 26, 2001 i can't find the power rating at 4ohm... i am starting to think that I might be better off going with the 4802, as it is a couple hundred less expensive than the 3802/TA-N9000ES combo. I just saw a post on the hometheater forum that said, and I quote: Anthony, The Parasound 1800 coupled with a Sony TA-N9000ES amp sounded worse than the Sony DA777ES flagship receiver and about the same as the combo Denon 3802 + Sony TA-N9000ES. I tried the Sony TA-E9000ES preamp at home for a few weeks and it sounded very good indeed. I returned it hoping that the Outlaw 950 will be better. The Outlaws themselves hinted at this on their site: "Our initial testing tells us that the noise floor is incredibly low and that all other "techy" specs are equal to, or better than, products costing two to three times as much as the 950 in both analog and digital performance". Razvan I guess, since from what I know the Denon 4802 is better than the Sony DA777ES, that the Denon 4802 would thus be better than a 3802/TA-N9000ES combo. I have emailed the guy to clarify this. I am also worried that the guy was using the TA-N9000ES to power all 5 channels, which is not what I intend to do. If the Denon 4802 offers as much, or nearly as much performance as the Sony/Denon combo, then I will get it, for a couple reasons: 1) it's cheaper (not by much though) 2) it has more features (love that remote) 3) I can always add another amp to that later on However, I am worried that there might be some new standards (7.1) on the way that will plunge the 4802 into obsolescence, making that huge investment irrelevant in a year or two from now. /UPDATE/ I have found 4ohm numbers for the Sony TA-N9000ES amp... and it doesn't look too good. Apparently the power is DOWN 10watts in 4ohm vs. 8ohm operation... Making the Denon 4802 a more and more attractive option. But I really wanted to jump into the separates bandwagon! On the other hand, I checked out the specs on the Denon 2802 and it looks like it would do as good a job as a pre/pro/rear channel amp as the 3802... or am i missing something here? This message has been edited by Seb on 12-26-2001 at 02:11 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted December 26, 2001 Share Posted December 26, 2001 that was one big factor why i swung to the B&K pre/pro since i already had a acurus A200X5 amp - upgradability. but right now the 4802 has more available formats than my b&k does (hoping for an upgrade soon ) it has 7.1 (seven channels of power), DD 7.1 EX, DTS 6.1 ES matrix AND 6.1 discrete, thx post processing, DPL II. there right now this baby has more than the denon 5800 (more even after the 5800 upgrade). don't think it's upgradable, though not sure here as it does have an rs-232 port. but anyway u shouldn't need anything more for a long time. i'd get that & look to add a nicer 2 or 3 channel power amp for the rf-7/rc-7 down the road. ------------------ My Home Systems Page This message has been edited by boa12 on 12-26-2001 at 03:41 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted December 27, 2001 Author Share Posted December 27, 2001 i would get the 4802 now and then consider amp upgrades down the rtoad, but i feel it's just too much. i mean, i don't want to spend those ridiculous amounts of money just for a hobby, I have more important things to take care of. I have to be realistic from time to time... so it is either Denon 3802 with TA-N9000ES or Denon 4802. The 4802 would sound better apparently, but it is more expensive after rechecking it. so what shall i do? ------------------ 'cuz not a lot of people have ever said "Pump up the treble!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted December 27, 2001 Share Posted December 27, 2001 seb, whichever way u go, u could look into a 3 channel amp for the front & ctr. that way u could get a better amp for the same money & use the receiver for the other 2-4 channels. ------------------ My Home Systems Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobBeam Posted December 27, 2001 Share Posted December 27, 2001 Since you're already thinking about the sony amp you might want to consider the 9000 controller/pre-amp that's it's mate. The Nov/Dec issue of The Perfect Vision re-reviews the TA-E9000ES after the firmware upgrade and gives it an extremely positive write up. If you look around you can find them pretty cheap and although it doesn't come with the newest version of the firmware you can buy an upgrade kit or, I believe, download it for free from a couple of place on the web. I don't own this particular controller but happened to have bought that issue of the mag when I was tv shopping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted December 27, 2001 Author Share Posted December 27, 2001 the sony pre/pro does not have all the latest formats, such as DTS-ES, 6.1 discrete, etc... plus, I'd have to buy more than one amp so that I could power my rears (no way I'm using the Sony for all channels, plus it couldn'T power the rear center). so the TA-E9000ES is not an option. ------------------ 'cuz not a lot of people have ever said "Pump up the treble!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted December 27, 2001 Share Posted December 27, 2001 Seb just get the 4802,dont waste money on a Sony. Sure I could say buy the 5800,the 4802 is damn close(amp section has more guts on the 5800).And the 4802 is much less expensive,pre/pro is superior to the 5800 before the upgrade. Get a 4802,its a great reciever and will drive the Klipsch R series very well. TheEAR(s) Now theears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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