Your favorite Amp & Processor companies

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Nobody forgets about Krell. The problem is that nobody can afford Krell. The biggest Krell fanatic in the world is Fabio, the model. Remember him. His pictures used to be on the cover of most romance novels. Read about his gear:

http://www.transparentcable.com/prod...interiors.html

http://stuff.maxim.com/articles/inde...788&src=stf189

http://dvice.com/archives/2006/12/an...bio_geek_s.php

Is that your hidden passion BD? Romance novels? You learn something everyday!

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by John72953

Is that your hidden passion BD? Romance novels? You learn something everyday!

I actually saw him in a convertible Rolls Royce a few years ago in West LA and read about him in high-end audio magazines. Apparently, he is the world's number one celebrity audiophile.

P.S. I don't mind reading a romance novel in the arms of a beautiful and romantic woman. Please don't tell Mrs. Big Daddy. .

[Johnny Vinyl]

Your secret is safe with me BD!

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Nobody forgets about Krell. The problem is that nobody can afford Krell. The biggest Krell fanatic in the world is Fabio, the model. Remember him. His pictures used to be on the cover of most romance novels. Read about his gear:

http://www.transparentcable.com/prod...interiors.html

I remember reading that article from way back when. Boy was I envious being a poor & hungry college student at the time.

As for me, my fav's are McIntosh, Krell, and Mark Levinson, although I'm a recent believer in Emotiva since my pockets refuse to go quite so deep.

[primaz]

Originally Posted by John72953

Are you on commission from OUTLAW ? I like my Totem speakers, but I don't mention them in every post! And I haven't even even touched on the other stuff I've owned over the years.

I do like others that most have mentioned such as McIntosh, Mark Levinson, NAD, Krell, and others but I am still amazed at their specs and prices even though I only own their subs and cables right now. I do like Anthem as a friend of mine has that and also Sunfire for processors. But again for the folks on a tight budget yet wanting high end sound it is hard to beat a lot of the Outlaw equipment. I personally think 50% of the budget should be for the speakers then the processor, then the amps, and input sources. I wished I had the budget some of you folks have as many of those brands can be five digit numbers just for the amplification!

[SRTCraig]

Originally Posted by primaz

I currently have (5) NAD power amps but my next upgrade will likely be the Outlaw Audio 7 channel 300 watt per channel balanced power amp that requires (2) 15 amp electrical circuits to feed that monster amp! I like my NAD amps but you can not beat the quality and price of the Outlaw Audio products.

Why the need for 2 15amp circuits to feed it?

My Favourites would have to be Verastarr, Krell, Plinius although it was a little bright sounding and became a little fatiguing after a while.

[primaz]

Originally Posted by SRTCraig

Why the need for 2 15amp circuits to feed it?

My Favourites would have to be Verastarr, Krell, Plinius although it was a little bright sounding and became a little fatiguing after a while.

This is one massive amp as it is 150 pounds, has seven channels each putting out 300 watts! The manual says that two separate cicuits are needed to power the amp inorder to enable full power output. I use two separate circuits for my amps as I spread out half of the system on one circuit and half on the other just to make sure there is no issues.

[blick]

Originally Posted by SRTCraig

Why the need for 2 15amp circuits to feed it?

My Favourites would have to be Verastarr, Krell, Plinius although it was a little bright sounding and became a little fatiguing after a while.

300W * 7ch = 2100W

A 15A 110V circuit is only good for about 1650W and since amps are far from being 100% efficient you'll need two circuits to provide enough juice.

Now the question is if that much headroom is really necessary and if anyone will ever be driving 300W into 7 channels at the same time. But then again, why buy a beast of an amplifier if you're not going to wire it up to its full potential?

[SRTCraig]

Hmmm, theres plenty of amps out there that deliver more than the outlaw does. The verastarr i have heard for instance is rated at 6 x 400w and running at peak draws 6000w
It only has a need for one power outlet, although they do recommend a 30amp outlet if possible....

[primaz]

Originally Posted by SRTCraig

Hmmm, theres plenty of amps out there that deliver more than the outlaw does. The verastarr i have heard for instance is rated at 6 x 400w and running at peak draws 6000w
It only has a need for one power outlet, although they do recommend a 30amp outlet if possible....

The Verastarr is almost 400 watt is almost 8K and their other 440 watt amp is over 10K and the Outlaw is 3K. Those are nice looking amps though but too pricey for my blood.

[Gremal]

Check out these babies shown at CES.



If you've got $100,000 to burn.

[CasualKiller]

Simaudio, no way I can afford it, my dream duo.. probably around 40k :

http://www.simaudio.com/mooncp8.htm




http://www.simaudio.com/moonmc8.htm



And just an FYI Gremal is the devil, he linked me to a Vac Avatar amp awhile ago I'm seriously saving every penny and selling everything I can live without to get the money

[Gremal]

Who, me?

The Avatar is an incredible amp. Two were for sale on audiogon for very reasonable prices last time I checked.

The VAC Phi separates were also for sale and I'm tempted. But I love my integrated. Plus I'm majorly in debt.

[Driver_King]

I could only speculate to how good an amp system would sound properly powering all the speakers I have now and am getting.

[gearyt]

McIntosh,

[sokrman14]

For HT I would say Krell, Anthem, MAC, Sunfire and Lexicon, for Music I would say MAC, Krell, Classe, Pass, and Boulder

[gear]

I'm a big fan of Rotel for amps, but not pre amps. For some reason they just can't produce pre amps without lots of bugs.

[Halcro 1]

Originally Posted by CasualKiller

Simaudio, no way I can afford it, my dream duo.. probably around 40k :

http://www.simaudio.com/mooncp8.htm




http://www.simaudio.com/moonmc8.htm



And just an FYI Gremal is the devil, he linked me to a Vac Avatar amp awhile ago I'm seriously saving every penny and selling everything I can live without to get the money

Sim Is the bad ass player ... I almost got that instead of my Halcro ... If Sim ever comes out with their new processor I might switch ... BTW My Halcro Is 350x5 and I have 20Amp service

[Halcro 1]

Originally Posted by blick

My favorite processor / preamp company is Lexicon. I think their Logic 7 algorithm is fantastic. Unfortunately Lexicon hasn't released anything in a while so no TrueHD or DTS-MA decoding and their stuff has gotten way too expensive.

Heres why the dont do the DTS and true HD crap... My Halcro cant do it either ... It can do uncompressed like the Lex ... These compaines cant pay the fees involved to have the DTS-MA logos that make most people in this forum exited ... Big deal uncompressed out of my Halcro Is way better than DTS-MA out of my Parasound I used to own .. It costs a company 100k just to have the THX logo plus the money to have DTS True HD .... I thoght about a Lex ... But I liked the Halcro better ....No Ones mentions Halcro in here kind of funny

[blick]

Originally Posted by Halcro 1

Heres why the dont do the DTS and true HD crap... My Halcro cant do it either ... It can do uncompressed like the Lex ... These compaines cant pay the fees involved to have the DTS-MA logos that make most people in this forum exited ... Big deal uncompressed out of my Halcro Is way better than DTS-MA out of my Parasound I used to own .. It costs a company 100k just to have the THX logo plus the money to have DTS True HD .... I thoght about a Lex ... But I liked the Halcro better ....No Ones mentions Halcro in here kind of funny

I think it is more a matter of engineering costs than it is licensing costs. The problem with high-end companies like Lexicon is that they move extremely slow with regards to new technology. I'm sure the next generation of their processors will have the lossless codecs, but that will be a while with this economy, and by then the mass market companies like Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer, Sony, Yamaha will have totally eaten their lunch.

I agree that the lossless decoding of TrueHD and DTS-MA really should be done in the Blu-ray player. The problem is that most of the stand-alone Blu-ray players can't docode them both and can only bitstream them. So this is going to drive people to receivers / preamps that can which means the mass market brands. IMO this and the current economy are going to kill off many of the high-end brands in the home theater processor market.

I've been a happy Lexicon owner for more than a decade. I'm looking to upgrade to the lossless codecs and my next surround processor purchase is not going to be one of the high-end brands. This saddens me greatly but the Lexicon's and the other high-end brands just aren't competitive any more. It seems like audio processors have gotten like computers in that they are obsolete before you even get them home.