Hey there,
Before you buy anything, please look at my recommendations for configuring ARC correctly: After this, then see which way you want to go.
Improvement in Musicality for home theater system
As a first time poster I was hoping to get some feedback on improving the musical delivery, basically more refined sound from my hodgepodge of an old and new system. I have a smaller 16 by 12 room with heavy leather furniture and wood/ area rug, 1904 vintage. Due to the space and budget limitations, I purchased the Revel M126Be’s and had to ditch my 25 year old Proceed AVP for an Antham AVM 70 and had Audio Breakthroughs in Manhassett, NY come out and set it up. They hooked in a 20 year old Velodyne servo driven sub woofer. Now to my question: will replacing a 20 year old plus Adcom 5 channel amp with an Antham or Pass labs be a significant change? For source I mainly use a Blue Sound streamer.
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I think when people say musical it is often in the direction that @ghdprentice refers to, although it doesn't have to be with tubes. It often describes attributes that can be opposite what you want in a home theater setup (speech may become less clear during busy passages, for example). So something like what @adsell does gives you the both of best worlds. With respect to your other question about the difference from a different amplifier, definitely depending on what you switched to the sound will change as well. If you pick a new amplifier that is designed similar to your existing Adcom, the difference will be minimal or inaudible. |
Wow, this discussion went sideways really fast!! so, based on this:
I really think you do need to replace your Adcom amp. I used to run these amps a long time ago. While they were the "good for the money" amp and sounded nicer than the normal consumer electronics crap, they really are not that great. Especially when you are pairing them with the Anthem AVM and the Revel M126Be (which is an excellent choice in my opinion). The old Adcom amps were nice, but they were a bit warmer sounding and did not have good resolution at all. Basically, the sound was a mess and you would not get good "separation of instruments" at all. The new Anthem amps are not bad, but I think you can do better because they are not as engaging as other amps. The Pass Labs amps are very nice, but they do have a unique sound. Very smooth with excellent resolution, but have more of a "controlled" type of sound (i.e. they are not as dynamic as other amps). If you like this type of sound, then great. The "XA" Pass Labs models are "full Class A" and are even warmer and slower sounding. Many love the sound of Pass Labs. I would say if you wanted to keep the "type of sound" that you had with Adcom, but with much more resolution and refinement, Pass Labs is likely a good choice. On the other hand, if you want a more revealing and transparent amp with a lot of dynamics, then I would recommend looking for a Luxman. Maybe try to find a used Luxman M-700u amp. There is a M-900u from The Music Room for $10.4k. I don't know your budget. Or you can go for a Luxman integrated for about $5-6k. There are a lot of Luxman products on ebay that are shipping from Japan. I would be cautious of these because they are almost all wired for 100V AC (Japan's standard) and will not work well with the 120V US standard.
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- 39 posts total