everything sounded great until the upgrade


In short: I loved the sound of my modest system, until I upgraded my amp. Now it  sounds pretty horrible. It went from a warm sweet embracing easy-to-listen sound to knives and forks trying to escape from a bathtub.

So...

1. I can just unplug this new amp (used) and sell it

Any other options? I could upgrade my speakers but I have no budget for that.

2. I could sell the speakers and use money to buy used ones that go with the amp. 

3. Lastly I could change the source, but was it the culprit - to begin with?

btw - the sound of the "new" amp is decent with my turntable, and terrible with my CD player.

(If I wrote brands and models it would throw the discussion into "A sucks, B is great")

grislybutter

@decooney 

that's pretty accurate. My initial thought was that it's unforgiving, highlights all the errors the 2252b hides/unable to reveal

I can't speak about the A300 but I have two friends with A3.2s, one with Maggie 1.6s and the other with Martin Logan Requests. I spent a lot of time listening and improving those systems. Both were in very good rooms and both sounded very good. I think the A3.2 can play well with some proper set-up. Give it time and good speaker placement. 

If you have changed the balance of your system, you can try to compensate by doing simple things, like experimenting with speaker or listening chair placement, minor acoustic treatment, like putting tapestries on the walls or using an area rug on the floor (things that may not cost much or unduly disrupt your life).  Doing more to compensate, like buying different cables is a gamble because it may not work.  I hope it is something like changing the toe-in of the speakers that will do the trick.

sometimes just getting familiar with the new sound will also change your mind, so be patient and go slow with the changes.

I can understand your not wanting to fully disclose the products involved, but perhaps you can say what were the components that you liked before the change.

I don't have a lot of placement options but I will do my best :)

I don't doubt it's a good amp.

@larryi 

it's all in the comments now, Marantz 2252B --> Musical Fidelity A3.2

Dynaudio Evoke 20

My initial hope was that things would get better not worse, So the improvements you are suggesting (all great ones) are "me working for the amp and not the amp working for me" :) if it makes sense. But I will get up my butt and play with the placement.