Do NOT Blow Your Entire Budget on Two Channel Audio

@moonwatcher

Would you rather have a "so-so" multi-channel set up or a "great" two-channel one for the amount of money you have at your disposal?

I split my budget for a preamp almost down the middle, I have a nice Sony Signature preamp/dac/headphone amp that does 2 channel and a Marantz home theater processor that has a "pure direct" feature for two channel plus everything else. So basically two units at around $2000 a piece instead of one $5K+ home theater processor. That’s just me, you could certainly tilt it toward either format. I found getting my acoustics right made made a bigger difference than the hardware I chose. 

@kota1 I have the F360 and it’s a great little Preamp. I also run a BAT Preamp for 2ch and it feeds the F360. With some XLR splitter boxes, I can now painlessly switch between the two Preamps, use the BAT for the front channels with the F360 running the rear channels. Or I can have all for F360 channels going. I can also completely switch out the F360 with a Turn of a knob and just listen via the BAT Preamp.

For all my dedicated multichannel Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD-MA, DSD 5.1, DVD-A 5.1, BluRay 5.1. It’s my Onkyo AV Preamp circa 2014ish ?

This hobby is all about having fun many of the responses here don’t show that. If I could afford the BACCH system, I integrate it into my rig instead of the F360.

I heard it at the Audio Shows but there’s no free trial to try it out and get me addicted.

Great responses form you BTW.

@rajugsw

Thanks very much for that information. I don’t "need" a preamp but I really want that F360. First, I am a Jim Fosgate fan and highly respect his engineering skills and passion. Now that he is gone that pre will be likely his last design. Next, I love the features with the balanced connections and all the knobs to "diddle" with the sound as Zeos says. I could drop that unit into my desktop system so all those knobs are right at my fingertips and would add rear speakers to get quad. Or, I could drop it in my main system. The price is so reasonable for what you get IMO. I see tube preamps going for $$$. The idea of running both a digital and an analog surround system side by side is VERY appealing.

Does the F360 hold its own with the BAT (I think the BAT is around $10K right)

I have an Onkyo 9 channel receiver circa 2019 in the mancave and love it. That company is all about quality and convenience.

BTW, your room looks great. Have you thought about adding some room treatments to your ceiling? From the pic it looks a bit like a hard surface.

@kota1 Its a VK50-SE from 1999. It’s was factory refreshed last year with Mundorf Paper in Oil Caps to replace the old “6 packs” that were in it originally.

The great thing with Black Ice Audio like most of the American Audio manufacturers. You can reach the owners and engineers anytime during their business hours.

Many live Rock Concert Albums sound amazing through the F360 but the vocals can become lost in the mix. With this switching setup, I can run the BAT directly on the front channels and the F360 On my rear stacked sealed box Bose 901’s powered by the Orchard Audio Ultra Amplifier. The fronts are all Tube Black Ice F100’s.

I found the results more listenable in my rig/room like this instead of just turning down the dimension knob.

I’ve done 2 F360 Videos. One on what they do to my Electrostatic Headphones, the other on my listening experience using my Klipsch and Bose Speakers. I’m working on a 3rd one utilizing 3 DOUK Black Bear XLR Splitters.

BTW. Not shown in the Videos or my profile system pics are two absorbant panels the width of my Sofa above the listening area.

Cheers,

Joe

Joe

Do you have a link to the videos @rajugsw ? Looking forward to checking them out. Very good to know about your experience sounds like you dialed it in for your room.