[sk456]

Im using a borrowed NUVO power amp.. with my laptop as a pre. Am scouting around to get one for my self .

[reignofchaos]

Saurabh the laptop audio out is pretty bad... Get a new source quick .

[sk456]

Y a i know .. am waiting for soem demo equipment to arrive.. a few A/B 's and then a second jolt to the bank account for the amp and then finally a third jolt for the cd player...

[sk456]

Here's an update to my amp sourcing... auditioned a lot of stuff with my Focus 140's at home....
1)A/B'd the McCormack DNA-225 power amp /RLD -1 pre and the Plinius 9200 integrated..... detailed review to follow.....

[reignofchaos]

So which one did you like better?

[Nikhilb2008]

I bought the Cambridge Audio Azur 540c for abt 16k from Malaysia.

The sound quality is miles ahead of the Philips DVD player I was using earlier.

I cant wait to burn some audio CDs using the FLACs I have and really test the setup

[sk456]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

So which one did you like better?

Well.. after a long listen with the behemoth McCormacks i decided to switch to the Plinius 9200 for a A/B...From the first note itself the MCormacK beat the hell out of the Plinius. The plinius had no chance what soever..complete lack of soundstage /detail as compared to the McCormack. The McCormacks were a real joy to listen to....

Source component used was the Cambridge Azur 840C upsampling CD player..with Nordaust cabling and interconnects....

More to follow tomorrow where we A/B the McCormacks with a third amp and a second CD player comes into the battelfield.

[sk456]

To Continue the saga....

The third amp in question was the Krell 400xi integrated. sheer black beauty .... we also had a brief A/B of a second set of speakers with the Dynaudio Focus 140..the cadence Arita Bookshelves..but that is a separate story ( which I will dwell on later )... Now coming back to the Krell... The first note and we were blown away.. made the Mc Cormack sound like a very avarage piece of machinery... The detail.. the midrange,Highs and bass were amazing... The Krell outclassed the McCormack 10:1... hands down.....The Krell incedently retails for half the price of the McCormacks ( both have similar power ratings incedentlally )..

We then bought a different source into contention to compare with the Cambridge 840C... we now had teh Jolida Reference Tube CD player... It indeeed again was comparing two toally different breeds of components. The warmth and detail with the Jolida was astounding as compared to the almsot twice as expensive 840C....

My next review to folow will be A/B a different link in the chain... Interconnects and speaker cables.... to coem soon..........

[Flying Bong]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

The best bang for the buck at the low end are the cambridge audio players.

I guess you're right, I heard the 540C a little over a year back though, and feel the Focus 140 deserves better...

[Flying Bong]

Originally Posted by sk456

The Krell incedently retails for half the price of the McCormacks ( both have similar power ratings incedentlally )..

So would you say that the Krell was an indecently better performer given the above incidental facts?

[sk456]

yesh it was incedentally totally indecentally kick ***,,,

[reignofchaos]

sk the problem with the McCormack vs the Krell is that the McCormack Line drive is not that great a piece of equipment. The Power amp is very very transparent. With a better preamplifier, the McCormack will do much better. Anyway I guess you are all set with the Krell now so just get it :-).

[zucchero]

when the dynaudio's master temptations were dislpayed at the home entertainment expo 2001 the amplification used was preamp-krell KCT,poweramp-krell FPB-300C,cd player krell-KPS28C so i think krell should sound good with the dyns

[gunbir]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

sk the problem with the McCormack vs the Krell is that the McCormack Line drive is not that great a piece of equipment. The Power amp is very very transparent. With a better preamplifier, the McCormack will do much better. Anyway I guess you are all set with the Krell now so just get it :-).

My friend, as much as I would like to agree with you here, (unfortunately) I can't...

Lets leave aside the Pre. The McCormack power amp was audibly distressed driving the Dyns. It lacked headroom, sounded compressed and had little depth.

It was simply outclassed by the Krell. And that too, by a BIG margin. BIG.

PS. I was also impressed by the Jolida. Very nice CD Player FB...

[reignofchaos]

I find that very very hard to believe that a McCormack can't drive a pair of focus 140 standmounts. I've seen a DNA drive a pair of apogee stage speakers without much trouble. Maybe the amp itself is borked. As for drive issues, its the krell which suffers from that. A friend of mine has that krell with a pair of Audience 82 floorstanders and he's dumping it for a Coda Continuum integrated. Even stereophile found that the amp clips with a 4 ohm load. Here take a look

Stereophile: Krell KAV-400xi integrated amplifier

Summing up the Krell KAV-400xi's measured performance is difficult, as some of its odd behavior will not be an issue when it comes to playing back music at normal listening levels. It is also possible that our sample was defective, though the fact that both channels behaved similarly is evidence for that not being the case. But I would avoid pairing the amplifier with loudspeakers that drop below 4 ohms—such as Krell's own Resolution 1—and would make sure it had adequate ventilation.—John Atkinson