Showing posts with label amp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amp. Show all posts

7/01/2012

GLOW Voice One Loudspeaker (pair) Review

GLOW Voice One Loudspeaker (pair)
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Finally, a small speaker for my office that sounds really good.
I've been looking for a LONG time.
I'm in my office most of the day and have tried numerous small speakers in hopes of getting good sound where I actually do most of my listening. Tried various computer speakers (barf), and small speakers from Bose, Orb and others, but they always sound extremely compromised. Even slightly larger bookshelf speakers I've tried don't cut it; too big for the office space and not necessarily very good sound or imaging, especially bass and midrange.
I don't think there is another small speaker as good as the Glow speakers. Certainly not in this price range. Simple but brilliant design. They are only about 9" round with a tiny 3" speaker, but put up a gigantic sound stage. If you want a small speaker that gives you truly great hifi sound in an office, studio or bedroom, this is it. It sounds better than the better known Tekton and JB3 small speakers, which are both very good, by the way. And for you non-audiophiles, way better than the mass market Bose or Orb speakers you may be more familiar with.
Maybe it is because of the enclosure. The speakers sound very natural. They image better than speakers I've heard that cost in the thousands, probably because they are point source drivers, and the speaker doesn't have a large front surface, like most speakers in a box cabinet. The sound is not gimmicky. Very smooth, and very neutral. The speaker cones are made of hemp and bamboo, instead of metal or polypropylene, which may explain why they sound so natural.
These are great performers, and for a small to medium room at normal listening levels they are hard to beat. With a sub they sound nearly as good as my much larger and much more expensive B&W monitor speakers, which take up way too much room.
Even without the sub, the GLOW speakers make an impressive amount of bass, given the physical limits of the 3" driver. Again, I think the enclosure has something to do with it. I have a pair in my office with the GLOW subwoofer, which it matches perfectly. Some of my clients are musicians, and they freak out when they hear this stuff in my office, coming from my computer. I use another pair in a small room at home with no sub, and they crank out a surprising amount of bass. People ask me where's the sub? But if you place them right, they put out really good bass. Solid, just not deep.
As far as fit and finish, I have a pair in silver and also natural wood finish. They really look great, very artsy, never fail to receive admiring comments from visitors, even before they hear them. I've used them with transistor amps, T-amps and tube amps (the GLOW amp sounds unbelievable, by the way), and they do well with any type of amplifier. You don't need much power to drive them.
If you play them too loud you will soon reach the limits of the 3" driver. These are not for super high sound output levels, so don't get them for disco or hard rock. These are great for classical, jazz, and just about anything played at moderate levels.

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6/22/2012

GEMINI XPB-1600 1600W Professional Power Amplifer Review

GEMINI XPB-1600 1600W Professional Power Amplifer
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I'd have to say, this amp worked perfectly for my application. Can't find ANYTHING wrong with it. :) Cooling fans are a GREAT FEATURE! :D This thing stays VERY COOL under 2 Ohm loads. Probably the coolest operating amp I've come across. I've got this baby hooked up to 2 Alpine SWR-1242Ds (4 Ohm operation) with a Pyle PYX-3X Crossover to "cross" out them high frequencies. I do not believe it's putting out 1600 Watts below 50 Hz, but I bet it IS somewhere along the lines of 1100-1300. It's all wired in 12 Gauge Wire. Maybe Upgrade? ANYWAY, Great product. CRYSTAL CLEAR. :)

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5/31/2012

HeadRoom Micro Amp Review

HeadRoom Micro Amp
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I've had the headroom dac and amp since about a year and love it. I run AKG-701s, Sennheiser 650s and Denon 5000s with it. I use it with the matching Micro DAC.
Just recently, I stuck both the amp and the dac directly into the wall socket (and later, into a Wiremold ($60) powerstrip that does not have any filtering, spike control etc.). It's like I have a totally different product. Unconditional 5 stars. Just don't starve the poor thing of electricity.


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4/20/2012

JL Audio G1700 Review

JL Audio G1700
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I'm running 2 JL audio 13w3's I know this amp is bellow recommended rms for these subs but It Is defiantly loud enough for me. this amp is small and fits right underneath my rear seat. It never even gets hot to the touch. This amp plays loud and clean. I have one of the loudest system's in my city. And my Neighbor's want me DEAD.

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4/08/2012

KICKER KX800.2 - Amplifier - 2-channel - 295 Watts x 2 Review

KICKER KX800.2 - Amplifier - 2-channel - 295 Watts x 2
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Kicker has long been known for their ability to produce high quality sound equipment. The KX800.2 is no exception. It features easy-to-adjust controls and a paintable shroud to say the least (visit Kicker's web page to get more details). It's peak operating ability is easy to achieve due to the KX800.2 being able to produce maximum output from either 2 ohm in stereo mode or 4 ohm in mono mode (yes, it is bridgeable). Like most other kicker amplifiers, the 800.2 will produce well over it's specs. The true ratings (in watts) will be disclosed with with the data sheet provided by kicker in the amp's packaging. Please feel free to contact me with any other questions. I've had 4 of these along with 4 500.2's, a 600.4, and 2 SX1250.1's.

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4/07/2012

Adcom GFA-7607 7-Channel 125-Watt Amplifier Review

Adcom GFA-7607 7-Channel 125-Watt Amplifier
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I purchased mine 6 months ago. I just installed it, along with an Adcom control amp. It sounds like the previous reviewer got a lemon. Adcom should have simply replaced it. My unit is performing very well. All of my CD's sound much more "live" through this amplifier. Clear, clean, and lost of punch. There is one small thing that might turn some people off. In a quiet room, with no sound passing through the amp, you will notice some white noise (very faint). From what I have read online this is normal for this amp. This does not bother me, since while I am spinning a disk all I hear is great live sounding music. By the way, I do own an Onkyo integrated amplifier. It is very quiet (no white noise at normal volume levels). I have enjoyed that amp over the years. Here is the big-but; Onkyo=very well reproduced sound, while Adcom=live punchy music like would hear at a jazz club (albeit reproduced as well). The Adcom hit the mark for me. But then again, mine is working.

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3/17/2012

Adcom GFA-5500 High Current Power Amplifier Review

Adcom GFA-5500 High Current Power Amplifier
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The Adcom GFA-5500 in my opinion is without question the best amp in $1000 - $3000 price range . I own a Krell , B & K , and Anthem . The Adcom blows all of these amps away including the Krell which is A: a $3,200 amp and B: surprisingly mellow for a Krell product .
From the time I was a kid , Adcom , for some reason never got the respect it deserved . The sound was always described as " grainy " by whomever the person was that was selling a competing brand .Anything could be further from the truth . The 5500 is a ballsy amp that also has the ability to bring out the detail in a recording - something that the amps I mentioned above don't have . A-B an Adcom with an Anthem and you'll hear a stark difference .
Hook this up with an Adcom 565 pre- amp and you've got yourself a very affordable amp /pre-amp combo that is by far the best sound you'll get in this spectrum of the high end audio world .

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3/16/2012

Total Mobile Audio T1000.1 1000 Watts Class D Monoblock Car Audio Amplifier Review

Total Mobile Audio T1000.1 1000 Watts Class D Monoblock Car Audio Amplifier
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I bought this amp to run a pair of flat pioneers, the 300 rms models and it works fine on them, in fact they cant handle it above half gain. On the other side of the coin I have a 10" Audiobahn competition sub rated at 1000 rms and this amp didn't hardly move it. I had a Rockford BD1500 on a pair of them and damn near blew my sun roof out of the car, no joke. It's a descent amp but I'm concerned that it won't handle a 1 ohm load as stated. Over all not bad for daily use if you don't try to push it.

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Polk Audio PA600.1 Monoblock Power Amplifier Review

Polk Audio PA600.1 Monoblock Power Amplifier
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I've run polk amps in my boat for several years and they are awesome. I have a PA400 running two 12" Polk MOMO subs and they are thumpers. This PA600 is even more power and can pound the bass. A nice clean, high quality amp.

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1/14/2012

KEF Universal Wireless System (Black) Review

KEF Universal Wireless System (Black)
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The technical specs on these are already available all over the place, so I won't repeat them here. Instead, I'll give a pro and con review:
Pro:
1) Size - There are three units and each is small enough not to be a big problem to hide.
2) Set up - There is really not much to do. I was up and running in under 10 minutes. The main part attaches to your receiver speaker terminals and an AC plug. The other ends attach to each speaker and to an AC adapter (each needs its own AC plug - three in all).
3) Audio quality - Both a plus and a minus. When it works, the audio is very clear and does not really sound any different than a wired system would. HOWEVER, see my comment under the con section.
Con:
1) Interference - My baby monitor interfears with this system. I know it says it does some fancy type of frequency jumping, but the Garco monitor creates interference if it is too close to the speaker ends of the system.
2) Audio quality - This is a high end (and very expensive) system. It figures that those purchasing it will have equally high end systems. Remember how much you paid for those high end amps? None of that power is used to power the remote speakers. Instead you have an overtaxed 50 watt (I think) amp on the speaker end. For 90% of surround applications this is probably fine, but real audio nerds will not be happy with the result. Of course, would an audio nerd really ever use a wireless system? The lack of amplifier power is even more apparent if you try to use this to power a second set of main speakers. Using a McIntosh amp and mid-range Boston Acoustics speakers (VS240) the clipping was evident.
3) Wires - It should be obvious that a trully wireless system is really impossible. Each unit has a speaker wire hook-up and a dedicated AC adapter (although they aren't the massive brick type.)
4) Auto power? - Just a note that these are always on. It would be nice if they could sense a signal and turn themselves on and off (standby). I have no idea how much power these draw when off, but I imagine it isn't much.
5) Price - At the price point these are placed, I'm just not sure they really are worth it. For the same amount of money (or less) you could probably have an electrician fish some speaker wires for you.

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KEF is delighted to announce the introduction of an outstanding wireless system delivering a high-quality solution to speaker cable wiring problems. The KEF Universal Wireless System is an ideal add-on for any existing rear surround sound speaker set-up (regardless of the brand) and can also be used for stereo speakers in a hi-fi system where hiding cables is an inconvenience, especially when the amplifier is some distance from the speakers. Users can locate the speakers virtually anywhere they want to in the room whilst still receiving remarkable CD quality sound with exceptional clarity and remarkable lack of extraneous interference.

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12/16/2011

Music Hall DAC 25.3 USB Digital Audio Converter Review

Music Hall DAC 25.3 USB Digital Audio Converter
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There is a lot of controversy about what a DAC needs to be and how much it should cost. Some would say you are insane for spending 600 bucks on a DAC and some would say you need to spend an order of magnitude more. In my research I found that I might get a DAC that sounds as good as the MH for less money, but this unit has functionality the others don't. My review:
Sound- It sounds great. A good DAC should faithfully reproduce music and eliminate jitter and other artifacts you hear from digital sources. It's a simple task. This does just that, but with an added bonus. The tube output stage tends to warm up the sound just a little bit, and gives a little more life to compressed audio files. This is subject to taste however. Some people prefer a more clinical sound. Me: I prefer the warmth.
Features:
- It has a built in headphone amp. Nice feature. It sounds good, but I'm no expert on headphone amps.
- It will up-convert your stream to 192kbps or down-convert to 96kbps. I tend to leave it in auto mode. I don't think it adds anything to up-convert.
- The unit will switch itself into standby mode when it loses a signal.
Inputs: It has a lot more inputs that similarly priced DACs. USB, optical, coaxial, and XLR. I use the optical and USB inputs, and the unit intelligently switches between the two when one signal is lost and another is present. This is a nice feature, and necessary because there is NO REMOTE.
Build: It is built very well. A quality piece of gear. Buttons and dials operate smoothly with just the right amount of resistance. I have a complaint about the form, however. It is a little long and skinny. Not longer than many 19" deep components, but longer than the other music hall gear it is designed to go with. This makes placement a little challenging. I do love the simple aesthetics of the unit. One note: the picture on just about every site that sells this thing is silver, but I don't think a silver unit was ever made. I can't find one anywhere. They are all black.
How I use it: I have a music hall a15.2 integrated amp, an HSU VTF-1 sub, and Def Tec studio monitor 350 speakers. My source is either a laptop, connected via USB, or an apple TV connected via optical acting as a digital transport. It's a great 2.1 channel system for a small room. I listen to a lot of MP3s :( , but am in the process of re-ripping all my music from CD in a lossless format. The lossless files sound amazing!
Bottom line, if you want an audiophile grade DAC and like a little tube sound, input versatility, and might use the headphone amp, this is the DAC for you. And it won't break the bank. If you're considering buying a CD player, DON'T! Rip all your CDs using apple lossless, FLAC, etc. and hook up a PC to this DAC and you have a set up that will out perform most high end CD players and will be much, much more convenient.
PS- Pandora (with the upgraded audio) really sounds great when run through this DAC via USB from a PC!
PSS- Yes, this will sound better than the DAC in your computer, PS3, apple TV, etc.
PPPS- I don't always give an item 5 stars, but I could think of very few things to improve on this product!

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12/05/2011

Boss DD2600 Diablo Class D Monoblock Power Amplifier Review

Boss DD2600 Diablo Class D Monoblock Power Amplifier
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Pros:
-Amp runs cool, exceptionally efficient. Runs cooler pushing a signal than at idle
-All the filters you need to integrate a subwoofer into your system
-Sturdy. A machined chunk of heavy, extruded aluminum
-Selectable input level (2V-8V or 100mV-2V) built in
-Sinister old-school looks
-PCB well built, tidy component layout
-A lot of amp for your dollar
Cons:
-Sinister old-school looks
-Transistor-based PWM is effective, but certainly isn't state of the art
-Ultra cheap micro fan for cooling the PWM daughter board sounds like a calf in distress or a small coffee grinder
depending on what mood it's in, I unplugged mine. Replacement is easy enough. ( -1 star for that one)

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11/25/2011

Nady RPA-4 Four Channel One Piece Portable Sound System, 100 Watts Review

Nady RPA-4 Four Channel One Piece Portable Sound System, 100 Watts
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We bought this to fill in while our auditorium was being built. It really "packs a punch!" It is well built and very easy to move about. We added a cordless mike and it does what we need in a school of 500. A great value for the price!

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11/22/2011

Cerwin Vega CV-2800 HP Pro Power 2800watt Amplifier Review

Cerwin Vega CV-2800 HP Pro Power 2800watt Amplifier
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This amp kicks butt. Its well made and can drive speakers to insane sound pressure levels and destruction if not matched properely. It's not the cleanest amp around, but I doubt most will not notice or push it to that level. All in all, it's a powerhouse at a good price.

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11/16/2011

JL Audio Slash Series 500/5 - Amplifier - 5-channel Review

JL Audio Slash Series 500/5 - Amplifier - 5-channel
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Well, I began about 10 years ago piecing my car stereo together. Within 4 years my stereo was complete. Oz audio component matrix speakers (amazing) on the floor (kick panels) and in the doors. Cerwin Vega's in back (decent). JL audio 12" sub in the back and finishing the job was this JL 5 channel amp running all the speakers but the vega's. Head unit was a uber nice nakamichi in-dash.
Thru the years this amp. has never overheated, never caused me any battery problems and just plain sounded astonishing. I've not had a single issue for six years. Coupled with my competition speakers the sound was out of this world. More than plenty clean powerful bass and the SQ of the fronts are just pure as a white dove. I've looked around for other 5 channel amp's but I just don't think anything really compares to this one.
If you want something to run a couple of 15's this probably isn't what you are looking for but if you want a GREAT all around system to sound perfect I would suggest giving this a whirl.

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11/13/2011

Blaupunkt THA-555 PnP 5/4/3 Channel 840W Amplifier Review

Blaupunkt THA-555 PnP 5/4/3 Channel 840W Amplifier
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I installed this system to my BMW 530D E60 and it does improve the stock stereo (which was poor) performance noticeably, but still not up to my other car installation (cost similarly) performance. To be fair, I did not rule out if it is due to the (poor?) stock speakers or the head unit itself (but too bad BMW dictate the type of head unit...).
Pros:
* No wire cutting, just connect (using an optional compatible wire hardness) to the stock stereo.
* Remote bass boost feature is useful.
* Noticeably improve stock stereo system.
Cons:
* You need to search for the compatible wire hardness (sold separately) yourselves according to the vehicle's year and made and I think you would need to buy from other sources. Go for the 5 meter version to install the amp at the trunk. Installing the amp under the carpet as recommended is a bad idea. I tried it: the amp will thermal-shut within 15-30 minutes of play and your front passenger won't like the bulge of the carpet.
* Not really a DIY job. Be careful when disconnect anything from the head unit. Make sure you connect back all the wires that do not "relate" to speakers. In my case, I did not connect back the bluetooth wiring, thinking it was part of the job of "disconnecting everything".
* Even set to low pass 40Hz, the sub bass is obviously not low enough, maybe still around >100Hz judging from my other car installation. You will feel a stronger "boom" then stock though. Maybe due to the stock speaker response??
* High is not high even set to the highest high pass. Some slight improvement if a passive high pass filters are added to the twitters. I have tried several brands of twitters but of no help.
* Be careful with the input level setting. Too high will introduce whining noise to the system.
* Overall sound is a little muddy. The frequencies are quite mixed up, unlike my other installation, where you can clearly sense output from low, mid and high. Staging is OK though.
* The Aux input design is flawed, or is there a reason they did it that way?. If you are connecting your MP3 player to Aux, you will not get bass boost (sub not responding). You will have to connect to the RCA input with parallel connection to the front, rear and sub using your own cable & 2-1 connectors - really messy looking wiring.
I am yet to experiment, but here are what I think anyone else shall be doing:
* Buy the 5m wire hardness from Blaupunkt since you don't want to mess around with the stock wiring. The wire hardness is well labeled so connection to other brand amps won't be a problem.
* Buy one mono amp to drive the subs and one 4-channel amp to drive front/rear speakers. Both amps must support high level (speakers wire) input. Best if the amp support or include good active cross-over.
Or, if you want the original look of your car (without something hanging in the trunk etc)
* The stock system already have amps driving all the speakers. You just have to locate them (your mechanics shall be able to tell you) and replace them with better amps.
I will update if I ever try other amps but I feel it shall be the better option from my previous experience.


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