[XCSSA] Sound issues with "The Darkness"

Fri Feb 1 15:35:06 CST 2008

>
> I may try to find an inexpensive amplifier, similar to the small  
> amplifier box that I've had since the early '90s, but with an  
> optical input. Any suggestions on that end?

What do you mean by "inexpensive"?  In my experience, AudioSource  
makes nice cheap amplifiers in the range $100-300.   I But these are  
plain basic power amplifiers, with only a power switch and level  
control and RCA input.  I have used an Amp/Two which cost about $229,  
very solid 80W RMS/channel amp.  Could almost be a high end product,  
and looks nice.  The "preamp" is a separate product, under $200, with  
your volume, balance, selector switch.  Still no optical inputs.

If you wanted more power at a cheap price, and were willing to have  
an amp with a fan, Radio Shack has decent PA amplifiers around $200  
and up to satisfy a hefty need for power, and considered a good value  
by open minded audiophiles.  (One particular model had a cult  
following, and was said to be a clone of some well known high-end amp.)

Generally speaking, you pay more for "separates" where the power amp  
is separate from the preamp and separate from the tuner.  These are  
"audiophile" products, so there is a price premium.  Even "integrated  
amplifiers" (no tuner) are somewhat in the audiophile category, and  
hard to find at cheap prices, except with very limited functionality  
or power.

Because of sales volume, you actually get some of the best deals with  
"receivers".  And nowadays receivers will have optical inputs, and  
probably various kinds of multichannel surround processing, Dolby,  
THX, etc.

Stick with a good brand.  Good brands are Yamaha, Onkyo, Sony, and  
Harmon Kardon.
These are brands that have been in business for a long time and known  
for solid products.  (These are "mass market" brands, not "high end"  
brands, but these are good solid ones anyway.)  Sometimes you can  
also get Denon and Marantz at reasonable prices too, but they are  
high end brands, as are Nad, Rotel, and Parasound (this is the low  
end of the high end, if you will).  You can check out such near high  
end stuff at AudioAdvisor.com.  Crutchfield.com is a good resource to  
learn about the good "mass market" brands, but they typically charge  
near list price.  JR.com also has the good brands, sometimes lower  
prices.  If price is a factor you can search for particular model  
numbers and find all sorts of deeper discount houses.  I've had good  
luck, but YMMV, and you've got to be careful, read reviews, etc., and  
check if you're getting refurbs, B-Stock, etc., which may be OK, but  
you should know, and try to buy from an actual "Dealer" so the  
warranty is valid (but you can also buy addon warranty anyway, which  
I frequently do in these cases).  Buying from a non-dealer or "grey- 
market" (re-imported) is a risk.  BestBuy and CircuitCity have the  
good "mass market" brands, but sometimes a bad one will appear there  
also, with prices about the same a Crutchfield, but sometimes sale  
prices, especially when models are being discontinued (when you have  
to act FAST because BestBuy never keeps discontinued products very  
long).

Bad brands are often brands where the original company was highly  
regarded but went bust but sold the brand name, which is now owned by  
some junk manufacturer.  KLH is an example of that.  I bought a KLH  
receiver for $89 at BestBuy (couldn't resist the price) and it was  
total junk, noisy, and had a foul smell that could have been toxic.   
I ended up putting it in the trash.  Other brands with spotty history  
are Acoustic Research and Sherwood, though I don't have recent  
experience and some of their products may be OK.  I sometimes buy  
Acoustic Research cables and surge suppressors because they are much  
cheaper than Monster (but now I also have two very nice Monster Power  
2000 surge supressors.)

The good brands have low end models, often stereo only, for around  
$150-200.  They might be OK, though specifications often don't look  
great.  If at all possible, it's better to spend more, as quality  
rises quickly from the bottom.  Look for distortion rated at 0.08%  
instead of 0.8%.  By the time you get to $350, quality in the good  
brands looks OK, but $500 is even better.  I got a top-end Yamaha  
receiver, which sold at Best Buy typically at $799 (less when "on  
sale", if you could ever find it on sale), and quality is excellent,  
probably better than some "high end" gear.  Actually, I bought online  
for about $525, from an actual Yamaha "Dealer", and it turned out  
ok.  Yamaha also has a higher end line which you never see in mass  
market stores, starting around $2000 for digital surround preamps,  
featuring balanced connections, etc.

My yamaha receiver has 110W RMS per channel, 7 channels, 10 analog  
inputs, 6 optical digital inputs, 4 coax digital inputs, THX Select  
and Dolby Digital Surround modes, digital crossover, automatic or  
manual digital parametric EQ, digital delay, remote, and on and on.   
Quite amazing actually.  It even has a bypass "Pure" mode where you  
can bypass all digital processing for pure analog in to analog out.   
I checked it out thoroughly on my test bench, and IMO it was very  
good, nothing to be ashamed of.  I have also enjoyed listening to in,  
in my Kitchen system, for 3 years.  I believe it is a 5790.  I feed  
it digital signals, let it do the digital crossover for my subwoofer,  
and a bit of digital delay to balance the speakers perfectly, and  
digital EQ on the surround speakers (which I rarely use) so that they  
sound more like my main speakers.  No problem with its digital  
processing or anything else IMO.  Top quality for $525.  Go for  
something like that if you can.  Real High End amps can cost $50,000  
or more.  I never use the built-in tuner, I have a Kenwood 600T from  
the 1970's that I got on ebay for $500.  But because a cheap tuner is  
included in the receiver, you get the rest of the stuff at a lower  
price.  That's marketing.

Charles

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