Advice on pre-outs

[coolaboola]

I am close to decision time with my a.v amp.

I have arranged over the phone an audition with my local seven oakes for a listen to the yamaha 1900 and marantz 6003.I have always bought from richer sounds and my main reason for my move to 7oakes is to try b4 I buy(hooked up to the same monitor audio speakers I have at home) and because it is advertised on this website that they have the yamaha 1900 on a special for us lot @ £800.When I mentioned over the phone that I intended to use the pre-outs for my cambridge audio amp he questioned if I had to as they are a richersounds own brand and not too good.I informed him that r.s just distribute c.a and my stereo amp is the 840 amp which I am very happy with and he has never heard.Now I am in sales and i full understand a bit of mud slinging but i am just about to pull the trigger on an £800 purchase and potentially shift my purchasing habit from from one of their competitors but now this guy has looked down his nose at my amp and questioned the synergy of my possible system with the models he can offer me.

Is he right?Is the synergy with an av amp and speakers enough of a task to master without throwing in a seperate amp into the equation to drive the fronts?Do I wait for Cambrige Audio to release a similar standard av amp with all the hd audio stuff and go running back or is there any of you guys who have experience of hooking up their stereo amp to av amp.Or do I laugh both shops off and buy my wildcard option online which is the onkyo 876 refurb.Spending money is supposed to be fun and easy it was the overtime and saving for this purchase that sucked.Your thoughts and comments please.

Coola

 

[Dan Turner]

Annoying that the dealer felt the need to question the quality of your amp when clearly it's a well repsected model - very transparent attempt to run down a competitor and potentially try to steer you towards paying him for a new stereo amp by sowing the seed of doubt in your mind. I had eaxctly the same thing with a dealer who tried to tell me that REL subs aren't that good for music - blatantly just because he didn't stock them!

I did exactly what you're thinking of doing for a while. I had a Denon HC amp and I routed the front L&R channels through my Arcam A32 stereo amp. I ran it like this for quite a while and the results were more than adequate. Ultimately I could tell the difference in the tonal qualities of the 2 amps in sounds panning accross the front channels and I ended up going with 2 completely separate systems for hi-fi and HC.

I think you should try it and see how it sounds. The tonal qualities of the 2 amps might be similar enough that you won't even notice, or it won't be a big enough difference to bother you. Take your Cambridge to the demo if you can and try it before you buy the HC amp.

 

[coolaboola]

Thanks for your comments Dan.I might just do that you know,bring in my c.a amp.I'd expect some booing and hissing from the the sales staff but hey.I trust my ears and i know what I like.As i mentioned I work in sales and its a bit of a cheap shot to sell a product by dissing your competitor.I am of the opinion that you should completly avoid any negative comments by plugging the positve aspects of what you are trying to sell.

I suppose ultimately I could run the system together for a while and if the tonal difference niggles after a while I could demote my hifi amp to the bedroom but I really want to avoid that as I listen to more music.

Coola

 

[Lost Angeles]

coolaboola:

Thanks for your comments Dan.I might just do that you know,bring in my c.a amp.I'd expect some booing and hissing from the the sales staff but hey.I trust my ears and i know what I like.As i mentioned I work in sales and its a bit of a cheap shot to sell a product by dissing your competitor.I am of the opinion that you should completly avoid any negative comments by plugging the positve aspects of what you are trying to sell.

I suppose ultimately I could run the system together for a while and if the tonal difference niggles after a while I could demote my hifi amp to the bedroom but I really want to avoid that as I listen to more music.

Coola

Gerardasnails runs his AV front pre-outs through a CA 840A with MA speakers and has no problems so I would think you will not have any either. I think his AV amp is a Sony.
I have run my Onkyo front pre-outs through 2 different Stereo amps and I have not noticed any major difference between the front L/R and centre speakers with either amp. They both sounded damn good.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

coolaboola:
Thanks for your comments Dan.I might just do that you know,bring in my c.a amp.I'd expect some booing and hissing from the the sales staff but hey.I trust my ears and i know what I like.As i mentioned I work in sales and its a bit of a cheap shot to sell a product by dissing your competitor.I am of the opinion that you should completly avoid any negative comments by plugging the positve aspects of what you are trying to sell.

I suppose ultimately I could run the system together for a while and if the tonal difference niggles after a while I could demote my hifi amp to the bedroom but I really want to avoid that as I listen to more music.

Coola

Coola, as LA said, I have the 840A and use the pre outs from my Sony 3400es to the stereo amp. Incidently, I also have MA speakers. The result is very good. I would be amazed if someone could tell that I had my receiver working three speakers and not my front two. It might be that Sony and CA have synergy - I doubt it though. By the way, the 3400es is a very good receiver. I tested a few like the Denon 2808 and 2809 and Pioneer models and in it's price range the Sony ticks all the boxes.

Back to Sevenoaks. I am a bit surprised by them. They didn't used to stock Sony receivers (well a couple of years ago they didn't) and they now do. They told me that Denon receivers were better two years ago, I wonder if they would say the same now! The other plus point with the 840A and linking it to your receiver is the fixed level input. I have my AV input set to 60 on the volume dial and you cannot change the level so no worries about switching to a cd and blowing your ear drums!