My amp journey continues. (And what a pleasure it's been; in fact I'm having so much fun, I think I may subconsciously be delaying the purchase just so I can go on auditioning.)
Today it was: Primare PRE32 and Primare A34.2 power.
The source was the Primare CD32, and the speakers were KEF Reference 203/2 and KEF R900.
Initial impressions from some classical instrumental music were positive but ... Violin, cello and piano had a lovely rich timbre and impressive dynamics. The piano was exactly where it should have been, but the solo violin wasn't easy to locate: it seemed spread across the soundstage. An artefact of the recording? When I moved on to opera, it became clear that staging wasn't the only issue. Voices seemed a bit reedy and there was no depth to the soundstage. Things did improve a bit in terms of separation when I switched to the KEF R900s (shouldn't that be the ohter way round?), but not enough to make me want to buy. (Or at least not after hearing the Accuphase E350 through Harbeth Super HL5s, which is just an entirely different order of musical experience.)
I moved on to Steel Pulse's 'Handsworth Revolution' and Talk Talk's 'The Colour of Spring'. Tremendous dynamics and a lovely tone to the instruments. If you could look past the staging, this would be a very good system (maybe with other speakers), and for the price I haven't heard a better amp yet. I would have liked to extend the demo beyond 90 mins.
This is the first serious Class D amp I've tried, and it certainly didn't shout 'Class D' at me (whatever that means). It sounded like a very, very good Class AB amp. Class D is very power efficient, so hats off to Primare for showing the way forward.
Anyone out there had experiences with recent Primare amps?
Matt
Today it was: Primare PRE32 and Primare A34.2 power.
The source was the Primare CD32, and the speakers were KEF Reference 203/2 and KEF R900.
Initial impressions from some classical instrumental music were positive but ... Violin, cello and piano had a lovely rich timbre and impressive dynamics. The piano was exactly where it should have been, but the solo violin wasn't easy to locate: it seemed spread across the soundstage. An artefact of the recording? When I moved on to opera, it became clear that staging wasn't the only issue. Voices seemed a bit reedy and there was no depth to the soundstage. Things did improve a bit in terms of separation when I switched to the KEF R900s (shouldn't that be the ohter way round?), but not enough to make me want to buy. (Or at least not after hearing the Accuphase E350 through Harbeth Super HL5s, which is just an entirely different order of musical experience.)
I moved on to Steel Pulse's 'Handsworth Revolution' and Talk Talk's 'The Colour of Spring'. Tremendous dynamics and a lovely tone to the instruments. If you could look past the staging, this would be a very good system (maybe with other speakers), and for the price I haven't heard a better amp yet. I would have liked to extend the demo beyond 90 mins.
This is the first serious Class D amp I've tried, and it certainly didn't shout 'Class D' at me (whatever that means). It sounded like a very, very good Class AB amp. Class D is very power efficient, so hats off to Primare for showing the way forward.
Anyone out there had experiences with recent Primare amps?
Matt