Questions about amp volume and cd players

[admin_exported]

Hi guys back with yet more questions, only a few though

Firstly being the former owner of some Kef Cresta 2's that went pop (my fault, never turned down the volume when i switched my amp on and off) i am wary about doing my current speakers in (Acoustic Energy Pro Evo Ones) and so would like to know what should be the maximum level that I turn my NAD C320 amp up? to (40 watt version) at the moment I have it at about 10 oclock on the volume dial.

Also I know some cd players are horrible...... the Cambridge Audio D500 springs to mind but I was wondering in the main in regards to the budget range of the cd player market whether there have been big improvements to sound quality since the days of Sony XB930? which was itself a what hi fi award winner back in it's day.

Finally my system sounds great when playing heavy rock music but when playing rap music there is a massive amount of low end, I know this is always going to be the case with rap music but what I don't know is how much I really should be hearing (and no i don't mean of rap music before anyone throws in that sly one

) i.e. yes I can reduce the bass but if i do so it sounds flat, so is that llow end meant to be very prominent in the sound?

Finally when I do come round to upgrading my amp what I would like to know is is the wattage massively different between the Cambridge Azur 540 V2 and a NAD C320? what I mean by that is I have read before probably on here in fact that NAD amps are very conservative in their power ratings and in fact their power belies the wattage rating.

Hope that all made sense and thanks for helping out again

 

[Anonymous]

hi fi newbie:

and so would like to know what should be the maximum level that I turn my NAD C320 amp up? to (40 watt version) at the moment I have it at about 10 oclock on the volume dial.

It's impossible to answer this question.

 

[matthewpiano]

hi fi newbie:

Hi guys back with yet more questions, only a few though

Firstly being the former owner of some Kef Cresta 2's that went pop (my fault, never turned down the volume when i switched my amp on and off) i am wary about doing my current speakers in (Acoustic Energy Pro Evo Ones) and so would like to know what should be the maximum level that I turn my NAD C320 amp up? to (40 watt version) at the moment I have it at about 10 oclock on the volume dial.

Also I know some cd players are horrible...... the Cambridge Audio D500 springs to mind but I was wondering in the main in regards to the budget range of the cd player market whether there have been big improvements to sound quality since the days of Sony XB930? which was itself a what hi fi award winner back in it's day.

Finally my system sounds great when playing heavy rock music but when playing rap music there is a massive amount of low end, I know this is always going to be the case with rap music but what I don't know is how much I really should be hearing (and no i don't mean of rap music before anyone throws in that sly one

) i.e. yes I can reduce the bass but if i do so it sounds flat, so is that llow end meant to be very prominent in the sound?

Finally when I do come round to upgrading my amp what I would like to know is is the wattage massively different between the Cambridge Azur 540 V2 and a NAD C320? what I mean by that is I have read before probably on here in fact that NAD amps are very conservative in their power ratings and in fact their power belies the wattage rating.

Hope that all made sense and thanks for helping out again

If you are thinking of swapping the NAD for the Cambridge 540, DON'T DO IT! The NAD is far superior in every way IMO.

As for that Sony CD player it was part of the QS series if I remember rightly and a rather fine machine. Rather than changing it I'd consider adding an outboard DAC such as the Cambridge DacMagic or Beresford. The transport will easily stand up to such an upgrade.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response basically the question I asked about the NAD was due to the fact that I have been pondering upgrading the amp to either the NAD C320 BEE or C352, unfortunately even on Ebay you can not pick up even the former very cheaply and so in the meantime I had thought about the Azur's to.

The question I should have asked about volume is am I pushing the speakers too hard at at the present volume

Am still not sure how much low end I should be hearing in the rap music either, guess I need to hear some more systems.

 

[Tony_R]

hi fi newbie:

The question I should have asked about volume is am I pushing the speakers too hard at at the present volume

The simple answer to that question is another question! Do you use the tone controls on your amp? (Particularly the bass control?)

40 watts doesn't sound much, but even at what seems quite high volume levels, you're probably only using 10 watts per channel (assuming you're not cranking the bass control up).

My experience of AE speakers (well any speaker - but I speak from experience having owned a pair), is that too much bass applied with too much volume results in 'clacking' noises from the speakers - this noise being the woofer hitting the stops, which prevents it attempting to jump right out of the basket (the metal surround behind the cone).

Otherwise - the only other thing I can suggest is to experiment and find out what distortion sounds like (in case you don't already know!) - a (bog standard) car stereo is usually a good contender for this, as most of them with sufficient bass applied will distort at reasonably low volumes.

Other than that, I can't think of any other suggestions....

Tony.

 

[Anonymous]

Well I don't adjust the treble or bass as I find it degrades the music perhaps it is a characteristic of the AE's and it's not even prevalent on all rap music but certainly on some it is.

 

[Tony_R]

My apologies - I just re-read your post properly!

My experience of rap music etc. is that there always is a lot of heavy bass. I remember having this problem back in the 80's with disco music.

I used to have a large set of speakers, with massive 15" woofers - and the room would fair shake with some music.

So I would say that what you're experiencing is probably quite normal, so long as you're not getting any nasty sounds from your speakers.. (Isn't rap music nasty lol!!!)

So sit back and enjoy it - so long as you're not shaking your neighbours house too!!!

Tony.

 

[Anonymous]

Lol I knew there would be a jab at rap music, by the way tony when you say nasty sounds (aside from rap itself haha) do you mean overly strong vibrations?

 

[Tony_R]

I wouldn't say vibrations as such - more just an unpleasant kind of noise something like (and this is gonna make you laugh I'm sure) but phwlat / phwlat from your speakers lol...

It's rather difficult to put into words what I'm hearing lol...

Tony.

 

[Anonymous]

Tony_R:
I wouldn't say vibrations as such - more just an unpleasant kind of noise something like (and this is gonna make you laugh I'm sure) but phwlat / phwlat from your speakers lol...

It's rather difficult to put into words what I'm hearing lol...

Tony.

In a nutshell, farting.

 

[Anonymous]

Lol nah more like a dum dum boom boom type of noise and as you said there is a great emphasis on the low end with rap music. I know you have said that my cd player was highly regarded back in the day but has it since been easily surpassed is what I am trying to ascertain.

At the moment my future system looks something like BR2's (depends if i can convince the sales guy to let them go for 150.00 lol)

NAD C320 BEE or NAD C352 depending on when i pick up either cheaply

Then of course leaving me with the cd player dilemma I don't want to pair marantz as I don't think it will go so I guess the NAD C542 is an option but again only if i can pick it up cheaply, although i am worried about NAD's reputation of having cd players which seem to break down quite quickly.

Anyways thanks again, when I posted similar things on a forum which shall remain nameless no one bothered replying lol

 

[Anonymous]

hi fi newbie:

Hi guys back with yet more questions, only a few though

Firstly being the former owner of some Kef Cresta 2's that went pop (my fault, never turned down the volume when i switched my amp on and off) i am wary about doing my current speakers in (Acoustic Energy Pro Evo Ones) and so would like to know what should be the maximum level that I turn my NAD C320 amp up? to (40 watt version) at the moment I have it at about 10 oclock on the volume dial.

Pro evo? Isn't that a soccer game that young folks play? Your Evos are, I think, rated at 100 watts, so it's not going to be a case of the power of the amp blowing the speakers if you turn it up. However, turn it up too high and you'll likely experience clipping, which can damage the speakers (Google "clipping" if you're unfamiliar with the concept).

I've read that as a rule of thumb, you can usually turn volume dials up to 12 o'clock without any problems. Notice the "I've read that..." qualification there. Would anyone with more knowledge care to confirm or contradict?

 

[Tony_R]

tractorboy:
However, turn it up too high and you'll likely experience clipping, which can damage the speakers

You're quite right about the clipping, however this normally destroys tweeters first.

This is when the normally rounded sine waves (that music is largely comprised of) turn into square waves with the distortion (aka clipping).

As for how far round the volume control can be turned... well this depends on the input level to the amplifier.

If the input level is quite high (and with CD players it usually is) then even a relatively low setting on the volume control could result in a high output from the amp..

So it's all relative really...

Tony.