WHF - not enough reviews on multi-channel power amplifiers?

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone,

Am I the only person who would love to see What Hi Fi perform more reviews on multi-channel power amplifiers? There are only two power amplifiers reviewed that I can tell, from this web-site.

It would be good to see a shoot-out, say, for example, between a NAD M25 (which has been around for a little while now, and I have got one, and would be curious to see what What Hi Fi thinks about it) and the new Marantz MM8003. Rotel is releasing a new 15-series line-up, which includes some in-house Class D amplification, which also looks set to be interesting.

Plus, I would love to see What Hi Fi try out only the pre/pro section of A/V Receivers which have been hooked up to multi-channel power amplifiers, and rate how good the pre/pro section of different A/V Receivers are. There are certainly quite a number of people out there who have multi-channel power amplifiers hooked-up to A/V Receivers, and I am sure they would be interested in finding out which A/V Receivers would be good for the surround sound processing and video processing, negating the on-board amplification of the A/V Receivers.

Dan.

 

[Andy Clough]

dantan:
Hi everyone,

Am I the only person who would love to see What Hi Fi perform more reviews on multi-channel power amplifiers? There are only two power amplifiers reviewed that I can tell, from this web-site.

Dan.

Hi Dan

This is the sort of thing that I think you'll find increasingly covered in our Ultimate Guide series, which tends to focus more on the higher-end kit in both hi-fi and AV. We produce six issues a year; more details here. The next one is the Ultimate Guide to Blu-ray and Home Cinema, out on October 31st.

I'll check with the Editor, Andy Kerr, to see if they'll be testing any multichannel power amps in that issue.

 

[Anonymous]

Ooooooo now there's a mag I'll be buying then. Nice one Andy!

 

[Andy Clough]

Just spoke to Andy Kerr and the Ultimate Guide to Blu-ray will include reviews of the Marantz MM8003/AV8003 and Denon AVP-A!HD/POA-A1HD.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for your response, Andy. I would most certainly be looking forward to those Ultimate Guides.

I am from Perth, Western Australia, and it is extremely difficult to find newsagents who stock and sell What Hi Fi magazines. I have been faithfully purchasing What Hi Fi magazines for over a year now, and continually look forward to your reviews, and have purchased a lot of my gear based on your reviews.

I had an opportunity to trade-in some of my gear to purchase the Marantz AV8003/MM8003 gear three months ago for a reasonable price (I think) but ended up not going down that route (mainly due to the MM8003's light weight. For an 8-channel power amplifier that does not appear to be Class D, it is extremely light, especially when compared to my 43.7kg NAD M25 7-channel Class A/B power amplifier).

I am now eagerly awaiting the NAD M15HD A/V Processor, due out first quarter 2009, as far as I am led to believe.

Any chance What Hi Fi can, just for me, do a review on the NAD M25 7-channel power amplifier, for a humble soul living in dozy Western Australia?

Dan.

 

[Anonymous]

dantan:
... for a humble soul living in dozy Western Australia?

Dan.

As a total aside: Dan, don't ever work for the tourist board in WA mate - you're putting me right off ! My girlfriend is from Perth, and it was kinda on the shortlist of possible places to move on to after Bangkok one day....I thought getting WHF here was bad !ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Mate, I love Perth, but short shopping hours, not having enough shops in the first place, not enough nice restaurants, cafes, etc, no free-to-air English Premier League Football matches shown, mean it is just too easy for me to mock Perth.

However, I do enjoy Perth, because it is still - at the moment, anyway - a fairly quiet place. Used to be affordable, but is now one of the most expensive cities to live in - mostly due to ridiculously expensive Real Estate.

 

[Anonymous]

Great to hear there's going to be some pre/power reviews coming up - right in my sights! Going to have to get my neice to send me the superguide out again. Any ideas why these arent included in subscriptions or more widely available overseas? By the way I'm surprised you found the Marantz amp lightweight - I was in a local store when they unboxed their demo model the other day and it was at least as heavy as my Denon AVR4306.

 

[Anonymous]

G'day Damien, I only ever see one Ultimate Guides sold here every year - and it is the end-of-year edition. It is extremely annoying.

When I said lightweight, I meant for an 8-channel power amplifier to weigh under about 20kg is lightweight - unless it is a Class D Power Amplifier, which would mean it is a little on the heavy side. It is pretty much confirmed that the MM8003 is NOT Class D.

My 7-channel NAD M25 weighs 43.7kg! Even the Marantz retailer I went to, to check out the AV8003/MM8003 combination was concerned about the lack of sheer weight of the MM8003, but I suppose at the end of the day, it is its performance that we will be interested in.

When you manage to get an issue in, can you please kindly post a thread about what What Hi Fi said about the both of them, and how many stars were awarded? Thanks mate.

 

[Anonymous]

dantan:
G'day Damien, I only ever see one Ultimate Guides sold here every year - and it is the end-of-year edition. It is extremely annoying.

When I said lightweight, I meant for an 8-channel power amplifier to weigh under about 20kg is lightweight - unless it is a Class D Power Amplifier, which would mean it is a little on the heavy side. It is pretty much confirmed that the MM8003 is NOT Class D.

My 7-channel NAD M25 weighs 43.7kg! Even the Marantz retailer I went to, to check out the AV8003/MM8003 combination was concerned about the lack of sheer weight of the MM8003, but I suppose at the end of the day, it is its performance that we will be interested in.

When you manage to get an issue in, can you please kindly post a thread about what What Hi Fi said about the both of them, and how many stars were awarded? Thanks mate.

Ah, I see. Not sure on what these things should / do weight but the power amp is pretty much the same weight as my 4306. What I am kinda surprised at is the number of new receivers only supporting DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby True HD. The new Arcam AVR600 covers all the bases with Dolby Digital+, DolbyTrueHD, DTS High Resolution Audio and DTS HD Master Audio. Are the other formats not well supported are some of the manufacturers just choosing to leave them out? Seems odd.

Check it out: http://www.arcam.co.uk/downloads/AV600-brochure-web.pdf

I think its high time these newer amps and combo's were given a shoot-out - seems to be a lot of not very new kit getting rehashed here IMHO.

Will do on the update when I get my copy but do you want me to get one sent over for you? my niece picks up and pops them in the post for me. I haven't put my order in yet so there's time if you want one - you can chuck a few $$'s in my paypal account.

 

[Anonymous]

A good Class A/B power amplifier should weigh AT LEAST approximately 5kg per channel. I mean, there needs to be at least a humungous toroidal transformer, and a lot of high-quality capacitors, etc. With my NAD, the internal amplifiers have copper buss bars separating each channel so as to avoid interference, etc. It is basically like having 7 discrete mono-blocs in the one chassis.

Honestly, getting the 50kg box (about 50kg boxed) out of my car's boot and into my home by myself took me about 15 minutes. I almost could not lift it up and drag it into my rack. I was knackered after setting it up. And it's supposed to be an easy task - setting up a power amp! Just plug it up, plug up all the RCA's (the NAD M25 does not have balanced XLR in-puts) and the loudspeaker cables, turn it on, voila! However, the unit was so heavy it took me every ounce of energy I had! I don't regret it, though, as this is a sensational unit, and feels like it is designed to survive an earthquake and many years of abuse.

I am not sure what you mean by "new receivers only supporting DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby True HD". If I am interpreting it right, you are saying that the new A/V Receivers ONLY support these uncompressed audio soundtracks. As far as I can tell, the manufacturers are listing these because they are a good selling point, but the 'normal' lower-specified Dolby and DTS audio soundtracks are still able to be decoded by these new A/V Receivers.

Yes, mate, if you are able to kindly get them picked up and mailed to me, I would be more than happy to send you the money for them.

 

[Anonymous]

I hear you - I seem to remember some talk about the power figures quoted for the Marantz combo being a little extravagant but I dont know - I also just noticed that it doesnt appear to have any form of iPod connection which is another strange omission in this kind of kit but there you go. Have to see what it sounds like and what else comes along. I'm pretty keen on hearing the new Arcam AVR600 as I suspect this will be the one to beat given the time they've taken over it.

What I mean by the surround modes being limited was in the area of the new HD audio codecs - there are more than just Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio. of course, the other standard modes are all there though in the BluRay era these are going to become less and less important - hence the missing Dolby Digital+ and DTS High Resolution Audio - though I'm no expert so dont take my word for it.

I'll get my niece to send me two copies and shoot one over to you.

 

[Anonymous]

Just sent you an email, mate.

I have posted a couple of comments on your thread about the Arcam.

Sorry I misunderstood you, in regards to the surround sound modes. I am no expert, either.

In terms of I-Pod connectivity, even though I don't have an I-Pod and don't really like the idea of playing compressed audio through a good sound system, it is obviously extremely popular, and when you have thousands of songs in an I-Pod, and it would be extremely convenient especially when you have parties, etc, to just plug in the I-Pod, and let it play for hours on end, it is weird for an expensive unit like the AV8003 to omit it.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, thats pretty much the only time I use my iPod too - when I have a bbq or whatever - otherwise I fire up my 740C for some real music.

 

[biggus_1961]

Yes i know what you mean, adding a power amp may be a great idea but claire (hope i spelt that right) a few months ago told me it is difficult to get nad to supply the masters serie stuff for a review which is a shame as on paper they appear to be v good...Also the nad classic series has both a 5 and 7 channel power amp on offer..Problem in Brisbane is that only one shop stocks the masters series and its an hour away from Ipswich...I think a 5 channel p/amp may be ideal as very few people on here actually say they use 7 speakers most still have 5 speakers only.