New Integra DTC 9.8 pre/pro. Best bargain yet??

[gstarr]

If I had to get rid of my Aragon 2007 amp because my Aragon Stage One got fried in a lightning strike two months ago the last thing I would buy would be an uber amp, like a Levinson. I would get a balanced ATI or maybe an Emotiva. I have never heard a solid state amp that when matched in volume to within 0.5-1 db sounds any different than any other. Now some people like certain tube amps, which are rarely as powerful and never as reliable when they are cost an arm and two legs. They sometimes sound different from the different outputs on the back of tube amps. Onemay prefer the sound, but it is less accurate to the original signal.

Room treatments and acoustics along with your speakersinteraction with the room are by far the most important aspect of any sound system.

Greg

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by gstarr

If I had to get rid of my Aragon 2007 amp because my Aragon Stage One got fried in a lightning strike two months ago the last thing I would buy would be an uber amp, like a Levinson. I would get a balanced ATI or maybe an Emotiva. I have never heard a solid state amp that when matched in volume to within 0.5-1 db sounds any different than any other. Now some people like certain tube amps, which are rarely as powerful and never as reliable when they are cost an arm and two legs. They sometimes sound different from the different outputs on the back of tube amps. Onemay prefer the sound, but it is less accurate to the original signal.

Room treatments and acoustics along with your speakersinteraction with the room are by far the most important aspect of any sound system.

Greg

Wow. This has got to be the wrong place to post a "All Amps sound the same, except for those over priced and less accurate tube amps."

You heard it here Jerry, shut down all future amp reviews...

because they all sound the same. Greg thanks for that information, I don't know why I bought my Arcam amp now. I'll return it for the cheap Rotel or maybe a cheap NAD. I also have no idea why I've lusted after Boulder amps either.

[JerryDelColliano]

OK - consider ALL future amp reviews cancled.

Seriously, there are some KILLER new amps out there. Bel Canto and Nu Force on the digital side. Krell Evolution amps BLEW me AWAY. You will note Ken, Andrew, Tom Garcia, Bryan Southard and I all use Mark Levinson amps. They probably don't suck either.

Room acoustics are ULTRA-IMPORTANT but you need some BEEF in your amps to get the most of your speakers.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by JerryDelColliano

OK - consider ALL future amp reviews cancled.

Seriously, there are some KILLER new amps out there. Bel Canto and Nu Force on the digital side. Krell Evolution amps BLEW me AWAY. You will note Ken, Andrew, Tom Garcia, Bryan Southard and I all use Mark Levinson amps. They probably don't suck either.

Room acoustics are ULTRA-IMPORTANT but you need some BEEF in your amps to get the most of your speakers.

I can't wait to hear the new Bel Cantos. If they're better than the old eVo series then I'd seriously consider them to replace my Arcam.

Mark Levinson are just expensive, if I'm spending outragious money I want to buy a Boulder Amp.

I'm currently building a new home, and my HT and listening rooms are both beind designed from the ground up for their purpose. When I'm done, even those guys at Transparent Audio will be jealous of my room!

[gstarr]

You can't get more than 1400 watts out of one 15 amp outlet. Unless one buys an amp with more than one plug, or buys an amp that operates into 20-50 amps (do they exist?)there is no more powerful single plug amp than the 7 channel 200 watt Emotiva with bridgeable channels.

If you can't pass an double blind ABX test or at least point out the measurements of the amp that make it sound different I will be skeptical. No doubt, certain speakers are difficult loads and will sound different. But I never buy speakers that are so poorly engineered that they require peculiar amperage.

Remember when Stereophile raved about 3-10 watt Triodes? What a pile of horse poop.

People need to buy the appropriate amp for their speakers. If their speakers don't require 150 watts and they never clip except for nanosecond transients you really don't need more power. If you want to remove the incredibly few transient clips or distortions either buy a 200 watt amp or buy multiple amps.

And if you want the best speakers, get active crossovered speakers that have each driver individually amped. Something like the Orion Linkwitz which uses 60 watts per driver in a 12 channel amp made by ATI. I've yet to meet someone on these boards that knows more about sound and acoustics than Siegfried Linkwitz. Go to his site if you want to learn what is really important.

Obviously if you want a death-defying subwoofer you will need one heckuva powerful mono amp--or multi-bridged amplifier.

Greg

There are 3 truly important things in audio room playback. The quality of the source material, the acoustics of the room, and the matching of the speakers with the room acoustics. Speaker cables and interconnects are at the bottom of the heap. After all each speakers has hundreds of feet, many thousands of standard Copper wire, not to mention the miles of wire the recorded sound went through from instruments to studio board and mixer and the to the final masterer. Yet people belioeve the 3-6 foot interconnect is the critical length? Huh?

[mitch57]

What does any of this have to do with the Integra 9.8?