Adcom to Classe Conversion Need Classe Help

[paulbailey]

Well i would like to start off by saying that i am never going to be an audiophile I am 35 and have worn a hearing aid since the age of 4 most likely from being hard of hearing from the age of 6 months due to illness with medication.. Well with a hearing aid I hear fantastic considering i have 12% and 16% respectivly in both ears wear only one hearing Aid due to Frequency Variations in both ears due to left and right brain hearing i do still hear in stereo but not perfect another words left and right sound still go to one input in the BRAIN. Music is my passion and have been into Stereos and playing Bass Guitar since i was about 14 Preferbly Grunge and hard 70's Rock. And Beatles . First stereo technics
Very disappointed with it after hearing a first time home theater in 1992 with a JVC Reciever and Bose Speackers 10.0. I ended up with one of the first home theaters out of the box so to speack all techniques. Went from that to Harmon Kardon Mk11 with Sepearte 100 w amp for front speackers With Advent Heritage and the rest of the sorround package. Read many stereo mags and was looking for something more as a line cook nothing but adcom was a dream. Until i found an adcom preamp gtp 400 with built in tuner at Pawn Shop for 75$ and hooked it up to the HK 100wpc power amp i had into the advents. Goodbye HK and soon after to Polks Icurrently own gtp-400 gtp-600 gfa-5300 gfa-5400 2 gfa-5300 ace-315 ace 316 and gtp 880. Wanted new speackers listened to everything could not find anything better than my Polks that would handle the wattage of the 2 5503 200wpc amps in a dvd audio or home theater set up.. I Bought an acoustimass System from Bose their lates one Every speacker handles 200 watts all matched. I hated the sound of it in the store but bought it to see what it would sound like in my room with the adcom and my room Well out the door the Polks went. I am quite strange indeed but these little guys are completely different sounding depending what you feed them. All Was Well until i started thinking of Krell Classe Meridian Ect as always Well i made a short trip to a store nearby . And listened to a rotel and i was still quite happy with my Adcom. I only had B&K before that to compare and i was happy with adcom even than. Well he brought me into a room with a Mcintosh Yes their was a difference but nothing that would make me spend the 10,000 dollar cost to upgrade even if i had the money i was still very happy indeed until he turned on the Classe i believe it was a sorround processor with a cav 150wpc amp. I left in almost tears that i did not have the cash to bring this thing home. I asked the Salesman about Krell and he told me that if i was not that impressed with the Rotel or Mcintosh than krell would not be in the same interest as the classe was he did tell me however that he had a 100,000 mark levinson home theater in the next room that i would probably like i told him no thanks i should have listened to it but i can not do that to myself i can not spoil the dream he did say how ever to me that even though the marklevinson was a lot more it was only about 10 - 15% better than the classe and he also told me that i tended to be dark where krell is a bright sound. Well still no krell audition 4 yrs later but ordered a cp-35 here today can not wait been tracking ups next week Ca 101. maybe next friday it should come in. Can a cp-35 be used with a ssp30 or ssp60 sorround processor and am i missing out on a lot between a ca 101 versus 201 i am only used to my 200wpc 5503 adcoms . but i would like a 6 channel system tied in with 2 ca 101 with one ca 201 connected to the cp35 all of above connected to a classe ssp60 or ssp30 is this possible. Yes the Martin Logans are coming next but first the Classe this year Martin logan next year

[Glen B]

The main difference between the CA-101 and CA-201 is power. They both have a similar sound. I believe the Classe SSP30/SSP60 both can function as a standard two-channel preamp, so there is no point in using one with a CP-35.

[Mr Peabody]

I owned Krell for several years and it is quite different than Mac or Rotel. First Rotel is not in the same league as Krell or Mac. I find Krell would offer more impact and frequency extremes.

[paulbailey]

The main difference between the CA-101 and CA-201 is power. They both have a similar sound. I believe the Classe SSP30/SSP60 both can function as a standard two-channel preamp, so there is no point in using one with a CP-35.

Got preamp today hooked it up to my system and made a great difference . All The High Mid and Lows are still their with just as much impact but much smoother sounding and more clarity across all frquencies especially like the improved clarity in the voice Actually took a couple of hours to start sounding great could be from sitting in a cold ups truck. Unit should allready be broken in however since it is used. Ca-101 is on a schedule for dec 13 delivery purchased both used from a company called upscale audio great guys to deal with they specialize in tube gear. I can use preamp with classe surround processor i will go balanced out from preamp to amp and line out from sorround processor to line in on amp and use the switch on back of amp to toggled between ballanced and rca input on amp.
With the impression that a seprate 2ch preamp will sound better than the surround processors 2 ch output. Now if this little CA-101 can keep up with the more powerful adcom i will might not need to go with a Ca-201 well thanks alot cant wait till next week for the amp. Still impressed with my Bose acoustimass seems to sound better and better the better the source have to wait and see on if i go with a logan upgrade down the road.

[paulbailey]

I owned Krell for several years and it is quite different than Mac or Rotel. First Rotel is not in the same league as Krell or Mac. I find Krell would offer more impact and frequency extremes.

Thanks for the reply i feel financially this particular classe setup will give me the most bang for the buck at this time. Like the looks of old and new krell. But could only afford the mid to late 90's gear with the surround processor being quite outdated from that era like to keep my components looking the same. And i do like the sound of the classe so it is not a waste of money from my perspective. I do an upgrade about every 4yrs so i will get a good payoff selling the classe in 4yrs plus my own investment money of usually a couple grand will make the krell gear of the past 4 years a consideration in a future upgrade. Now i just have to focus on getting rid of my adcom hopefully i do allright selling it.