bad stereo music on receiver.

[Wireworm5]

I'm not impressed with the stereo mode on my Sony as well. If your receiver has the built in equalizer then you have to use it to get decent sound.

[rklip]

I'm not impressed with the stereo mode on my Sony as well. If your receiver has the built in equalizer then you have to use it to get decent sound.

That is what i mean, you must do lots of things with the equaliser to creat a bit of nice stereo sound. I heard from a local dealer that there are more people with the same problem. Thats why i am asking myself the question what will happen when i hook up a power amp( a decend one, if i read the reviews about the ma500 i think that would be nice).
A friend of mine has 2 quad power amps, i will hook them up on my pre amp exit and listen, if its nice i will buy those amps. If they do not then i think i will get another receiver.
I do not think that my speakers are the problem, i listen to them by hobo and i really liked them. They costed me 650 euro each so i really do not think that they are the problem

I will let you know what i hear.

[Wireworm5]

My Sony couldn't drive my Paradigms either. You will here a big difference with a power amp. I just hooked up a power amp using my Yamaha as a pre and it was significantly better. I also don't think the Sony will be that good as a pre but I'd use it for now and upgrade when you have the funds.

[RGA]

If it's an issue of powering the Elacs better then certainly a dedicated cleam higher powered power amp will help.

But the preamp is the part that actually impacts the sound quality of a unit - Sony and receivers in general have horrible preamp sections. Indeed, I hooked up a Bryston power amp to my old Pioneer Elite top of the line receiver and it was startling - that got me into high end - a better preamp was even more startling - but i could not afford that so I went with an integrated. Of course the integrated means loss of surround sound.

If you can try and run two separate systems - on for music in one room and one for movies in another.

This way you can also buy speakers that are built for music and not for surround sound - generally if a speaker is advertised for surround sound or the company has it geared with matching center etc it will be sh!T for music. There are some exceptions - bit not many from my experience.

[NickWH]

This way you can also buy speakers that are built for music and not for surround sound - generally if a speaker is advertised for surround sound or the company has it geared with matching center etc it will be sh!T for music. There are some exceptions - bit not many from my experience.

RGA, thanks for making (another) typical idiotic statement. Your conclusion is over-simplified and not justified. There are many, many speakers out there with matching center channels that are excellent for music. Either a given manufacturer makes good speakers or does not, center channel non-withstanding. What will you say when AN finally breaks down and sells a dedicated center speaker? What was that, I couldn't hear you....nothing?

[RGA]

RGA, thanks for making (another) typical idiotic statement. Your conclusion is over-simplified and not justified. There are many, many speakers out there with matching center channels that are excellent for music. Either a given manufacturer makes good speakers or does not, center channel non-withstanding. What will you say when AN finally breaks down and sells a dedicated center speaker? What was that, I couldn't hear you....nothing?

I said generally which means there are exceptions - Martin Logan is an exception. If AN decides to do it they will do it right. Besides they already have a center speaker - you can buy their speakers individually - and the dealer here has put a nice h/t rig together with three E's accross the front and 2 or 3 round back. This is what you do if you're really serious about home theater.

[stevos2005]

I personally feel that B&W is an exception, as IMHO I feel they have excellent speakers.

I have a question for RGA or for anyone else who knows this. How exactly does a preamp impart the sound quality? I have a Yamaha RX-V2400 hooked up to B&W CDM series speakers. I'm planning on adding an external amp (think maybe Parasound Halo A52, Rotel RMB-1095, or Bryston 9BSST, or something of the like)

I was thinking that'd improve sound quality. I'm using the Yammie's processors for HT and radio, but when listening to music CD's, I'm using the Denon DVD-2900's internal Burr-Brown 24-bit DACs and connect it to the discrete input.

So I'm hoping that'll improve sound noticeably with the B&W CDM NT's. I eventually, but eventually means 2-4 years from now, plan to add a separate pre/processor and use the amps balanced inputs.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks