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  1. #1
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    Had some audio fun today

    A guy wanted to audition my CJ PV14ls2 in his system. He has a NAD preamp, 2 NAD power amps vertically bi-amping an older set of Paradigm Studio 100's and a Rotel 1072. So along with the CJ preamp I took my Adcom 5500 and CJ da-3 DAC.

    First we listned to his system. It was alright but you can tell the woofers needed more power and the amps ran out of steam when push came to volume. We added the CJ preamp and listened a bit. I think he said the NAD amps were only 50x2, and, they still had the same limits as before. Although the preamp improved the overall sound. I then asked him to horizontally biamp with the 5500 doing bass duty. The system had more grunt but it didn't have the effect I was looking for. Then I remembered the NAD had a gain control. Once the amps balanced out I was pretty impressed. Still getting a slight falling apart in the mids at very high volume. We then had the Adcom on bass and a bridged mono NAD on EACH mid/high. Now, we were talking. That became quite lively. The room wasn't that large so the 5500 was doing some massive bass and the mid/high has ample head room so we were getting some good dynamics and high SPL's We then added the DAC. Up to this point things were building progressively better. With the DA-3 it was a bit of a trade off. The CJ DAC was overall better than the Rotel but it sort of made the sound a bit too sweet on Rock.

    I haven't had that much experience before playing with biamping but this experience has me believing it has it's merits. I was really impressed with how far that system went with the additions and changes we made. The clarity and snap of snare and other midrange details were very good. Whether this was from having the woofer and mid on separate amps or being able to tailor sound using the NAD's gains I can't be sure. I am sure though I had a blast.

  2. #2
    Forum Regular blackraven's Avatar
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    Well, did you sell the CJ preamp?
    Pass Labs X250 amp, BAT Vk-51se Preamp,
    Thorens TD-145 TT, Bellari phono preamp, Nagaoka MP-200 Cartridge
    Magnepan QR1.6 speakers
    Luxman DA-06 DAC
    Van Alstine Ultra Plus Hybrid Tube DAC
    Dual Martin Logan Original Dynamo Subs
    Parasound A21 amp
    Vintage Luxman T-110 tuner
    Magnepan MMG's, Grant Fidelity DAC-11, Class D CDA254 amp
    Monitor Audio S1 speakers, PSB B6 speakers
    Vintage Technic's Integrated amp
    Music Hall 25.2 CDP
    Adcom GFR 700 AVR
    Cables- Cardas, Silnote, BJC
    Velodyne CHT 8 sub

  3. #3
    I put the Gee in Gear.... thekid's Avatar
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    Nice write-up-sounds like a good time was had by all.

  4. #4
    Music Junkie E-Stat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
    I haven't had that much experience before playing with biamping but this experience has me believing it has it's merits.
    Bass distortion is less audible - in fact many folks like doubling distortion because it means there is more bass. When clipping occurs in single amps, however, the audible results further up the range are anything but euphonic. Since the real world of most speakers requires more power at the low end, bi-amping isolates most of the audible range from the effects of slightly overdriving the bass.

    I find it works very well in my HT system.

    rw

  5. #5
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    On selling the preamp, the guy was interested but wanted to think about it because he also wanted my 5500. He didn't have the cash right then and I sure wasn't leaving him the gear, just business, CYA. I was impressed with the few changes made, I thought it would have been cut and dry. You can imagine 50 watts to each driver section, it got fairly loud but was thin and ran out of steam. At the end we had at least 200 watts on the bass and some where around 100 dedicated to each mid/tweeter section so the clarity, SPL and impact increased quite a bit I must say. Add to that a superior preamp.....

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