I recently came into a little extra spending money, so I made the plunge and upgraded all my old Mid-Fi stuff to some nicer (and far more expensive... kinda blasted my original budget to shreds before too long!) equipment across the board.
I'm just starting to take delivery of this stuff after going through the auditioning/selection process. Have to say I'm quite happy with what's arrived so far, and am hoping that I made the right choices and ended up with some gear that will last me for a while.
System use is split between HT/7.1 use and Music (2ch analog from the MMF-9.1 as well as Redbook/SACD/DVD-A/etc. from the Cary DVD-8), with the emphasis behind component selection substantially weighted for 2ch music reproduction.
Hey Mjcmt, I don't profess to be a tech know it, but I went from 2 biamped Emotiva LPA-1's rated at 125w/ch (8ohm) to this single Operetta multi ch at 70w/ch )8ohm) and the differences were pretty amazing:
1. MUCH better bass. Very full and satisfying 2. Don't know how else to say it -- MUSICAL. It immediately put a smile on my face. Almost made me giddy the first time I fired it up. 3. Soundstaging and imaging improved
The Emo's are supposedly giant killers,though I'm sure they are overachievers at their price point.
I've heard chip amps are 'tubey' (warm) sounding and I must say, the diff between the Jaton and the Emo's was just that. The Emo's sounded clinical in comparison -- all digital with no soul. The other thing is that the soundstaging and imaging were better with the Operetta.
I haven't been able to overdrive this amp, and I like my music loud. I've driven it at over 90db in my medium sized living room and it still sounds clean. I read a review that with hard to drive speakers and at very loud levels it will start becoming harsh sounding. My speakers are Usher towers at 87db/8 ohm - not the easiest nor hardest to drive.
I run it from a tubed preamp which also makes a positive difference IMO.
lastly, George at Jaton is more then accommodating. Check out their website -- they are promoting the 5140 with a free month demo and reduced price of $1200, all shipping (to and even from) paid. You should check it out. I'm very glad I did. Let me know if you decide to, and your reactions!
Tholt, I'm not heard this amp but I absolutely love the sound of the National Semiconductor LM3886 chip amps. Please tell me about it. Like I said in the prievious post, I had AA integrated amp which uses 2 chip amps per channel Like the Jaton. The circuit is very simple and NS is very specific about the design so I believe it sounds mostly the same. Chip amps are my favorite sound short of owning tubes, which I now own. I want to return to a chip amp for the convienience of SS plus its great bass. My only complaint was chip amps are that when you overdrive the 70wpc it gets quite nasty, were as tubes are gracious when clipping.
Oh, I most certainly will enjoy it... getting the speakers delivered tomorrow and the analog rig within the next week... Even with my old speakers, I'm absolutely in love with this amp right now :)
And yeah, it's quite a significant step beyond my Mid-Fi setup before, but I rather unexpectedly came into a tad of extra money and I decided I was probably ultimately better off not trying to skimp too much and getting some stuff that would keep me more than happy for a while to come :).
Now, that being said, if I ever have second thoughts, all I ever need to do is jump into that "How much did you spend on your system?" thread, which makes me feel like an absolute cheapskate by comparison :).
