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In Reply to: Questions and points to consider... posted by RMcCoy on January 4, 2004 at 00:05:14:
Yes, my "conclusions" apply only to the XR45 I had. It gave similar results in two different systems so the results apply to only these two particular systems & setups. Speakers were not moved between tests, speaker cables were the same for all amps, etc. Two other listeners gave similar conclusions. Listening was conducted over a 3 day period with 2 seperate sessions per day. Music ranged over female & male vocals, jazz, pop, etc.We listened both on a macro "musical" level and on micro "details" levels. The micro level pointed out where the Panny was strong (bass, mids - clarity & articulation) and where it was weak (tonality & timbre of certain instruments). The so-called "artifical" air and ambiance that we heard more of with the other amplifiers can be argued about day and night about being accurate but let's just agree that is a personal choice issue pertaining to our particular systems and tastes.
Our conclusions were reached before I read about the lower measurement at 2.2Khz (in fact the XR45 had left the house before that) so that had no influence on my analysis.
I am not sure where your are going with the digital volume control statement. Are you hypothesizing that the XR45 has a superior digital volume control? Maybe someone more knowledgable with the internals of the XR45 can let us know where in the circuit the volume control is implemented.
The XR-45's MC HT capability is of little use to me right now as I have no plans of moving in this direction. It is also of limited use for MC SACD and DVD-A as the analog MC inputs on the XR45 are reported to be inferior to its direct digital input. There are also reports that the XR45 runs out of steam running a 5 channel full-range speaker setup, but that could be wrong.
Getting back to the air/ambiance/bloom issue, it is interesting to note that in the Stereotimes review of the TACT 2150 amplifier (same technology as the XR45), the reviewer found ultimate musicality with tubes inserted in the audio chain. Solar HiFi is also going to offer a tube input stage to their digital amplifier to take it to another level. Again, all dictated by personal taste.
What really confounds be is that you will not try the XR45 in your Naim system. Can you please expand further? Do you think the XR45 is a better amp?
Again, I must repeat, the XR45 is a darn good integrated amplifier that I could certainly live with and would choose if I had less than a $1000 to spend or wanted to setup a MC HT system that I occasionaly used for 2-channel listening.
More than anything, the XR45 is an exciting sign of things to come. I wonder if Panasonic will introduce something new at CES?
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Follow Ups
- Re: Questions and points to consider... - J North 01/4/0410:04:06 01/4/04 (1)
- Re: Questions and points to consider... - RMcCoy 18:23:08 01/4/04 (0)
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