Kreshna
...but I have to know.
Yamaha AV receivers are often stereotyped as bright, transparent, and clinical, and it seems my RX-V663 is no exception. In fact, when paired with JBL 120Ti --titanium dome tweeters, the system sounds so transparent and clinical, without any attempt to make bad recordings sound good. As such, it tends to cause listening fatigue in the long run, especially with lesser source materials
However, when the Yamaha RX-V663 was used to drive Bowers & Wilkins DM302s, the system sounds very sweet, very organic, with such airy midrange that can be listened for hours. A friend told me that B&W "house sound" is indeed warm and sweet, which seems to stack very well with otherwise merciless Yamaha RX-V663. An example is Flyin' Away by Mo' Horizons, which sounds very organic on Yamaha RX-V663/B&W DM302s combo.
The only problem with the Yammie is it doesn't have enough juice to drive the demanding DM302s, whose impedance drops to 3 ohms at certain frequency range. The system often distorts at loud volumes, and I merely used two channels. I don't want to imagine what would happen if I used it for 5.1.
Then I added a Rotel RB-985 power amplifier to the audio chain, "demoting" the Yamaha AVR to preamp duty. The system sounds more effortless, more powerful, and definitely punchier. However, it loses its "organic-ness" somewhat, and it also tends to have shouty midrange with certain materials.
I read many times that Rotel power amplifiers tend to sound warm --the warm side of the neutral, said the reviewers. So I suspect B&W DM302's warmth stacks with Rotel RB-985's warmth, causing midrange overdose that can be shouty sometimes. My suspicion is confirmed after replacing the B&Ws with JBL L20Ts (titanium dome tweeter). The brighter-sounding L20Ts sound really nice and sweet when driven by the warm-sounding Rotel RB-985, without any hint of midrange shoutiness.
As such, it seems the warm-sounding B&W DM302s sound better when driven by bright, transparent, clinical-sounding amplifier like Yamaha RX-V663 AVR. The only problem with the Yammie is it distorts at louder volume, indicating lack of juice to drive the demanding B&W (AVR power rating tends to be exaggerated anyway).
So which 5 channel power amp should I choose to power B&W DM302s? Which amps whose sound is similar to that of Yamaha RX-V663? I guess the most obvious answer is Bryston, so something like 5B SST (3 channel) or 9B SST (5 channel) should fit my purpose. However, Brystons do not come up on ebay very often. B&Ks appear on ebay quite often, but reviews say they're warm-sounding. How about Emotiva or Adcom?
Or how about pro amps like Behringer or Crown?
However, when the Yamaha RX-V663 was used to drive Bowers & Wilkins DM302s, the system sounds very sweet, very organic, with such airy midrange that can be listened for hours. A friend told me that B&W "house sound" is indeed warm and sweet, which seems to stack very well with otherwise merciless Yamaha RX-V663. An example is Flyin' Away by Mo' Horizons, which sounds very organic on Yamaha RX-V663/B&W DM302s combo.
The only problem with the Yammie is it doesn't have enough juice to drive the demanding DM302s, whose impedance drops to 3 ohms at certain frequency range. The system often distorts at loud volumes, and I merely used two channels. I don't want to imagine what would happen if I used it for 5.1.
Then I added a Rotel RB-985 power amplifier to the audio chain, "demoting" the Yamaha AVR to preamp duty. The system sounds more effortless, more powerful, and definitely punchier. However, it loses its "organic-ness" somewhat, and it also tends to have shouty midrange with certain materials.
I read many times that Rotel power amplifiers tend to sound warm --the warm side of the neutral, said the reviewers. So I suspect B&W DM302's warmth stacks with Rotel RB-985's warmth, causing midrange overdose that can be shouty sometimes. My suspicion is confirmed after replacing the B&Ws with JBL L20Ts (titanium dome tweeter). The brighter-sounding L20Ts sound really nice and sweet when driven by the warm-sounding Rotel RB-985, without any hint of midrange shoutiness.
As such, it seems the warm-sounding B&W DM302s sound better when driven by bright, transparent, clinical-sounding amplifier like Yamaha RX-V663 AVR. The only problem with the Yammie is it distorts at louder volume, indicating lack of juice to drive the demanding B&W (AVR power rating tends to be exaggerated anyway).
So which 5 channel power amp should I choose to power B&W DM302s? Which amps whose sound is similar to that of Yamaha RX-V663? I guess the most obvious answer is Bryston, so something like 5B SST (3 channel) or 9B SST (5 channel) should fit my purpose. However, Brystons do not come up on ebay very often. B&Ks appear on ebay quite often, but reviews say they're warm-sounding. How about Emotiva or Adcom?
Or how about pro amps like Behringer or Crown?