I mentioned in another thread that I had ordered this unit as I strive to build an inexpensive yet nice sounding 2 channel stereo. I thought I would let y'all know what my first impressions are in case there are others looking at this unit. Hopefully this is helpful to someone.
I received the Dayton HTA200 last night and spent about six minutes this morning setting it up. It was that easy, but it is also quite basic. It came very well packaged... double boxed with proper polyethylene foam endcaps, not EPS (cheap ice chest beaded foam) that doesn't offer much cushion. The polyethylene is ideal for packaging sensitive electronics. It was bagged and came with a power cord, antenna, and instructions. Very straightforward.
I connected my PSB Stratos Mini speakers on stands to the unit, plugged it in, and powered it up. The tubes light up immediately and you're ready to chose an input. Being in a hurry, I chose bluetooth and it connected to my phone in less than 3 seconds... the fastest I have ever had BT connectivity. I left the bass and treble settings at 12 o'clock, turned the volume to 12 o'clock, and reduced the volume on my phone before playing the first song.
My first choice was a go-to song that always sounds good... Dorina by DADA on their first album called Puzzles from 1992. Please listen to it and tell me what you think. As I increased the volume on the phone, the sound came up smooth and clean, similar but better than the cheap Pyle I had been using. I immediately noticed that the mids and highs were more pronounced and more separate, and the bass was just as full of chest as the Pyle offered. So far so good and I continued to bump the phone volume up until I was one notch below max (my phone has a weird gain at max where it almost acts like a loudness button, so I rarely listed at max). The volume was quite loud, but incredibly clean, and the VU meters were bouncing just barely into the red, so I grabbed the remote and tapped the volume up until the light on the knob was at about 2 o'clock. It was really freaking loud now, uncomfortably so, but perfectly clear and clean. Not a bit of strain, no distortion... it had plenty more to give and the speakers seemed to love it. At 3 o'clock on the volume, I tapped out. There's never going to be a need for that level of volume in my house, but neither the receiver nor the speakers flinched... This little sumbitch has some horsepower!
I returned the volume knob to 12 o'clock and reduced the phone volume to a nice, spicy level for spirited but pleasurable listening, and started bouncing around through a variety of songs. I maybe spent an hour, listening to the first half of a few dozen songs (because I am impatient) and tried classic rock, punk, country, metal, big band, and some unplugged and vocal stuff. The PSB Stratos Mini speakers are big for a bookshelf and small for a floor stander, and are 4 ohm. They don't sound particularly great when listening to metal at exceedingly high volumes, but they sound really good at slightly lower volumes. This might also be attributed to the room itself. Anyway...
Next, I plugged in my Retrolife turntable. Before anyone starts laughing, this is a very decent turntable for the price. It's belt driven, comes with an Audio Technica cartridge, and has proven to put out respectable SQ for $180. Remember, I'm trying to be budget minded here, while taking advantage of high end 4 ohm speakers. There's plenty of time to upgrade. The phono pre-amp in the HTA200 must not have the ooomph of a high end external pre-amp, as I had to turn up the volume a fair amount more to get close to the ear bleeding loudness of songs played via BT, But one thing is for sure, the sound is very very nice. Much cleaner and more clear and accurate than the Pyle I was using with a cheap pre-amp. I don't always play things loud... I just like to push limits and see what can be had. I played some Alice Cooper, Foo Fighters, Linda Ronstadt, Incubus, and Audioslave. All sounded much improved over the previous set up.
I have two powered sub woofer options (Infinity and Klipsch) that I will be trying out, which I think will really add some fullness to an already impressive bass sound from the PSBs alone.
The HTA200 has a digital audio input , so I plan to run a cable to my TV and see how some of the Midnight Special videos sound. If you haven't had the pleasure, look up Midnight Special on YouTube... for you younger guys and gals, it was a weekly music show back in the 70's, and the sound quality on these videos is surprisingly good... like as good or better than studio recordings. Not sure how they did it, but treat yourself and thank me later.
So, first impression is that the HTA200 is a bitchin little tube/SS hybrid unit that makes more volume than you can use, and sounds outstanding at all levels tested. It is perfectly convenient and looks cool. For $350, it is half the price of a Cambridge or Outlaw unit with similar specs. I have no doubts that it could really drive some hefty floor speakers. As I add subs, TV, etc, I will come back and amend this thread.
Matt
I received the Dayton HTA200 last night and spent about six minutes this morning setting it up. It was that easy, but it is also quite basic. It came very well packaged... double boxed with proper polyethylene foam endcaps, not EPS (cheap ice chest beaded foam) that doesn't offer much cushion. The polyethylene is ideal for packaging sensitive electronics. It was bagged and came with a power cord, antenna, and instructions. Very straightforward.
I connected my PSB Stratos Mini speakers on stands to the unit, plugged it in, and powered it up. The tubes light up immediately and you're ready to chose an input. Being in a hurry, I chose bluetooth and it connected to my phone in less than 3 seconds... the fastest I have ever had BT connectivity. I left the bass and treble settings at 12 o'clock, turned the volume to 12 o'clock, and reduced the volume on my phone before playing the first song.
My first choice was a go-to song that always sounds good... Dorina by DADA on their first album called Puzzles from 1992. Please listen to it and tell me what you think. As I increased the volume on the phone, the sound came up smooth and clean, similar but better than the cheap Pyle I had been using. I immediately noticed that the mids and highs were more pronounced and more separate, and the bass was just as full of chest as the Pyle offered. So far so good and I continued to bump the phone volume up until I was one notch below max (my phone has a weird gain at max where it almost acts like a loudness button, so I rarely listed at max). The volume was quite loud, but incredibly clean, and the VU meters were bouncing just barely into the red, so I grabbed the remote and tapped the volume up until the light on the knob was at about 2 o'clock. It was really freaking loud now, uncomfortably so, but perfectly clear and clean. Not a bit of strain, no distortion... it had plenty more to give and the speakers seemed to love it. At 3 o'clock on the volume, I tapped out. There's never going to be a need for that level of volume in my house, but neither the receiver nor the speakers flinched... This little sumbitch has some horsepower!
I returned the volume knob to 12 o'clock and reduced the phone volume to a nice, spicy level for spirited but pleasurable listening, and started bouncing around through a variety of songs. I maybe spent an hour, listening to the first half of a few dozen songs (because I am impatient) and tried classic rock, punk, country, metal, big band, and some unplugged and vocal stuff. The PSB Stratos Mini speakers are big for a bookshelf and small for a floor stander, and are 4 ohm. They don't sound particularly great when listening to metal at exceedingly high volumes, but they sound really good at slightly lower volumes. This might also be attributed to the room itself. Anyway...
Next, I plugged in my Retrolife turntable. Before anyone starts laughing, this is a very decent turntable for the price. It's belt driven, comes with an Audio Technica cartridge, and has proven to put out respectable SQ for $180. Remember, I'm trying to be budget minded here, while taking advantage of high end 4 ohm speakers. There's plenty of time to upgrade. The phono pre-amp in the HTA200 must not have the ooomph of a high end external pre-amp, as I had to turn up the volume a fair amount more to get close to the ear bleeding loudness of songs played via BT, But one thing is for sure, the sound is very very nice. Much cleaner and more clear and accurate than the Pyle I was using with a cheap pre-amp. I don't always play things loud... I just like to push limits and see what can be had. I played some Alice Cooper, Foo Fighters, Linda Ronstadt, Incubus, and Audioslave. All sounded much improved over the previous set up.
I have two powered sub woofer options (Infinity and Klipsch) that I will be trying out, which I think will really add some fullness to an already impressive bass sound from the PSBs alone.
The HTA200 has a digital audio input , so I plan to run a cable to my TV and see how some of the Midnight Special videos sound. If you haven't had the pleasure, look up Midnight Special on YouTube... for you younger guys and gals, it was a weekly music show back in the 70's, and the sound quality on these videos is surprisingly good... like as good or better than studio recordings. Not sure how they did it, but treat yourself and thank me later.
So, first impression is that the HTA200 is a bitchin little tube/SS hybrid unit that makes more volume than you can use, and sounds outstanding at all levels tested. It is perfectly convenient and looks cool. For $350, it is half the price of a Cambridge or Outlaw unit with similar specs. I have no doubts that it could really drive some hefty floor speakers. As I add subs, TV, etc, I will come back and amend this thread.
Matt
