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Down here we are very proud of having such a musical genius.
Thanks. I adore Piazzolla. Fan of his music for 2 years, collected entire discography and most bootlegs. If only there were no hoarders....
I have to say that I am partial to 3-way speakers. I know that there are many fine 2-way speakers out there but the midrange is very important to me and I love the sound of a well made 3-way design. Hence my recommendation for the 3-way Karat's and Quinto's. If you are not happy with the sound of the Fonum's perhaps it would be better to be patient and wait for something else to turn up?
Cheers,
James
Probably THAT was the problem with a piano. Maybe I should wait for some 3-way too.
Of this list I only have personal experience with the A-1020 and A-500 (and an A-S200). And of this list I'd put the A-1020 at the top. It has every feature of the A-960, has a less complicated power supply, more wpc, sounds very good, and would cost you less than the A-960. Price wise the A-500 looks attractive. It's a nice clean sounding 70wpc amp and I like it a lot, but it doesn't have the multiple phono options that you are looking for. Just a single MM/MC switch option. But it's a nice amp. I bought one a year ago and gave it to a friend. He likes it a lot.
One thing to consider is that all of these '80s vintage amps are in the age where they need to (or will soon need to) have their electrolytic caps replaced. That's the advantage of the one new amp on your list, the A-S300. I bought an A-S200 and used it for a while and it was a decent sounding amp and has the advantage of having a remote. In the end I found that I liked an A-520 more and the A-S200 is going to one of my children.
I can't answer your question comparing the Yamaha's to HK as I have no experience with HK. To be truthful it must be said that I am biased. I've been using Yamaha amps since 1983 and love them dearly.
Cheers,
James
Sorry for late response and Happy New Year!
These days were way too busy.
Actually I decided for myself: if I don't want to service amp after buying, I should buy something right here, in my city, with looking at it first of all, then using and then buying for a test period of time.
I have listened to Harman Kardon 655. The biggest problem - it has same directed buzz sound from speakers no matter what input selected, no matter what is the position of volume knob. Same thing that I heard in another harman kardon (so hk are dead for me atm) and in my Dynasty.
Indeed I was shocked, how the SUPA HAI FAI H/K is also with buzz sound (then I checked Marantz old receiver and it had this buzz sound but almost unhearable even when your ear laying on loudspeaker, so Marantz seems better =)).
Maybe someone will have any ideas. I have recorded a poorest quality video of 655 trying all knobs and buttons with sound coming straight from headphones jack and amplified like 50 times. What is heard from speakers is same as what is heard via headphones. Maybe headphones output has a bit lower buzz sound but still. So actually sound coming from video is same buzz sound I heard from both hk and my Dynasty via loudspeakers. Just amplified for better understanding. I remember listening to some TEAC amplifier - there was 0 buzz.
So, the video:
At the moment I can see two different devices that can be both flat (natural-sounding) and have nice phono preamps:
Optonica SM 3636 for 200$ (
http://olx.ua/uk/obyavlenie/prodam-usilitel-optonica-sm-3636-IDh6APs.html)
and
Marantz PM 52SE for 140$ (
http://olx.ua/uk/obyavlenie/pdsilyuvach-marantz-pm-52se-IDh5euq.html) - this one is funny though. PM 52 version had bass/treble knobs + MM/MC phono stage. This SPECIAL EDITIONS does not have them. What was improved? Or "Special editions for poor/stupid"?
Anyway.
Both have straight RIAA curve, good SNR, Mono buttons. Any advice?
p.s. I will probably later create a separate thread, but just for a moment: If I am looking for a TT to digitize lps with lowest hum/noise possible, is Dual 1219 any good?
