Will I gain anything?

[RichB]

I predicted the result in my post#17 in your other thread didn't I? The thing is, average power between 2 and 6 watts is a lot. Say the average is 4 WPC, the RX-A820 would most likely be clipping during the music peaks of 10 dB or more. If you sit closer so that you will be listening to the same SPL but at power outputs of 0.5 to 1 WPC, then you are going to have trouble telling the difference. The M20 is just too much for the anemic RX-A820 in anything but a small room for near field listening.

For the record, I don't think the A820 performed very well. The wattage is computed from the voltage into 3.6 ohms (worst case) when playing sine-waves which are alread the worst case. Music should be better. I had a bit better el-chepo meter and got much more consistent results measuring voltages.

Also, the music was played was engaging but not loud. I'll measure the peak SPL with REW and a calibrated mic and post that as well.

- Rich

 

[PENG]

For the record, I don't think the A820 performed very well. The wattage is computed from the voltage into 3.6 ohms (worst case) when playing sine-waves which are alread the worst case. Music should be better. I had a bit better el-chepo meter and got much more consistent results measuring voltages.

Also, the music was played was engaging but not loud. I'll measure the peak SPL with REW and a calibrated mic and post that as well.

- Rich

In terms of thermal loading sine wave is worse than music, but I am talking about peaks, that's what cause the A820 to clip, that is flat topped.. You can use compressed pop/rocks for your comparison, but then there isn't much point because neither will sound good anyway. The facts is, the M20's sensitivity is around 84.5 dB/2.83V/1m, that would be equivalent to about 82.5 to 83 dB/1W/1m based on the impedance vs frequency characteristics.

So again, just based on specs and measurements, unless in a small room near field, the A820 is not expected to performed well with the M20, and you found that out already. If you were to use something like the RX-A2020 and up, it will be a different story. You may still be able to pick out the Oppo/ATI pair but I think it won't be as easy even in a SBT session.