case of upgradeitis or downgrade? need advice

[audioman00]

I have this Adcom GTP-350, I dunno much about, but it works, and it really sounded nice through my work system (Yamaha CR-1040) Infinity speaks)....
but My main rig is a yamaha receiver rx-v800 that runs the show, connected to the Rotel power amp. My problem is: I really want to hear what the Adcom sounds like in my system, but I would have to basically disconnect every component, remove the TT, due to lack of no phono input , AND possibly loose all subwoofer management AND digital in's. So, I just wondered if you guys and gals think this Adcom pre-amp is worth all this trouble, or is my yammi going to do the same thing, but have more options. The adcom is just a 2ch pre. I don't use 5.1 yet anyway... but the subwoofer would have to be connected to the back of the Rotel's Line Out. I guess it's all in the fun of the hobby and love of music to tear one's system apart on a whim, but I LOVE the way it sounds now, so is Adcom that much worth it, I mean, I know they use slit-foil caps and all, but aren't most of you fellow audio people using mostly receivers as pre-amps? Or am i mistaken on that one? hit me back... I bored @ work

 

[Adam]

Depends on how motivated you are! If I was really bored, then I'd tear everything down and try it out. The vast majority of the time, though, I'm more lazy and would be quite content with just keeping my system intact. I figure, if you LOVE the way that your system sounds, then why mess with it?

Earlier this week, I had to swap out receivers because my Pioneer stopped working, and while relatively easy compared to your situation (because both of my receivers have the same inputs available), it was still a hassle. I'm all about the easy...

 

[audioman00]

Yea, that makes sense, I will always wonder if it would "sound" better though... lol

 

[Adam]

Yea, that makes sense, I will always wonder if it would "sound" better though... lol

Well, then...the weekend is almost upon us. Perhaps it's a good time to satisfy that curiousity.

Question for you: can you hook up the Adcom to your speakers and enough sources that you could check it out without having to put it into your rack or cabinet? In other words, can you listen to it without physically replacing your Yamaha? Maybe set the Adcom off to the side and hook it up. If it's no big improvement, then you haven't invested the time in pulling all of your gear out and swapping all of the cables - just enough cables to try it out.

 

[audioman00]

yea, that is a possibility... good idea. I will see how long the cables are.. BTW, good taste on the Pioneer receiver and Emotiva gear... how are you liking the sound of those amps? they have always struck my curiosity... if I had $$. hmmmmm

 

[markw]

Just a thought...

I'm assuming the GTP-350 is a tuner/preamp, right? if so...

Couldn't you just connect the GTP-350's output to the two front channels of the Rotel Power amp?

Then, if you have some sort of "tape out" on the main receiver you could run an interconnect from theret o the GTP's "aux" input. That should handle at least the analog sources.

Granted, it may not be as "pure" as you might want, but it should give you a good idea of what you've got. If purity is your goal, then you would indeed need to connect each source to the GTP.

And, yes, it's a stereo unit. Forget about the subwoofer for now.

 

[Adam]

BTW, good taste on the Pioneer receiver and Emotiva gear... how are you liking the sound of those amps?

Thanks! I really like the Pioneer (which died on Tuesday, and then came back from the dead last night). The Emotiva amps sound fine. The RPA-1 makes a big difference when I play things loud, and I'm very happy that I bought it. The IPS-1 makes a much smaller difference, but it's just hooked up to my center and rear speakers, so the Pioneer was already doing a pretty decent job of powering those. At normal listening levels, the Pioneer sounds the same with or without the amps - but movies sound nice with those amps.

I won't beat a dead horse because I've mentioned it before, but I don't recommend Emotiva. My IPS-1 unit hums pretty loudly (the box itself, even without anything connected to it), and they just kept blowing me off last year when I would call to ask about it. They were very nice, but the promised call-backs never happened. I should have just insisted on returning it and have been done with it. Also, my first RPA-1 died within two days; and while they very nicely agreed to replace it without any problems (honestly, it was no hassles), it took a couple of reminders to actually get them to ship the new one. So - the gear is good, when it works...some quality issues in my opinion, and customer service was lacking. Perhaps they were just understaffed, but the reasons aren't that important to me - the end result is (I paid $1150 for an amp that I leave off most of the time because of the hum). My two cents, but there are others here that have been very happy with them, so just take it as one person's experience.

 

[audioman00]

I connected the Adcom pre-amp this weekend before I left town, it does sound really good, I think it just took some of the "edge" off of the treble, and tightened up the bass response. to those of you that care, i have removed my yamaha receiver and replaced it with my new Adcom GTP-350 stereo pre-amp. I lost my Subwoofer, remote control, video switching AND a lot of features. But: I love how clean everything sounds now, it is indeed a big enough difference playing through the Adcom pre-amp that I am still happy with my decision. I miss my receiver badly though, but only connecting the Adcom directly; made it sound really good, there is no way to incorporate the yamaha receiver and still benefit from the pre-amp. I am hereby declaring that I have been won over by separates. The only thing I want now is the matching Rotel RC-1070 pre.... It has a remote and looks a lot more sexy.

 

[audioman00]

I guess this isn't the forum for the 2ch guys; I thought I would get a few more responses from the separates guys and gals and the 2ch people.... wierd!

 

[markw]

huh?

I guess this isn't the forum for the 2ch guys; I thought I would get a few more responses from the separates guys and gals and the 2ch people.... wierd!

You've got a 2 channel guy here. Check out my system.

Is there a law against having both a 2 channel and a HT system?

What more do you want to know that hasn't already been answered? I haven't seen any questions since your first post.

About the only thing I might add is that the "purity" of a simple 2 channel system, sans any digital processing, might produce a cleaner sound overall, but some would debate that.

 

[audioman00]

I figured it might be a debate, but I thought most 2ch systems were analog? sometimes with digital sources. I have made a huge upgrade and am perplexed at how this could be such an upgrade, because I'm using more analog cables now, longer signal path, etc. The only thing I can think is that not processing the analog signal as many times as a receiver does vs. a pre-amp cleans the signal up, or is it that yamaha is not superior to Adcom? I dunno! these are my questions.... no one has any similar experiences? no comments on how much better it would be logically to go analog only for 2ch? i dunno

 

[markw]

The Adcom doesn't "clean up" the signal as much as it passes it through in a more unaltered state.

That little analog Adcom does less signal processing than the Yamaha. The signal path for your Adcom is simply source > preamp > power Amp > speakers, all of which are analog. Yesm, the source may be digital but it's analog when it comes into the Adcom via the red/white phono jacks.

The Yammie (and all HT systems) takes all inputs that aren't digital to start with and converts them into stereo for use in the processor stage*, which is co-mingled with your Yammie's preamp. That's why you got the sub with the yammie but not with the adcom. You can use a sub with the Adcom (or virtually any analog stereo) but there's a totally different connection/setup scheme.

*unless you have a straight or pure or direct mode... semantics and even then you may lose the subwoofer.

 

[audioman00]

I appreciate the advice. I noticed the FM tuner is quite a bit better as well... cool! I see what you are saying about a shorter path to the amp. I noticed the quality of the adcom might be better than the yamaha, but i will not sell that receiver short, it sounded very good as well with my setup. Those receivers are awsome for the money. I guess I just listen to a lot more music, so it's worth the loss of processing (and display) thx!

 

[Adam]

I'm glad that you decided to check it out. It sure worked out for you!

I forget. Which Yamaha were you using? I bought one in 1997, and it sounded pretty good in home theater, but stereo listening was just unpleasant on my NHTs. My newer Pioneer has equalization, and it sounds much, MUCH better to me than did the Yamaha. When my Pioneer temporarily stopped working last week, I hooked the Yamaha back up and was quickly reminded of how much better I liked the equalized sound.

 

[markw]

I appreciate the advice. I noticed the FM tuner is quite a bit better as well... cool! I see what you are saying about a shorter path to the amp. I noticed the quality of the adcom might be better than the yamaha, but i will not sell that receiver short, it sounded very good as well with my setup. Those receivers are awsome for the money. I guess I just listen to a lot more music, so it's worth the loss of processing (and display) thx!

You buy a truck for different reasons than you buy a luxury car. and you have different requirements for each.

The Yamaha was designed for Home Theatre which was designed for movies and has different requirements than a "stereo", which was designed for music. Yes, they both produce sound but there is no natural analog (pun intended) in reality to the sounds in movies. All their sounds were created by foley operaters.

 

[audioman00]

I was probably an idiot to think that a HT receiver was going to produce as clear of an analog signal as a 2ch pre-amp. I thought it was a simple enough process for a nicer yamaha to act as a descent 2ch pre... but I guess it is designed for another purpose, I'm still stuck back in the day when a receiver WAS for music primarily, and they used to build a hell of a pre-amp inside these integrated receivers, especially yamaha. I guess I'm out of the HT business for now, 2ch is just what meets my needs more since I'm still like 80% music and 20% movies.. thx

 

[audioman00]

I'm glad that you decided to check it out. It sure worked out for you!

I forget. Which Yamaha were you using? I bought one in 1997, and it sounded pretty good in home theater, but stereo listening was just unpleasant on my NHTs. My newer Pioneer has equalization, and it sounds much, MUCH better to me than did the Yamaha. When my Pioneer temporarily stopped working last week, I hooked the Yamaha back up and was quickly reminded of how much better I liked the equalized sound.

The yamaha is a RX-V800 circa 2003' ish ... It is a nice receiver, I am glad to hear your Pioneer came back to life, but it has no EQ function? I figured it would... is the emotiva on any kinda isolation blocks? or is it the transformer that is humming, if so that means it IS a faulty amp maybe? thx

 

[Adam]

The yamaha is a RX-V800 circa 2003' ish ... It is a nice receiver, I am glad to hear your Pioneer came back to life, but it has no EQ function? I figured it would... is the emotiva on any kinda isolation blocks? or is it the transformer that is humming, if so that means it IS a faulty amp maybe? thx

Thanks. The Pioneer does have EQ (which I really like), but my old Yamaha from 1997 does not. The Emo hums whether I have anything connected to it or not. It's just the box itself that hums. I am under the firm impression that it is a faulty amp, but I gave up on trying to get them to talk to me about it.