Crappy sounding amp!

[KEW]

The only time an amp will sound bad is if it is so severely underpowered for the speaker load that you are clipping all-the-time. If you speakers were inefficient, then this could have been the cause. If the replacement amp had substantially more power then that is the answer. Question: Did it sound crappy at low volume as weel as high volume. If low volume was okay, then again you are trying to overdrive the amp beyond its capabilites. Remember that power is logrithmic; to increase 3dB you need to double your power.

However speaking of old amps, I still have a Marantz 1060 which is more than 40 years old ( bought new in 1971) and still plays awesome. The Marantz designation 1060 was a total of 60 watts rms or 30 watts per channel. I am driving Cambrodge Audio S-30 speakers.

Good luck Forest Man!

P.S.- Most bad sound can be traced to the speakers or the HMI

You are preaching to the choir, man! That is why I posted. I had forgotten that I had actually experienced this myself. But we are not talking some subtle nuance that could be attributed to my expectation that another amp would sound different. I have to believe there was a fault in the amp which allowed it to function, but not as designed.
I mentioned how horrible the loudness was. It would be consistent if the loudness simply accentuated the flaw. A extreme lack of definition in the bass (not volume, but definition) was the major symptom and loudness would emphasize this.

 

[mtrycrafts]

...
I'm not sure I follow you reasoning. I first came to my conclusion in the distant past when I swapped amps. I can't see the reason to invalidate that.
However, I pulled it out and re-verified my assessment a couple of years ago.

Well, if it was in the distant past, perhaps your testing protocol was not proper? Your memory could be unreliable of events.
And a few years ago, I would assume you properly level matched the two components at least?

 

[KEW]

And a few years ago, I would assume you properly level matched the two components at least?

I'm not making myself clear.
This amp was not marginally worse, it was decisively worse. This is not a matter of needing to compare it to another amp to evaluate it. Swapping amps revealed that the speakers were not the reason for the poor sound quality.
But it is a good idea to pull it out and hook it up to refresh my memory on it.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I'm not making myself clear.
This amp was not marginally worse, it was decisively worse. This is not a matter of needing to compare it to another amp to evaluate it. Swapping amps revealed that the speakers were not the reason for the poor sound quality.
But it is a good idea to pull it out and hook it up to refresh my memory on it.

Yeah, when I compared the Pioneer Elite pre-pro to HK AVR, it was night and day different. Not even close. The sound was not clear. Like tones was turned on.