First off, I wanted to say thanks to every one who offered a suggestion. I really appreciate the suggestions and guess its time to start digging through the selections.
georgep said:
Hi, I know this is off topic, but how does the amp perform, and how audible is the fan?
Thanks,
George
Hi George, not a problem, always happy to talk about the rig. To be completely honest until you mentioned it I kinda forgot that it had active ventilation. That should say something there. I believe I've heard in once in over a year now and it was after I have just powering off the system and the room was dead quiet.
For comparison purposes my Dell computer is about 50dB or so and I can hear that sitting in a quiet room, I have never heard the fan during operation on my S.A.
As for performance issues, I can drive my 3.1s cleanly at any volume I have pushed them to. That may not say much with my old receiver, but the S.A. really does a wonderful job. There are times when I get home from work and forget to turn the Amp on just run everything through my receiver. The sound still amazes me and then I remember to switch on the S.A. (most of the time it comes on with the receiver but for safety I physically power down my system if I'm away for a long time.) and it is amazing.
You go from having a phenominal full range set of speakers up front to having a set of speakers that still suprise me to this day when they go that low. I have never maxed out the S.A., never heard it clip (never tried though). Once I finish upgrading my system with a new primary amplifier then I think I can really push it.
Initially purchased the amp for a number of reasons, 1.) I live in a small apartment in NY and just don't have a lot of excess space so this was a stop gap before purchasing a subwoofer. Hopnestly I can easily preasurize my room with the 3.1s, one day I'll get my SVS sub that I dream about, but I have never found myself needing anything else on the low end. 2.) My last set of speakers were a Reference Pair of Infinity 15"s that were full range and I didn't think I could live with the lack of low end extension. I was wrong, not only am I living with smaller speakers (physically speaking) but with the S.A. they play lower and cleaner than my Infinity's ever could have dreamed. 3.) I bought my speakers and my amp together because I really trust the guy that I buy from...he has an impecible ear IMHO and knows his stuff. When we discussed it and thought that it would be a good option for my space, I agreed.
If you're looking at the Ref 3.1s now, listen first without the S.A. the relisten with it, you'll hear the differnce. If you've had you're Ref 3s/3.1s for a while and want to enhance what you have then I'd say go for it. I notice a difference with mine. It still surpises me when it goes that low and makes me smile every time. To me thats the sign of quality equipment.
Good luck, if you have any more questions, feel free to shoot me a message.
