Hi all
I have recently joined up after hearing nothing but good things about this forum and its members. I am one of the many, I guess, who dabble in what we can afford while we dream of what we will never own. Before I get to the question that keeps me up at night, just a bit about my current setup for reference: I have a pair of B&W 683 S1s with a HTM61 S1 center and DS3 dipoles for surround. There is also a pair of M1s in the mix which I sometimes use as back surrounds or as front presence speakers. The fronts are powered by a Rotel RB1080 and the rest run through a Yamaha RXA2030 receiver. There is also a pair of B&W ASW610 subs. My sources are primarily a BDA1040 disc player and Mede8er streaming gadget just cos im lazy most of the time. With the exception of the surround speakers, the cabling is all AudioQuest. 95% of my usage is for stereo... but I do revel in a rocking good movie experience now and then.
Ok, on to my dilemma: As we all know, we are never truly happy - I mean ecstatic happy - with what we have because we know there will always be a weak link in our chain. My current issue is... the 2030 Yamaha seems not to be a good match as a pre-out for the Rotel 1080 due to differences in the voltage input/output (I think?). I know the RB1080 can perform wonders, as I have heard so many times over the years, but I sadly just dont "feel" it in my system. In fact, running with only the 2030 through the Rocket88's sounds, if anything, a little richer than asking the 1080 to perform miracles with a weak input signal. This whole mess is compounded by the fact that the 683's just dont go low enough, hence the subs. That compounds things even more as getting the setup to be seamless across the cross-over range is an eternal issue.
My question to toe wiser out there: Do you suggest I spend some $$$ on more dynamic speakers and live with the drawbacks of the power amp incompatibility or do you suggest I get a decent pre-amp to separate my stereo into something more refined? I know the correct answer is "both" because a pre-amp would still mean I battle with the dynamic range issue, but... which would be the more beneficial from a "first stab" point of view?
Thanks in advance!
I have recently joined up after hearing nothing but good things about this forum and its members. I am one of the many, I guess, who dabble in what we can afford while we dream of what we will never own. Before I get to the question that keeps me up at night, just a bit about my current setup for reference: I have a pair of B&W 683 S1s with a HTM61 S1 center and DS3 dipoles for surround. There is also a pair of M1s in the mix which I sometimes use as back surrounds or as front presence speakers. The fronts are powered by a Rotel RB1080 and the rest run through a Yamaha RXA2030 receiver. There is also a pair of B&W ASW610 subs. My sources are primarily a BDA1040 disc player and Mede8er streaming gadget just cos im lazy most of the time. With the exception of the surround speakers, the cabling is all AudioQuest. 95% of my usage is for stereo... but I do revel in a rocking good movie experience now and then.
Ok, on to my dilemma: As we all know, we are never truly happy - I mean ecstatic happy - with what we have because we know there will always be a weak link in our chain. My current issue is... the 2030 Yamaha seems not to be a good match as a pre-out for the Rotel 1080 due to differences in the voltage input/output (I think?). I know the RB1080 can perform wonders, as I have heard so many times over the years, but I sadly just dont "feel" it in my system. In fact, running with only the 2030 through the Rocket88's sounds, if anything, a little richer than asking the 1080 to perform miracles with a weak input signal. This whole mess is compounded by the fact that the 683's just dont go low enough, hence the subs. That compounds things even more as getting the setup to be seamless across the cross-over range is an eternal issue.
My question to toe wiser out there: Do you suggest I spend some $$$ on more dynamic speakers and live with the drawbacks of the power amp incompatibility or do you suggest I get a decent pre-amp to separate my stereo into something more refined? I know the correct answer is "both" because a pre-amp would still mean I battle with the dynamic range issue, but... which would be the more beneficial from a "first stab" point of view?
Thanks in advance!
