Hi ,I have a Krell Evo 402e, which is the best suited pre amp for rock and jazz , I can get a Audio Research 5 SE or a Krell Evo 202 for the same price, anyone with experience on both? thanks for your help
Had both and admire both, but I would say for the best overall performance go Krell. The AR can give a bit fuller, rounded sound but slightly hazes leading edges is less incisive. Have also had gain compatibility issues when matching. ARC preamps with solid state.
I heard the Krell Evo 402e with a Phantom preamp, which is the newer version of 202. It was an excellent result for both jazz and rock. Of course, your choice of interconnect and speaker wire can always influence things. Keep away from silver, lol.
@atmasphere - well, I beg to differ. There will be some systems out there that are too bright or with too much silver. They may be okay for things like jazz (piano trio or quartet), but with rock music, they just get to bright/harsh/thin.
If they are that way with rock, they'll be that way with everything else too as soon as it gets complex. The kind of music won't matter. This is without any doubt the most common myth in audio- that equipment favors a certain kind of music. I had a guy ask me one time what the best amp for downtempo 80s was. I'm pretty sure he was serious, but if not he totally got me.
I get the opportunity to hear mix and match equipment in a variety of settings, I would suggest sticking with one brand of equipment, that way they are voiced the same. Attempting to tailor a sound to get the best results is difficult to do under the best circumstances.
I am sure cables make the difference in any system. Excluding the best metal conductor, silver, is kinda weird. Kinda sounds like a snake oil experience.
@erik_squires: Sometimes when someone says something that we consider funny it's sometimes due to our lack of knowledge from which they speak (I'm being kind here). Happens to the best of us.
Ralph, here is an amusing, but true tale courtesy of Jack. Someone ordered some trannies from him. He asked what color bell ends they wanted. The response was: "What color sounds best." Jack responded maroon. So it's no coincidence that was the color he selected for the A3-500 and Sliver 45 SE amps he built :)
+1 atmasphere. People usually listen to rock/pop at much louder volumes so a bright system becomes more obvious. Same system may "seem" to sound better with jazz at lower listening volumes but that's just a misconception and becomes clear as soon as you hear both genres on a tonally balanced system.
Ok, not sure what absolutist bible exists that portends the efficacy of all amps for all music types! THAT is lunacy. Classical, jazz and rock can favor very different frequencies and musical tastes. What can make strings and woodwinds sound natural can make cymbals and upper register piano sound dull and rolled off. Amps and systems in general have different voicings that can either accentuate certain frequencies or not...of course neutrality is the goal (for some), but can be elusive. Cables are a whole other realm, as well as source material and playback equipment. It’s called design...hello!! Not all amps, or anything for that matter, are made exactly the same. Are you “All amps sound the same” people drinking the Audioholics protein fueled punch? Perhaps you were speaking to the ideal amp which would not favor any particular music? In that case, carry on.
Ok, not sure what absolutist bible exists that portends the efficacy of
all amps for all music types! THAT is lunacy. Classical, jazz and rock
can favor very different frequencies and musical tastes.
This may come as a bit of a surprise, but designers don't 'voice' an amplifier to work with a particular genre of music. There literally is no way to do that!! What does happen is some amps are quite literally better than others- lower distortion, wider bandwidth, that sort of thing, and you can hear that.
Those amps that are better will sound better on all types of music. If it happens that someone auditioning two amps where one is simply better, they may come away with the impression that one favors a certain kind of music. But that is simply because they didn't listen to all genres during their audition (which really isn't possible- there being so many) and one must keep in mind that all recordings are flawed- rock , jazz, classical and so on.
If an amp is limited in bandwidth, it will suffer for rock as it does classical, jazz or folk. If the amp makes unpleasant distortions (such as higher ordered harmonics or IMD) it will sound harsh on **all forms** of music.
No lunacy- just science. This really is a persistent myth. The same applies to speakers- for example the JBL L-100 (recently re-issued) was long said to favor rock, but it does just as well on classical, country and jazz. Again, quite literally, there is no way to build a speaker so that it will favor a certain genre. You can boost the highs and lows and maybe that's more pleasing to you for rock, but if you play a different genre you will find that the boosting of the highs and lows serves just as well there- IOW, such colorations are likely working to compensate for colorations elsewhere in the system where this sort of thing is perceived.
@erik_squires: Sometimes when someone says something that we consider funny it's sometimes due to our lack of knowledge from which they speak (I'm being kind here). Happens to the best of us.
Erik, perhaps you can enlighten me- how do you tweak a speaker so that it does rock better than any other genre?
Oh no, not I, Atma. Why don't you instead post a few dozen pages on the subject this time without being prompted by me. I haven't the time or interest to be anything but amused.
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