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Picking an amplifier

I have the following speakers:
NHT 2.1 Front LR 200W @ 6ohms
NHT AC1 Center 150W @ 8 ohms
NHT SW2 Subwoofer 200W @ 8 ohms
The rear speakers are inconsequential (and boxed up) they might come out to play when I move to bigger digs.
I’ve been using NHTs 214s and 216s, (think lightbulbs) but the market is drying up. I remain unconvinced they are worth the shipping & costs to repair.
My (current) short list of replacement amps:
Outlaw Audio model 770 7 (7 channels)
Bryston 9B ST (5 channels) (2 years left on warranty)
Parasound 5125 (5 channels)
The budget is $1000, I have located sources for all three at or below $1000.
Any/all discussion of suitability, repair outlook, and peanut shells welcome. From a listening perspective, I've been fine with the NADs, but am priced out of the newer models. Nuts, I might even repair the NADs if I find the right person with the skills & tools.

shalmaneser
shalmaneser OP
62 posts
 
auxinput: I've resolved one problem I've been having - every once in a while windows OS & software demonstrates its dubious roots of lack of 7x24 orientation and things need rebooting. (Microsoft: 3rd rate software company with top shelf marketing and lawyers) It happens less and less frequently and sometimes it appears to be hardware related. If civilization was created the same way which software is, the first woodpecker to come along would be the end of civilization. The other amp just needs someone to go through it and find whatever's going on. 
Thanks for the update on the digital world. Eventually MOBOs will fold a decent DAC into the consumer level. Until then, Rube Goldberg lives! I think I've got a PCI card slot free. If not, I'm building another computer soon and will configure it appropriately for the AV room. 
I'm waiting on upgrading the Sony till I can drop another $1K on a component. So far the Anthem 5/50 amps are very appealing. The professional reviews and consumer comments have negligible negatives and it's amazing how excited people get when they are writing about them. Or someone worked very hard to organize a positive campaign. 
shalmaneser OP
62 posts
 
auxinput: COAX vs optical. Sounds like they fudged the data path. I'll have to study what they did, because the medium should have no bearing on what's being communicated. 
shalmaneser OP
62 posts
 
Is there anyone here who has used  AudioQuest Diamond OptiLink 1.5m (4.92 ft.) Optical Audio Cable? Was it an improvement?
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

Yeah, you would think that COAX and optical should sound exactly the same.  Based on electrical engineer point of view, it should be the same and it's just data.  But from an audiophile listening standpoint, the COAX will just sound better.  The optical can get very good if you use a high end glass fiber cable such as Lifatec or Wire World Supernova, but the COAX will just sound better in the end.  The COAX also has a more natural ambience to the sound.  You can read up on it if you wish.

The Anthem 5/50 amps are nice choices.  The MCA 50 has a power supply that is 50% larger than the MCA 5.  The MCA-50 has 150,000uf capacitance, where the MCA-5 has 100,000uf.  This means the MCA-50 may be a more refined sound and it will also have a bit more muscle for the bass/midbass (even at lower volumes!).  Obviously, the MCA-50 costs more.  The Anthem amps will be a lot cleaner/faster/detailed sounding than the NAD, and probably more power/muscle in the bass.

Okay, I remember the reasoning behind why the PCI version of the Xonar Essence card (ST version) was better.  It had to do with the PCI bus clock speed, which is 33Mhz.  For audio data, you really don't need a super fast bus.  The PCIE bus clock speed is in the gigaherz range (2.5Ghz / 5.0Ghz / 8.0Ghz).  I think this created much more problems for jitter in the data.  The 33Mhz PCI interface just worked better and was more forgiving for sending audio bitstream data.

auxinput
2,920 posts
 

Ah you posted almost at the same time.  A while back I did some research on toslink cables.  The Audioquest diamond is extremely expensive.  I don't know if it is really worth it.  lol.  Looking at the other top toslink cables I found:

Lifatec - 470 Audio Data Silflex Glass Fiber Optic strands polished ends.  3 foot cable $81

Wire World Supernova 7 - 338 strands Borosilicate Glass polished ends.  1 meter cable $200.

Audioquest Diamond - 280 Narrow-Aperture Quartz (Fused-Silica) Fibers polished ends.  0.75 meter cable $499.

From my research, the Lifatec was the absolute best cable for the money, and probably compared to higher priced cables.  Lifatec makes fiberoptic cables for medical grade devices.  The Wire World was the only other one I would have considered as the Audioquest is just insanely expensive.

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