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Help Me Choose Better 5-Channel Amp

Our home theater has evolved from a home theater only into a hybrid HT/2-channel system. Both the HT and the 2-channel perform very well and overall I am very pleased with the outcome. But I would like to improve what I perceive to be the weak link when it comes to 2-channel listening. Right now I am using an Anthem Statement A5, a good match for the Anthem AVM50 and great for HT sound. But when I listen to 2-channel, I believe the sound could be improved with a better amp. I would prefer to upgrade the amp rather than buy a separate 2-channel amp and switch back and forth. When listening to 2-channel in this system, the other components are the Well Tempered Amadeus TT with a Dynavector XX2 LOMC cartridge, Levinson 390S CDP, Audio Research PH7 phono stage, Audio Research Ref 3 preamp, and Verity Fidelio Encore speakers. ICs are Aud23 and the speaker cable is Chord's Epic Twin.

Any suggestions for a better 5-channel amp that will improve the 2-channel listening experience?
4musica44107
theo's avatar
theo
2,680 posts
 
In retrospect of what dg1968 said I would say that is a very good point on the matching across the 5 channels. But also as he mentioned the room correction plays a positive part. I had a MX135 prior to the D2v and it never sounded as good as it does now after the room correction. But I am using one brand of amp for both. You might condsider a Anthem Statemnent 2 Channel amp.
dg1968
38 posts
 
I definitely agree with what Byron said above, that it is certainly not necessary to have identical amplification channels for good HT. I was just stating the obvious "conventional wisdom" on the subject.

Perhaps some of the concern was that using amps with vastly different gains would make all channels harder to EQ, or if somebody ended up using one high-current amp paired with a less powerful amp, they may run into some clipping problems.

But with all the high-quality equipment considered here, this probably wont be much of an issue. The OP's system is going to sound great no matter what option he takes.
jimburger
104 posts
 
The Theta Dreadnaught or Dreadnaught II would be worth considering. I moved from different brand center channel(Outlaw M200) and main amplifiers(Classe'25) to a single Dreadnaught II and the coherence of the multichannel presentation was much improved. The Dread II was definitely in the same league as the Classe'25 for 2 channel work in my system. Original Dreadnaught was designed by Charles Hansen of Ayre fame. It was designed as a fully balanced bridged amplifier with zero overall feedback which gave it a measured distortion characteristics similar to tube amplifiers. My Dread II which is the same basic design with some refinements by David Reich of Classe' and McCormack fame has some of the desirable big soundstage and high resolution characteristics of tube amplifiers. Not as powerful in the bottom end as the Classe' but still has very good dynamic drive. I should add that the Dreadnaughts are supposed to strut their best stuff in balanced systems.
bacardi's avatar
bacardi
663 posts
 
Why not try a Parasound HCA 2205AT. Very solid amp, 220 x 5. Only downfault is no XLR's. But for $1000 ish it is a steal.....Or go with the Parasound Halo A51 series. A little jump with XLR's and 250 x 5......pricier.....

Regards Bacardi
mbreed1962's avatar
mbreed1962
11 posts
 
Have you considered the Pathos Cinema-X? You can check it out at Pathos Acoustics dot com. It's a hybrid design; tube preamplifier and solid state amp, for the best of both worlds. Also, it's a 5-ch amp (110w/ch) that can instantly switch to 2-ch (450w/ch). It only has one set of balanced inputs, which will give you the best 2-ch results. I heard it's little brother (TT) driving a set of Focal-JMlabs Electra 1028BE at Axpona and it was amazing. I've got my eye on that piece and my processor is not as resolving and nice as yours. If you don't happen to be in the Jacksonville Florida area, send me an email with your zip code and I can find out who your local dealer is for a demo...
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