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A "Downgrade" that proved to be a spectacular "Upgrade" -------

Has anyone here, out of necessity, installed a piece of gear into your system that should have been an obvious "Downgrade" but actually turned out to be an "Upgrade" ?  I know this sounds topsy-turvy, but I recently removed two highend amplifiers from my system for regular maintenance and substituted a multi-channel amp that had previously been assigned the job of handling just the bass frequencies.  I was positively stunned at how alive the system sounded !  Even my wife, who is typically uninterested in most things audio, instantly remarked on the improvement ! The tweeters and woofers were now on the multi-channel amp and the mids still assigned to a McIntosh 2105 amp. The multi-channel amp in question is a 7 channel Outlaw amp, the highend amps that were removed were Burmester 878s and the loudspeakers are Linkwitz "Orion"s.  All-in-all it has been a terrific sounding system but I couldn't believe this incredible improvement in every respect when I made the changes.   Ever happen to you ----- anybody ?

128x128terraplane8bob
roadcykler
165 posts
 

As others have mentioned, cost does not equal sound quality (unless you review things for income or not understand expectation bias when you buy a more expensive item, then it always does).

hsounds
153 posts
 

Hey, I tried a very expensive Shinyata phono cable. Like $2600. Same with Vahalla2 phono. All the realistic sound left the building. I am using the Straightwire Virtuoso R phono cable. Probably 1/7 or less the price. Believe you me. Gene Ammons plays live in my listening room all the time. Amazing! I had the same experience on the Clarysis Minuette speakers. Took off the $24,000 Valhalla 2 speaker cables and put on the Straightwire Crescendo speaker cables. It went from a clear recording to a live performance. Same thing. Like 1/7 the price. This is why we need to try before we buy. 

avanti1960
1,500 posts
 

Yes in subwoofers.  The SVS SB 3000 sounds better than a more expensive JL Audio and REL subwoofer that I had.  

avanti1960
1,500 posts
 

Also I much preferred the sound of the Pass Labs XA25 over the Pass XA 30.8 amplifier.  

The Audio Technica ART9 cartridge blows away the Soundsmith Zephyr mimc star es.  

 

mahler123
3,406 posts
 

Outlaw bests Burmeister wow.  I had a pair of Outlaw amps about a decade back.  I put them on the par with a Bose table radio

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