2. amps-preamps
  3. 1398707834

soundcraftsmen 900x2 lack of clarity?

through no fault of my own i ended up with a set of magnepan 3.3s. first amp i used was a crown dc300a series 2. too bright. switched to a sound craftsmen 5002. nice sound but perhaps a bit soft in the bass and the 3.3s are very power-hungry. came across a 900x2. have always wanted to try the big mosfet soundcraftsmen. purchased, checked, and hooked up. very disappointed. lacks sharpness and clarity (hope that is not redundant) my darling bride's comment was that there was just not as much music there as there was with the 5002. the 900x2 has had a hard life as evidenced by the dings and scratches and its prior history is unknown. any suggestions on solutions? as well rated as the mosfet sound craftsmen were, i find it hard to believe that there isn't something wrong with the amp
zdarkprince
rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
Wow, I just did a search here on A'gon for Butler and there is a TDB-2250 selling for $1,300. That is a *smokin'* deal on a very good amp. If you can afford it, I recommend you jump on that one!!

PS: MSRP is $2,995...
zdarkprince OP
1 posts
 
no offense taken. years ago i ran ads 910s with a 5000 series soundcraftsmen and in my room that set up sounded better than anything you could find at any price less than ludicrous in any audio store in newport beach. the caveat here is that imaging is not very important to me as i seldom sit and just listen. so having played with different amps through the years i have ended up using either crown dc 300s or soundcraftsmen 5000 series amps depending on wether i want to brighten or smooth the sound. i prefer to use no preamp (both amps have front gain controls). call me a minimalist, source-amp-speakers. fwiw, julian hirsch rated the smaller mosfet sound craftsmen highly. so my questions are; should the big sc mosfet amp be this inaccurate? and if not, what would one do to fix it?

thanks
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,981 posts
 
As old as it is, there may be a number of things needed to fix it. The question is, is it worth fixing?
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