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April 12, 2007 - 12:32pm
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Canton & Rotel
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The last time I heard the Rotel RB-1080 it was with a RC-1070 driving Anthony Gallo Nucleus Reference 3.1 loudspeakers. Those are $3000/pair speakers and the combo sounded good. Anyway can you bring the Rotel stuff home for an audition? For the money I don't know how you could do much better.
http://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/608/
Yes, they have a demo that I can audition. So, I will do that, and check it out.
Thanks for your thoughts.
I have an older Rotel amp that I like very much. The newer Rotel amps didn't impress me at all. I haven't heard the 1080, but I did spend a little time with the smaller siblings and I would encourage you to expand your auditions to include some other brands. They are decent enough and a step up from the Onkyo, but I think you can do better. Try to audition the Cambridge Audio, Azur amps if you can.
I had considered a B&K Reference 200.2 power amp, but it was $1498, and I wasn't sure how much better it was? It's hand made in the US, I like that, but we all have budgets.
If I knew the 125W B&K would be sufficient to drive the Canton speakers that I hope to own in the future, I'd consider buying it. Luckily my dealer handles both B&K and Rotel, so I should be able to find something that sounds good.
Have any of you had any experience with Canton speakers?
Has anyone here heard the Canton, Karat 707DC? I'm just wondering how solid the bass was, considering it has an 8" woofer. The cabinet is pretty big, so I was curious if I could use these speakers with out a powered sub? My use of the speaker will be for 2 channel music, so as long as the bass response is low enough to cover that, I'd be happy.
Thanks
I've never heard the Canton Karat 707 DC. However, if their frequency response rating is for +\- 3dB then I would not worry about their low frequency response. 24Hz to 40,000 Hz would indicate they will reproduce the full audio spectrum. With the power you are considering they should do well. Have you auditioned these speakers?
Yes, the frequency response is listed as 24Hz to 40,000Hz. I assume the cabinet size, and quality parts & engineering allow such low response from an 8" woofer; once again, my goal with these speakers, is to eliminate using a powered subwoofer.(priority is music, not movies)
The rep here in town has a pair of the 709's, which have a 10" woofer, and rated for 300W. Since I'm new to the world of high-end audio, I will listen to his speakers, and make a decision from there. I will try to find a dealer that has the 707's, so that I can actually hear them.
My amp choice has changed....I plan to go with an NAD C372, or a separate NAD preamp & C272 setup.
Question; if you bridge the C372, can you then hook up a separate power amp(also bridged) to run the other channel?
Does bridging an amp compromise it's sound quality in any way?
I'm trying to plan ahead for future upgrades, and thought that if I needed more power, I could bridge the C372, and just buy another C272, and have 300W p/ch; if I need it.
I appreciate your thoughts.
Yes, you can drive each speaker with a bridged amp. I don't know if you can direct a single channel to the bridged mono output of the C372. If you can you could use the C372 in stereo until you get your C272 and then use each bridged for your 300 Watts per channel. The C372 literature says one can separate the preamp from the power amp, but I don't know if the MAIN IN will accommodate the bridged mode for say the right channel, while using the second PRE OUT for the left channel into the bridged C272. I would contact NAD with this question. Edit: I see you can select the left channel on the amp so it probably can work that way, you would think they would want to set it up so it can be done since they are selling the C372 as accommodating flexibility.
Yes, I will ask the salesman about this, and see which direction I need to go; I feel that the Canton Karat 707DC will be all the speaker that I want/need, therefore, I should not need any more power than what the C372 provides. Right now, I have a pair of Axiom M22ti bookshelf speakers. They are very nice speakers, and are very effiecent, and rated for 200W, so the C372 should really make them sing! I hope to hear a legitimate differance in sound quality, by upgrading from my Onkyo $300 reciever, to the NAD. Eventually, after buying the Canton's, I will look to upgrade my CD player, with something like the Rega Appolo.
Stereophile reviewed the C372, and my interpretation of the measurements was that the continuious power was between 150 & 190W, so I think this is a good match.
I will report back soon with my findings.....
Thanks again jackfish!
NAD is famous for being able to deliver brief amounts of enormous current into demanding loads and so I doubt power will be an issue with the NAD stuff. However, the NAD sound is more about polite sophistication rather than visceral impact.
Like the Rotel stuff, but less exciting and more soothing.