# Home Theater Shack 2015 High-End Amplifier Evaluation Event Preparations Thread



## AudiocRaver (Jun 6, 2012)

*Home Theater Shack 2015 High-End Amplifier Evaluation Event Final Preparations Discussion Thread*


:fireworks2:*SURPRISE!*:fireworks1:​

Those of you who tuned into the Home Theater Shack speaker evaluation events of 2013 and 2014 will recall that the listening panel put in many hours of critically listening and honestly reporting our findings. We are getting ready to do it again, this time with high-and amplifiers.

This coming Thursday through Saturday the 12th - 14th of March, we are gathering at Sonnie Parker's Cedar Creek Cinema in rural Alabama. We have collected an impressive list of top-rated amplifiers to evaluate from designers you will recognize. 


Krell Duo 175
Mark Levinson 532H
Parasound HALO A31
Pass Labs X250.5
Sunfire TGA-7401
Van Alstine Fet Valve 400R
Wyred 4 Sound ST-500 MK II
Denon X5200 AVR
The loudspeakers we will be using are the sonic microscopes through which we will be inspecting the characteristics of those amplifiers. There are some exciting speakers we will be experiencing for the first time. Of course you will receive commentary from the panel on each of them. Plus there will be a complete review of each of the new-to-HTS (**) speaker models involved.


Acoustic Zen Crescendo Mk II, courtesy Robert Lee, Acoustic Zen Technologies **
Spatial Hologram M1 Turbo v2, courtesy Clayton Shaw, Spatial Audio **
Chane A5rx-c, courtesy Jon Lane, Chane Music Cinema **
Martin Logan ESL
An additional activity we have decided to squeezed into an already busy weekend will be the panel's comparison of Dirac Live vs. Audyssey XT32, as has been requested by a number of our members.

Other key equipment special for the event:

Speaker cables and interconnects by Morrow Audio, courtesy Mike Morrow
Van Alstine ABX Switch Box, recently updated version (February 2015)
miniDSP nanoAVR DL, courtesy Tony Rouget, miniDSP
OPPO BDP-105
Sounds like enough to keep us busy, no? As in the past, we will be posting comments and photos from the event as they occur, and will send goodies to Todd Anderson for Facebook updates. We just might even be able to squeeze out a brief YouTube or Instagram video or two of certain parts of the festivities.


Date: Thursday evening, March 12th through Saturday evening, March 14th.
Place: Cedar Creek Cinema, Alabama, hosted by Sonnie, Angie, and Gracie Parker.
Evaluation Panel: Joe Alexander, Leonard Caillouet, Sonnie Parker, Wayne Myers.
Stay tuned, lots of details to follow over the next week!


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

This should be a lot of fun!

All except the Wyred 4 Sound amp are in the house... in the listening room.


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## Talley (Dec 8, 2010)

Wish you could of fit a Classe' amp in there too. 

Glad to see you have a stout Krell in there.... my personal favorite. Can't wait for this!


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

No EMOTIVA = a real disappointment :unbelievable:


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## Dwight Angus (Dec 17, 2007)

Looking forward to the amp evaluation & Audyssey Xt32 vs DIRAC


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

We have been working on this for about six months now, looking for amps, requesting accommodation, etc. During that time I contacted Emotiva in an attempt to get an amp on industry accommodations. I actually wanted two amps, one for the event and one for my personal use. I thought we had something worked out, but my last two emails did not get a response, so I gave up. 

*None the less... I am absolutely sure we are going to get a plethora of comments pertaining to various amps members would have liked to have seen and wished could have been included. Unfortunately, we can't arrange to get them all... and we only have so much time to work with anyway. *


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## Talley (Dec 8, 2010)

RTS100x5 said:


> No EMOTIVA = a real disappointment :unbelievable:


Emotiva is not necessarily a high end piece. Comparing the first amps on the list to the X5200 should be the same as comparing to the Emotiva

The title says "High-End" amplifiers.... even my Krell doesn't really constitute high end. It's 11yrs old and is not even in the same class as the Duo 175

Seems like aside from the Denon; the pricing starts around 2500k and moves up to around 7500 for the Krell.

(Please understand I did not say emotiva is not a good piece... but price wise high end and looking at the list they all seem to favor the 3k-5kish range?)


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## Talley (Dec 8, 2010)

Dwight Angus said:


> Looking forward to the amp evaluation & Audyssey Xt32 vs DIRAC



Me too! I'm having some issues with my x4000 so I'm wanting to move to a krell preamp/dirac to handle all of the audio


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

We probably need to re-think our title... as it really isn't just about comparing "high-end" amps. There are probably some who might not necessarily consider them all high-end. We mainly wanted to make sure we had some high-end brands in the mix. Most high-end audiophiles will highly respect several of these brands. The 532H was on Stereophile's Recommended A list in 2012 with a MSRP of $8,000.


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## Talley (Dec 8, 2010)

Sonnie said:


> We probably need to re-think our title... as it really isn't just about comparing "high-end" amps. There are probably some who might not necessarily consider them all high-end. We mainly wanted to make sure we had some high-end brands in the mix. Most high-end audiophiles will highly respect several of these brands. The 532H was on Stereophile's Recommended A list in 2012 with a MSRP of $8,000.


Ya I'd agree. Maybe an under $7500 amp event like you did with the speakers.


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## Talley (Dec 8, 2010)

If you wanted to test an 11yr old Krell Showcase 7 amp let me know. Would be the only multichannel amp other than the Denon. All I'd ask for is free shipping from me and back to me


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

We have the Sunfire that is 7-channel and the A31 is 3-channel, but we will only evaluate them in 2-channel mode. I don't think we have room for any more, since we still have a couple of others that are not on the list.


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## AudiocRaver (Jun 6, 2012)

Indeed, we are covering a range of amps that _includes_ some high end specimens. I still think the title serves our purposes, but will change it for the actual EVENT thread when we get it started, if y'all prefer.:hail:


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## AudiocRaver (Jun 6, 2012)

See the main thread here.


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