Mf Or Rotel To Drive Dynaudio Speakers

[DYA50N]

Hi,
I am in the process of changing to 2 channel audio and I am wondering which Amplifier will be better.
I have Dynaudio 72 Tower Speakers 86db 4 ohm power sucking beasts. They are a very neutral sounding speaker, I have just purchased a Cambridge Audio 640C V2 CD Player. I listen to 80's, 90's etc. Not into one particular type of music and I will not be running a sub.
But to the point, I am trying to decide will the Rotel RB-1080 (2x380wrms @ 4ohm) / RC-1070 ($1950) combo be as good as the Musical Fidelity A3.5 Intergrated Amp (2x240wrms, 50amps Current) ($2500). The Rotels have more power but I am under the perception that MF will give me a higher quality and more fulfilling sound. Also in contention is the Cambridge Audio 840A (2x200wrms @ 4 ohm) ($1900).
Thanks for your help and opinions.

[alebonau]

dyn your best bet really is to listen and choose for yourself. not sure if our choice really help you.

not sure where you are but the likes of CAV have both mf & ca to check out on your dyns, alternatively take your mains in.

My pick would be the mf or CA. not sure the rotels charecter, though with plenty of grunt would the dyn's any favours. But as I said its a pers pref thing.

[JohnA]

as mentioned, try and listen to both with your speakers.
The rotel gear is great value for money, i used the 1080 to drive my B&W and they did a good job at it, but lacked a little it he bass.
Well not so much lacked rather was overbloated and wooly sounding, we hooked up an MF A5 pre-power combo onto them and the sound was much nicer.
So depending on were you are located, go into a rotel dealer and ask if you can borrow and do the same with MF, try get them both on the same weekend to try back to back

[alebonau]

as mentioned, try and listen to both with your speakers.
The rotel gear is great value for money, i used the 1080 to drive my B&W and they did a good job at it, but lacked a little it he bass.
Well not so much lacked rather was overbloated and wooly sounding, we hooked up an MF A5 pre-power combo onto them and the sound was much nicer.
So depending on were you are located, go into a rotel dealer and ask if you can borrow and do the same with MF, try get them both on the same weekend to try back to back
[/b]

suggestions of johns to home demo on your system will be even better than the instore demoing, if you can arrange. would for sure give you some indications of which would your preference plus some quality time with the gear to get to know it.

[hired goon]

G'day,

I can't really recommend a "best" option here, as Al says it really comes down to what you think sounds best with yer Dynaudios. I think all amps suggested will drive the 72s adequately, but the sound that appeals is up to you. The 72s relative inefficiency probably rules out small valve amps however.

--Geoff

[DYA50N]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the fast replies, unfortunately I cant get a demo, although I have tried. I live in Sydney but all the retailers whom I know sells these brands dont have any on the floor for listening. A couple of other dealers I have contacted have also said it is nearly impossible to get a listen to this stuff, I basically have to purchase blind and I am in trouble if I dont like what I get. It is really slack of dealers not having enough gear to make an informed decision but ultimately I think they really only want to push their main suppliers.

[joz]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the fast replies, unfortunately I cant get a demo, although I have tried. I live in Sydney but all the retailers whom I know sells these brands dont have any on the floor for listening. A couple of other dealers I have contacted have also said it is nearly impossible to get a listen to this stuff, I basically have to purchase blind and I am in trouble if I dont like what I get. It is really slack of dealers not having enough gear to make an informed decision but ultimately I think they really only want to push their main suppliers.
[/b]
See,another reason to live in Melbourne :wink:

[Rick]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the fast replies, unfortunately I cant get a demo, although I have tried. I live in Sydney but all the retailers whom I know sells these brands dont have any on the floor for listening. A couple of other dealers I have contacted have also said it is nearly impossible to get a listen to this stuff, I basically have to purchase blind and I am in trouble if I dont like what I get. It is really slack of dealers not having enough gear to make an informed decision but ultimately I think they really only want to push their main suppliers.
[/b]I should be able to organise a demo of the Cambridge unit, probably even at home if you twist my arm hard enough.
If not at home though, you can bring your speakers here if that's appropriate.

Rick.

[WINEDS]

I have the Dynaudio 72 SEs. I was using them with a MF A3.5 and this amp drove them no problems. But I agree with the others, you should go and lsiten for yourself. Try and borrow an amp to take home. CAV are pretty fexible about this in my experience.

Cheers,

Paul

[DYA50N]

I have the Dynaudio 72 SEs. I was using them with a MF A3.5 and this amp drove them no problems. But I agree with the others, you should go and lsiten for yourself. Try and borrow an amp to take home. CAV are pretty fexible about this in my experience.

Cheers,

Paul
[/b]


Paul,
How would you described the sound of the Dynaudios running off the MF A3.5?

[obiwan]

I have Dynaudio Special 25's, Contour S5.4's and Contour SR's. Still trying to decide whether to keep the Special 25's or the S5.4's as the mains.

I have the Bel Canto eVo2i integrated and the Rotel Michi 200W power amp. The Bel Canto was slightly less forward than the Rotel, but the Rotel seemed to control the bass better. Now with my new DEQX combined with the Rotel Michi, things are very smooth indeed (plus the Velodyne D15 for bass). So far I've only tried the SPecial 25's with the DEQX, at some stage I'll try the 5.4's.

I did take home and try the Krell 400xi and it was truly no better than my Rotel Michi Combo, that's why I went for the Bel Canto, but now I'm back to the Rotel Michi with the DEQX.

A friend I sold my old Musical Fidelity A200 60W (supposedly, but not quite true) class A amp to brought it back around for me to have a play with a year or two ago. It was very nice. I don't know how the new MF's would sound but I suspect they're not voiced as lushly as the old MF. I'm sure the new ones are more accurate, but don't add the perhaps false bloom of the older stuff.

There you go, probably haven't helped you at all.

[alebonau]

~

I did take home and try the Krell 400xi and it was truly no better than my Rotel Michi Combo, that's why I went for the Bel Canto, but now I'm back to the Rotel Michi with the DEQX.

A friend I sold my old Musical Fidelity A200 60W (supposedly, but not quite true) class A amp to brought it back around for me to have a play with a year or two ago. It was very nice. I don't know how the new MF's would sound but I suspect they're not voiced as lushly as the old MF. I'm sure the new ones are more accurate, but don't add the perhaps false bloom of the older stuff.

There you go, probably haven't helped you at all.
[/b]

I home deomed the krell kav400 myself a few years ago. think theres better our there for the money.

ah the old mf a200, a lot more class A biased in my opinion that the current a3.5 and lot more warmer lusher than the a3.5 for sure thats more on the clean/neutral track.

[WINEDS]

Paul,
How would you described the sound of the Dynaudios running off the MF A3.5?[/b]

Ah that is hard to say. You should probably try to have a listen for yourself. Probably it sounds quite mello to me in an english way. I am using an Elektra ET7 now and I find it a lot faster, better clarity, dynamics and sound stage. This is such a subjective thing.

[DYA50N]

This weekend I talked the wife into going out and demoing some amps, being father's day and all. She surprised me and agreed, normally I am told to get stuffed. Well, we listened to a Rotel pre/power setup ($2000), A Primare I21 Integrated ($2300), and a Parasound Pre/Power ($4000). Our observations were the Rotel sounded muffled, I have heard people say it is like having a blanket veiled over the speakers, now I know what they mean. So, Rotel is now out of the equation. The Primare was extremely good for the power output (125wrms @ 4 ohms), clean, controlled and very detailed. At moderate volumns it out performed the Parasound and totally blew away the Rotel, but turn up the volumn and its power limitations started to kick in, although this was at very high volumns. It still however had a cleaner sound and more control over the bass than the Parasound combo but the Parasound sounded less distorted at the higher volumns, I hope I am not sounding like I am contradicting myself.
Next, we will be testing the Cambridge Audio 840a (special thanks to Rick from Equinox Audio), and also the MF A3.5. Once this testing has been done I should have a firm choice on what amp I really want to settle with. And my wife has firmly said, "this is the last upgrade and I am to buy the right one, I will not get another chance. I said that after the last upgrade but this is the last time, I mean it!" I love it when she gets nasty :biggrin:

[norpus]

This weekend I talked the wife into going out and demoing some amps, being father's day and all. She surprised me and agreed, normally I am told to get stuffed. Well, we listened to a Rotel pre/power setup ($2000), A Primare I21 Integrated ($2300), and a Parasound Pre/Power ($4000). Our observations were the Rotel sounded muffled, I have heard people say it is like having a blanket veiled over the speakers, now I know what they mean. So, Rotel is now out of the equation. The Primare was extremely good for the power output (125wrms @ 4 ohms), clean, controlled and very detailed. At moderate volumns it out performed the Parasound and totally blew away the Rotel, but turn up the volumn and its power limitations started to kick in, although this was at very high volumns. It still however had a cleaner sound and more control over the bass than the Parasound combo but the Parasound sounded less distorted at the higher volumns, I hope I am not sounding like I am contradicting myself.
Next, we will be testing the Cambridge Audio 840a (special thanks to Rick from Equinox Audio), and also the MF A3.5. Once this testing has been done I should have a firm choice on what amp I really want to settle with. And my wife has firmly said, "this is the last upgrade and I am to buy the right one, I will not get another chance. I said that after the last upgrade but this is the last time, I mean it!" I love it when she gets nasty :biggrin:
[/b]
Hehe , may I suggest your next next upgrade is gunna have to be when something 'blows up' and is a replacement rather than an upgrade. Worked for me on the power amp and tv, but I'll have to find another good phrase to peddle soon as I can't imagine it'll work a 3rd time so easily :wink:

[RichardN]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the fast replies, unfortunately I cant get a demo, although I have tried. I live in Sydney but all the retailers whom I know sells these brands dont have any on the floor for listening. A couple of other dealers I have contacted have also said it is nearly impossible to get a listen to this stuff, I basically have to purchase blind and I am in trouble if I dont like what I get. It is really slack of dealers not having enough gear to make an informed decision but ultimately I think they really only want to push their main suppliers.
[/b]Did you try Len Wallis at Lane Cove for the MF? I rang there last week (or perhaps the week before) when I was looking at the A3.5 and asked if I could demo at home. They said no worries, come round towards the end of the day, take it home for the night, bring it back the next morning. Thought that was fair enough being their floor demo. Would have been a long night mind you. Who knows, I could have rocked up and they could have said bugger off.......

Have decided instead on getting some new speakers so this has been put on hold for a bit, although I might try and do this at the same time.

EDIT: Also, how come you are selling your AVR as well? Why not go the 2-ch integrated with ht bypass option? Best of both worlds, unless of course you're doing that to raise the required rolling stuff to fund the 2-ch stuff.

Anyway, good luck.

[alebonau]

Did you try Len Wallis at Lane Cove for the MF? I rang there last week (or perhaps the week before) when I was looking at the A3.5 and asked if I could demo at home. They said no worries, come round towards the end of the day, take it home for the night, bring it back the next morning. Thought that was fair enough being their floor demo. Would have been a long night mind you. Who knows, I could have rocked up and they could have said bugger off.......

Have decided instead on getting some new speakers so this has been put on hold for a bit, although I might try and do this at the same time.

EDIT: Also, how come you are selling your AVR as well? Why not go the 2-ch integrated with ht bypass option? Best of both worlds, unless of course you're doing that to raise the required rolling stuff to fund the 2-ch stuff.

Anyway, good luck.
[/b]

thats a good idea to home demo, best way to knwo what it soudns like in yoru system and spend some time with it.

good point on the HT-bypass on the mf13.5 will make mean integrating is very easy with a ht setup as drizt is doing with his mf a3.5 and denon avr.

sonically the HK and mf integrate well too. I did that for a while till I got an elektra theatre7 for centre and surrounds leaving mf A5 pwr for the fronts.

ps how you describe rotel pretty consistent with my demoing as well.

[DYA50N]

"EDIT: Also, how come you are selling your AVR as well? Why not go the 2-ch integrated with ht bypass option? Best of both worlds, unless of course you're doing that to raise the required rolling stuff to fund the 2-ch stuff."

Yep,
It is actually 2 fold, I am selling the gear to raise the money for the 2 channel, but also, I need to scale down the size of my HT due to we are going to be very mobile in different parts of the country over the next 12-24 months, so I dont want to be with nothing and want to be able to take it with me. Plus also with all the changes to HT happening (HDMI, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD etc etc etc) I dont want to be caught in the ever upgrading cycle. I will just get a modest HT setup that will suffice for now but have a decent 2 channel system I can truly enjoy.

[alebonau]

"EDIT: Also, how come you are selling your AVR as well? Why not go the 2-ch integrated with ht bypass option? Best of both worlds, unless of course you're doing that to raise the required rolling stuff to fund the 2-ch stuff."

Yep,
It is actually 2 fold, I am selling the gear to raise the money for the 2 channel, but also, I need to scale down the size of my HT due to we are going to be very mobile in different parts of the country over the next 12-24 months, so I dont want to be with nothing and want to be able to take it with me. Plus also with all the changes to HT happening (HDMI, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD etc etc etc) I dont want to be caught in the ever upgrading cycle. I will just get a modest HT setup that will suffice for now but have a decent 2 channel system I can truly enjoy.
[/b]

yes drizt did that and is proof you can get good quality sound wiht a good 2ch integrated, cd player source and a pair of speakers.

[Drizt]

yes drizt did that and is proof you can get good quality sound wiht a good 2ch integrated, cd player source and a pair of speakers. [/b]

Agreed.

The integrated Hifi amp with HTbypass made the biggest difference.

[skinXBWAU]

DYA50N - How did you go with the 2ch amps?