Last week I was in Montreal on business, and decided to send a PM to Eric to see if he could audition his system. I really wanted to experience the A1400 in action. Turns out he lives about a 5 minute drive from where I was working in Ville St Laurent. Eric was able to give me an audition on his truely amazing system on Friday afternoon.
For those who haven't read his posts, he has:
M80s
Dual VP150s
Quad QS8s
EP500
A1400-8
Onkyo Receiver
Large Flat Panel TV
Oppo DVD player
HD-DVD player
Roku Soundbridge to stream music from PC.
Audiobytes with EP0
Eric likes to give demos in the afternoons while his neighbours are not home. Good thing!
My first impression of the A1400 is that it was larger than I had pictured. Eric had it in an enclosed drawer in his entertainment center when I got there. It was very warm to the touch being in that enclosed space. The amp actually cooled off as the demo went on because the drawer was open. I checked it a couple of times and was amazed how cool it was running after delivering some amazing impact.
We started out with some solo violin on SACD.
- I was amazed how clear this was rendered. Much more sound than I am used to in the surrounds.
Pink Floyd DSOTM on SACD
- During "Time" when all the clocks go off in unison, there was no hint of harshness, even though he turned it up (105db peaks).
Organ Music on SACD
- Nothing prepared me for this. It felt like I was in the Notre Dame Bascilica in Montreal listening to someone play the organ live. Sound from all channels enveloped us, while the EP500 massaged the couch.
13 Century French Opera
- It was great hearing some period instruments rendered perfectly by the A1400 and Axiom air pushers.
Harpsichord
- This was truely amazing. The attack and short sustain of the harpsichord really showed how the A1400 handles the peaks of this instrument.
Jurassic Park on DVD
- this started at the first appearance of the TRex.
- I jumped when the goat hit the top of the truck.
- The driving rain in the background was very prevolent.
- The impact of the TRex was VERY LOUD, but never stained or harsh.
- WOW
The Bourne Supremacy on HD-DVD
- watched a couple of fight and car chase scenes; amazing.
U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
Supertramp - School
Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows
- All of these sounded better than I have ever heard.
The dual VP150 above and below the screen really worked well.
They were wired in parallel, meaning the A1400 was driving 3ohms.
I was amazed how much better having all channels driven by the A1400 is. I find that on my system, which is similar to Erik's, I don't really experience the surround effects or hear the surround channels on SACDs. I sometimes have problems hearing the center channel dialog. When I turn it up to hear the dialog, the system gets too load and harsh on the impact scenes.
Never a hint of this with A1400; crystal clear dialog, major impact, no harshness.
Also got a look and listen to the EP0 sub.
Mine was delivered while I was in Montreal.
It really fills in the Bass on those AudioBytes.
It was 90 minutes later, and I had to get still drive back home to Pickering (5 hours), so it was time to go.
Thanks Eric for your hospitality.
It was truely a great experience.
Bart
M60s/VP150/QS8s/AX1.5s/Audiobytes/EP0
SVS PB10
Bryston 3B
HK DPR-2005
Oppo DV-971HD
Vista Media Center PC
Infocus IN72
