You people are killing me.
Just when FredK and JohnK and their troops convince me there is very little to be gained by adding an amp, you flying monkeys come out singing your hypnotic notes from the wicked witch about the clear improvements in almost all respects from upgrading.
I assume there is no chance Alan would step in with some double-blind test results of the A-1400(s) on M60s and M80s to "prove" the upgrade is more than just a placebo. Right Alan, no chance of that...no reason to be waiting around for a new article...right?
Zimm, i've done some in-home true A/B blind testing with a few solid state amps and a switcher. It was some time ago but the bottom line was sound quality did not change. If there was some kind of a differnce it was usually related to things like a ground loop hum with one unit, and not another, or with power output and higher SPL levels. The switcher was made by an electronics guru friend of a friend who was also once a believer that all amps sound distinctly different, until the two fellows relented to the idea of trying a blind A/B test and now both of them are re-evaluating 20 years of former beliefs, albeit rather slowly.
I do have an Anthem amp hooked up with a Cambridge Audio receiver to power a pair of Tannoy Definition speakers for our main floor. On occasion i do like to turn up the volume (and on occasion a tv channel has a low volume) and i quite easily reach the point where i hit distortion somewhere about the 102dB mark (at around 10 feet). The room is larger than our basement media room, but at the same linear distance my Axioms and an Onkyo receiver can hit 104-106dB before distortion is audible. To eek out those few more decibels, i need something more robust.
I have had those Tannoys hooked up to a beefier amp in the past (a Coda) and at the elevated SPL, it does make a difference but in regards to distortion. The Anthem amp just runs out of juice. I will be looking for a small Class A/AB amp in the future with more capacitance and i do have my eye on the new Axiom 2 channel offering.
