Well it would be a great addition to any system. The extra air and transparency it brings to any speakers is audible. Its remarkable what a large reserve of clean power does for sound quality at moderate listening levels and for any kind of volume it goes without saying how nice it is to keep distortion out of the mix.

So here is a shot where the A1400-8 currently sits: on top of the disconnected Outlaw 770.



I'm currently running 7 monitors around the HT which are well supplied with power from the big Outlaw amp, a clone of the Sherbourne 2100. I really didn't think there would be much difference. The Outlaw output per channel at 300wps is nearly double the rated requirement of my monitors. The test I used was to start at 15db below reference and replay the same scene while raising volume by 5db increments. I used the forest scene in House of Flying Daggers which has good dynamic range. I started to detect more clarity with the Axiom when I raised volume to -5db and higher. The swishing of leaves and bamboo spears hitting trees seemed more textured. When I played concert DVDs once again the difference was evident in the tight bass, kickdrum, cymbals and orchestra in the case of Andrea Bocelli's Statue of Liberty concert.

In action movies I had a tougher time discerning the difference. I don't know about you but explosions and falling bridges sound the same to me through the speakers...with subs its another story.

Once again the 54lb A1400-8 did not heat up like the 103 lb Outlaw amp. I used to joke that the Outlaw 770 did double duty as a block heater on cold winter nights in the HT. A downside to using the Axiom amp is that I now need to buy a quiet block heater.

John