Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Added an Amp...WOW, kinda.

Picked up the QSC GX5 (QSC) - even swap for the Crown, so $350. Better stats, 600w/c at 8 ohms with one ch driven (700 at 4 ohms with 2 ch driven) at .1% THD, with .05%THD at non-peak volumes. Initial testing shows it is the same as the Crown (as it should be) but it does have a touch less noise in quiet sections which is what I was aiming for.

I only tested two songs from Dire Straits, but as my reference material it still supports my opinion that the extra clean horsepower does make a difference. On "You and Your Friends" the plucks that had a bit of harshness on the Denon on loud peaks sound, on the QSC, as clean as the Denon at lower levels. And again, the peaks are just more dynamic. Hitting 105db was rare with the Denon on this song. Now the db jumps from 94 to 105 in instantaneous peaks. You can't even hear the "loud" peak, but the db meter (set to fast, Max Hold) shows the peaks are happening - which were not there before on the Denon. Makes sense when you consider Home Theater Mag said my Denon 3300 starts to clip the peaks of the signal at less than 80 watts. So my AVR clipped these peaks off due to lack of clear signal amplification, now those same signals play unclipped. Not hard on the ears (for these instantaneous peaks) but running at 100+ does need to be done in short sessions. That Monk did not go deaf by illness!

P.S. - the QSC has a 6 year warranty and includes unbalanced inputs, which takes out the need for the converter I had for the Crown.

Question: would the noise floor from the Denon pre-out be lower if I up the channel level or lower it? Assuming the separate amp is not adding anything, I'd like to maximize the sonic quality of the output signal.