Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Hearing Things AVR vs Seprerate- Measured

I am in the midst of changing out my equipment.

As this thread is about separate components, I figure that I would chime in about my experience. I personally found that my Pioneer AV receiver doesn't produce as pleasing a sound as my older Yamaha amp. I think that has something to do with the Yamaha has an older A/B design amp with a sizably large transformer. Where the Pioneer has moved to a more efficient Class D amp bit it just doesn't have what it takes to power a 4ohm speaker.

I have an Anthem that is a large Toroidal Transformer with it's Class A/B amp and produces a warm sound that is very enjoyable. Rated at 200w @ 8ohm, I am told it is stable down to 2ohm.

I have pulled the Anthem from my rack and started using the AudioSource One/A amp. This is an 80w @ 8ohm and is supposed to be stable down to 2ohms as well. I have a pair and use them to drive my LFR1100 speakers, but find the sound is not as pleasing as what I got from my Anthem amp. it just doesn't feel as warm and at volume feels a bit more lacking. I don't know if it's the design of the amp or the 120w less power in the unit. There would also be less current capacity inside the amp.

All un-scientific view based on sighted tests. It's not that I have some opinion one way or another that something should sound better so it does. I don't know.