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Bronze Member Username: MagfanUSA Post Number: 87 Registered: Oct-07 | Anyone heard the PS Audio GCC control amps? Reading some of the reviews has me tempted. Supposed to run cool and it'l save valuable rack space. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 5933 Registered: Feb-05 | Never heard it myself but there is someone on Audiogon who I've corresponded with who owns it and is very impressed with it. |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 12035 Registered: May-04 | . Leo - Do you have a reason to disbelieve the reviews? Class D in high power, full bandwidth amplifiers seems to be sounding consistently similar across the board, much more so than AB operation. So, what's holding you back? |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 9575 Registered: Dec-04 | I would sure like to know how the PS amp runs your panels, Leo. I havn't heard enough D power to A/B them, but I agree that most D amps sound similar. One of those traits being lack of depth, to me anyhow. I suppose its the flyweight thing, I expect amps to weigh hundreds of pounds, in tar and/or copper. Thats just an analogue man in a digital world scene. |
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Bronze Member Username: MagfanUSA Post Number: 91 Registered: Oct-07 | Well, Jan, whats holding me back, besides being a little (!) obsessive/compulsive is that I simply don't believe MOST reviews. I have yet to identify enough or any reviewers whom I can trust to agree with (mostly) or Disagree with (again, mostly). I have a number of such reviewers of movies whom I can trust. The regulars on this forum have NO ax to grind and will render an opinion I can use as a good start. While the PS Audio GCC series receives good reviews, I have also NEVER read a real 'pan' of anything. They always mince around and try to accentuate positive things. Not ALL equipment out there can be as good as reviewed. Can't happen. I don't know how much weight to give the Sterophile 'A' list, or to simply ignore it. That being said, there are enough consistencies across the board in reviews that I can believe at least that much...the sound of Bel Canto and PS Audio, for example, has been described (my paraphrase) as on either side of the neutral divide. Kind of an Audio DMZ, I guess. Nuck....you and I will know soon enough. I am about to close on a pre-owned GCC-250 Control Amp. I simply can't afford the new stuff. I am insisting on an Integrated this time around. My goal is to prevent the NAD/Rotel thing I've got happening now and to provide plenty of juice for the panels. I suspect 500@4 will 'bout do it. At 3x the power of my current Rotel, that is 4db or so along with better dynamics. It is not incidental that I will also free up some shelf space at the same time for a CD player. Maybe use the OPPO as a transport and buy a DAC? I want an AudioGon gift card for my BirthDay! I know, the old rule was that if you didn't pop a groin muscle lifting an amp, you probably didn't want it. Well, I'm retiring my fork lift. |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 12050 Registered: May-04 | . Let's address reviews. Can all that stuff be that good? Yep, if you've got the right reviewer. Not that some reviewers are easier to please than others; but just that some reviewers are better suited to some gear than others. There are some negative reivews which seems odd since most of the stuff reviewed in Stereophile and so forth should probably be pretty decent equipment. Or, so you would think. The key is obviously finding the reviewer with whom you agree. Art Dudley does it for me. I can't make heads or tails out of John Atkinson's reviews, he and don't seem to agree on much. Harry Pearson has always been at polar opposites from what I'm after in my system. But I can read Wes Philips or Jonathan Valin and find value in their reviews despite the fact I don't value the same things they do. Knowing that I disagree with someone makes them almost as valuable as knowing I agree with AD. The job of a reviewer is to find the value of an item under scrutiny. If everything got panned, no one would read the magazine. Or, at least those people who tend to pay their bills on time and don't think everyone is out to get them wouldn't read for long. Obviously, the solution is to audition before you buy. Since that is becoming a less and less common advantage of a small high end shop, you must rely on reviews. I would say go into this with no preconceptions and take the reviewers at their word. The PS Audio pieces seem to have received very good reviews. Unless you can find a solid reason not to purchase the gear, I really wouldn't concern myself with whether this or that got a positive or negative review and would simply take the chance. In the words of a past fellow employee, "What could possibly go wrong?" . |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 12051 Registered: May-04 | . Or, in the words of a former employer who was functionally illiterate and stoned most of the time, "How stupid could you be?!!!" |
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Bronze Member Username: MagfanUSA Post Number: 92 Registered: Oct-07 | Jan said: The key is obviously finding the reviewer with whom you agree. Art Dudley does it for me. I can't make heads or tails out of John Atkinson's reviews, he and don't seem to agree on much. Harry Pearson has always been at polar opposites from what I'm after in my system. Jan, all 3 cases above tell you something. Harry, with whom you nearly always disagree tells you as much as Wes or Jonathan's reviews. As for Atkinson, on the otherhand should be discarded by you. Others may differ. I agree totally with this position. I have NOT yet read enough reviews and heard enough equipment under correct conditions to have my own opinions of reviewers or there biases. Movie reviews are my fallback position. Leonard Maltin has always floated my boat. The old Siskel/Ebert show was so far all over the map that I didn't even get any entertainment out of it. Who's RexReed? Anyway? The local 'dealers' don't have either the PS or the BelCanto equipment for me to audition. I have been waiting for a call since well before Christmas. The local Magnepan guy (lucky me!) has Krell among many others. But no BelCanto or PS, though, so arranging an audition would require a couple hundred miles of driving than several hours of wiring. Most places like that can't afford to keep a couple hundred thousand $'s in inventory. What could possibly go wrong, indeed? |
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Bronze Member Username: MagfanUSA Post Number: 93 Registered: Oct-07 | ANY review with the word 'palpable', in any of its forms is instantly discarded. Something about that word and its overuse makes my skin crawl. |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 12054 Registered: May-04 | . Call the closest PS dealer and ask if they allow you to audition equipment at home. If they do, ask if the can ship a unit for audition. Some shops will do this and others won't. The availability of equipment on line has made some dealers more willing and some dealers less so. . |
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Gold Member Username: Mike3Wylie, Tx USA Post Number: 1033 Registered: May-06 | Leo, I was thinking you were Rex Reed... |
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Bronze Member Username: MagfanUSA Post Number: 94 Registered: Oct-07 | 1. I'm LOTS better looking. 2. No problems with pronounciation. just spelling. 3. Don't like sappy movies 4. Ed Wood is a hero.....not the sandwich! 5. If I were knocking down THAT kind of money, do you think I'd be hanging out here? |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 12060 Registered: May-04 | . Ed Wood is a hero?!!! A moment for a little prespective here. ! . |
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Bronze Member Username: MagfanUSA Post Number: 95 Registered: Oct-07 | So sorry, I got carried away! Ed Wood is terrific, though. I think he got the Mammie Van Doren 'Lifetime Achievement Award' for 'Worlds worst Director'. Plan 9 from Outer Space? Glen or Glenda? Both classic in a horrible, train wreck sort of way. |