What Amp should I run?

[DJE55]

Hey Guys, I'm fairly new to the Audiophile scene and need some help. I have a pair of Ascent i's with a Theater i and two Fresco's for my rear surrounds. My current electronics are Sunfire TGIV and Sunfire Cinema Grand Sig (400wx7ch). I am wanting to upgrade my electronics but I really don't know where to start. Should I keep what I have and just change my Ascent power? Should I be using the balanced inputs or unbalanced? Give me some ideas. This is a HT setup that I listen to a lot of music with.

 

[Robin]

Amplifier...

Hey Guys, I'm fairly new to the Audiophile scene and need some help. I have a pair of Ascent i's with a Theater i and two Fresco's for my rear surrounds. My current electronics are Sunfire TGIV and Sunfire Cinema Grand Sig (400wx7ch). I am wanting to upgrade my electronics but I really don't know where to start. Should I keep what I have and just change my Ascent power? Should I be using the balanced inputs or unbalanced? Give me some ideas. This is a HT setup that I listen to a lot of music with.

DJE55,

Welcome to the ML Club!

Let me answer your last question first. IMHO, I think balanced interconnects offer the very best sound. Depending on what sounds good to your ears, I would advise auditioning various amplifiers and / or processors in your home with your system in your own HT environment.
If you had the money, for SS electronics, I would highly recommend Anthem Statement P5 amplifier with the Anthem Statement D2 Processor, you would get terrific powerful "Sonic Nirvana", with all the bells and whistles too. Great for music or HT, simply excellent Class A amp and processor combo.
My second choice would be Sim Audio's Moon- Aurora amplifier. Third choice would be Cary Audio's Cinema X amplifier.
If you decided to keep your Sunfire set-up and add to your system, I recommend auditioning tubed mono blocks to your Ascent i's. Like McIntosh stereo tubed amplifier or Shanling's tubed mono blocks or Cary Audio's tubed mono blocks or Audio Research tubed mono blocks. All of these are reviewed to be extremely musical. Ultimately, as you know, you have to trust your ears for what sounds good to you.
HTH

Good luck on your audio journey...

It is good to have you here.

 

[DJE55]

Thanks for all the info Robin. When I first fell in love with these speakers they were driven by a McIntosh amp. That's what I've wanted ever since. Just haven't pulled the trigger. BTW, that's an unbelievable HT setup you have.

 

[Reverb2009]

Thanks for all the info Robin. When I first fell in love with these speakers they were driven by a McIntosh amp. That's what I've wanted ever since. Just haven't pulled the trigger. BTW, that's an unbelievable HT setup you have.

Well Sunfire does have some good gear, but there are better amps and pre-amps out there. If McIntosh is what helped fuel your desire to own Martin Logan’s, then maybe you should go for McIntosh.

As far as balanced versus un-balanced interconnects, balanced does have advantages over single ended interconnects, but if your interconnect are 1 meter or less, you wont see much of a difference over a single ended RCA interconnect.

 

[DJE55]

Alright! Dumb question. What are you calling a single ended RCA? My cables are 1m RCA's.

 

[aliveatfive]

Alright! Dumb question. What are you calling a single ended RCA? My cables are 1m RCA's.

All RCAs are single-ended. They use the ground as a conductor for the audio signal. Balanced use XLR connectors. They use 2 conductors for the audio signal plus a ground. Balanced connections are more noise cancelling if noise is a problem. Otherwise, advantages are small, if any. Your equipment must have balanced jacks if you are to use them. These jacks do not look like RCAs. Hope this helps.

 

[Yang1815]

the balanced ones are bigger and have three metal pins, kind of like a microphone connection if you've seen one.

 

[Reverb2009]

What they said. ^^^^^^^^

 

[DJE55]

All RCAs are single-ended. They use the ground as a conductor for the audio signal. Balanced use XLR connectors. They use 2 conductors for the audio signal plus a ground. Balanced connections are more noise cancelling if noise is a problem. Otherwise, advantages are small, if any. Your equipment must have balanced jacks if you are to use them. These jacks do not look like RCAs. Hope this helps.

Sorry guys. I understand what the RCA is vs the Balanced XLR jacks. I didn't know if a singled ended RCA was different from a standard RCA cable. I got it. Thanks!