So I am listening to my N802s powered off my Yamaha receiver......

[Race Car Driver]

8O









Ok.... now that you re read that a few times and have had time to regain your composure...

Yea, thats right, I am running my B&W setup off a $1000 Yamaha receiver.... :lol:

N802 speakers, HTM1, and N SCM1's all being powered by a wonderful 120 watts of my HTR-5990.

Why might you ask? Well I am totally redoing my setup and moving a few things around in the room, trying to maximize my space. I figured this rel sub I have (just sold, soon to have ASW 855) sure gives a kick, I wonder how the speakers would sound off the reciever (sin sin, I know!) Well after moving everything in the room around and plugging it all in I gave it a first listen.

Wow.... not half bad! (hate me, its ok) I was quite impressed. So I thought huh, that sub sure is helping, then I looked over and realized I didnt plug in the sub when I moved it. h:

I can say I at even loud volumes I have zero fear of doing damage to these speakers. (yes with the Brystons I could turn them up to just about as far as you wanted on the dial and they would continue to sing, louder and louder, and I wouldnt dare do that with this receiver) However this thing powers these as loud as anyone would ever need in a small room like mine.

So this seriously got me thinking... (the moral of this whole damn post) I am quite content with this sound. (sure I have like 12,000$ worth of speakers running off a receiver purchased from Best Buy.... 8O But honostly, it puts on a damn good show! Yes I noticed I have to turn up the volume knob a bit more to get the same volume as before, and sure I can tell the bit of lacking in the speakers on the bottom end and a bit dryer up top (I believe a welcomed change there.... less fatigue for lack of a better word)

Maybe this reciever will hold me over for a few months, I will sell the Bryston 7b monos and aragon 4004. I honostly dont see them going back into the system.

I see the light at the end of the tunnel.....









and it points to just pick up a used Krell or Classe pre-pro w/5-7ch amp or even an integrated and enjoy simplicity.....

(flame away)

[Glenee]

No flame here. I am giving some thought about Intergrating a new HDMI, New Surround Codecs, Reciever into My McIntosh system. The High end Audio pepople really suck Hind TIT sometimes when it comes to keeping up with the technology. Some of Us use our Home Audio system to Fill in for the Home Theater experience Duties as well. Still working on how to do this, without messing up My other HIGH $ limited stuff. Oh Yes and I don't want to spend the price of a vacation Home to do it.
Glenee

[ssabripo]

Which Yammy are you running it from?

Remember that the RX-V and RX-Z series Yamaha receivers, are extremely musical and can run very decent power in 2-channel mode. For years I used my old Yamaha DSP-A1 and quite frankly, it was one of the best sounding setups I had.

It ain't no Classe SSP-600 + monoblock, but it's a lot like the little AVR that could!

[dknightd]

If you are happy with the Yamaha. Fine. Done. Smile and be happy.
But before you let those Bryston go, try using them between the yamaha
and the B&W. It would bug me knowing that I could get better sound out of my speakers, but, it may not bug you - or you may find the difference is so small that it is just not worth bothering with. It is your system, your house, your ears, your wallet, do what makes you happy!

I ran a Yamaha integrated amp with my 703 when I first got them. It sounded fine, but something was missing. What was missing was the ability to deliver high current into a low impedance when needed. Frankly the difference was not huge, but, moving to a more capable amp was an improvement worth doing for me. And then getting a better preamp as well. A high current capable, quality, integrated might be fine.

[Aldo]

I run my 800's for about a year with a Yamaha Z1, It was quite good!
The next I got was the Krell FPB700 amp.
At first I wasn't very surprised about the Krell, the thing is that you need to lear to listen!

[DM3000 Owner]

I used a Sony Digital receiver (170 wpc) for my N801's for about one month. They sounded very good, outstanding, until I put in a better pre and power amp. The detail, separation, etc all improved dramtically from the pre and the power amp let me turn it up.

If you can sell the Brystons for about what you paid and want to save some cash, look for a QSC PLX 3004 or similar for about $700, but why not just keep the Brystons? They will last for a long long time.

Better thought, there are two Musical Fidelity CD Pre 24's for sale on Audiogon right now for $1150 and $1200. Score one for about $1100 and you will have a preamp, CD player and DAC in one box that you can use with your Brystons. I have one in my offcie and it is an outstanding piece of gear. The DAC in it is teh A3.24 which was Stereophile "A" rated (If that means anything to you). I also have teh A3.24 and it is a great DAC. And yes, you will be done (for now...)

[Race Car Driver]

If you are happy with the Yamaha. Fine. Done. Smile and be happy.
But before you let those Bryston go, try using them between the yamaha
and the B&W. It would bug me knowing that I could get better sound out of my speakers, but, it may not bug you - or you may find the difference is so small that it is just not worth bothering with. It is your system, your house, your ears, your wallet, do what makes you happy!

I have been using the Brystons and Aragon amp inbetween the yamaha for over a year now. I was very happy with it with plans on upgrading (removing the reciever and going with complete seperates)

When I decided to hook the yamaha up to the speakers, I was quite suprised at the sound. I watched live free or die hard last night and wasnt let down.

I guess its more the speakers impressing me than anything, sure I want a nice preamp and dream of having a Sony SCD-1 some day. I am sure it will come. However the simplicity of a reciever, denon universal player and a PS3 is sure shaping up to be nice....

So maybe I am done....















for now.

[dan87951]

I did what you did but only with a Harman Kardon AVR520 that I still have (never felt the need to replace it) and run a set of N802's from it (55x5) and it sounded ok. Than again I just got done listening to it connected to a Classe CA-301 amplifer so the HK with the N802's sounded real shallow, definitely was missing something. I'm sure the average joe would never know the difference but I did.

[george_k]

Classe CA-301 amplifer so the HK with the N802's sounded real shallow, definitely was missing something. I'm sure the average joe would never know the difference but I did.

I noticed the same thing when I added a NAD C272 (150w x 2) to power my 703's that I used to power with a NAD T742 (50x5).

For me the difference day/night difference I'm sure even the average joe would agree.

[Race Car Driver]

I am in full agreement, there is a difference between the 120 watts x 7 of my receiver and the 570 watts per mono of the Brystons. Better all around. I can tell the difference.

However the receiver really isnt that bad. I guess I am more in shock of how "good" it actually sounds off a reciever. Never would I have thought of using my reciever to power N802s. Its not hi class by anymeans, but it does HDMI swithching and upconverting. (the reason I bought it a few years ago, it was one of the first with HDMI switching) Its simple, and in a small room with such big speakers, sounds "good". :lol:


Suprising, thats all.

[kallagtunet]

8O









Ok.... now that you re read that a few times and have had time to regain your composure...

Yea, thats right, I am running my B&W setup off a $1000 Yamaha receiver.... :lol:

N802 speakers, HTM1, and N SCM1's all being powered by a wonderful 120 watts of my HTR-5990.

Why might you ask? Well I am totally redoing my setup and moving a few things around in the room, trying to maximize my space. I figured this rel sub I have (just sold, soon to have ASW 855) sure gives a kick, I wonder how the speakers would sound off the reciever (sin sin, I know!) Well after moving everything in the room around and plugging it all in I gave it a first listen.

Wow.... not half bad! (hate me, its ok) I was quite impressed. So I thought huh, that sub sure is helping, then I looked over and realized I didnt plug in the sub when I moved it. h:

I can say I at even loud volumes I have zero fear of doing damage to these speakers. (yes with the Brystons I could turn them up to just about as far as you wanted on the dial and they would continue to sing, louder and louder, and I wouldnt dare do that with this receiver) However this thing powers these as loud as anyone would ever need in a small room like mine.

So this seriously got me thinking... (the moral of this whole damn post) I am quite content with this sound. (sure I have like 12,000$ worth of speakers running off a receiver purchased from Best Buy.... 8O But honostly, it puts on a damn good show! Yes I noticed I have to turn up the volume knob a bit more to get the same volume as before, and sure I can tell the bit of lacking in the speakers on the bottom end and a bit dryer up top (I believe a welcomed change there.... less fatigue for lack of a better word)

Maybe this reciever will hold me over for a few months, I will sell the Bryston 7b monos and aragon 4004. I honostly dont see them going back into the system.

I see the light at the end of the tunnel.....









and it points to just pick up a used Krell or Classe pre-pro w/5-7ch amp or even an integrated and enjoy simplicity.....

(flame away)

Interesting post, it resonate with my findings (not on a N802) but on old Matrix 801s. The differences in sound between amps that are able to drive a speaker unclipped are quite small compared to the differences in sound between speakers (and of course rooms). I’m in no way arguing that there are no differences but in my experience the difference is in my ears surprisingly small.

My previous wife made me listen blind to equipment before I could buy anything new and quite often I hand to return the new and fantastic amp to my dealer because I could not hear the difference in our quite unscientific blind listening.

Stereophile had an interesting article on the differences between the sound of power amps in the late 80s (and no I am not trying to start an debate on blind testing :-)

http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/113/index.html

I have always wondered why loudspeaker manufacturers don’t argue this point more in their sales material than they do?

[audioqueso]

Very interesting findings. But it makes sense. As RebelMan has stated before, the pre owns the sounds. If you were using the Yamaha as a pre and the Bryston as pro amps, the Yamaha was still doing all the decoding and reproducing all the signals. Is that how your setup was before? AVR as pre, and Bryston as dedicated amps?

[Race Car Driver]

I have always had the Yamaha. It does have a pass through switch though, to allow the low level signal to go right through "un processed" or whatever.

With that flipped it was a night and day difference. Ive even hooked up my amps directly to my older Denon cd player that has variable RCA outs. Again, completely different sounding. Alot brighter, clearer, less bass. Pure I guess you could call it.

Not that any of these options were bad. I believe that to be because of the attributes of the speakers so each one sounded damn good, each option was.. different, quite different.