A52 1st impressions

[mariachi]

I’ve had the A52 for about a week and I thought I’d post my impressions. A little background as far as the amps I’ve had through my system: The first amp that I had was another Parasound. It was the HCA 855A, a great little amp which I got rid of because of 1) upgradeitis and 2) the specs game. The preamp I was using was a Yamaha receiver. I upgraded the amp for a Rotel RMB 1075. I also had a Rotel RB 1070 for music. When I upgraded to the Rotel, one thing I missed from my previous Parasound was the smoothness of the sound. The Rotel never did achieve the smooth sound that the 855A had. The A52, right of the bat, brought that smooth sound. But the biggest difference that it has over my previous amps is the soundstage. It’s bigger, and it’s most noticeable on the surround channels. Another strength of the A52 is sound panning from speaker to speaker. It’s very seamless. When objects panned from left channel to right channel on the Rotel, I could always tell when it passed through the center channel; there was a gap in tonal quality. Not so with the A52, on top of that, voices that are placed in-between the left speaker and center speaker or right speaker and center speaker are blended much more smoothly that the 1075. Movies that test your system with this type of dialog are Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Another plus that the A52 brings is low listening detail. On Xmen 2, when wolverine first arrives at the mansion, Rogue hears the bike approaching and reacts to it. You can clearly hear the bike pulling in on the right surround channel. On the 1075, I could barely hear this and I always wondered how Rogue knew when Wolvie got there. Once thing that I clearly remember from the 855A is that it had super quick transients, I can’t say I’ve heard this from the A52, but it could be due that it’s still not fully broken. The main reason that I wanted to upgrade amp though, is the fact that the 1075 was not satisfying when listening to music. The 2 channel 1070 was very good for music and I had no complaints. When I used it to power up the fronts and the 1075 for the rest, I was pretty happy. When I switched the 1075 to power up everything, the bass sounded weaker and music lost detail. The A52 not only matches the 1070, but provides even more detail as instruments now sound more realistic. I listened to Diana Krall’s Live in Paris last night, and I was very happy as far as how the instruments sounded. Lastly, I’ve noticed an improvement on my center channel. Dialog sounds smoother, not grated , as it did with the 1075. It also sounds more powerful. I can’t wait for the amp to fully break in. Thanks, Brent. The wait was worth it… :T

[Chris D]

Congrats, Mariachi! :banana: I'm actually surprised to hear that you could notice a gap in sound with the Rotel during a sound pan.

[mariachi]

Chris,


I wouldn't say a gap, but rather, I could tell a tonal shift with sounds coming from the center channel when using the 1075. With the Parasound, it does a much better job of making the center channel sound more powerful and blend better with the front speakers. And yes, all channel levels have been spl calibrated with the A52.

[Chris D]

Ok, I understand. I'm just curious-- is your center channel matched to your mains?

[mariachi]

Yes, the center channel is from the same line as my fronts (Energy Connoisseurs). But since it's placed below the tv, it's not exactly in line with the fronts...