[jermmd]

I'm thinking of buying this amp and wonder how it would compare for 2-channel music to my McCormack DNA-500.
Any thoughts?

[prairiedog]

I'm thinking of buying this amp and wonder how it would compare for 2-channel music to my McCormack DNA-500.
Any thoughts?
[/quote

I considered one  of these, but they recommend a 30 amp dedicated circuit, and repairs are hard to find as company is dead. I decided on an ead pm 2000, which are serviced at Noble electronics in Iowa. Its about as powerful,but without the problems associated with the cal audio. But they are scarce, scarce, scarce....Havent heard the cal, but theres a good thread on AVS forum subject musical prepros, which very favorably mentions both units, if you can find the thread in their search function........good luck

[JP78]

jermmd- that is a serious looking amp.  if you find out more or have the opportunity to listen to / own one please post your findings.

[jermmd]

I considered one  of these, but they recommend a 30 amp dedicated circuit, and repairs are hard to find as company is dead. I decided on an ead pm 2000, which are serviced at Noble electronics in Iowa. Its about as powerful,but without the problems associated with the cal audio. But they are scarce, scarce, scarce....Havent heard the cal, but theres a good thread on AVS forum subject musical prepros, which very favorably mentions both units, if you can find the thread in their search function........good luck

I had a EAD Powermaster 1000 that I really loved and that's what got me thinking about getting another high quality Multichannel amp. The only place in the US that still repairs Cal Audio equipment happens to be near my home so service is not a real issue. California Audio has a reputation not unlike EAD and is highly regarded.

Doesn't the EAD Powermaster 2000 recommend a 20 amp circuit? I have two 20 amp dedicated lines in my house, one for the family room system and one for the Home Theater/high end room. This should suffice for the Cal amp.

[jermmd]

jermmd- that is a serious looking amp.  if you find out more or have the opportunity to listen to / own one please post your findings.

So I bought the Cal Audio amp. It's huge. I thought my McCormack DNA-500 was big until I saw this amp. I should have taken a photo of the two side by side so you could appreciate the difference. These are my thoughts:

First, why change? The McCormack was used exclusively with my Slimdevices Transporter for 2-channel playback music listening. This system sat on a marble slab in the front of the room. I used separate speaker cables for this system than I did for the home theater that resides in the back of the room. When I wanted to listen to music, I disconnected the home theater speaker wire (Straley Reality cables) and attached the Xindak wire used for 2-channel. This set up sounded very very good but was annoying because I liked everything in the back of the room and I didn't want to have to change cables all the time. I also wanted to reconnect my subwoofer to the 2-channel system for increased deep base-not that my Salk Veracity HT3's have any weakness in that department. It was after hearing George's (Zybar's) Vandersteen 5A's that I decided to add the subwoofer to my 2-channel system.

I was also bored and wanted to try new equipment. 

I could also potentially sell my McCormack Amp and buy one of the very best multichannel amps and still have $1000 left over. I've decided that I am happy with a 5.1 home theater system and don't need 2 more channels of amplification. I had been using the McCormack for front right and left channels and my 5x250W Parasound for center, side, and rear duty in the past. Since I wasn't going to use rear channels, all I needed was a good 5 channel amp. The Parasound is fine but not really close to the McCormack. The California Audio Design MCA-2500 is in the same league as the McCormack and very good for music as well as home theater. I'll post my thoughts about the new amp and comparison to the old later. I have to play with the kids now.

[jermmd]

Second, how does it sound?
The Cal audio amp, plugged into the 20 amp outlet, has unlimited power and is probably the most dynamic amp I've heard. Bass is outstanding, it's dead quiet, imaging is right on and the sound stage is wide and deep. The McCormack had all of this as well, but has a slightly different presentation. The DNA-500 seems softer and more effortless. I'm not sure if this means less dynamic or less forward and bright. Both amps are outstanding and I can listen to music from each for hours without fatigue, fully enjoying the music. I've had much more experience with the McCormack and know it's merits well. The Cal amp is new for me and I'm still judging it. If I had to choose between them for 2 channel, I would stick with the McCormack because of my familiarity and respect for it. I am probably also influenced by it's price and general reputation. "Experts" would say that of course a high end, dedicated 2-channel amp is better than a 5-channel amp. This may be true but I'm not 100% certain. I'm really very happy with the Cal amp and even a little surprised at how good it is. It's certainly not a night and day difference between the two.

[JP78]

jermmd - i find your thoughts to be very reassuring.  would you have any inclination to attempt passively biamping?  pretty please   .  in all seriousness, i'm looking to passively biamp speakers, and this amp is on my short list to do so.  if  your preamplifier has two outputs, i'd be very curious to hear your response.  if don't have any, i'm more than willing to send over some y-cable interconnects and an extra set of speaker wires if you're up for the experiment.  you may actually be surprised at how much it improves your salks.

thanks,

[zybar]

jermmd - i find your thoughts to be very reassuring.  would you have any inclination to attempt passively biamping?  pretty please   .  in all seriousness, i'm looking to passively biamp speakers, and this amp is on my short list to do so.  if  your preamplifier has two outputs, i'd be very curious to hear your response.  if don't have any, i'm more than willing to send over some y-cable interconnects and an extra set of speaker wires if you're up for the experiment.  you may actually be surprised at how much it improves your salks.

thanks,

I have bi-amped the HT3's and some other speakers and there was minimal improvement.

To really get some noticeable results bi-amping, you need to remove the passive crossovers and go active.

George

[JP78]

I have bi-amped the HT3's and some other speakers and there was minimal improvement.

To really get some noticeable results bi-amping, you need to remove the passive crossovers and go active.

George

i respectfully disagree.  i've owned more than one speaker where the tonal character substantially improved from passive biamping, the most dramatic of which being the mbl 101b many years back.  the vmps i auditioned also significantly changed tonal character when biamped. 

active crossovers have a much higher chance of inducing all sorts of temporal distortions...i believe passive versus active biamping often follows a similiar division just as non-oversampling and oversampling does in dac conversations.  active may measure better or look better on paper, but there is something just so right sounding about passive...i find myself very sensitive to timing distortions and cohesiveness.

as everything in audio, given the proper care and implementation, either passive or active can sound very, very good.  my ears prefer and choose passive, though you are certainly entitled to yours.

perhaps your salks aren't a very demanding load, or they may have minimal phase angles in the crossover.  you seem very knowledgeable, so i'm sure you chose your amplifiers and signal chain wisely.

[dhrab]

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[jermmd]

Sorry I haven't replied, I was away for a few days. I haven't attempted bi-amping and I'm not sure if my processor has dual outputs. This amp is 500+ watts/channel. In a dedicated 20 amp outlet, this should be plenty of power to drive the speakers without bi-amping. Is there another reason to bi-amp besides power requirements?

[jermmd]

JP78    >>"would you have any inclination to attempt passively bi amping?  pretty please   .  in all seriousness, I'm looking "<<

JP78  ...the Cal 2500MCA uses "SPEAKON" style speaker binding posts ... which allow you to Bi-amp, very easily.

Each terminal will accept 2 Pos (+) and 2 neg (-) leads ...  so bi amping is a snap.

Due to the "SPEAKON" type binding  ... it's probably easier to use bare wire at the amp end to fit in the connector

http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media/quality,85/brand,zzounds/na4lj1-50f26a656a35d998b721f97a716a185b.jpg

I'm using a very expensive speakon to 5 way binding post adapter with my Salks. I have Straley Reality speaker cables that are terminated in spades and I didn't want to cut the spades off for the speakon connectors. I have passiveley bi-amped in the past and in that one case, I thought it helped the bass response of my speakers. In this case, I don't think I'll be trying it unless someone convinces me that there is something to be gained.

[brj]

Joe, is there any chance you have pictures of your adapters and how they are connected?  I think I'm visualizing it correctly, but I'm curious.

Thanks!

[jermmd]

I'll try to take a picture today. Basically, the adapter is a short length of speaker cable terminated on one end with a speakon connector and the other end with a 5-way (standard) binding post.

[ZOE2]

I HAVE THE CAL AUDIO LAB 2500 AMP CONNECTED TO B&W 801s. Visiters are blown away by rhe quality of sound. It helps, also, to be in a good room.  I need help. I do not have the matching SSP pre-amp processor that you can program.  My amp was disturbed by a person hitting the cord which caused the red protect symbol and (2) to come on as well as he green audio and yellow clipping (1) notices.  can someone tell me how to reset the amp defaults?zoe2

[ZOE2]

correction. The yellow clipping has a 2 beside it.

[jermmd]

I HAVE THE CAL AUDIO LAB 2500 AMP CONNECTED TO B&W 801s. Visiters are blown away by rhe quality of sound. It helps, also, to be in a good room.  I need help. I do not have the matching SSP pre-amp processor that you can program.  My amp was disturbed by a person hitting the cord which caused the red protect symbol and (2) to come on as well as he green audio and yellow clipping (1) notices.  can someone tell me how to reset the amp defaults?zoe2

I'm not sure how to fix this problem. In fact, I wasn't even aware that the red protect symbol and green/yellow lights even existed on the amp. Approved Audio Service is not too far from my home and has been very helpful in fixing my Cal Audio processor. Give them a call and see if they can tell you the answer to your problem over the phone. They're really good guys and they really know this amp.

Good luck,

[ZOE2]

Jermmd,
Thank you, Sorry to bother you but where is Approved Audio Sound and do you happen to have their phone #? I appreciate your response.

[ZOE2]

Jermmd,
If you are talking of Approved Audio Service
 in CT, I have called them.
 A technician there would not discuss the symbols
and how to reset the
defaults. He insisted the
amp had to be  damaged,
 in need of repair, and had to be sent to them.  They may be knowledgable and nice
guys, but not helpful to me. This phenomenon
happened once before
and a friend with the
same amp reset my
amp using his laptop. He
is living elsewhere and is on travel. Thought you
would be interested.

[jermmd]

I meant Approved Audio Service in CT. It's too bad that they weren't helpful. When you figure out how to fix the problem, post it in case it occurs with me.