Is this a new digital amp or something older I missed?

Lopez · « **Reply #20 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 06:47 pm »

isn't the principal benifit lost, though, when you switch to a stand-alone digital amp? I would think people would recoil in horror at the additional A->D->A conversion that has to take place.

Or is this some class of digital amp that is dissimilar from the digital amps in a Panasonic XR-25/45/50? Because I thought conventional wisdom was that those units are terrible with analog inputs, but great with digital sources. I have one (an XR25) and I love it, but it is in a dedicated theater and it's only input is digital. I've never connected it to an analog source.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #21 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 07:10 pm »

I think the panasonic is the only one that works that way, that we know of for sure. And people are saying that the xr50's analog in is already better than on the 25 and 45. Tripath and other "class T" etc amps do not work in the same digital way as the pannys. AFAIK.

Dang, the amps are gone?? I bet I'll be kicking myself for a few weeks over this one.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #22 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 07:16 pm »

I think I found some in stock. I don't want to say where until I get an answer to my email. Shipping is a travashamockery, but the base price is decent. Give me a couple arns...

Dmason · « **Reply #23 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 07:57 pm »

I think a multichannel "muscle amp" is just around the corner, based on the trend. Power, feature set, sonic quality keep going up, price keeps going down, and fast. I envision powerful digital amps of a true 100 watts at 8 Ohms, with DSP showing up by the end of the year, as the wave catches on, better product--less dough is always a nice way to be able to position a product.

All this should change the budget equation for anyone starting up a new juke box. Throw everything you can at the best kit you can afford from any one of the wizards who have threads right here.

Just look at the JVC and Panasonic products, launching at a price of around $300 TOPS.

If Sharp sells out a bunch of those two channel amps, I am sure there are more ripening on the vines beneath Fujiyama, under the benificent glow of the Orb of the East...... my guess is that they are a new product, given the fact that no one has heard anything about them, nor are they mentioned on the corporate site. If they are, and if they sound good, then there you are: Sharp throwing down the gauntlet. They did it with photocopiers back in the '80's, great machines for half of what Canon was charging. These are exciting times indeed, as Chairguy, and Gary will agree with me.

jswallac · « **Reply #24 on:** 28 Jul 2004, 10:55 pm »

I could not pass up a potential bargain like this and ordered a "cosmetically damaged" unit for $105 (including tax and shipping). I just checked the FedEx tracking information and noted it should arrive tomorrow. Even more of a surprise is the weight, 30 pounds! Something is wrong with this picture. The 6 channel digital receivers only weigh about 10 pounds, so maybe 15 including packing material. That plus the little information provided on the unit has me worried.
SHARP SX-9860 150-Watt 2-X Digital Power Amplifier
Stereo RCA Inputs
Dual A-B Front Speaker Output
Rear Speaker Outputs
150 Watts Per Channel
A-B Switch
8 Ohms

Is this really a power amp or some kind of freak boom box. Dual front speaker outputs and rear speaker outputs? What does that suppose to mean. And simply stated as 8 ohm with no frequency or distortion figures. Sounds like a speaker statistic. Does this thing have speakers attached? Guess I find out when it arrives.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #25 on:** 28 Jul 2004, 11:07 pm »

Maybe they eliminated the fan by using a giant heatsink and didn't skimp on the power transformer!

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #26 on:** 28 Jul 2004, 11:23 pm »

I've got shipping confirmation, too, so hopefully we'll know shortly!

mgalusha · « **Reply #27 on:** 30 Jul 2004, 10:30 pm »

Anyone get theirs yet? Curious to know what you think. If any of you new owners are brave, pull the cover and get us some photo's. (please

)

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #28 on:** 30 Jul 2004, 10:50 pm »

I plan to do just that as soon as it arrives.

jswallac · « **Reply #29 on:** 30 Jul 2004, 11:42 pm »

Thought I would get mine yesterday, but it appears luck is not with me. Perhaps that price I got was too good to be true. My shipping confirmation with a FedEx tracking number from a place called ztradingpost.com showed a July 29th delivery date. When it still had not arrived today I called FedEx. Seems ztradingpost simply made out a shipping order, but never gave a package to FedEx, as FedEx does not have the package in their system. I called ztradingpost and they claimed they would look into it and let me know. Like I said, that price was too good to be true. At least I paid with Visa. If it ever does arrive, and Rob had not posted pictures, I will let you all Know what this thing is.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #30 on:** 31 Jul 2004, 01:45 am »

Well, jswallac's post had me concerned, but according to FedEx, my amp is now in Kansas City. Of course, we'll see when I actually see it, but I'm hopeful!

Not to get ahead of myself (in case it blows the dead), but if the amp is nice I hope I'll be able to get another one or two of 'em...looks like they're getting scarce, though.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #31 on:** 31 Jul 2004, 01:47 am »

Waiiiiit, leave one for me, too! Hehe, j/k.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #32 on:** 31 Jul 2004, 01:59 am »

This whole situation reminds me of an episode from my past. Way back in the day my best friend, Eddie, always got the cool stuff. He was an only child so he got spoiled. Millenium Falcon? Check. Death Star Base? Yep. He had the Atari 2600 & the 5200 and all the games. He always let me play, but I wanted one of my own.

Well finally I'd saved up enough from my crappy job washing dishes to get my own Atari, so off I go to Best (not best buy) in Rapid City. They only have one left in the store, and it's the demo. I was standing there, cash in hand, but the salesman couldn't get the thing to work. So finally we peer into it & it's just a display mock-up!

And the world has moved on to other things, so basically no one else had one either. Although I was so close, I never did get my Atari.

newtopos · « **Reply #33 on:** 2 Aug 2004, 05:45 am »

Some stuff doesn't look so good (e.g., I think it has that cardboard type back plate):

http://cgi.tw.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3090711328&category=39783

I had found an auction with better pictures, but now I seem to have lost it. Look at the two other photos in the link above for clues.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #34 on:** 2 Aug 2004, 06:37 am »

Yeah, doesn't look too promising, but those are some crappy photos. If mine shows up, then I'll see what it's like. Even if it sucks, I only paid like $60 for it.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #35 on:** 2 Aug 2004, 01:02 pm »

To quote the annoying commercial "its whats inside that counts".

Even if the build quality is ghastly, if the thing sounds good, I am sure you will at least have gotten your moneys worth.

Hey, who loves the case of the DIO around here, but look at all the happy users, once modded.

My Teacs certainly leave much to be desired in the "my, what a high end looking piece of kit" department, but sound good.

I hope that these work out for you guys, so that you can have as much fun with your tripaths, as I am with mine.

Mark

jswallac · « **Reply #36 on:** 3 Aug 2004, 12:25 am »

Another surprise, it arrived. FedEx left one huge box on my porch. This thing is BIG. Dimensions are 17Wx11Dx12H. An entire foot of height! Not sure why, since it appears to be almost empty inside. I have not opened it up yet, just looked through the vents on top. It appears it could have easily been built within a cabinet resembling the little digital receivers. Perhaps Sharp was aiming this thing at the bigger is better crowd. Why else display the 150x2 power rating across the front. This actually lights up! Classless advertising at its best.

First some more external notes. I have not included pictures since it is not any different from the Ebay link already posted. I will post some once I open it up. Some negatives. Yes, the speaker connections are the dreaded spring clips, and lots of them. Not only A and B speakers, but also another set for rears. I do not have a manual, so I do not know why these exist. If that was not bad enough, not only is the power cord hard wired, so are the interconnects. Instead of RCA inputs, those throw away variety phono plugs are attached from the inside of the unit. There is also a headphone jack on the front. Pretty unusual for a power amp. One final thing, I cannot find a way to turn this thing off without unplugging. No on/off switch. At least it seems to run very cool, partly a function of a lot of internal circulation inside that big chassis.

Okay, what about the sound? First of all, some caveats. I do not own a preamp as I own a Jolida integrated what does not have pre outs. For this test I broke out my old HK 6650R integrated amp. The nice thing about this old boy is that you can convert it from an integrated to separate power and preamps with a switch. The HK is from when they built them pretty well, 100 watts but about 60 amps of current! A decent entry level solid state piece. No Krell or Classe, but no Sony either. Still, I am not sure how much using this as a preamp affects the sound.

My CDP is an AH! Tjoeb 4000 and speakers are Meadowlark Kestrel2s. Speaker wire is radio shack since my regular cables have banannas on each end.

That being said, this hulk sounds pretty good. Definately better than using the HK amps. And it does have plenty of headroom. I will listen more tonight and report back later. Hopefully Rob will have his soon and give his opinion.

Actually, I am a little disappointed it sounds good. I do not plan on keeping it simply because it is too big for the space. So anybody that is interested in a very inexpensive Sharp SX9860, send me a PM. I bought it pretty cheap because it is "cosmetically challenged."

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #37 on:** 3 Aug 2004, 01:41 am »

...wow. That is big indeed. If you don't sell it right away, I hope you can keep us posted on the sound as far as transparency goes.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #38 on:** 3 Aug 2004, 02:59 am »

Yeah, hopefully my "hulk" will show up soon, too!

Sounds like they make it look easy being cheesey. At least it should be mod-able!

jswallac · « **Reply #39 on:** 3 Aug 2004, 04:27 am »

There is certainly a lot of room inside to mod. Heck, you can pretty much throw a party in there. I pulled the top in order to take some photos, but just found out that I can't upload from my hard disk to these posts. The obvious things to do, and pretty easy, is to swap out the spring clips for some real speaker posts. Same time add some RCAs. Home Depot sells these wall plates that lets you mix and match what to include (e.g., spaeker posts, RCAs, phone jacks, etc.) Just slap one of those in the place where the current speakers clips are located. The back is that nice cardboard stuff, so it would be easy to cut to the correct size.