I am weak..
The lure of a tempting close out price mixed with curiousity were all the excuses I needed to bring home the AG-L800. I mean, imagine the cool-ness if a $199 receiver could hold up to the performance of the famed 3 channel Legacy 700 amp! Talk about one of the better bargains in theater!!
I was actually taken back by the build quality (well, heft and aluminum front) of the unit, and of the remote itself. So far, so good..first impressions can be a killer and it made the grade just fine.
I decided not to pussy foot around, and decided to break it in with 4 ohm Dynaudio Focus 110 monitors. Semi inefficient but voiced to really mimic a classic 89db speaker. Again, the first impressions were great. I couldn't push it at all, not past maybe 80db due to circumstances.... but the unit sounded great out of the box - dare I say, better than the 700 did when new. Hmm this is looking very good indeed!
Well, a few days pass, I am getting more impressed with the unit until the day comes when I can strut its stuff. But *ok, I was building up to this "but"*.... then it happened. The unit just completely wimped out before hitting 95 db. I tried some efficient 8 ohm speakers - no dice.
Dynamics went to crap, and the type of distortion I got was some of the worst I have ever heard... I cannot quite explain it.. but it felt like the woofers were going to just bust outta their cabs. Please bear in mind that this was with music that averaged about 85db with peaks around 95 with climatic impacts. Its loud, much louder than I normally listen, but this amp should NOT have crapped out the way it did.
I gave it a few more trial runs, hoping it was just "break in", but in the end - I returned the unit. It just seems like the power supply was entirely in-sufficient for the unit... I was honestly scared my speakers were going to bust... I can't ever recall experiencing such a thing - EVER..
In closure; these are just my experiences. I could have had a bad unit - and while I will not discourage anyone from giving it a whirl - I do want to give fair warning to those considering... my advice would be to hook these up to some cheapo speakers, before trying it on your prized posessions.
