"Wally" wrote in message
m...


Most noticable improvements in instrument/music terms are that drums are
more solid - tighter and more punchy; acoustic guitars are much better -
much clearer; and classical music seems to have acquired a dynamic range I
was unaware of beforehand.

I haven't really cranked it up much - I did it once and got a couple of
pops
from the bass drivers, which got me out of my seat and diving for the
volume
control pretty damn quick. At the moment, it goes about as loud as I dared
go when it was just the Cyrus 2 and the 3-way passive crossovers, except
that it's now much, much cleaner - night and day, in fact.

Methinks there's definitely something in this amplifier headroom lark.


I've been experimenting for a while now and have talked about it other
threads. Time to report findings.

Set up is:
Cyrus Pre pre-amp without additional PSU
Behringer 3400
InterM R500 amp feeding Mordaunt Short 55Ti s (20 yrs old) as mids
InterM R500 feeding twin-coil car subwoofer
NAD 3020 feeding two silk tweeters
Crossovers at 90Hz and 3500 Hz
Room about 7.5 x 5 x 2.5 m

As you see from the spec sub is definitely an interim. I will build
one when I know exactly what I want. Tweeters ain't great- cost
about 15 ukp each. I will possibly change these to ribbons, or
maybe not (see below).

The results are a revelation. The overall sound is more solid and
sweet, and there is no evidence of tension or strain anywhere. At
last I can feel that an improvement has achieved something. I have
listened to a wide range of music now at some length. including:
Jazz (Davis, Zawinul, Pine)
Gamelan, including big bass drum and sharp percussion
Violin (Brahms op 78)
Rap like Dre
Voice (various)
Woodwind (inc Brahms)
Floyd (especially Fletcher Memorial Home and Tigers)
and so on.

So I am *happy*. My wife who, though non-technical, is a
down-to-earth, critical listener (and critical of my spending
sometimes!) agrees that we have a major improvement. I have
more tweaking to do, including levels and cross-overs but
the above is an interim optimum.

Conclusions a
Incremental improvement
Behringer is a clean flexible tool
Tri-amping gives headroom and clarity
Perhaps I won't need a new sub

Peter Scott