"The Devil" wrote in message
news:466jj0hmuk43mlueitio0s40o2umd5230c@rdmzrnewst xt.nz...
On Fri, 3 Sep 2004 23:10:09 -0700, "ScottW"
wrote:

Well, we had an interesting experience tonight. Art was over and we set up
both CDs into the passive. He had some Robert Randolph and Derek Truks
Band
CDs. I hadn't heard either, southern rock with a little funk and prog
slant. We setup both the Arcam and the AMC. Art felt the Arcam was more
revealing of detail but wasn't particularly musical and lacked rythym and
pace. I had similar feeling when I put on Islands last night but rapidly
got over it when the soft sounds of a caressed coronet filled the room.
Anyway, Art likes a bit of pace and more upbeat music. We then tried to
unload the Arcam by connecting the second set of outputs into my active
preamp (Yamaha C-70). The C-70 still feeds the passive which has a bypass
switch that sets the selected input direct to the output. Apparently
other
weird things happen on the passives non-selected inputs. It appeared the
Arcams other outs were still connected to the pot as the outputs were
severely loaded to the point where I couldn't get hardly any volume out of
the lines to the active preamp. I have no idea what the passive is doing
to
the other inputs when selecting one to bypass, for all I know the all get
tied together and the pot. It seems weird cuz the active preamp is high
impedance inputs. Anyway the obvious things is those outputs are just
parallel connections to the same driver. So much for useful for comparing
cables.

I think Arcam's intention was that a customer could drive two
amplifiers.

It was a comment by the owner I'd seen repeated in other owner reviews.
Not something I really care about.


So I disconnect the passive and did the cable swap routine to compare the
high impedance active preamp to the loaded passive on the arcam. Art felt
the active helped with impact and dynamics. I felt that it did but on soft
music like Lizards Lady of the Dancing Water the soundstage lacked depth.
Forward was there but the depth was gone. I also felt a slight loss of
texture on the wind instruments that I love.
Tomorrow, Im gonna get some connectors and rig up a 5k input load. I
think
10k will cost me too much level. But if I still have headroom after
putting
in 5 I'll add more (if 5 makes a difference).

I got my CD92 hooked up at the office last night. No, it isn't as good
as the CD23, but it sounds musical, has no trouble with dynamics, and
produces a deep and detailed soundstage, if not quite up to the
CD23's. Fatigue factor is nil (unlike the CD72). There is no edge to
the sound. I honestly think you've either got a duff player or
something is wrong with your setup.

I don't think I've described it well enough for you to understand and if
you don't get it quick I'm gonna give up.
They're is just a little edge to leading edges of transients, the start of
a voice or most pronounced on the tap of a snare. Then theres the liquidity
that seems to slow the pace. But that same liquidity contributes mightily
to the revealing texture and depth of image on soft passages. I think
you'll just have to get your butt on a plane and come listen for yourself.

ScottW