With the AG500 being on 1/3rd off, couldn't resist finally trying one. It arrived yesterday.
Took a few mins to read the manual and get it warmed up, as it has a cycle to get ready for work.
To make sure it was fine, tested it with a monitor, and also an AVO. Was pushing out a very steady 230v, despite being given 245v from the mains supply.
Rather strangely, my Meridian 568.2 processor didn't seem to like it at all. Plugged it in and the controls were VERY slow to respond, although it was clearly pushing through music. So for example, volume control barely reacted (remote or buttons on the 568.2) and it didn't want to change inputs at all. Plugged the 568.2 back into the mains directly, all working fine.
Any thoughts on that?
I then tried the AG500 with my Bel Canto Evo2 power amp, which uses tripath chips. The BC drew so little power, the load was listed as zero. My understanding is that when the drain is under 5-10% it'll normally do that. My speakers are fairly efficient, but all the same, interesting to see.
The much more positive thing was that the system did seem to sound better. I didn't conduct a back to back test, just got it up and running. For all that, music appeared to have less "grit" in (which I find VERY distracting), noise seemed lower, and the frequency ranges seemed to have opened up a bit. There definitely seemed to be more low end, though that could just be that I was playing it louder as the system was so clean.
I'll be running some more useful side by side comparisons later this week, but it looks like it's probably a keeper.
Took a few mins to read the manual and get it warmed up, as it has a cycle to get ready for work.
To make sure it was fine, tested it with a monitor, and also an AVO. Was pushing out a very steady 230v, despite being given 245v from the mains supply.
Rather strangely, my Meridian 568.2 processor didn't seem to like it at all. Plugged it in and the controls were VERY slow to respond, although it was clearly pushing through music. So for example, volume control barely reacted (remote or buttons on the 568.2) and it didn't want to change inputs at all. Plugged the 568.2 back into the mains directly, all working fine.
Any thoughts on that?
I then tried the AG500 with my Bel Canto Evo2 power amp, which uses tripath chips. The BC drew so little power, the load was listed as zero. My understanding is that when the drain is under 5-10% it'll normally do that. My speakers are fairly efficient, but all the same, interesting to see.
The much more positive thing was that the system did seem to sound better. I didn't conduct a back to back test, just got it up and running. For all that, music appeared to have less "grit" in (which I find VERY distracting), noise seemed lower, and the frequency ranges seemed to have opened up a bit. There definitely seemed to be more low end, though that could just be that I was playing it louder as the system was so clean.
I'll be running some more useful side by side comparisons later this week, but it looks like it's probably a keeper.
