B&K preamp

November 30, 2006

Recently I had a chance to buy a B&K Sonata preamp on eBay for less than $100, and I took the chance. I really like it, but I can’t seem to find any information on it. Do you know anything?

Roger

Back when I was first getting into high-quality audio I remember a salesman at a local audio store telling me that one of the best pairings was an Adcom amplifier with a B&K preamp. According to him, the B&K preamps of the day were better than their amplifiers and could be paired with much high-end electronics and not be out of place. I do remember that the Sonata model was one of the ones the store carried. So although I can’t tell you anything specific about the unit you bought, it seems like you got a great deal on a preamp that was highly thought of back in the day. Enjoy your find!

Receiver for Magnepans?

November 24, 2006

Which receivers would you recommend for use in a room that is 18' x 18' x 7.5’ to drive a Magnepan MGW/MMGC home-theater system? The reason I am asking is that everyone says I don't need a lot of power if I don't go loud. But everyone does go loud once in a while. You know, just showing off to the boys after a few beers. Would I have enough power with a Yamaha RX-V1700 or the Denon AVR-2807 or am I just wasting my time looking into a receiver?

Damir

Assuming that you have a decent subwoofer, the Magnepans should have no problem playing loud to Dolby Reference levels (105dB peaks) with either the Yamaha or the Denon receiver. When I pushed them past this point with my receiver, however, they lost some of their magic -- the soundstage closed in and the treble was gritty. If you really want to show off this speaker system at really loud levels, you would want a high-current amp which has good rated performance into a 4-ohm load.

Speakers equidistant?

November 21, 2006

How much sound quality will I lose if I don’t place my speakers equidistant from where I normally sit? One will be about two feet closer to me than the other.

Ralph

It’s certainly not ideal placement to have one speaker two feet closer to you than the other. The result will be that the closer one will sound slightly louder than the other and your attention will be drawn to it. If you have a receiver that has balance controls or individual speaker level controls you can mostly compensate for this, however. Simply reduce the level of the speaker that is closer to you until you bring the two into relative balance. The other thing to ensure is that the toe-in (angle in relation to you) is the same for each speaker; that will help minimize any tonal issues caused by the mismatched placement.