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  3. 140622-19013

Revel Ultima 2's and Amplification

Hey,

Just looking for some feedback here.  I have Revel Ultima Studio 2's up front powered by monoblocks so I am good there.  My question is regarding my Revel Ultima Voice 2 and the Gem 2's used for center and surround respectively.  I also have some aperion verus grand towers being used for the surround back speakers.  Powering the surrounds, surround backs, and center is a Marantz SR 7011.  This is a relatively high powered nine channel receiver and I am only using five channels so I feel like I should be fine.  Plus the speakers are all six ohms and the receiver is rated for that so I am guessing I am easily getting a good 100 watts per channel if not more.  With the lower load required for the surround channels I just wanted people's feedback if I would see any benefit from getting something like a parasound halo A31 to power the center and surround Revels.  By the way my crossover per Audyssey is 90HZ for the Revel center and 110hz for the Revel Gem 2's which are wall mounted.  The Aperion Verus grand towers for the surround back use are crossed at 60hz.  Thanks for any input and I haven't noticed any distortion playing movies at pretty good levels.


Scott

scottfields1979
caphill
496 posts
 
Add to your av preamp processor list is a Cary Audio Cinema 12 retails for $5k new. Does not support latest formats. Great sounding for both stereo and surrounds, especially for stereo music playbacks. Very musical. But I have to warn you that the HDMI switching or board is buggy and starts failing after few years. Most units would have failing HDMI boards after few years of use. But otherwise it is a musical sounding preamp processor for stereo music playbacks. 
scottfields1979 OP
3 posts
 
Hey thanks much for the extensive and detailed reply, it is appreciated.  I didn't think the Marantz was that bad as it was a top of the line receiver that was $2200 when new but that is why I asked the question.  I have the emotiva XPA-1 gen 2 monoblocks for the revel studios and I want to try something different there one day too.  I am hoping a shop will let me plop in a JC-1 or something like that just to see if the upgrade is worthwhile.  I do mainly watch movies with this and the newest audio formats along with full 4K/HDR is important to me.  I hope to get some Revel ceiling speakers in the future so I can have Atmos.  Thanks again, I will be sure to keep my eyes peeled at my local used stereo shops in Portland for some of the units you have recommended.
esthlos13
49 posts
 
I have the same speaker setup you do, but in addition have revel four c583 in ceiling and a pair of jl fathom f212v2 subs.   This is all running off of a marantz 8802a and a pair of lexicon rx-7 amps. Front three channels are all biamped.  For my money the upgrading of the subs from Svs pb1000 made all the difference in the world.  Given my room layout and some other constraints I’m not sure if I’d notice what may be small differences in two channel playback.  When I don get my room reconfigured I plan on keeping my marantz but rather than trying to fix the one size fits all processor I’ll be looking for a two channel preamp setup and will run it through a jl cr1 crossover. Conceptually this will let me use the same speakers subs and amps while letting the base management of the processor flow through while then adding base management to the two channel preamp since most don’t have any. It’s something to consider anyhow as it lets one pursue each path independently. 
geek101
284 posts
 
JC1 monos may not something you would want if you are not spending lot of time listening critically. Having said that not sure at what levels you are watching movies. For movies most of the heavy lifting for mid range is done by center channel, if I am not mistaken. Getting a good amp for that could make an improvement that you might notice.

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