best of both worlds can u get a musical multi amp?


i wonder if it is possible to get a multichannel amp that is just as musical as it is ht effective..i own a dreadnaught 2 which i really like, though most of the reading i do suggests dedicated 2 channel amps give you the best sound...any thoughts?
dan001
There is no reason it can't sound as good. This is just another "audio myth".

Sure a multichannel integrated with 5 channels that costs the same as a monoblock single channel power amp is quite unlikley to out perform the power amplification prowess of the monoblock on any one indvidual channel...but you would expect that.
If you want musical then "downgrade" to a used Dreadnaught I. Alternatively, try an Ayre V-6xe.
ooo i feel no need to downgrade..i love this amp..besides its heat issues..i am just curious as to am i getting the best stereo sound from a multi channel...or..if that is a misnomer
Hi,
I used to have Dreadnaught II, and then switched to BAT 75 SE, and I'll venture a thought, that BAT is significantly better for music reproduction. Actually BAT makes MC amp VK- 6200, and coming from VK himself, " many people bought it strictly for 2-CH systems". I haven't heard it myself, though.
From my personal experience I can say, that I found a dedicated high quality stereo system ( 2-ch preamp with HT bypass, mono blocks for the front channels), integrated into HT set-up (HT pro-, MCH amp for the front and rear channels), to be a more flexible and capable solution.
I also owned the Dreadnaught II as well as other multi-channel amps from Conrad Johnson and Krell. I can tell you that emphatically none of these could compare to a large number of equally priced and even lower priced two channel amps in terms of stereo (2-channel performance). The Dreadnaught lasted two weeks in my system before I sold it, to a guy where it lasted one week - due to its performance in 2-channel operation. I bought into the rave reviews on this amps claim to perform in 2-channel, as did the guy who bought it from me.

Is it a bad amp? No, but there are a large number of 2-channel amps at a fraction of its new price that will outperform it in 2-channel mode. This is not a knock on just the Dreadnaught though, this has been my experience with all the multi-channel amps to date. Of course, the rest of your system will help determine the performance in both HT and 2-channel operation (as a note, I am also a believer from experience that the pre/pros cannot perform in 2-channel mode at or near the same level as two channel preamps - having gone through many pre/pros [McIntosh/Acurus/B&K/Krell/etc. .] and preamps [Aesthetix/Cary/BAT/ARC/Jeff Rowland/etc. . .]).