Extended warranty?
May 19, 2005
Best Buy is trying to sell me an extended warranty for a
receiver I'm going to buy. The warranty is $129, which is about a third of the price of
the receiver. Is the manufacturer's one-year warranty enough or would you recommend that I
go ahead and get the Best Buy warranty, too?
Linda
I always hear the argument that if an electronic
component is going to fail it will do so fairly quickly, perhaps in the first few weeks of
use. Therefore, the argument goes, if you make it past that initial period you're likely
going to make it trouble free for quite a while. Although I have no statistics to back up
that claim, my experience has supported the theory. Best Buy is banking on the odds that
you won't have an issue, and I do know that extended warranties are a huge money-maker for
the company. Whether the peace of mind that comes with knowing you have an extended
warranty is worth the cost to you, only you can decide. Perhaps knowing you're covered
makes it a wise investment. If it were me, however, I would not purchase the extended
warranty. I'd rather hang on to that money and only fork it over if a repair is needed.
Connection issues
May 17, 2005
I just received an NAD C272 amplifier, which I want to
connect to my NAD T762 receiver. I connected the left and right outs on the back of the
C272 (fixed rather than variable setting) to the corresponding left and right pre-outs on
the back of the receiver (which has two inputs for both left and right, though I have only
one jack per running from the amp). I connected the speakers to the back of the amp. But I
don't get any sound.
The above probably sounds convoluted, and I'm probably
missing information you need to provide instructions. Any ideas?
Charles
If you connected the T762 to the outputs of the C272,
there's your problem. You basically connected two sets of preamp outputs together, if I
read your message correctly. The pre-outs from your receiver need to be connected to the
amplifier's inputs. Do that and you'll have sound.
More power?
May 13, 2005
I own a Creek 4330 Mk 2 integrated amp. It is my
understanding that I can add a power amp to my system and use the preamp portion of the
Creek as the preamp in my system. I have been looking at power amps from Rotel and Anthem
that put out 100-125Wpc. The Creek puts out 50Wpc. I occasionally will play my music loud,
but never loud enough that the Creek runs out of power. Will adding a power amp with more
power than the Creek improve the sound? The stereo shops tell me that even though the
Creek never runs out of power, that the sound of the my system will improve because the
added power will improve the soundstaging and dynamics. Is this true? Thanks for all the
great information in your website.
Jule
The only sure-fire way to know if more power will
improve your system's performance is to bring home a more powerful amplifier, insert it
into your system, and take a listen. Power is relevant in relation to your speakers'
sensitivity and the size of your room, not to mention your listening habits. So results
vary greatly from system to system. I have always preferred to have a bit of headroom in
the power amp just to insure that I don't drive my amplifier into distortion (clipping)
when playing my system loud. And I have heard more power improve dynamics, just as your
dealer says. To sum up, I think your proposed upgrade is a valid approach, but again it's
not a guaranteed solution for better sound. In this case you just have to try it for
yourself and see how it works out.
On or off?
May 12, 2004
I've read your review of the
Rotel RA-02 integrated amplifier. I've recently purchased this amp and I was wondering
if it was safe to leave it running 24/7. I'm hearing that this is usually recommended with
solid-state amps, although I'm a bit worried about doing so. There is a very slight amount
of hiss that is heard from my speakers when the amp is on. If I indeed leave the amp
running 24/7, is there a chance of damaging the speakers? Also, I noticed that I have a
standby feature. Once the amp is on and I press the on/off on the remote the amp acts as
if it is shut off but the power button is indeed on. Am I better off leaving it on standby
when not in use? What is the best way to go about?
Jim
Leaving your electronics powered on when you use them
regularly is indeed safe. With a component like the Rotel RA-02, one that uses only modest
power, you won't pay a huge penalty in power usage either. If you choose this option I
would turn the unit off if you're going on vacation or perhaps expecting a thunderstorm. A
power surge or flicker might cause your electronics to cycle on and off quickly, which
could potentially damage your speakers. Probably the wisest move is the one you've
proposed, which is to use the standby function. This way the outputs on the Rotel are
muted when not in use, but the amplifier is still ready to play at a moment's notice. I
use that type of feature with my electronics as well and it seems to be the best
compromise.
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