al marrocco

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $2399.00 from Affordable home Thea

Summary:
Cinenova Grande is simply, "Awesome"!
Its all what is described in these reviews but I am in the customer service business of High Tech components.
I had an issue with a buzzing in my 3 fronts. I'm Bi Amping. I called Earthquake and was handle professionally as well as directed in what to do to take care of the problem.
It came down the the point where I even received phone calls from the President / Head engineer.
I do not know of any other company today in which this type of postion being held by a professional, would be involved at the customer level.
My hats off to this company because its obvious by the reviews posted on this site that Earthquake sound should be considered by all Audiophiles going forward.
These folks were great and my problem has been solved. It required a little work but we are solved and listening to that zero floor noise that these Amps are known for.
Thanks again Earthquake sound, you folks are appreciated.

Strengths:
Customer service
Build Quality
Superior sound musically as well as Home Theater mode.

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
B&K Adcom

Bigbuck

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $1900.00 from Online

Summary:
Just is a great amp all the way around! I have had it over a year, and it seems to just get better! For the money, you just can not beat how it sounds and how well its put together! More power then i will ever need. If you get a chance to pick one up, i would!

Strengths:
Build,Power,Looks

Weaknesses:
So far so good, NONE.

Similar Products Used:
B&K, Fosgate, SAE, Marantz, Anthem

Gregavi

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $1900.00 from Online

Summary:
I have had this amazing amp for about two and a half years and I ‘d have to say it is the best piece of audio I have ever owned. As everyone here as already stated, it is a beast. But it is a beauty as well. Since this thing weighs about 20 lbs. more than my wife. (My wife’s about a buck twenty). I keep it on an amp stand that I built on the floor in front of my rack. It doesn't fit on my rack anyway and the amp stand has wheels, which comes in handy when moving it around. Why does this thing weigh so much? Well to start with, there is an enormous 40 pound, 3.6kVA, ferrite core toroidal power transformer. You will definitely need the 2 large handles on the front if you plan on moving this mammoth into a rack. I get statements all the time like “what the hell is that thing sitting in the middle of your floor? The military crate that it comes in is a nice touch but what’s inside the crate is what we’re here to talk about. I have two pair of main speakers that I use, Klipsch La Scalas for theater and Tannoy Dual Concentric Monitor Royals for music with a Parasound 2500u for my pre/pro. I’d have to say the Cinenova powering the Tannoys is one of the best musical experiences I have ever heard. I have brought tears to the eyes of my audiophile friends. Of course this happens only after a couple of bottles of vino. The sign of a good piece of audio, IMO, is one that adds nothing to the music. No color, no distortion, no noise. Well, mission accomplished with this combo. This amp is dead silent. Earthquake is so bold that they even include a hand written spec sheet with actual bench test results for each of the 5 individual channels. The results of mine were just as amazing as they claim. Looks. Some people (mostly women) don’t care for the looks. I love the way this thing looks. Why else would I have this thing front and center? A good description of the front panel comes courtesy of Richard Hardesty: “The front panel is made from a thick, aluminum extension. Six polished horizontal fins and the CineNova Grande badge are produced by CNC machining on the face of this extrusion and the result is an elegant, if somewhat less than subtle, three-dimensional look. There is a power switch at the lower left of the front panel with an integral LED power indicator and five LEDs labeled LF, Center, RF, LS, RS are centered on the lower section of the panel. These LEDs show when the indicated channel is over-driven (clipping) but I never saw them light up and I doubt that most users will either. Driving an amplifier with this much power into clipping is likely to damage your speakers and your ears”. I have not owned any other amp in this class, but I did listen to others in it’s class before I bought it and I can say nothing I listened to sounded better at any price. Some I listened to were more than twice the price. There is absolutely no distortion that I can hear at any volume setting. Only amazing sound. It never sounds strained. It's like it kind of laughs when you try to give it a real test. As if to say: "Bring it on" and "That’s all ya got?" I was pretty much set on an all-in-one receiver when I decided to look at separates and I’m so happy I discovered this great amp. The new model has balanced inputs, which is nice, but I can certainly live without those. My pre/pro doesn’t have them anyway. I highly recommend this amp to anyone who wants to hear music and/or theater at it’s very best. “An amplifier like the Earthquake CineNova Grande is the kind of component that other manufacturers fear, neighbors dread and men lust after.” -Clint Walker

Strengths:
Power; Looks; Price; Clean Sound; No Distortion.

Weaknesses:
Now that they have Balanced Inputs, None!

Similar Products Used:
Nothing close.

atticbase

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Price Paid:  $2000.00

Summary:
This amp took a while to burn in, but the wait was well worth it. Huge soundstage, great separation and very tranparent...overall an amazing amp. You really would have to spend close to 10 grand to better this beast.

Strengths:
Clean, honest, neutral power.

Weaknesses:
Weight...130lbs!

Similar Products Used:
Rotel, Anthem, Nakamichi, HK.

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Summit Audio & Video

Summary:
This is one heck of a beast! They tell you in the manual to make certain you don't hurt your back --- they're right. This amp comes shipped to you in a wooden military artillery crate --- with rope handles. No other amp that I am aware of comes in such an enclosure. Second, it weighs a ton. Third, you can feel and see the high quality that went into its build/design. This is a 300W X 5 @ 8 ohm amp (600W @ 4 ohms and 1,000W @ 2 ohms). This makes it one of the most powerful multi-channel amps available for home use. Second, it is five monoblocks housed in one container. If one of the amps go bad, all you do is detach it and send it in for repair --- not the whole amp; you get to use the remaining four channels while the bad one is being fixed. Third, the louder you play it the better its THD performance. Fourth, this amp actually runs cool. The clarity, detail, depth, tightness, cleanliness, and range is superb. I use this amp to power my Def Tech BPVX surrounds and it performs flawlessly. I run a Bryston 14B SST (600W X 2 @ 8 ohms) for my fronts and a Bryston 7B SST (600W @ 8 ohms monoblock) for my center (I have a Rotel RSP-1098 as my pre-pro). The CineNova complements the Brystons beautifully. I needed an amp with brute force yet honest and clean performance to sonically match the Brystons and the CineNova has accomplished it. For kicks I disconnected my Brystons and hooked up the CineNova to my c/l/r and side surrounds and it performed extremely well. I'd venture to say that if I were blindfolded, I'd have a difficult time telling it apart from the Bryston. The only area I noticed is in some drum riffs. The Bryston had a more realistic sound whereas the CineNova got a tad muffled but other than that, it sounded indistinguishable. It performs extremely well for both multi-channel music and movies. I was watching Superman the other night and I was hearing things of infinitesimal detail (beeper, shattering glass) that I never heard with my Rotel RMB-1095. Elton John's recently released Goodbye Yellow Brick Road SACD sounded incredible throughout all amps in my system. I'd venture to say that this amp could easily rival some extremely expensive alternatives like Classe' and Krell to name a few. Whatever advantages they may have over the CineNova would be miniscule and hardly audible with the naked ear. If you are in the market for a very high-end amp that holds the test of time, sound quality, power, and value, this amp is for you.

Strengths:
Value, power, 10 year warranty, true monoblock design, clarity, detail, cleanliness, depth, and tightness. Super high-quality build and design throughout.

Weaknesses:
Very flimsy power cord included. Probably want to upgrade simultaneously. If you aren't strong enough, you'll need a couple of folks to help you hoist it into position in your cabinet/tower. This unit is a 2 year old model and didn't have balanced inputs (didn't matter to me though) although the newer "Signature" model will have balanced inputs.

Similar Products Used:
Bryston 14B SST, Bryston 7B SST, Rotel RMB-1095, Denon AVR-5803.