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Review NaN of
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.
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5 of 5
