Recommend me a 2 channel amp (new or used) for $3,200

[JoeE SP9]

JoeE SP9: My posts don't have a tone at all (and IF you are so annoyed by a "tone" why adopt such a hostile way of argueing yourself?) , there is nothing written between the lines, there is no conspiracy, I am just a guy with an above average (cost-wise similar to the stuff you list in your sig after a "downgrade" from MUCH more expensive gear if that makes you feel any better about my experience with high end stuff ) stereo system who sometimes wonders if he might have been conned into buying stuff he doesn't need, which, unfortunately I see happening all the time with other people/products, which is why I have to assume it could happen to me too. I went out of my way to specifically state underspeccing IS NO BIG DEAL again and again, I NEVER said I am the fountain of knowledge, I NEVER said you are the victim of advertising and I NEVER said I know what's best for you, but somehow you distill all of this and much more from the "tone" of my messages , that is a form of communication that is not just counterproductive, but also completely alien to me, hence me withdrawing myself from this discussion.

I'm sorry that you feel you've been "conned". That helps explain an attitude of trying to "warn" others. Be assured I haven't been "conned". I suspect that most other posters here haven't been "conned" either.

I went through a period when I thought that the specs of gear was the be all end all. A bench full of unused test gear is testament to that. As I aged I realized that a lot of the gear with great specs simply didn't sound good to me in the long term. Now I rely on my ears. If my ears are happy so am I. I'm not interested in ABX or double blind testing. Been there done that! I've got nothing to prove and really don't care if others are impressed or not.

What's important to me is that my female friends really like the way my system sounds. In my experience when females ask for music and more volume your system sounds good. So, I'm a happy camper.

On the EQ thing; I tried many different EQ's and other sound enhancement devices over the years. I still have an LP of test tones that I used with a Radio Shack SPL meter and an ADC equalizer in 1980. Eventually those kinds of things were dropped. For the past 15 years I've been fortunate enough to have a dedicated treated room for audio. Even so I had problems with bass. The addition of a digital parametric Eq, new microphone and some software has enabled me to fix the bass irregularities.

[Tako]

JoeE SP9, I'm really not trying to warn anyone, my remark about underspeccing was intended as a casual remark, not intended as a warning or blanket statement I really think there's some epic miscommunication going on: I make my remark, get the idea you misunderstand me and overexplain my ideas, giving you the idea it is some kind of pet peeve of mine. etc etc.

[Aural Addict]

JoeE SP9: My posts don't have a tone at all (and IF you are so annoyed by a "tone" why adopt such a hostile way of argueing yourself?) , there is nothing written between the lines, there is no conspiracy, I am just a guy with an above average (cost-wise similar to the stuff you list in your sig after a "downgrade" from MUCH more expensive gear if that makes you feel any better about my experience with high end stuff ) stereo system who sometimes wonders if he might have been conned into buying stuff he doesn't need, which, unfortunately I see happening all the time with other people/products, which is why I have to assume it could happen to me too. I went out of my way to specifically state underspeccing IS NO BIG DEAL again and again, I NEVER said I am the fountain of knowledge, I NEVER said you are the victim of advertising and I NEVER said I know what's best for you, but somehow you distill all of this and much more from the "tone" of my messages , that is a form of communication that is not just counterproductive, but also completely alien to me, hence me withdrawing myself from this discussion.

I'm sorry that you feel you've been "conned". That helps explain an attitude of trying to "warn" others. Be assured I haven't been "conned". I suspect that most other posters here haven't been "conned" either.

I went through a period when I thought that the specs of gear was the be all end all. A bench full of unused test gear is testament to that. As I aged I realized that a lot of the gear with great specs simply didn't sound good to me in the long term. Now I rely on my ears. If my ears are happy so am I. I'm not interested in ABX or double blind testing. Been there done that! I've got nothing to prove and really don't care if others are impressed or not.

What's important to me is that my female friends really like the way my system sounds. In my experience when females ask for music and more volume your system sounds good. So, I'm a happy camper.

On the EQ thing; I tried many different EQ's and other sound enhancement devices over the years. I still have an LP of test tones that I used with a Radio Shack SPL meter and an ADC equalizer in 1980. Eventually those kinds of things were dropped. For the past 15 years I've been fortunate enough to have a dedicated treated room for audio. Even so I had problems with bass. The addition of a digital parametric Eq, new microphone and some software has enabled me to fix the bass irregularities.

That's funny. When I sell to a couple, the woman ALWAYS picks the better gear. I can't tell if they have a more discerning ear, or their significant others are pussies...lol... How do you like your Blackbird. My system has distortion on the ultra high frequencies and I'm scared it's my Blue Point. I'm going to try new cables, but if that doesn't work, I think I may need a new cart and I get dealer pricing on Sumiko. Just wondering if it's worth it...

[JoeE SP9]

My first wife had truly "Golden ears". She could reliably identify cables virtually 100% of the time. I was a fairly young engineer prior to meeting and marrying her. I firmly believed that any competently designed amplifier sounded like any other I also believed that all wires and cables sounded the same.

She taught me a lot about how to listen. Thanks to her I am able to hear some of the differences she easily heard. She liked tubed amps and Silver plated Copper wires and cables. According to her pure Silver had too much treble pure Copper not enough. She liked Magneplanars driven by SS but got really p'd at me when I traded them in on some esl's. When I switched to using tubed mono blocks for driving the esl's she decided she liked esl's.

Since then I've had the pleasure of meeting a half dozen or so women who are interested in good sound. Those that are always have have some sort of system. They don't seem to buy the kind of awful sounding stuff you would expect. Even their most meager systems sound pretty good. Two that have really good gear have Levinson with big B&W's and Conrad Johnson with Theil's. Both systems are set up with considerable care payed to position and acoustics. I think both of these systems are among the best real world systems I've heard.

According to medical science women hear better than men. They have smaller more sensitive bones in their ears and they tend not to ruin their hearing with loud noises. I've learned that when your significant other asks for more volume you can be assured your system sounds pretty good.

AA:
Make sure your cartridge is correctly aligned. I've heard that prealigned many times means they got it close but not right.
The Blackbird made me retire a Shure V-15IV, a Dynavector DV10X5 and an Ortofon MC-20 Super.

[Aural Addict]

I remember being blown away when I sold a pair of focal bookshelves to a woman in her late 50's for her sewing room. And she WANTED them. She was excited as hell when she grabbed em... Kinda a wake up call as a salesperson so to speak...
Thanks for the advice on the needle. The crappy paper tool pro ject gives showed it was good, and I've been using that as an excuse to not buy proper tools. It didn't do it until break in, but I guess I need to invest more $$$... What started at $500 is now going to go past $1500.... Oh well...

[JoeE SP9]

There's no need to spend any money. Just download and print one of the free protractors available on this site.