Hello,

 I am considering pairing my existing sacd player Pioneer pd d6j with pioneer's aa9j .  I have been using the sacd player, which I like a lot, in my current listening setup: Graham Slee's Solo headphone amplifier and Audio Technica's ATHW5000. I am unable to listen them anywhere locally but given the sound / quality of the pdd6jI am very much inclined to go with Pioneer's amplifier. My only concern is that the combo might cause an overaccentuation of high frequencies, even harshens with treble, as noted in some reviews.  Has anyone tried the cd + amp configuration? The rest of the set up would be QUAD 12L2 SPEAKERS and supra rondo speaker cables. I would really appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thanks

pat 

Thanks for the feedback Bobby.

Are you suggesting that Quad12l2 would be a bad choice?  Or is it just a general remark on buying speakers?

I do want to avoid too much brightness in my system.

Thanks!

   I have just had the pioneer aa9 j amp delivered yesteday.i went for it because i was tempted by £200 saving and my marantz pm66se ki  was getting a bit tenpremental (power kept cutting in and out and speaker terminals were frustrating to connect to)stil it done me good service for 11 years.The first thing you notice when you take the pioneer out of the box is how heavy it is,the marantz was heavy enough but this must be about 5 kg more:built like the Ark Royal; must be the 2 transformers.Anyway to the sound ;All i can say is i can definately notice an iimprovement in detail etc over my previous amp i certanly needed the extra power of aa9j because my mission 782s are  quite hard to drive and i am still pleased with marantz cd6000seki player.Alas you have come to the conclusion that that mixing and matching hifi is not easy and is determined by your budget and what component(s) that want replacement at the time

congrats trevor! was it from superfi?

Thanks for your feedback!

I am trying to get a local hifi shop to get one for auditioning so I might get a chance to listen before I buy.

Regarding Superfi, I think it was their last one as well because they don't have any more on offer at the moment at this price - great buy then!

 Enjoy your new box!

Trevor,

 I bought it. Really fine amplifier. I paired it with B&W cm1 and the sound is amazing. I don't need to adjust the tones either. 

One thing bothers me though. I have noticed several times that the amplifier will sometimes lower the volume one notch on its own. In direct mode, the lcd lights up as if turning down the volume.  I'm not sure whether it is the volume knob. Have you noticed anything like it?

Also, the remote control is really sensitive and it's reall hard to raise the volume smoothly, it does it in leaps rather than 1 notch at a time. I'm not sure. It might be the remote, or maybe the volume knob was hit during the transport or something. It does slightly wobble to sides. It's not loose or anything but it is less solid than the source select knob (but that would be a different mechanism anyway) Is yours like that as well?

Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. I guess it shouldn't do that, especially that it is supposed to be a higher end mechanism by Alps. I fiddled with it a bit more yesterday and it's quite consistent: when you increase the volume to a point and after a second it goes down one notch. It stays there but I don't think it should move down like that at all. And your saying the knob is not moving? Try catching it with the fingers at 9 and 3 o'clock and move it to sides? Is it rock solid just like the source select is?

You're quite right, normally I wouldn't even pay attention to something like that, but it's evidently playing up so the mechanism might need replacing. 

Thanks for your feedback again!