February 7, 2012

  • Primare A33.2, Part 7

    While at UC Santa Cruz, I never had a lot of space for things like CDs.  I had a Case Logic carrier, which could hold up to 15 CDs.  So every time I'd go back home to S.F., I'd swap CDs.  20 years ago, my brother bought a Sacred Reich CD single, "A Question."

    Well, the audiophiles have a question.  They are wondering why I stopped blogging about the Primare A33.2 power amp.

    Zzzzzzz...  When I received the A33.2 unit, it had only been used for a few hours.  Thus, it was in like-new condition.  And it did not sound like units which did have lots of playing time.  My unit sounded so poor, Tessa and Aiden couldn't wait any longer, and fell asleep.

    For starters, there is an excess of mid- and upper-bass.  A thickened lower midrange makes it hard to understand vocals.  The music seems like it is draped in spider webs or frilly lace.  Textures are all wrong, and there's little transparency.  The treble is pushed back, making the prominent bass drown out any air and space available in the recording.  Sacred Reich's early 90s recordings have terrific snap and punch to the snare drum.  But the A33.2 blunts that quality.

    So, I'm going to give this unit more playing time, before covering it further.