February 28, 2012

• Primare A33.2, Part 8

  20 years ago, because I picked classes after just about everyone else did, I was stuck with lousy teachers.  My entire sophomore year (1986-7), I had Dr. Briggs for chemistry.  I can rack my brain, but I can't come up with the names of teachers who were more boring than Dr. Briggs.  I had his chem classes in the late morning, when I would become drowsy and had a very hard time staying awake.  On occasion, I would use earbud headphones, and listen to my Walkman.

  Ah, but one bright, sunny morning 20 years ago, the platinum blonde Jill strolled into class.  She was strutting side to side, signing Robbie Nevil's "C'est La Vie."  To this day, I still thank Jill for breaking up the monotony that was Dr. Briggs' class. 

  San Francisco record stores seemed to push Robbie Nevil's CD hard.  Alas, that would be it for Nevil, as far as being a performer.  So, he went back to songwriting.  "C'est La Vie" may be a nice 80s one-hit wonder, but Nevil is now perhaps better known for co-writing the Hannah Montana theme song, "Best Of Both Worlds."
  
  Hey, back in '87, since most of us had receivers or all-in-one stereos, we didn't know about separate tuner/preamp/power amp.  Thus, we didn't know about mixing & matching.  So is there any special synergy, when the Primare A33.2 is used with its stablemate PRE30 preamp?  Not really.  The A33.2 alters the tonal balance (too much midbass), so the neutral PRE30 is left high and dry.  Oh, and once again, notice that I left plenty of clearance above the warm-running A33.2.  The A33.2 is meant to be left on all the time, so do provide room in your rack for ventilation.
  
  What can I say?  To date, the A33.2 has been disappointing underwhelming.  While it is fine with whichever interconnect I use, it is very sensitive to powercords.  Normally, the Pranawire Satori (above) is the best all-round powercord.  But on the A33.2, the sound becomes too full, too thick, too stuffed into too little space.
  
  And for whatever reason, the A33.2 recoils in fear and disgust at the Cardas Clear Beyond and XLO Limited Edition speaker cables.  The bass becomes bloated, the treble becomes reticent, the music becomes constipated, and the sound loses verve, confidence, volume, and expression.  It's like being blocked or locked out at the outer fence.  C'est la vie...
  

  • 3:33 am
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