Posted by HenryW [ 67.64.219.135 ] on January 11, 2004 at 08:32:15:
I have fired the Fisher 400 up in several configurations and am pleased to report decent results.
The best sound - B&O 1700 Beogram, Phono Low input with 1980 Klipsch Heresy - this is a very clean, Low wattage config. As with any Heresy it is a bit bass shy (I tried to use an old Infinity BU-2 to supplement from the center out on the 400 - for anyone else trying this I can only say 'Don't' - way too bad a sub). Has a bit of the mellowness I may grow to appreciate, but clearly dynamic.
Second best - same config with the 2 Pi studios. No problem here with bass. Just not the same feel on mids and highs as the Heresy.
Surprising third best - Using an HK AVR20 as a pre (laugh all you want), an old Sony CD player with the 2 Pi - not sure technically why, but this was a very smooth sound and seem to bring out the best in the 2 Pi. The Heresy did well here, but the bass on the 2 Pi seemed outstanding and any shrillness in the Piezo vanished.
As to the tuner - Darn surprising (as many have said before) sensitivity to low signal strength. A very good unit that seems to have some sort of bass compensation that I have yet to decipher - in all configs I needed to reduce the bass output on the tone control - when done it was very nice, just a bit of an irritation. As a whole, better than any of my SS tuners.
Other stuff - Loudness control - worthless for me - a general increase of db that doesn't seem to focus enough on just LF at lower volume. FM filter - too much HF knock down to use as a rule. Stereo beam - darned amazingly accurate and has a pure, 60's coolness. Tone controls - These do not seem to be wide range, so it is very easy to make subtle changes (which I prefer). Looks - with walnut case just flat out pretty.
My favorite part (to date) is the phono input. As a matter of fact all inputs seem to perform very well, but I haven't heard the 1700 sound this well for some time.
This was over about 8 hours of listening:
Patrick Moraz
Jean Luc Ponty
St. Louis Symphony
Philadelphia Philharmonic
Dave Matthews
Stevie Ray
Pink Floyd
and, of course,
Jimmy Buffet (I had to have a beer during this session)
More later...