SUPERB SOUND FOR STEREO MUSIC 7 HOMETHEATER, 7.1 CHANNEL SURROUND SOUND (7-AXIS)

NO REAR CHANNEL (THX-EX) PROCESSING, BUT YOU MIGHT NOT NEED IT, IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE PLACE FOR REAR SPEAKER.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR THEATER GRAND II. THE SOUND IS HUGE IMPROVEMENT OVER THE PREVIOUS VERSION I. I AM USING THE DIGITAL INPUT OF THE THEATER GRAND II FOR CD & DVD AS WELL AS ANALOG INPUT FOR MY TURNTABLE. ON STEREO SOUND, SOUND STAGE IS WIDE OPEN, SINGER VOCAL IS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE AS IF YOU HAVE TURN ON THE CENTER CHANNEL. INSTRUMENTS SOUND ARE CLEAN, DETAIL, AND PRECISELY LOCATED AND 3 DIMENSIONAL EVEN WITH MY DEFINITIVE BI-POLAR (BP-30) SPEAKERS. A HUGH IMPROVEMENT IS THE BASS DETAILS AND TREBLE TRANSPARENCY. YOU CAN HEAR THE MICRO DETAIL OF THE MUSIC. IT SOUND AS GOOD AS YOU ARE USING AN OUT-BOARD DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTOR FOR YOUR CD PLAYER CONNECTED TO A SUNFIRE TUBE-PREAMPIFIER. MY OLD LP AND CD SOUND LIFE LIVE. THE SOUND HAVE PEELED THE VEIL OF THE SPEAKERS AS COMPARED WITH THE PREVIOUS VERSION. THE SPEAKERS SIMPLY DISAPPEAR. MY LP NEVER SOUND SO GOOD AND IN SOME RECORD EVEN BETTER THAN CD. I AM ONLY USING A SHURE ($39.00) CARTRIGE FROM RADIO SHACK INSTEAD OF MY OLD SHURE IV TYPE V ($300.) CARTRIGE (MY SON BROKE THE STLYUS).
THE RADIO RECEPTION IS SUPERB. THE SOUND FROM MY STRONG LOCAL FM 103.50 IS HUGE, DEEP AND CLEAN (THREE DIMENSION).
THIS UPGRADE IS MADE MY SYSTEM SOUNDING ITS BEST. I MAY NOT HAVE TO UPGRADE ANY MORE.

I THINK ALL TGI OWNERS SHOULD TAKE THIS FACTORY OFFERED UPGRADE OPPORTUNITY. COMPARING THE SOUND IMPROVEMENT WITH THE UPGRADE PRICE I PAID FOR, I THINK I GOT THE BARGAIN. THE UPGRADE OFFER MAY END SOON. YOU CAN CONTACT SUNFIRE FOR DETAIL.
THANK BOB OF SUNFIRE FOR HIS EXCELLENT WORK.

Similar Products Used:

THEATER GRAND I, PIONEER ELITE TOP LINE RECEIVER VSX-99

Build quality, accurate sound

None

I just upgraded to the TGII(program will end in June according to the company)and wow. As much as I loved the original, the new model is much more musical in stereo listening. The sound stage is wider,deeper and more true to the original recording. In 5.1, voices are cleaner and more accurate. The entire listening experience has more total impact. I also changed to the new 17" Architects Choice model which allows me to use the included glass isolation tray in my equipment rack. The new remote is also an improvement over the old model.

System:Theater Grand II Pre/Pro
Outlaw 750 poweramp
Sony DVP-S5000 DVD player
B&W CDM 1SE front speakers
B&W CDM Center speaker
DefTec Pro Cinema 100 rear speakers
DefTec ProSub 100(soon REL Q201E) subwoofer
MonsterPower 2500 power conditioner
Tara Prism BiWire speaker cables
MonsterCable interconnects

I had the opportunity to hear the Theater Grand/Cinema Grand combo in an A/B comparison with the Sony 9000 Pre/Amp combo. Previously I had been comparing the Theta Casanova, Parasound 2500 (Big Dissapointment) and the Proceed AVP. I went into the comparison with the expectation that the Sunfire would blow the Sony away...BOY WAS I WRONG. The Bass and Midrange performance of the two were both acceptable with the Sony having an un-expected amount of detail and clarity. The Sony Combo was flat and clean the entire time. The Sunfire combo also did well with detail, but the same clarity was just not there. The Sunfire just lost it with me on the top end. I would have to say that it was borderline Grainy and un-natural. Since it my intention to build separate 2 channel and home theater systems, the Sony has become the obvious choice for HT. I have yet to hear a better, strictly HT combo than the Sony.

The look and quality of sound! Service is also goood.

Lack of music mode for Classic.

This is a follow-up to my previous post.
I swapped my TG-II with the local dealer and got one made
in 02/2001. This one solved the problem of audio
drops for digital input when I play CDs. However, the
problem of audio drop-outs with DVD is still there.
Sunfire sent me a new Flash memory with v4.12 of firmware.
After I swapped the chip, everything works great!
My previous flash memory has version 4.06.
Sunfire service is very good. The local dealer I bought from is also very cooperative.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Krell

Looks of unit are cool, runs cool.

Sound, lack of bass

OK, I bought a sunfire cinema grand amp to add tomy Pioneer Elite 49tx. I decided touse my 49 as a pre/pro becuase it has every one of the latest features and is THX Ultra 2 certified, and cost me $3k - EVeryone was telling me that the TGII at 3k wuld osund better than my Elite 49. I decided to try it, even though I was giving up features, but sound quality ismy 1st importance.

Hooked it up to the cinema grand amp and WOW..it sucked. SOund was thin with a huge lack of bass. In DVD's it mademy sub (velo HGS-18) sound like a big fart. Theousnd was thing and bright, where my 49tx was warm, full and crytal clear. I cannot believe Sunfire has the reatil priceofthis thing at $3495 - In my opinion, for what it does andhow it sounds it should cost $999 - no joke. I am not lying. I am a fan of carver as I have owned two sunfire signature subs (which I loved) and I love the amp. The TGII is crap when you compare it to even flasgship recievers.

So I still have the 49tx, but need to return the TGII ASAP (I am today actually) - I may try the Onkyo pre/pro if I can find it, ifnot Ill stick with my ELite doing pre/pro duties with the sunfire amp. I REALLY wanted to like this thing as it looked so cool andmatched with my amp. I even tried convincingmyself to just keep it sinceit ran cool and looked cool, but there was just no way. value rating i s a 1 cuz it should cost $2500 less than it does. BTW, my setup is below..

Front: Monitor Audio Gold Ref 60's
Center - Monitor Gold Ref Center
Rears - Monitor Audio Gold Ref 10's
SUB - Velo HGS-18
DVD - Toshiba SD 9200

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite 49tx, Denon 5800...

Follow-up on my previous post:

I finally received the flash chip upgrade! It solved my previous CD dropouts. I noticed that I have now new processing modes but no info was provided to explain the new features of the latest flash version. I still think that consumer service is not a priority at Sunfire. No e-mail contact at their web site.....come on guys.

Sound quality. The look.

Awkward remote. Digital decoder has problem.

I bought this product brandnew together with a Denon
DVD-2800. It works great in the 2-channel mode. The
sound is crystal clear. However, I am having problem
with the Digital mode (no matter optical or coaxial
connection). When I play DVD or CD, I hear audio
drop-outs (signal breaks), and the light for Multi-channel
digital will blink once the drop out occurs. I talked
to Sunfire service, and they told me that it could be
the DVD that was sending signals with errors, and the
preamp opted to present it with dropouts. The TG-II I
have was made in 08/00, and they said there was a newer
version made after 11/00 that presented the errors
differently, which could fix the problem. But I have to
send the unit to Sunfire in order for them to do it. It
is a brandnew unit, and it needs service?

Fortunely, I found that other DVD players, such as Sony
NS700P, and Panasonic RP91, do not have this problem with
TG-II. If I hook-up the Denon DVD-2800 with other
pre-amps, such as Krell and Yahama, the problem does not
exit any more. It is just that the Denon and Sunfire are
not compatible. Now I have to really pounder on what
to do. Either return the DVD or the Preamp, but I really
love them both, if not for this problem.

Overall, I am happy with it. Do you have any suggestions,
please send email me at huan0046@aol.com.

Similar Products Used:

Krell, Yamaha.

Top Notch Audio Preamplifier

Panel Lights are more decorative than functional....useless at night without an outboard light source

I would start by saying there should be a listing by Audio Review.com to distinguish between the Theater Grand and the Theater Grand 2, for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the unit and Its modification at the end of last year.
This is my first AV preamp, so under similar products used,I refer only to the audio preamp performance. The unit has an amazing superiority in clarity and detail over my Adcom
GFP 555 II. I would have been satisfied to have at least maintained the same sonic quality of the Adcom in my "jump" to home theater. Needless to say, this was a welcome benefit and bears out what I have read in professional reviews about the TG 2's superiority as a pure audio preamp.
Setup was easy and limited only by myself becoming familiar with the aspects of correctly setting up the decibel levels of each channel, as well as the delay factor,as it relates to home theater.
The only two factors of Sunfire I find myself critical of are the display lighting which borders on being silly, with 3 levels of dimming control that are all meaningless. The reason I say this is that the description that corresponds to each light is unreadable without a light on in the room so really, what good are they? On the flip side, the OSD is fine, and I also like the palm pilot styled remote which controls up to 8 components with the type of illuminated display the preamp itself could use (like Lexicon).Unlike the first remote, you do not loose those tricky settings by changing batteries. There is a nice function display in the center of the preamp for indicating the current mode of the unit, and is also controlled by the dim feature.(Nice when watching movies)
The other thing is the Sunfire website itself, and the company as it relates to upgrades for the TG 2. Despite the rumors, the website remains without updates for a year now.
I wonder if this has something to do with http://www.carveraudio.com ?
This is minor stuff....the unit is awesome where it counts. Top notch sound in both theater and music. I use it in combination with The Sunfire Sigature Amp.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom GFP 555 II

Build quality, ease of use (front panel anyway), sound quality

Front panel looks distracting and has too many lights!

Let me start by saying that I work for an AV store in SLC, and we are proud to display and use Sunfire products on a day to day basis. With that said, here are opinions about the Theater Grand II (ver. 2).

First let's start with the surrounding gear:

AMP -- Sunfier Cinema Grand (using it with the balanced connectors)
SPEAKERS -- NHT VT-3 reference surrond system including the tower speakers with integrated 10" subwoofwers and sunfire derived amplifiers
DVD -- Integra DPS-9.1 THX progressive scan and DVD-A transport
PROJECTOR -- Marantz 8100 DLP
CABLES -- Kimberkable TC series speaker wire and Hero series interconnects (Digital coaxial cable is a Kimber DV-30)

First off. If you own a TGI, don't think about the upgrade, just get it.

Now for my thoughts on the TGII. Our piece is used primarily for video and multi-channel playback. But it really shines in the two channel department and I find that the more I listen the more I like it. It is easily as clean sounding as anything in or near it's price range and some of the small details that usually get overlooked are there i.e. broadcast quality component video switching and 8 digital inputs with future application compatibility.

I will base most of my opinions about the piece regarding it's two-channel performance. The multi-channel performance is very good, but I think that the ability to project a proper two-channel sound stage determins to some extent how well the piece will operate in a multi-channel environment.

Starting with the piece in native stereo mode and turning off all of the "enhancements", here are some of my thoughts. The TGII is a little forward sounding and lacks some of the sound stage depth that I have heard on other systems, but the overall tonal balance and transparency that the TGII exhibits is far more noticeable and more importantly, enjoyable. The piece has great rythm and everything always sounds like it is in the right place. Imaging and focus are absolutely amazing, especially when you consider we are using the onboard DAC and a DVD player as a transport. The sound is warm and engaging, something I didn't think we would acheive in an "all Bob Carver" system based on a lot of the old Carver gear being bright and edgy sounding.

Most of the music I have listened to sounds great, but the TGII seems to prefer music with a lot of percussion and strong rythm sections. It seems to be happiest when playing a mix of contemporary jazz/fusion and modern rock/pop. Even synth music sounds great and never gets edgy or fizzy. Recordings as diverse as Andreas Vollenwider's Caverns A Magica and NIN's Halo Left disc have to be heard to be believed. The sense of involvment and environment integration that the TGII projects is amazing, especially considering that it really is a multi-channel piece.

In conlcusion, the TGII always sounds great and I think it is worth the effort to overcome the small ergonomic quirks and abnormalities. The multi-channel playback is equally as impressive and should warrant the purchase price in it's own right. In my opinion this is the first sub $4,000.00 A/V seperates piece that I have listened to that delivers consistent performance for both video and audio mediums.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz AV-9000, Parasound 2500

I've been listening to combo Sunfire Cinema Grand + Theater Grand with KEF Ref.3 It was very nice for movies (with sub.), but in stereo mode this combo did not sounded better than my Pioneer Elite receiver($1,200) on same speakers! Plus Theater Grand was making some static noise when adjusting sound level.
It sure looks cool , but IMHO for $5,300 you can do better.
For combo - 3.