Class A amp for under $50.

[ATR72]

Sorry, I 'm the new guy looking for some hand holding. I've got some newbie questions for ya. Does an amplifier increase the power from your receiver? I've got an hk 3380 (80 watts) driving Paradigm monitor 7's. The speakers are rated for 130 watts. So will a 50 watt amp get me there? Any suggestions finding a good sounding amp new or used for a sore back budget. Tubes seem the way to go but looking at vintage amps gets confusing to a new guy, not to mention not being able to hear them. OK quite rolling your eyes and give the new guy some help. Thanks.

[cjpremierfour]

An amplifier will simply bypass your amplifier section of your receiver. Will it increase power? It depends on the amplifier that you choose for the job. Your HK 3380 is rated at 80 watts at 8 ohms and 100 watts at 4 ohms, you would have to increase this ***wattage rating to get an increase of power over the receiver. The speaker rating of 130 watts is just a manufacture recommended wattage figure that will safety operate the speaker without failure. It is almost a useless figure if you can apply common sense to your listening. I wouldn't think that 50 wpc would be a problem if you were OK with the output level. There is quite of few amplifiers out there that would be an upgrade over you receiver, this is just my opinion, but I would go after a used Adcom 545. It's a pretty large power increase, cheap in price and they tend to hold their value. Hopefully, you can go after that tube amp in the future.


*** It would be very likely that what ever amp you purchased would have a little headroom, where your receiver has very little. It is not uncommon to have seperate amplifiers that will go above and beyond it's rated power rating for music transients ( peaks in the recordings ).

[basite]

the HK should do fine though...

a seperate power amp will not 'increase' the receiver's output, you'll simply change the amp, it doesnt' 'add' power to the receiver. you connect the amp to the receiver's pre-outs, and you connect your speakers to the amp. not to the receiver.

[Feanor]

Sorry, I 'm the new guy looking for some hand holding. I've got some newbie questions for ya. Does an amplifier increase the power from your receiver? I've got an hk 3380 (80 watts) driving Paradigm monitor 7's. The speakers are rated for 130 watts. So will a 50 watt amp get me there? Any suggestions finding a good sounding amp new or used for a sore back budget. Tubes seem the way to go but looking at vintage amps gets confusing to a new guy, not to mention not being able to hear them. OK quite rolling your eyes and give the new guy some help. Thanks.

As others have said, an external amplifier has the potential to give you both more power and better sound. The 130 watt rating of the the Paradigm is a maximum rating which is irrelevant if you can presently play them as loud as you like. Your Paradigm speakers are relatively efficient and, I guess, ought to sound good with your 80 watt HK. Nevertheless ...

If you HK as "preamp outputs" you can easily connect an external amp which in turn connects to the Paradigms. What you can in the say of an amp get depends on your budget. If more power is you objective, forget about a tube amp unless you are willing to spend a lot of money; tube amps over 50 watts or so, are very expensive.

[ATR72]

OK, I think I'm getting it. The volume of sound I'm getting is fine with the 3380, I just thought not driving the speakers to max I was loosing sound quality. But If I use a cheap amp with more power it might not sound as good as the 3380? The Adcom 545 seems to be a small increase in power over the 3380. Would its circuitry be better than the 3380 for sound quality? Thanks for the education.

[Feanor]

OK, I think I'm getting it. The volume of sound I'm getting is fine with the 3380, I just thought not driving the speakers to max I was loosing sound quality. But If I use a cheap amp with more power it might not sound as good as the 3380? The Adcom 545 seems to be a small increase in power over the 3380. Would its circuitry be better than the 3380 for sound quality? Thanks for the education.

A junk amp won't improve your sound over the HK. You originally mentioned $50 Maybe you missed a zero? You might find some old vintage amp for around that but it won't be an improvement. It doesn't sound like power is a problem for you -- totally forget the 130 watts spec for the Paradigm: it is basically irrelevant. Power alone will not improve your sound

If you want to persist, I'd suggest an Adcom GFA-555II; (I haven't heard the 545 which might be fine, though). The 555II will give you a very solid 200 watts per channel at 8 ohms and it is a very nice sounding amp; it's a good deal at $400-450, used.

Or here's another option if you're more adventureous: a brand new AudioSource amp based on the Tripath digital technology. I owned a $3000 Bel Canto eVo2 based Tripath and it sounded great, (which this AudioSource might or might not) ...
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...9259&rd=1&rd=1

[ATR72]

The $50 was a joke. I'm just not sure what I'm missing sound wise by not running an amp with more power. If I am missing something, can it be had with a reasonably priced solid state amp? Or is a tube amp what I shoud be holding out for?

[cjpremierfour]

ATR72 Good Question
Your asking a very common question that most audiophiles ask themselves almost everyday. The fact that we maybe missing something is what makes us stay in this hobby. We have all made mistakes in our purchases and continue to search for better components. You will have to get an amplifier for your system and find out for yourself, that's why I suggested the Adcom 545, ( or Feanor's Adcom 555 ) which should not drop in value and is pretty cheap. ( 545 can be had for 125 to 200 dollars ) The Adcom amp may have better depth, increased bass and handle high volumes levels without clipping. When you play the Adcom, you may find that it's not a large difference to justify the 200 dollars and may drop back here to ask why. We will more than likely advise you to search for a good Pre-amp. That's how this hobby works. ( upgrade, upgrade,upgrade )

The tube amp is a totally different story, it may open up a window to music that you never knew existed. While it may blow a tube, cost more up front and need all tubes changed out every 2000 hours, ( which can become very expensive) it may get some positives results.
Before you go looking for tube amps, you may want to visit some Hi-End Audio places and some friends that are in this hobby. Find someone with some solid state and tube amps and change them out if possible. I confess that I love tube amps, someone else may find the control and power of a solid state amp more pleasing, it all depends on system matching and personal taste.
Good Luck

[ATR72]

cjpremierfour, Thanks for your response. Great news I see this expansive hole opening up and my wallet flying out of my hands. As far as friends I have none, well maybe my dog.

[PeruvianSkies]

As others have mentioned the HK is doing a sufficient job, but there is no substitution for a quality amp that is delivering power to your speakers and you willl certainly get more bang out of your speakers with proper amplification. I'd recommend something like I am using, which is the Parasound Halo A23, which can go for about $500 used and around $800 new. Also, check out the PS Audio Trio, which runs about the same in price, but is a different product altogether in how it actually works.

[ATR72]

Thanks Peruvianskies, Keep the suggestions coming. I would like to get the max performance out of my speakers.

[enrique]

As others have mentioned the HK is doing a sufficient job, but there is no substitution for a quality amp that is delivering power to your speakers and you willl certainly get more bang out of your speakers with proper amplification. I'd recommend something like I am using, which is the Parasound Halo A23, which can go for about $500 used and around $800 new. Also, check out the PS Audio Trio, which runs about the same in price, but is a different product altogether in how it actually works.

Dont mean to hijack but could you explain in regards to the PS audio trio.I've been looking into the trio(and HCA2) as well as the rotel rb1072 and some bel canto's (evo 2 gen 2 &evo200.2)myself.

[PeruvianSkies]

Dont mean to hijack but could you explain in regards to the PS audio trio.I've been looking into the trio(and HCA2) as well as the rotel rb1072 and some bel canto's (evo 2 gen 2 &evo200.2)myself.

Well, if you check out the PS Audio website it explains the technology behind their amps and the rave reviews on their amps can be taken quite seriously. I've heard a few of them a couple of months ago and was impressed how something so small and something that didn't have heat generated could produce such warmth.