I Need A Power Amp?

[luckydoggoldminer]

A good amp to look at is the older marantz five channel mm 9000. At 150 watts you will notice about twice the volume before it distorts. Reduce the bass and treble controls to around flat or twelve o clock. Then if you go five channel music or video your covered with a good amp/

[thekid]

I have extensive knowledge of them the 545 series 2 was my favorite sounding and most balanced out of them all and just to show how I feel about that amp I bought the demo model which was the last one we could get at the shop from the shop owner and still run it today running my 2 Dynaudio towers and I will say it sounds sweet with them. Now when I get my separate preamp in then we will be talking.

HG

Glad to hear your thoughts on the 545 II. It is the amp in my main system matched with a GFP-555.

[jimmy m]

Well fellas, I picked up a 545 for $150 and $45 shipping. So I guess I came out ok. Now all I have to do is hook it up. And again please excuse my ignorance, but there is only one place to connect the speakers, so does this mean I can only connect one set through this amp and I need another amp for the other set of speakers or can you run both sets of speakers off of the one pair on the Adcom.? I feel so dumb about this. Also I am assuming I connect the rca jack from the left and right channel input of the Adcom to the PRE-OUT on my marantz receiver., leaving the MAIN-IN open?

[Mr Peabody]

Yes, RCA from receivers front pre outs to 545's RCA inputs and only one set of speakers.

I just saw a 555 on CL for $400.00 and was tempted for a second but then remembered all the gear I still have sitting around

Let us know how that 545 sounds.

[thekid]

Jimmy M

Congrats on the 545 I think you paid a fair price for it and I think you will like it.
If you want to run a second pair of speakers off of it you might want to consider getting a speaker selector. Often you can hook up 3-6 pairs of speakers to a single selector. That does not mean you play 3-6 sets at the same time but with the push of a button you can select which speaker you want to listen to. Adcom makes a pretty good one among others that you can pick up off of E-Bay for around $20-$30 in most cases.

[jimmy m]

The Adcom is hooked up and sounds great. Wanted to wait until I got my 12 guage Belden before I discriminated and I must confess the sound quality has vastly improved. I can only imagine what you guys with the super equipment must be listening to. I personally have lost a little upper frequency range in my listening ability when I saw The Who in 1970, unfortunately true story, as I had to be in the absolute front of a surging group of people. People passing out, bodies being passed onto the stage, it was total mayhem, but for me just another concert, only couldnt hear a thing the next day, and consequently have hearing loss in one ear, probably the one facing Townshend. Anyway, I had been considering a preamp to match the adcom yet I so love the lights from the Marantz and the sound it produces. What do you think? (Oh by the way the Marantz had been gone through with new capacitors etc. Jim) The overall sound now especially at the higher volumes has become much more clear and distortion free, which I was looking for to begin with. I think value wise you all have pointed me in the right direction. I also have a question as to whether I could run 2 power amps off the Marantz, so there is one for each set of speakers. Would I gain anything by doing this, or can I even do this since there is only one Pre-Out, Main-In on the Marantz. And thats kind of why I wonder if a seperate preamp would handle 2 amps. I think you guys know what I'm getting at.
I also want to remind you that this is totally for my audio sound system. My home theater is seperate and located in a different room. Mostly because of my music library is fairly extensive.

[JoeE SP9]

Please don't take this question the wrong way.
Why do you want to run four speakers when stereo is only 2 channels? I can understand if you had 4 of the same model. Stacking Advents (for example) has been done for a while. However, running four speakers almost always ruins imaging and sound stage.

Yes, you could run two power amps by using 2 Y connectors. Bear in mind this will case a reduction in the load the preamp is working into. If the interconnects are short it should work fine. Trying it won't hurt whatever preamp you're using.

[jimmy m]

Thanks for getting back to me Joe. Nothing other than I have 2 speakers in the front wall corners and 2 in the back wall corners and it possbly seems like its a more enveloping sound when you are surrounded by sound, much like when the quad systems were first introduced. And again I could be completely off the charts with this one. Are you saying I should stack the speakers in one plane for equally good sound? I guess I didn't know about the imaging becoming ruined. I do notice with the new amp I definitely have more depth to the sound but for some reason when I also get sound off the back wall it increases the experience, and I repeat I could be way out on this one but I have the space to do it, and maybe it is but a fictional surround type sound which I have created. You tell me; you are the guru, certainly not me. If you had read from the beginning this thread you will realize what a novice I am in regards to trying to produce a better sound environment for myself on a budget of an old man. Cheers my friend. I really do appreciate all the help I have been getting on this.

[JoeE SP9]

Where to start!
Speakers in corners make the bass boomy. The only speakers that belong in corners are ones designed for corner placement such as Klipschorns.

Two speakers properly set up will give a soundstage that extends laterally beyond them on the sides and deeper (as much as 10 or 20 feet) than the wall behind them.

Four speakers are for surround or multichannel sources. Adding two more speakers in the rear producing the same left and right signals will make a good soundstage almost impossible. Two channel music is recorded mixed and mastered to sound best when played back on two speakers sitting in front of you.

Speakers usually sound their best when placed on stands that raise the tweeters to ear level when seated. Every "bookshelf" speaker ever made will sound better on some kind of stand.

Setting speakers up properly will lessen the need or desire for tone controls equalizers and other "sound enhancement" devices.

With good sound most of the time less is more.

Generally they should be one to two feet away from walls. This is especially important if they have rear ports. I have found when the distance between them is ~70% the listening distance you get the imaging and staging.

There are lots of other tweaks but these are the basics.

BTW: I too am an old man. I retired in September 2009.

[jimmy m]

So, do I scrap the RE-30s and just run with the DX-9's which are more or less a floor speaker due to their weight and size. Or should they somehow be elevated slightly also. I mean I do like their sound, and will move them out from the wall to attempt to maximize sound. I do still listen to all generes of music, largely due to the fact that I program music for a local radio station. I used to do the Vietnam Vets Show until we changed the format, just to give you an idea of what I play and listen to, so yes I do play it loud, probably the main reason I have 4 speakers and just added the adcom. I don't have the state of the art stuff, like you guys but just some old stuff that still sounds pretty good. I will take your advice and disconnect the back speakers rearrange things and see what happens. Thank you for being patient with me. I would have never gotten this kind of information anywhere but a forum like this, so I really do appreciate input. And, congratulations by the way on your retirement. Mine was a little premature due to an accident.

[Mr Peabody]

Glad the Adcom is doing the trick. Man, the Who in the 70's I can only imagine. Looking back you can probably say not worth the hearing loss but as we all find out who attend concerts we don't know the damage until it's done. I finally got me a pair of musician ear plugs for those concerts that reach the volume your clothes move whether you are standing still or not

[blackraven]

I can relate to the hearing loss from the Who concert. I sat second row at the Nassau Colliseum in Long Island NY back in the Early 70's for a Crosby,Stills and Nash Concert with Poco as the front band. My ears rang for days.

[jimmy m]

Hi guys - Peabody,Raven, Kid, Poultrydude, harleyguy and everyone I forgot to include,
OK heres the latest. Got the Adcom 545, very soon blew out the fuse which was an AGC-3 where on the back of the amp it calls for a 6 amp. Replaced it with a 5 and blew out an inside fuse. So for some weird reason I got a Adcom GFS-3, thinking that if I potentialy fry something it will be protected by the speaker switch box and also got a Soundcraftsmen Dx-4000 preamp with a Soundcraftsmen 2205-600 equalizer since there is no tone control on the 4000 all in order to protect my Marantz, and I know, probably not necessary, but its what I did, good price, etc, so please bear with me. Now nothings blowing but at high volume the Adcom smells like an electrical fire is under way. What is going on? Do I need 2 seperate amps, like another 545 or 5400 for 1 of the 2 sets of speakers which I have now stacked in order to get the imagery or should I just get a higher amperage power amp, maybe a 555? Remember, I'm powering a couple sets of old C. Vegas, RE-30s and Dx-9s. Help, I'm a moron.

[Mr Peabody]

I would only run one pair of speakers off the amp. The switcher may help if it keeps the impedance from going much below 4 ohms some how.

[jimmy m]

So if i want to run both sets, you're saying to power each set by individual amps. Thats kind of what I'm thinking. Correct?

[Mr Peabody]

Correct, one amp per set of speakers. It the preamp only has one set of outputs you may have to use a Y adaptor.

[jimmy m]

There is a second output called (bridged) so I am assuming thats cool for another amp. I guess my question is, am I better off getting another amp or just 1 amp with larger amperage.

[Mr Peabody]

You are better off with two amps. It's not the wattage, it's the impedance. The 545 should be good into 4 ohms but using two sets of speakers must be putting more demand on it than it can handle. So get one more amp so each amp sees it's own load. If each amp has it's own load they will be stable, no blowing fuses. If you get one amp just more power it could still blow fuses. I mean you could get one to do the job like a Bryston or Krell but you are talking major investment.

[jimmy m]

Thanks Peabody, it really seems the direction or should I say the absorption that I'm getting through my limited research. It's by far more easy getting info from you guys who have an inkling, thank you.

[jimmy m]

I still question the fact that when I turn down the volume, it doesn't seem to make a difference as far as whether I have 2 sets of speakers or 1 as to what the total volume output is. I mean if i switch from 1 set to 2 sets of speakers it really makes no difference as to how loud it sounds.

[thekid]

I still question the fact that when I turn down the volume, it doesn't seem to make a difference as far as whether I have 2 sets of speakers or 1 as to what the total volume output is. I mean if i switch from 1 set to 2 sets of speakers it really makes no difference as to how loud it sounds.

I am not sure that volume is really a concern. At most listening levels the 545 is going to try and keep the volume consistent despite the number of speakers. Think of most HT theaters which are powering 5 speakers and then you switch to stereo mode. In the majority of cases there is not a perceptible volume gain just switching the number of speakers.

I am not familiar with how efficient CV's or what ohms they are but that could be an issue. The 545 can run a single pair of speakers down to 4 ohms but running 2 pairs at the same time is probably too much as Mr.P has suggested. I would think if all the damage was was a few blown fuses the smell you describe should go away soon. If not you might have something else going on and you might need to get that 545 in for some service. Also it is always a good idea when replacing fuses to replace with the correct fuse. If they want a 6amp fuse in there you need to put a 6 amp fuse back in there. no sense in causing major repairs over a fuse that costs less than a dollar in most cases.

[jimmy m]

The smell that I am smelling is from the adcom heating up. It gets pretty warm to the touch at high volumes, like 3/4 on the volume dial. I guess its probably working too hard. So it looks like back into the market for another amp so each speaker set has its own power. The majority of the time I'm only at about 1/4 volume, and everything is fine.

[jimmy m]

OK fellas here we go again, try to follow me along. Now I have a Soundcraftsmen DX4000 preamp connected from "lineout normal" to "(linein) input from amp receiver" connection of Soundcraftsmen 2205-600equalizer. Then from the equalizer "(lineout) output to amp receiver" connection to adcom gfa 545 input. Also there is 2 speaker sets connected to an adcom gfs-3 speaker switch that connects to the power amp via one set of wires. Question. How do I integrate another amp into the system so each set of speakers work independently off of each amp. I guess I don't see how to connect another amp to the equalizer which is connected to the preamp. I realize I would have to eliminate the speaker switch to add another amp for each set of speakers but I'm lost on how to connect another amp. I know I'm probably confusing you. But am I just better off selling the 545 and moving into a 555 or 5500 and having a single amp or can this be done if I got another 545 or 5400 for a 2 amp system.

[Mr Peabody]

You would need a Y adaptor at the output of the EQ, one male RCA to two female. With the male to the EQ and one set of female to each amp.

[jimmy m]

Peabody, you are always there. Thank you. I kind of thought that was the solution but I didn't know if there was some sort of possibilty of frying something. I didn't think so since you are running through the pre and eq before it hits the power. Thanks again!