amps

[thc12]

whats a good amp for 200 watt speakers for under $500 ?

[JohnMichael]

whats a good amp for 200 watt speakers for under $500 ?




I am sorry but I am not sure what you are asking. Are you looking for an amp to use with speakers that can handle 200 watts or are you looking for an amp rated to deliver 200 watts?

[Mr Peabody]

In addition, the power handling is not the best spec for matching speakers and amp. What brand, what's the sensitivity, impedance and what type of music or listening habits? What is your budget? Help us narrow the field some.

[thc12]

Sorry, new to this. I have a pair of Infinity Alpha 50's that can handle 200 watts. The sensitivity is 91dB, 8 ohms, frequency response is 35Hz - 22kHz. I listen to all kinds of music, but mostly rock. I was wondering what would be a good amp to drive these speakers that is around $500 or so. I have an old Yamaha receiver that sounds good but I think a good amp will make the speakers sound better. I don't know if i need 200 watts to make them sound better or not , so any advice will be appreciated. Thanks!

[JohnMichael]

Sorry, new to this. I have a pair of Infinity Alpha 50's that can handle 200 watts. The sensitivity is 91dB, 8 ohms, frequency response is 35Hz - 22kHz. I listen to all kinds of music, but mostly rock. I was wondering what would be a good amp to drive these speakers that is around $500 or so. I have an old Yamaha receiver that sounds good but I think a good amp will make the speakers sound better. I don't know if i need 200 watts to make them sound better or not , so any advice will be appreciated. Thanks!


If you are considering going multi channel in the future I would consider a receiver. If you want better sound in my opinion and you do not listen a lot to the tuner I would suggest an integrated amp from Cambridge Audio or NAD. If you go with the int. amp then you could use the Yamaha as a tuner. Check out www.audiadvisor.com for integrated amps in your price range. They handle NAD and CA. Your speakers are fairly effecient and should be driven well by an amp in the 50 watt range.

[Mr Peabody]

JM, why didn't you recommend the Onkyo 9555, didn't you prefer it over the Cambridge and the 9555 is less than $500.00.

For Rock, I'd recommend something fast and having current, like Onkyo or the suggested Cambridge. Those Alpha's sounded bright to me so a NAD might even be better. You can also find integrated amps from Marantz in your range. If you aren't opposed to buying used you can find an Adcom preamp and power amp for $500.00 give or take. I saw one ad where some one was selling an Adcom gtp 450 and gfa-5400 for $425.00 which is a crazy good deal if it was on the level.

If you are thinking home theater check out the Onkyo 605 and up.

Some models of the Alpha series are bi-ampable so if you buy a unit with preamp outputs you can add a larger amp later for the bass.

[RoadRunner6]

Save your $500. I'm in the minority here and think the "sound" of amps is pretty much an objective matter. With normal design speakers like your speakers and in the range of low to medium priced speakers, receivers and amps you will not be able to tell the difference in sound from the amp 99% of the time.

Sure, if you do go out and buy a new $500 amp you will suddenly be listening much more carefully than you did before and you will imagine that you hear all sorts of new things and dynamics that you swear you didn't hear before. This is a very common psychological trick the mind plays. You just spent $500 and you better hear some improvement, right?

Your speakers have a sensitivity rating (also called speaker efficiency) of 91dB. That is a little above average. You didn't give the power rating of your receiver but lets presume it is at least 75 watts continuous per channel into 8 ohms with both channels driven from 20-20,000 Hz. This might produce somewhere in the 100-200 watts instantaneous peak power for vey short periods of time. Your speaker rating of 200 watts is "peak" power. The contunuous rating which is not given is probably about 50-100 watt.

Looks to me like your present receiver is an excellent match power wise. The 91dB ratings means the speaker will produce 91dB's at a distance of one meter when drvien with one watt of power. A doubling of power produces an additional sound level output of 3 dB's. BTW, 3dB's is only equivelent to a slight increase in power.

So if your receiver will drive your speakers to 91dB then it will drive them to:

94dB with 2 watts
97dB with 4 watts
100dB with 8 watts
103dB with 16 watts
107dB with 32 watts
110dB with 64 watts (although this is one meter from the speaker and the level drops as you move father away this is still very loud and remember this is a continuous signal !!! To continue up in power as your receiver will deliver for short periods of time and is more realistic in how real music places demands on an amp:

113dB's with 128 watts
115dB's with 200 watts (prox)

You can see that your present receiver should be able to produce very loud sound level from your current speakers at reasonable distortion levels.

You might be able to get a fairly low cost amp for $500 that might produce more like 150-200 watts per channel but that will give you only 3-4 more dB's of output at the most. Now that new amp might be more stable at lower impedence but your current speakers do not pose that problem.

In my opinion, if you really want to spend that $500 and make a real difference that you will be able to very definitely hear, then put it into a powered subwoofer. The lower bass is what puts the most strain on the amp. A sub would crossover from your Infinity speakers to the subwoofer at about 80hz. In other words the sub would produce the bass sounds below 80hz driven by its own dedicated amp. That lessens the load on your Yamaha receiver and it will reproduce the frequencies above 80hz cleaner and easier. Unless you have a sub out on that Yamaha you would have to make sure the sub has speaker in and out connections. Look to HSU, SVS, Outlaw Audio, AV123 and Velodyne for excellent values in subs.

Another move as mentioned above would be to buy an AV Receiver for future expansion to a 5.1 system. Yamaha is one of the best in your price range.

RR6

Intersting reading here:

http://www.hometheaterfocus.com/receivers/amplifier-sound-quality.aspx

[JohnMichael]

JM, why didn't you recommend the Onkyo 9555, didn't you prefer it over the Cambridge and the 9555 is less than $500.00.

For Rock, I'd recommend something fast and having current, like Onkyo or the suggested Cambridge.


You are correct sir! The Onkyo is the way to go. I saw where the list price went up and did not take time to see if it was still being sold for $499.95. I did check and it is, so my suggestion is the Onkyo A9555. You will still enjoy this amp through speaker and source upgrades.

Thank you Mr. Peabody for being my proctologist and finding my head.

[blackraven]

You should also check out the Cambridge audio 540A amp, its supposed to have a tube like sound and is said to be very smooth. www.spearitsound.com

[Mr Peabody]

I don't know how that DBT was set up and it doesn't matter because I don't believe they hold water. The bass response between the Levinson and the Pioneer receiver would be so contrast a deaf person could hear it. I'm not familiar with that brand of tube amp listed. The only way any one couldn't hear the difference is if the thing was rigged to mask the true output. To buy into that DBT would be to say that current has no effect at all on sound quality, to say parts quality don't matter, technology, design or topology don't matter. Which it most definitely does. Also, with all things being equal the Levinson should have had a very obvious increase in detail. I can also say these "everything sounds the same" crowd are so eager to grind an axe the placebo kept them from hearing anything. No one in their right mind wants to spend $2k when $200.00 will work. To say people can't discern for themselves differences in any gear is insulting and inflametory. Those types of articles are designed to stir up emotions in order to sell more magazines.

With all that aside the addition of a sub is a good suggestion as another option.

Here's a good read on power and sound: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/dB.html

[Ajani]

I don't know how that DBT was set up and it doesn't matter because I don't believe they hold water. The bass response between the Levinson and the Pioneer receiver would be so contrast a deaf person could hear it. I'm not familiar with that brand of tube amp listed. The only way any one couldn't hear the difference is if the thing was rigged to mask the true output. To buy into that DBT would be to say that current has no effect at all on sound quality, to say parts quality don't matter, technology, design or topology don't matter. Which it most definitely does. Also, with all things being equal the Levinson should have had a very obvious increase in detail. I can also say these "everything sounds the same" crowd are so eager to grind an axe the placebo kept them from hearing anything. No one in their right mind wants to spend $2k when $200.00 will work. To say people can't discern for themselves differences in any gear is insulting and inflametory. Those types of articles are designed to stir up emotions in order to sell more magazines.

With all that aside the addition of a sub is a good suggestion as another option.

Here's a good read on power and sound: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/dB.html

No point being upset about it... the article is designed to be offensive to most audiophiles...

I actually read and saved the original article and there are a few problems that I have with the test, but the major one being the choice of speakers:

Magnepan MG-111a's

Planars would not be my choice for such a test given that many people (including some Planar owners) claim not to be able to hear much difference between amps (of the same power rating) using their speakers... so they tend to chase after more and more powerful amps to avoid clipping and get better bass and volume... Hell, I've seen a few professional reviews refer to Maggies as being great speakers but not ones that give you a clear insight into the quality of the upstream components...

To make the amp test fair, the reviewer would need to also use speakers that are known for being critical of different upstream components....

Also keep in mind that DBT is used by professional magazines such as HiFi Choice regularly and the participants are able to hear differences in the amps/source/speakers being tested.

So even though I believe in DBT... that test was pure BS as far as I'm concerned...

[RoadRunner6]

(Sorry for the delayed response ... I have dial-up)

So what do you guys have to say about this article below on speaker wire. Same comments that it is insulting and offensive to audiophiles?

Does this mean you don't consider John Dunlavy to be an audiophile?

Using Hi-Fi Choice magazine as a reference to indicate that listeners are able to hear differences in amps is like using Tributaries as a reference to indicate that listeners are able to hear differences in speaker cable.

I think the dollars generated by high-end magazine sales and advertising from the likes of Stereophile and TAS, etc. and also the sales from manufactures of high end equipment and accessories far exceed a few objective articles on DBT and incredibly overpriced cable that make no audible difference and the sometimes very subtle differences in amps.

(I'm not saying that there is not a place for high quality equipment and accesseries. Nothing more beautiful to me than a Mac or a Krell. I just toss poop on the illusion that high priced speaker cables have any audible difference and that expensive amps have any significant sound difference driving conventional speakers). Just don't want the newbies to think they need to rush out and spend all their lotto winnings on high end amps and speaker wire unless that makes them happy regardless of any audible improvements. Just trying to interject a little objective balance here.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E1D61739F930A15751C1A96F9582 60&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

RR6 :nono:

[Ajani]

(Sorry for the delayed response ... I have dial-up)

So what do you guys have to say about this article below on speaker wire. Same comments that it is insulting and offensive to audiophiles?

Does this mean you don't consider John Dunlavy to be an audiophile?

Using Hi-Fi Choice magazine as a reference to indicate that listeners are able to hear differences in amps is like using Tributaries as a reference to indicate that listeners are able to hear differences in speaker cable.

I think the dollars generated by high-end magazine sales and advertising from the likes of Stereophile and TAS, etc. and also the sales from manufactures of high end equipment and accessories far exceed a few objective articles on DBT and incredibly overpriced cable that make no audible difference and the sometimes very subtle differences in amps.

(I'm not saying that there is not a place for high quality equipment and accesseries. Nothing more beautiful to me than a Mac or a Krell. I just toss poop on the illusion that high priced speaker cables have any audible difference and that expensive amps have any significant sound difference driving conventional speakers). Just don't want the newbies to think they need to rush out and spend all their lotto winnings on high end amps and speaker wire unless that makes them happy regardless of any audible improvements. Just trying to interject a little objective balance here.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E1D61739F930A15751C1A96F9582 60&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

RR6 :nono:

Actually I 100% agree that we shouldn't encourage newbies to rush out and throw their money down the toilet.

I believe there are diferences in amps, cables, source, just about anything really... but the differences on some (cables especially) may well be so subtle that unless you have seriously high quality (and ridiculously expensive) gear to match, you won't be able to tell the difference.

IMHO, Differences in speakers are obvious to most people, but everything else tends to be more subtle (if they exist).

[blackraven]

What CD player do you have? You may get a bigger improvement in sound by upgrading your CD Player as well as speaker wire and interconnect cables to go along with a new CD player.

By the way, what is your budget?