Need help to choose good speakers for my Yamaha-610 II amplifier

[yozhek]

Hi, all!
I've got an old Yamaha-610 II amplifier and 2 very cheap Toshiba speakers. I'd like to change these speakers, but I'm unable to choose something good. Can you please give me some advice?
I was thinking about Energy Speaker Systems RC-70 Floorstanding Speakers.
But I'm not sure it'll be good with my amplifier.
I attached amplifier's specs, maybe it can be helpful.
Thank you!

[Mr Peabody]

Why aren't you able to pick speakers? The Energy do a good job an would probably b a good match as well for your amp. Wharfdale is another to look at. There are so many options, do you have a price range, type of music, how loud do you listen and your room size may help to narrow things down.

[yozhek]

I talk about Energy speakers because it's on sale. But I'm not sure that new speakers Energy will be good with my old ampli. I'm not sure because I understand nothing in specs: watts, Ohms, Khz... So I'm asking help.
Usually I listen rock (Pink Floyd, Doors), classic, Latina (Caceres, Buena Vista). Not loud. My price for a good pair of speakers - 1000-1200.
Room size now is about 9' x 20', but I'll move.
Thanks!

[Mr Peabody]

The Energy will work fine with your amp, the age of your amp doesn't matter. Specs aren't that important, as long as you feed your speakers a clean signal all is good. "Clean" meaning you don't over drive your amp past what it's capable of, don't let it distort.

Are there other brands you have access to?

[blackraven]

I would consider Monitor Audio RX-6, PSB Image T6's or T5's. The Wharfedale 10 series considering the type of music you like, but speakers are very subjective. The PSB's are a very forgiving speaker of poorly recorded harsh sounding music. I imagine that the Wharfedales would be too. They tend to have a warmer, more laid back but detailed sound. I think that any of these would be better than the Energy's which are a decent speaker.

[Mr Peabody]

The Monitor Audio would be pretty much the opposite of how Blackraven describes the PSB, Monitor has a lively or vivid high end with good bass punch. My guess the MA would sound pretty good with the 610 but with electronics that already have a pronounced high end the MA can be a bit too much.

[JoeyP73]

I'm not to hip on Energy speakers! I think anything Jensen makes, coming out of China. Can't be all that......lol. What do you guys think?

[JoeyP73]

How about a pair of klipsch RF-10s, for price and sound. Are incredible!

[Mr Peabody]

I just noticed your amp is 50 watts into 8 ohms, this would power the speakers suggested to a decent level but if you like to crank it on occasion you should stick to speakers rated with a sensitivity of 89dB or better. The sound isn't for every one but you might want to give a listen to Klipsch which are very efficient, meaning they play loud with not much power input, they typically have a sensitivity of over 95dB. Using horns they have a certain sound, some love them and they have a huge following while others turn their nose, so I'd suggest a listen first.

[yozhek]

Are there other brands you have access to?

I live in Montreal, so I have access to all brands available in North America.

[yozhek]

I would consider Monitor Audio RX-6, PSB Image T6's or T5's.

I know PSB brand, it comes from Canada. Someone told me that PSB Symphony Two are incredible. But a little bit expensive for me.

[Mr Peabody]

Living in the U.S. does not mean we have access to every speaker available. I was mainly wondering what was there to listen to as most prefer to listen before buying.

Paradigm is another good speaker but even though they are efficient it seems all of them I've heard take some current to get them to do good bass which may not make them a good match for the Yamaha.

Energy is owned by a holding company like the majority of electronics these days, despite any assumptions they do sound good in their price range. I forgot the series but when I heard the Energy I also heard a Martin Logan floorstanding speaker I thought sounded good. Both were driven by receivers at a Magnolia store.

[Mr Peabody]

Keep in mind your amp's capability when choosing a speaker, it's a nice amp but retail was $300.00. In my opinion it doesn't make since to buy speakers beyond your amp's range unless you plan to upgrade that in the near future. I suspect it wouldn't take much to give you a nice improvement over the Toshiba you are using now. I'm just saying no matter how good a speaker's review or rep is, it's not worth going beyond your price range to get it if your amp can't drive it to it's potential. I hope this makes sense, for instance, in your case you are better off with a PSB entry speaker opposed to a Synchrony, again, unless you plan to upgrade the rest of the system in the near future. Your amp is 50 watts into 8 ohms and only 65 into 4 ohms which means it does not produce much current, you really need a speaker that is going to be easy to drive and I'd recommend keeping with a 8 ohm speaker. I just used PSB as an example, not to give it any nod.

[yozhek]

Thank you Mr Peabody!
Thank to everybody!
I think I'll wait a little bit and I'll upgrade the entire system. It'll be better.
Finally my speakers sound not so bad, just correctly, not extraordinary.

[Mr Peabody]

Hope everything wasn't so confusing you are discouraged. Your budget of $1k to
$1.2k can buy you a good set of speakers, if you buy now then you can add the new amp later. Doing it in stages is sometimes more affordable. On the other hand if you still want to wait then take that time to listen to all the speakers you can to get an idea of what's out there and what you like.

[Mr Peabody]

I just saw this in an email from Music Direct | Audiophile Hardware, Vinyl Records and Analog Gear | (800) 449-8333
Wharfedale Evo2-20 Tower Speakers
Regular Price $1,200
SALE PRICE $480

This place also gives you 30 days to return if not happy. They also have a Jolida
JD1701 on sale for $499.00 but not sure how much better it would be than what you have now.

[yozhek]

Thanks again!

[blackraven]

I know PSB brand, it comes from Canada. Someone told me that PSB Symphony Two are incredible. But a little bit expensive for me.

The PSB B and Image series are excellent. They are not in the same league as the Synchrony line but they use trickle down technology. I bought a pair of PSB B6's for my son and they sound excellent with a 50wpc 1970's vintage Technic's integrated amp as well as a 250wpc Class D Audio digital amp.

I also own a pair of Monitor Audio S1's which are a few years removed from the RX line but they have a nice sound now that they are broken in. As Mr. P stated, MA speakers have a more aggressive sound. I am driving my MA's with a 30wpc digital amp and they sound great.

Also take a look at Paradigm. They make excellent speakers but I prefer the PSB sound.

I would strongly consider the Wharfedales as previously mentioned, Music Direct is the only dealer that I know of and they have excellent prices. Take a look at the 10.6's and 10.7's

Speakers at Music Direct

[yozhek]

Thank you Blackraven!

[TheHills44060]

All great suggestions but it's really going to come down to what your you prefer. The PSB's would be my suggestion followed by the Wharfedales and the Energy's. I wouldn't even take the Paradigms or Monitor Audio's if you gave them to me for free and I wouldn't touch the Klipsch's if you paid me. Give as many a listen as you can because you may have a completely different opinion.

I'm not to hip on Energy speakers! I think anything Jensen makes, coming out of China. Can't be all that......lol. What do you guys think?

I've used Jensen speakers in guitar cabinets and they were pretty damn good. In fact I installed Jensen's in my very first car and for a broke high school kid they weren't half bad, certainly better than the factory speakers. Aren't most Klipsch speakers built in China now? Guess I don't understand at all what point you are trying to make?

[Mr Peabody]

Jensen of today is not the Jensen that dominated the car speaker market in the 70's & most of the 80's. If I'm not mistaken their name was sold and who knows who they are today. Sold in the same way as Memorex and Koss.

Klipsch goes through phases of good and not so good. The vintage Forte & Chorus are very good, the current and prior Reference are good. I like the Heritage series as well. As I stated earlier though some love them and some don't. I like certain models but not as a main speaker, with a vintage amp like the Yamaha though they could be good. TAS recently did a review on the current Heresy III. The Klipsch are brutally honest and much of their bad rep is due to the electronics used to drive them. Well, and other attributes to the bad rep was the cheezy stuff they let into Best Buy.

Paradigm I like but I suspect most people under power them which leaves them a bit bass shy. They are around 93dB efficient but seem to require current to get them to sound balanced. The best I've heard a set sound was a Studio 100 with an Adcom gfa-5500 on the woofers and bridged mono NAD on each top end. Now that I think of it, that may be because we were able to adjust the level on the NAD's which helped to balance the sound.

[JoeyP73]

Yeah, Jensen of today, is not like the Jensen of yesteryear! As for Klipsch, I only use pre 80's kornerhorns, heritage, kg's, etc... I also like any Paul Klipsch item he produced! The new Reference Series is actually pretty sweet. Just stay away from the two or three Chinese series, the put out. Reference are still designed and built in the U.S.A.......

[yozhek]

Thanks guys!
I appreciate your discussion.

[JoeE SP9]

I'm surprised so few of the responses have suggested actually auditioning some speakers instead of talking about them.

yozhek, you should search out every mid to high end dealer within a reasonable distance and actually audition some speakers. Otherwise, all you've got are recommendations of someone's favorite brand or particular speaker. What I like you may not and vice versa.

Buying speakers on a recommendation without auditioning them first is like letting someone else choose your mail order bride. The chances are slim to none that you'll like what you get.

[Mr Peabody]

No one said it because it goes without saying.

I'm surprised so few of the responses have suggested actually auditioning some speakers instead of talking about them.

yozhek, you should search out every mid to high end dealer within a reasonable distance and actually audition some speakers. Otherwise, all you've got are recommendations of someone's favorite brand or particular speaker. What I like you may not and vice versa.

Buying speakers on a recommendation without auditioning them first is like letting someone else choose your mail order bride. The chances are slim to none that you'll like what you get.