Help on powering Monitor 70's

ejperry09

I apologize for all of the question-asking by my novice self lately, but with all the great help on here, I can't resist.

I've got about $300-$400 and a brand new pair of Monitor 70's on the way. I'll be using them almost exclusively for music and I want to make sure I have enough power to fully enjoy the M70's.

Should I be looking at getting a nice receiver that has decent power (Harman/Kardon HK3490..120W/channel) or should I be looking for a lower-end receiver that allows me to easily add some amplification? Or the HK3940 plus amplification?

How much power ideally should I be looking to get? I know the M70's can handle up to 275 and I'm not planning on adding a sub in the near term future (still saving).

Also, I'm paranoid about the tweeter. A lot of the reviews I've read have complained about how fragile the tweeters are. Has anyone else experienced this? What should I be doing to ensure that I don't burn out my tweeters? Could this be the result of cranking too small of a receiver or just sending too much power to the speakers?

Again, sorry for the inundation of questions, but you guys are great! Thanks!

ben62670

HK3940 without an amp.

On3s&Z3r0s

Nice score on those 70's, you're gonna be happy with that purchase.

+1 on the HK3490 by itself. There's a lot of variability in the watts per channel numbers. The HK's 120 wpc x 2 channels should do a much better job with those speakers than the Sony's 100 wpc x 6. As I mentioned in your other thread, when I first got mine I hooked them up to a JVC 105 wpc x 2 amp that I had some Cerwin Vegas hooked up to. I wanted to see if the Monitor 70's could match the CV's bass so I had them cranked pretty loud with some pretty stressful tunes. They got uncomfortably loud with no clipping from that amp, so the HK should handle them no problem. I've had no problems with mine in 6 months, so if you don't drive them to clipping, you'll be fine.

When you buy your RTi A9's next year, post again asking us how to bi-amp using your HK and another amp.

ejperry09

Update: Just grabbed the HK3490 for $255. So now I'm $555 down and I got 2 Monitor 70's and a refurbished HK3490 coming my way next week.

...So, should I be looking into any type of small amp at all? If so, what are some recommendations (thanks for the specifics, xcapri!)

ben62670

Stick with the HK for now.

On3s&Z3r0s

ben62670 wrote: »

Stick with the HK for now.

Word. I realize my 60 posts = 0 cred, but Ben's got over 13K so you can trust him. :cool:

Again, nice score on the HK. Not bad... 1 day, total audio makeover. Good work!

ejperry09

Perhaps, I just feel like I'm on a roll, but I have a chance to pick this up for $50... am I just being stupid?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006HO3D/?tag=wwwspectackle-20

(If not, I'll heed Ben's advice and pipe down!)

Thanks!

On3s&Z3r0s

xcapri79 wrote: »

Congratulations on you purchase. No I wouldn't be looking at an amp.
I would be looking for a good CD player and a turntable at this point.

Um... again, despite my no cred, I'd recommend against opening the Pandora's box of vinyl at this point.

ejperry09

Will do. That's kinda what I figured.

ejperry09

Also, what chance do I have of frying my tweeters with the HK3940? I'm a bit paranoid about the tweeters because of everything else I've read about how delicate they are.

On3s&Z3r0s

ejperry09 wrote: »

Perhaps, I just feel like I'm on a roll, but I have a chance to pick this up for $50... am I just being stupid?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006HO3D/?tag=wwwspectackle-20

(If not, I'll heed Ben's advice and pipe down!)

Thanks!

The fever is definitely upon you. Buying this would be taking it too far. And I don't think you'd see any benefit from doing it.

Not to make things too complicated, but the HK3490 has one set of RCA jacks for pre-outs and one set for its amp section inputs. It will come with a jumper that connects these jacks so that its pre-outs feed directly into its amp inputs. This gives you the freedom to swap out components later. If you want to use a different amp you can either get a beefier one (which the Amazon link definitely is not) and use only that new amp. Or, you have to get y-splitters for the pre-outs and plug one part of the y into the HK and one into your new amp. Then you bi-amp the 70's. This is just going to add complexity to your setup, and if you're not clear on what you're doing or use a low quality amp then you'll probably be more likely to hurt the speakers.

I think you should get the HK hooked up and see if you're happy with it. I'm sure you will be at any volume that won't bring the police to your door. I've never seen the complaints that the 70's are fragile, but I think that's overstated maybe by someone who was expecting these to be a frat house party speaker, which they're not, but then if you want something that sounds good, you don't want that.

On3s&Z3r0s

xcapri79 wrote: »

One step at a time, but vinyl can be magic, but it is only for the serious.

True, true. It just takes a lot of time, can get expensive if you go for real quality, and has been known to lead to the ultimate budgetary black hole of audio... tubes. Plenty of time for that later.

ejperry09

Alright, definitely staying away from the wildcard amp.

Back to my tweeters, though.....what chance do I have of frying my tweeters with the HK3940? I'm a bit paranoid about the tweeters because of everything else I've read about how delicate they are.

ejperry09

My apologies, there were a few posts in a row at 9:46 and I must've glanced over it. I hope that my HK3490 doesn't classify as "underpowered"

PerfectCreature

No. I have the same exact amp. I am using monitor 50s because at the time I could not afford the 70s...
The amp had enough power to push them, not all the way to the full potential but it does.
It seems to drive my 50s very well, and I have yet to have my ears let me reach 0db on it which is max.

Just a head up if you want to use digital or optical you have to press either vid,1,2,3 and HOLD IT...then prest the T-mon or the Tape monitor until you get which one you want.

On3s&Z3r0s

PerfectCreature wrote: »

... Just a head up if you want to use digital or optical you have to press either vid,1,2,3 and HOLD IT...then prest the T-mon or the Tape monitor until you get which one you want.

That's weird. Does it stay set to the digital input you've selected if you then put it into standby?

ejperry09

Thanks, Perfect. Good to know... I'm planning on using optical and I'll keep that in mind. Anything else you would recommend for the M70's with HK3490 combo? Thanks again!

cnh

ejperry09 wrote: »

Alright, definitely staying away from the wildcard amp.

Back to my tweeters, though.....what chance do I have of frying my tweeters with the HK3940? I'm a bit paranoid about the tweeters because of everything else I've read about how delicate they are.

No you won't fry your tweeters with the HK...almost every review you read about blown M70 tweeters is due to NOT enough amplification and running cheap amps to clipping...plus not enough break-in time at MODERATE volumes.

Let me clarify. Too much clean power won't blow your speakers too little distorted power WILL!

Also, to insure that the M-70s tweeter will not have any future problems please spend about a week or two playing them at moderate volumes for many hours a day. Don't crank them OUT OF THE BOX. If you break them in properly they will handle tons of power. I've run mine on a 90 watt/channel Onkyo, a 110 watt Denon, a 130 watt Onkyo and a 200 watt per channel Adcom and MY TWEETERs are still singing fine! Forget about the reviews and just use a bit of common sense.

And enjoy those speakers are very very hard to beat in that price range--new no less!

cnh

ejperry09

I will be using my iMac/iTunes and an optical/toslink cable. I have a pretty decent collection of high quality mp3s. Any advice on that front?

ejperry09

Thanks, but ideally I'd like to drive from my iMac if possible. Is there a better way than the optical/toslink cable? Would I be compromising my setup by using a Mac to drive?