AMP 3 and 10B

kefranklin

I've been working the crap out of my old Onkyo TX-4500 trying to push four Monitor 10Bs in my vinyl only rig. It still sounds great, but the 4 ohm load was sending it into protection quite a bit. Luckily the 4500 has a preamp so I decided to invest in a power amp. Being on a VERY limited budget, there aren't many options in the 125-200 WPC range. After much searching, I decided to try an Audiosource AMP 3 based on decent reviews and specs. For 100 bucks with shipping on ebay, why not. It arrived yesterday and seemed like a simple, solidly built piece. I wired it in and was a little underwhelmed. Plenty of clean volume, but compressed, cheap, and hollow sounding. I figured I had made a mistake until a surprise on the other side of the album. All of a sudden a sax snuck out of the crappy sound and sounded like a beacon of hope. On the next lp the bottom began to fill out a bit. About three hours into the session and you could not move me from the listening chair/couch. The sound was rich and full at all volume levels, even though many say 125 WPC is still underpowering the monitors. They can obviously take much more power, as they did not even break a sweat at roommate(and neighbor) angering levels. The 4 ohm load did not bother the amp at all. Basically I just wanted to say that I was pleasantly surprised by some cheap equipment and I recommend this amp for anyone who needs an entry level stereo amp. I'll sleep better at night knowing I'm not killing the power supply on the old Onkyo. Also, can i go from the RCA outs on the amp to the main in on the receiver and still use the receiver to power my 5JRs out on the porch? It does push those great. Sorry for being so long and rambling, just excited that I got a deal and wanted to tell somebody since my coworkers don't understand audio. This is the first time I've been happy since somebody stole my motorcycle two weeks ago. Music is still the grand healer of all wounds.

halo71

Running 4 10B's in 2 channel sounds better to you?:eek:

Glad you are happy with your new amp.

Also, can i go from the RCA outs on the amp to the main in on the receiver and still use the receiver to power my 5JRs out on the porch? It does push those great.

I'm confused here. You are using the Onkyo as a preamp running to the power amp. What do you mean run RCA outs to the Onkyo to drive the 5JR's?

kefranklin

The amp has an in and an out to run them in a daisy chain. I wanted to see if I could send the signal back to my receiver and use its power supply to push the 5JRs. The amp three has dual speaker posts so I am running all four now. I may leave it like that or put two in another room. I don't know, but for some reason I always loved four speakers in stereo mode.

kefranklin

I do have a/b speaker selector so I can listen in regular stereo mode with either set.