Budget Amp recs

will123321

I got a pair of monitor 60's we use a few times a year at our tailgate. We've decided our old Sony receiver does not have enough wattage to power them at higher volumes after blowing the tweeters out earlier. Polk was gracious enough to replace them for me and am planning on getting an amp to hopefully prevent this from happening again.

Anyone have any recs for a budget amp? Around $200 would be ideal as these are not used year round, and we do not want to spend a bundle. Obviously we are willing to sacrifice on quality at this price point.

I believe monitor 60's are rated 100-200 watts.

Thanks for any advice

Polkie2009

Might be able to find a good used Acurus 150 watt stereo amp or even a used Carver TFM 15 or 25, in the $200 -$250 range. Hopefully these would provide plenty of clean watts without overdriving the 60's. Sometimes it's easy to overdrive a system when you have speakers set up outside with no walls for the sound to be contained:) Throw the Adcom 545's and 555's onto the list, maybe others can add to it.

98Badger

Check audiogon for used Parasound amps. It looks like there are a couple in your price range. You won't be sacrificing much in quality either.

sm88

98Badger wrote: »

Check audiogon for used Parasound amps. It looks like there are a couple in your price range. You won't be sacrificing much in quality either.

I second the value and performance of Parasound, the John Curl designs are excellent, look for an HCA 1000A (the A version is 125w) or if you can swing a bit more, an HCA 1500a.

Polkie2009

+1 on the Parasounds. That HCA1500a is a sweet step up from the HCA1000A:)

jinjuku

I picked up my HCA1000A for $200. You could also look at the Adcom GFA 545 II

ohskigod

good recs above for sure.

B&K, NAD to add some more

Rotel. basically scan ebay or craigslist. if any pop up your not sure of, give us a shout out

jinjuku

will123321 wrote: »

I got a pair of monitor 60's we use a few times a year at our tailgate. We've decided our old Sony receiver does not have enough wattage to power them at higher volumes after blowing the tweeters out earlier. Polk was gracious enough to replace them for me and am planning on getting an amp to hopefully prevent this from happening again.

Anyone have any recs for a budget amp? Around $200 would be ideal as these are not used year round, and we do not want to spend a bundle. Obviously we are willing to sacrifice on quality at this price point.

I believe monitor 60's are rated 100-200 watts.

Thanks for any advice

What state/city are you in (closest major city) it's easy enough for any of us to pop on clist and take a look.

Polkie2009

You'll find that you may have to spend a bit more around the $250 range to get over 100 watts, but it's worth it:)

Monster Jam

Adcom GFA-555. I think I got mine for like $225 shipped from some pawn shop on eBay. I am driving low end JBL bookshelf speakers, but the amp is capable of far more. Rock solid build quality too. The only problem I have read (I don't have the problem), is a loose power switch.

will123321

I live in Birmingham, AL. Thanks for all the advice.

will123321

I found a Adcom gfa-1a 200 watt x2ch in my price range. It appears to be an older amp but working well. Anyone have any experience with one of these?

Joe08867

Never heard the GFA-1A. That is the little mini one i believe. I have used 555's 545's and a couple of others. They all sounded nice.

I would go Adcom, Parasound or B&K for the price.

tonyb

Ok,straighten me out here, you use M60's outside I presume,at a tailgate party, have blown the tweets before from trying to crank up the volume on a sony avr. Now you want an amp ? The amp isn't going to make them louder per say. What you need are speakers that deliver loud in an outside area. Curious as to how you power the receiver at a tailgate party. Could it be the receiver wasn't getting the juice it needed,then clipped,blowing your tweets when you jacked up the volume ? M60's are pretty darn easy to drive, an amp isn't your answer my man.

Polkie2009

Tonyb makes an excellent point about using home speakers in an outside environment and how easy it is to overdrive the amps clipping the speakers. Good point on how much AC power is available to even run a system. I guess a lot depends on just how loud you're trying to play the music. One thing you'll notice when playing outside is the bass notes aren't as pronounced so people try to compensate by cranking the system up.

shawn474

Get a pair of cerwin vegas or PA speakers. Geting an amp, like tony says, isn't going to yield the results you're looking for. The fact that you already blew the tweeters says to me that you have reached the capacity of what those speakers are capable of doing. An amp might give cleaner sound that will give you a little higher top end, but I think the results would be negligible for your purposes.

reeltrouble1

well, maybe it was a jazz, wine and cheese tailgate, not everyone slips so serepitiously along the path.....ok, the speaks are for home use, but if you blew the tweets I do agree it is because you clipped the wave, or distorted the sound so badly the tweet blew and this is because the sony does not supply clean current, so an amp for your parties is recommened, this is Polk, you need monitor 10's, rock out with your bad self.

RT1