I need help on receivers and amps

tonyguy2000

I just inherited 2 Monitor 70, 2 monitor 30 and 1 cs2 speakers. I am using an old Pioneer receiver and they just don't
sound well when hooked up to my system. Any recommendations on what to buy to drive these speakers. Thanks for helping a newbie.

cnh

Welcome to Club Polk!

What Pioneer model are you running? With the M-series you have basically two choices.

One get a big bad AVR with 130 watts x 7 or more and run them off that. Or get an AVR that has Pre-outs so you can later buy an external power amp of 150-200 watts x 3 (5, 7) and add more power.

Your main problem will be giving the M-70s and CS2 enough power. However, another option is to rely more, or invest more into a Primo sub. And cross over all your speakers at 80 hz and let the sub bring up the bottom. This would let you use something like an Onkyo 709, or Pioneer 1120, etc. (Both of those have pre-outs if you need them later).

I run that same speaker set with an Onkyo TX-SR 805 (50.9 lbs. 130 watts x 7) and a 12" 300 watt/600 watt peak sub. And it sounds fine for movie duty.

Good Luck!

cnh

tonyguy2000

I have an old Pioneer model # VSX-d514

cnh

Yeah that 514 is OK but won't drive towers with enough ooomph. It probably puts out 40-50 watts (at best) when running in the surround mode, maybe less. And those M-70s like a little more "juice".

I have an older VSX 711 in the basement and it struggles when trying to run B.A. 100s, sounds "thin" without the sub! Bass is bloated. These Pioneers are NOT very musical AVRs. They're OK with very "efficient" speakers but even Pioneer makes better now, once you move up the food chain to the 1120s and Elites.

cnh

rooftop59

hey tony, every receiver and amp that I have purchased has been used, and I have basically never had any problems. basically if you don't have to have hdmi (which your current receiver lacks) then you can get a pretty beefy older avr for 200-250 range. I am partial to HKs since the meet or exceed their power ratings ALL CHANNELS DRIVEN, whereas most entry level pioneers, yamahas, etc., will say 100 watts a channel and they will only deliver 30 to 40 W a channel all channels driven. I would look for something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harman-Kardon-AVR-635-7-1-Channel-90-Watt-Receiver-/180984748044?pt=Receivers_Tuners&hash=item2a2388180c or this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harman-Kardon-AVR-254-7x50W-7-1-Channel-Home-Theater-Receiver-with-HDMI-1-3a-Rep-/140860345824?pt=Receivers_Tuners&hash=item20cbee4de0

Lots of other brands will work, but both of those are high current and would sound much better than your current receiver as is, plus they have pre-outs which will allow you to hook up a separate amplifier which will really bring those m70s to life.

Good luck!

tonyb

A few things, could be that old receiver isn't up to snuff for 5 channel surround, but a few questions first.

Have you tried just running 2 channel direct mode ?
Do you have a subwoofer in the mix ?
Check all your hookups....settings in the receiver ?
What cables are you using ?
What are you using as a source ? DVD-CDP-PS3-Computer ?
....and how is it hooked up ?