sda's and amps

cluelessinwisco

trying to upgrade and just wanted to see what others are using. I have the sda 2's so I need an common ground amp. so what are you using?

george daniel

I have used adcom 555's,odyssey stratos,belles 350a,parasound,carver tfm 45, just give em' good,clean power.I like the tube pre and ss amp combinations. Plenty of good amps around in the used market. Good luck,enjoy.

Ricardo

Welcome to the forum; currently using a Belles 350a with my 3.1 TL's (same one George used ); have used Adcom 555, and a JBL Urei pro amp.

Look in Audiogon or the Flea Market here; good amps show up every once in a while.

cluelessinwisco

thanks, the parasounds are to rich for my diet but I have my eye's on a carver m1.5

F1nut

So, what is your budget exactly?

ben62670

I am using an adcom GFA-555 also and it works very nicely with them. I don't have any experience with carvers, but I know some of them have issues with the SDA speakers. You have to verify that they are a common ground amplifier. These speakers really like 200 watts a channel to get good tight bass from them. Happy hunting. I have a GFA-5400 that is near mint. one of my friends bought a bunch from a store that was going out of business. It has very little time on it, and it puts out 200 watts at 4ohms. Depending on what version of SDA2's you have if it is 4 ohms that amp would work very nicely for you. I would sell it for $250. I have too many amps as it is. GFA-585, GFA-7500, GFA-555, and of course the GFA-5400. If you are interested let me know.

Thanks Ben

cluelessinwisco

I would like to keep it between $500 to $750. if I get an amp I would need a pre. I have found a good passive pre-amp that would fit my needs $170 so that leaves between 330 to 580 for the amp. thats why I'm looking at the carvers. they are in this range. most the other stuff I've seen is 2 to 3x and if you what the power of the carvers even more $$$. most the integrated stuff is way out of reach.
Ben I'll take that offer under consideration.

F1nut

Some options.

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1172856217
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1172811293
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1172698281
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1172339598
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1172068188
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1171822805
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1171232838

TroyD

If you are looking at Carver...look for a m4.0t, TFM 45 or TFM 42. All the same amp just different cosmetics.

The m1.5t is a nice amp but the ones above, IMO, sound better.

BDT

Ron Temple

TroyD wrote:

If you are looking at Carver...look for a m4.0t, TFM 45 or TFM 42. All the same amp just different cosmetics.

The m1.5t is a nice amp but the ones above, IMO, sound better.

BDT

O.T.
I asked this question elsewhere, but with no clear answer...those above compared to the 35...obviously more balls, but SQ differences???

Sorry for the hi-jack...

bert26

Hi and welcome to the forums -

I have used a few amps to drive my SDA's over the years.

I thought I had great luck with and Adcom 545 and SDA 2a's (100 watts at 8 ohm). Orginally I used a Carver CM-1090 (100 watts at 8 ohm). More recently I really enjoyed using a B&K ST2140 (140 watts at 8 ohm). I thought the B&K had more detail and defined mids.

I have also used an Adcom 555 (200 watts at 8 ohm) to drive some of the bigger SDA's as well as a Soundcraftsman (275 watts at 8 ohm), an Anthem (200 watts at 8 ohm), and a Carver 1.5t. The 1.5t has a buzz to it that I can't get rid of unless I am running it through a Carver C2 preamp. Because of that I would recommend trying some of the other Carvers mentioned (although I have heard that this is a Carver idiosyncracy). My current favorite is the Anthem Amp 2 SE.

The main thing I wanted to drive home by listing out all these pieces (I am SO not trying to brag - other guys here have had TONS more) is that I bought all but the CM-1090 used, and all of them for less than 500 (or thereabouts). Keep an eye on the used market and experiment.

People have recently been challenging the 200 watt per channel minimum mantra - and to add my .02 I would say that in a small room 100 watts of clean power are certainly serviceable. If you have a larger room, look for more power in a high current amp. It's all about the watts and current. Apparently you can use less wattage if you have a tube amp but that is all voodoo to me and I can't explain it!

In any event - good luck and enjoy the hunt! Let us know how it goes.

Chris

TroyD

I've never heard the TFM-35 or it's equivalent, m500t. George Grand has, says they are fine amps so his word is good w/me.

The 200wpc thing, well, all I can say is quality over quantity. I've run my 2.3tl's on 75 wpc and thought they were fantastic. They are pretty efficient and not a killer in terms of impedance so take that for what it's worth. I wouldn't get wrapped around the axle about specs.

BDT

bert26

BDT - gotta love the way you no-nonsense boil it down. You are Captain Succinct! WELL SAID! I trust you and the Lovely Wendi had a great Christmas and New Years.

Yes - quality over quantity. I had a gazillion watt Sony and it just didn't cut it, of course it was an asses of the masses sort of amp (non SE), and well, I certainly got what I paid for.

TroyD

We did, I hope you and the Mrs. did as well, broham.

Some of the most revered solid state amps of all time, Mark Levinson ML-2's and Classe DR-9's were 'only' 25wpc.

BDT

Loud & Clear

I listen to a pair of 2.3s in, roughly, a 15'x20'x8' room. I use a 100w integrated where I've established the nine o'clock position on the volume knob to be my reference listening level, and it isn't because the amp is clipping further up the dial and I'm hearing distortion; it's just good and loud at that point, and anything more and I become overwhelmed and uncomfortable, nervous, fearful of figures of authority. Like I've been smoking pot...

Of course there are recording exceptions, where slightly more or slightly less is needed, but the preponderance of my recordings find their way to the nine o'clock position, which I've established to be my personal reference listening level. I suppose I should measure the average decibel level achieved at my listening seat, at nine o'clock, to better put this into perspective. But the point is, there is no collective, uniform bottom line. There's only your bottom line.

davidk0512

I have driven my SDA1Bs with Onkyo integrated receivers, currently and for the last 3 yrs or so, I'm using an Onkyo TX DS797 220 WPC into 4 ohms. Mids and highs are great, but I don't think I'm getting everything possible in the low range. I have located an Adcom GFA 555 for about $300 (not a scratch on it) that I'm interested in and could use the Pre-amp output from the Onkyo. Any suggestions, recommendations or issues? Will the Adcom make a worthwhile difference? I really didn't have the bug for an amp until I ran into this.

David

george daniel

300.00 for a 555 is a fair price,,I think that you will be pleased,,if not,,you can always recover your cost if you decide to sell it. Good luck

davidk0512

Well I bought 'em, a sleeping lion has been awakened! I am very pleased so far. I have a 20x20x12 ft high room and 7 o'clock on the volume dial is plenty loud, I can't imagine drinking enough to give my speakers everything the amp can put out.

Ron Temple

Since I got the Carver fixed giving my 1Cs 30 watts drives them to reference level at my listening position about 10 '. I can't listen that loud comfortably though it does sound good. Having the headroom is a good thing

shoester5

I’m biamping my 2.3TL’s with a Carver TFM 35X (250 watts per channel) on the bottom and a TFM 15CB (100 watts per channel) for the top end. My room size is 29 x 16 with a 10-foot ceiling. My usual listening level is about 7 o’clock and that is loud. Sometimes, if I get really frisky, I might crank it to 10 o’clock. At that level I knocked a picture off the wall and vibrated everything off the coffee table. I can’t imagine going any louder but it’s nice to know I can.

snow

shoester5 wrote:

I’m biamping my 2.3TL’s with a Carver TFM 35X (250 watts per channel) on the bottom and a TFM 15CB (100 watts per channel) for the top end. My room size is 29 x 16 with a 10-foot ceiling. My usual listening level is about 7 o’clock and that is loud. Sometimes, if I get really frisky, I might crank it to 10 o’clock. At that level I knocked a picture off the wall and vibrated everything off the coffee table. I can’t imagine going any louder but it’s nice to know I can.

a quick question for you regarding the tfm-35x. i have the same amp running sda srs 1.2tls is the sound much better running both the 35x and the 15cb or is the diffrence subtle? REGARDS SNOW

shoester5

When I first got my 2.3TL’s, I was pushing them with a Carver TFM15CB only. I quickly realized that wasn’t enough power to allow these speakers to breath properly. I soon acquired a Carver TFM35X from eBay and used it alone to power them. After reading some posts here on this forum about the benefits (or lack of benefits) of biamping, I decided to try it out. This was a significant improvement. The response of the high frequencies were quicker and the cymbals were clearer and less fuzzy, as were the female vocals and solo reed instruments. It also added some midrange clarity and widened the soundstage. Individual notes could be heard more clearly and made for a much more enjoyable listen experience. Overall, I would recommend biamping.

snow

Thanks for the quick response. i have a 100wpc adcom amp thats not doing anything at the moment. i will hook it up to the sda srs 1.2tl's this weekend for the tweeters and use the tfm35x for the mids and see what advantage there is to this combo. unfournately i dont have another carver to try it with. but i should still get an idea of the diffrence. REGARDS SNOW

shoester5

The Adcom is a very good amp and should give you similar results. Let us know what you think.

Deadof_knight

OK , Im gonna use 2 tfm 35s to run mine I havent decided to bi-amp or to run mono because 700 watts a side is sounding nice. Anyone else here tried 2 tfms ?

bert26

Hey DOK -

I don't believe you can run the Carvers im mono with the 1.2's unless you have the A1 Interface cable. SDA's need to be powered by common ground amps.

Chris

Ricardo

bert26 wrote:

Hey DOK -

I don't believe you can run the Carvers im mono with the 1.2's unless you have the A1 Interface cable. SDA's need to be powered by common ground amps.

Chris

And.....if you want to get/build the A1 cable, remember that in those speakers the interconnect plug was replaced by a single binding post; you can still do it, but you'd need to:
1.-Connect the "pin" wire to the single binding post.
2.-Connect the "blade" wire to a negative post, PLUS connect negative posts between both speakers.

The blade connection in the original pin/blade plug goes to the negative post (low frequencies); so it actually connects both speaker's negatives; if you are using a common ground amp you are already doing this, so no need for the blade.

george daniel

Deadof_knight wrote:

OK , Im gonna use 2 tfm 35s to run mine I havent decided to bi-amp or to run mono because 700 watts a side is sounding nice. Anyone else here tried 2 tfms ?

Yep, ran two tfm 45's---bi-amped, the 2.3 tl's really opened up, impressive to say the least,,plenty of power,volume and the soundstage was incredible,tube pre and ss amp.

Deadof_knight

Well bi-amp would be a start then we will try the mono after I get or make an A1 cable. Im hearing more and more good things about bi-amping. Plus everytime Ive run things in mono amps simply put get so hot ! longevity wise I cant imagine that being ok. electronics like it cool

Ht thanks for the info Ive copied everything down Ive read from you and Darque

I think im going to pick them up in two weeks Ive got a job that I can swing by and rent a small uhaul to drive em home.

snow

shoester5 wrote:

The Adcom is a very good amp and should give you similar results. Let us know what you think.

well i tried bi amping with the carver TFM-35X and the extra adcom i had laying around. and i wasnt really impressed with the sound. it may well have been the gain diffrence between the 2 diffrent amps, im not sure. but i also tried bi wiring and i was impressed with the diffrence there. it has a better soundstage now, deeper i guess would be the term to use. i noticed the biggest diffrence in the highs. so this was a worthwhile endeavor. i will try bi amping again if i pick up a matching amp. REGARDS SNOW

shoester5

You may be right about the two different amps. But at least you got some good out of the experiment.