Amp for RTA 12?

lacrossebowe8

What amps are people running with RTA 12's or other similar speakers?

I am looking for somewhere to start for shopping for an amp to compliment these speakers. My budget is somewhere around 1000, but less would be much better.

I did search, but found little on amp and speaker pairing.

stubby

Welcome to the looney bin! Sure you will find plenty of info here. Your RTA 12's are a 4 ohm speaker so you're gonna want something high current. After that, its all subjective. Some people like the more laid back sound of Carver amps, some folks prefer Adcom, Rotel, Parasound, Acurus, etc. Then you will have to figure out how many watts you want to throw at 'em. I would recommend at least 200 per channel. TYPICALLY, the higher the watts, the better the damping factor, which gives you better woofer cone control. With your budget, the sky should be the limit with any of the brands I mentioned above.

Stubby

BottomFeeder

Hi & welcome to the forum.

I have RTA12C's. I first ran them w/a NAD C320Bee, which has 50 wpc. The speakers sounded terrific.

Then I ran them w/an Adcom that has 200 wpc or 350 wpc at 4 ohms. The speakers sounded even better.

I'm not sure that they're 4 ohm speakers, although Stubby seems to thing they are. I DO know that, although they are rated to take up to 500 wpc, they don't require anything near it. The RTA12's are very efficient and sound good w/whatever you give them.

That said & since you have a $1,000 budget for an amp, by all means, give them some good wattage and let those babies sing! Stubby recommends some good amps.

Do a search here and you'll learn A LOT about your RTA12's. They're great speakers, so enjoy!

dcmeigs

stubby wrote: »

Some people like the more laid back sound of Carver amps, some folks prefer Adcom, Rotel, Parasound, Acurus, etc.
Stubby

+1 to that list. I love my Rotel.

You might also want to add Hafler to that list as well. I have a friend who is using one with his SDAs with good results. I would think you would find one for a quarter of your budget. Ask around about reliability; there may be a reason they are inexpensive.

Schurkey

dcmeigs wrote: »

+1
You might also want to add Hafler to that list as well. I have a friend who is using one with his SDAs with good results. I would think you would find one for a quarter of your budget. Ask around about reliability; there may be a reason they are inexpensive.

A buddy of mine is into Hafler--the older DH500 and DH200 in particular; but the somewhat newer/better XL600 and XL280 get his attention, too.

He's bought about a dozen through eBay and such; some have been misrepresented and he's been cheated--but--for the most part what he's bought has been good, serviceable amps. One in particular didn't work when it arrived; the seller claimed "shipping damage" but once the cover was lifted, it was obvious that the output transistors had been so overworked and overheated that the lead wires had MELTED off of them. At that point, my buddy decided that "FET" must mean "Flame Emitting Transistor".

The Haflers are often used as "Pro" amps; they were owned by musicians that dragged them from gig to gig. They get beat up looking in a hurry. Some even have the big 1/4" jacks on the back.

I went with Aragon instead of Hafler. The Aragons are almost NEVER used by people who beat them up. Extremely reliable, built like a tank, and with an audiophile pedigree.
http://reviews.ebay.com/Classic-Aragon-Amps-A-primer_W0QQugidZ10000000001149810

BSUfbfan

Schurkey wrote: »

I went with Aragon instead of Hafler. The Aragons are almost NEVER used by people who beat them up. Extremely reliable, built like a tank, and with an audiophile pedigree.
http://reviews.ebay.com/Classic-Aragon-Amps-A-primer_W0QQugidZ10000000001149810

I'll second the Aragon! You can pick up a 4004 MKII (designed by D'Agastino) on Audiogon for around $600. 200x2 @ 8ohms, 400x2 @ 4ohms :eek: Oh, Yeah.

dcmeigs

anonymouse wrote: »

The 12s are a very, very easy to drive speaker. Have you thought about a tube amp?

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66886

No affliation

lacrossebowe8

Aragon sounds like a good choice. I will probably get my local dealer to lend me a few things he has, but I would rather buy used and save money, perhaps chancing that I may not like the amp. I may look at used krell and bryston as well. I would look into a tube amp, but that will be a harder sell because of reliability, tube life and the likely hood of it being broken. Any particular tube amp recommendations? I have not heard any budget tube amps, but I have liked some stuff I've heard from Audio Research and VTL, but those are both well out of my price range.

Boywonder

There are lots of modern, reliable, and affordable tube gear around, especially used. Consider Quicksilver, TAD (Tube Audio Design), Rogue, Manley, New Dynaclone kits, Prima Luna, Sonic Frontiers/Anthem (used only), etc. Any of the above have models that you can find used for $500-$1500

Older Conrad Johnson and Audio Research (and others) stuff can be found in the price range above also. (pre's at $500-$1000 and power amps $1000-$1500 used)

You can also find very nice integrated tube amps for similar $$

I am presently listening to a pair of Quicksilver Mini-mites through my SDA-1C's. A measly 25W and they crank quite nicely. I have not tried my tube gear with my RTA-12's yet, but I will soon.