looking for amp

ELSock

whats a good amp to sit with my pioneer elite 81txv to further drive my mains, rm50t's?

hockeyboy

Sunfire makes some of the best amps in the world. This might be overkill for your system, but they are closing out last years model to make way for the new models coming in.

Here is a recent thread about the deal:
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67721

AndyGwis

How bout a B&K ST-1430 II (3 channels, high current output, looks great, 125wpc 8 ohms, 185 wpc 4 ohms).

Ran my setup to its maximum capabilities. I'm going to a 5 channel. 9/10 condition.

JDOGG

What are you looking to spend?

MKZ

If you are not in a hurry, you could get B&K AV5000 Series II for around $340 on eBay or AudioGon.

ELSock

only a couple few hundred i don' wanna go too crazy, i mean if it would be smarter to go 5 channel and get more out of my center and surrounds thats good too... so any recommendations are greatly appreciated, however $1200 is a bit much for a price tag.

thx again i look forwared to the responses.

~ELSock~

cfrizz

Wait, save more money, buy used & get a 5 channel.

Amplification is not cheap. This hobby isn't cheap, unless you scrape the bottom of the barrel trying to save bucks. Then you get what you pay for.

Sunfire, Nad, Adcom, Rotel, Parsound, B & K, the list is endless & Audiogon is your friend.

Marty913

cfrizz wrote: »

Wait, save more money, buy used & get a 5 channel.

Amplification is not cheap. This hobby isn't cheap, unless you scrape the bottom of the barrel trying to save bucks. Then you get what you pay for.

Sunfire, Nad, Adcom, Rotel, Parsound, B & K, the list is endless & Audiogon is your friend.

I'm running a Carver AV-705x 5-channel and am very happy with it. I paid $370 from an original owner but have seen them cheaper (and for more). I like all the ones mentioned above.

janmike

I agree with cfrizz on the 5 channel route. A lot of us that have gone down that path and did the 2 or 3 channel and then eventually did the 5 CH thing. Save some more $ and do it once.

ELSock

any recommendations on a good 5 channel amp thats not gonna brake my bank...
and if i'm doing a 5 channel can i adjust the watts per channel or is it an adjustment across the board... i ask cause my center is only rated to 175w, and my mains are rated to 200w, where as my surrounds are only rated to 125w...
thx again for the help

~ELSock~

brijenjas

ELSock wrote: »

any recommendations on a good 5 channel amp thats not gonna brake my bank...
and if i'm doing a 5 channel can i adjust the watts per channel or is it an adjustment across the board... i ask cause my center is only rated to 175w, and my mains are rated to 200w, where as my surrounds are only rated to 125w...
thx again for the help

~ELSock~

You don't have to adjust anything in the amp, your speakers will draw whatever power they need.
(edit) You will have to adjust your sound levels in your receiver so your speaker levels match.

As for not breaking your bank, do you have a budget limit?

I'm very happy with my Emotiva LPA1, it's actually configurable for six or seven channels. $500.00 + shipping http://www.emotiva.com/lpa1.html

Or for more power (and$300.00 more) $800.00 + shipping, 5 dhannel. http://www.emotiva.com/xpa5.html

ELSock

brijenjas wrote: »

You don't have to adjust anything in the amp, your speakers will draw whatever power they need.
(edit) You will have to adjust your sound levels in your receiver so your speaker levels match.

doesn't hooking the amp up the pre outs on the receiver, cut the receiver power out of the equation? or are you talking volume?

Marty913

The THX amps like the Carver's and Rotel's are usually adjustable but it is recommended that you leave them all the up. Your speakers are rated well beyond what you will drive your amp at. Your ears will bleed first. Efficiency of the speakers is another matter but your Elite should have a menu that allows each speaker to adjusted +/- any number of db's. The adjustments should be made at the pre-amp, not the amp.

ELSock

and another question that i have, the emotiva is rated at 125 by 5 channel, is tht really gonna make that huge of a difference over the 110 that receiver already puts out?, or is just a measely little 15 watt increase?

brijenjas

ELSock wrote: »

doesn't hooking the amp up the pre outs on the receiver, cut the receiver power out of the equation? or are you talking volume?

Yes, using the preouts takes the recever amps out of the equation

The volume settings for the speakers is what you will need to adjust.

Sorry for the confusion.;)

ELSock

Marty913 wrote: »

The THX amps like the Carver's and Rotel's are usually adjustable but it is recommended that you leave them all the up. Your speakers are rated well beyond what you will drive your amp at. Your ears will bleed first. Efficiency of the speakers is another matter but your Elite should have a menu that allows each speaker to adjusted +/- any number of db's. The adjustments should be made at the pre-amp, not the amp.

ok i'm not totally new to this whle thing but most of that was in japanese for me, what adjustments would i have to make on the receiver?

brijenjas

ELSock wrote: »

and another question that i have, the emotiva is rated at 125 by 5 channel, is tht really gonna make that huge of a difference over the 110 that receiver already puts out?, or is just a measely little 15 watt increase?

That Elite is a pretty good receiver, you may not notice a difference, even stepping up to the more powerful XPA 5 you may not hear a difference.

Different systems, different rooms, different ears, some people hear a difference, some don't.

There is only one way to find out, try it.
Emotiva does have a 30 day return policy, but I think you have to pay shipping.

Marty913

ELSock wrote: »

ok i'm not totally new to this whle thing but most of that was in japanese for me, what adjustments would i have to make on the receiver?

In the receiver (which you would be using as a surround sound processor / preamp) there is a menu system where you set the speaker parameters. Usually most allow you to set speakers as Large/Small, distance to the listener, crossover point, bass management, etc. There should be a setting that allows the level of each speaker to be raised/lowered by a DB factor. That will control the line level voltage out the receiver pre-outs to the amplifier. There is usually (always really) a white noise test signal that goes from speaker to speaker as you adjust the levels. Make sense?

As for the watts per channel, it may not be as simple as 15 watts difference. The name of the game is high current, clean power, all channels driven at once, ohm rating of the speakers, and distortion (THD). A lot more goes into the ability to drive speakers than just watts. I'm not familiar with the specs on you Elite so I can really comment.

ELSock

ok this white noise test, is it to level out the speakers so they sound the same , or is it for some other purpose?

Marty913

ELSock wrote: »

ok this white noise test, is it to level out the speakers so they sound the same , or is it for some other purpose?

Yes, it's to level out the volume of each speaker relative to placement, preference, and each speaker's efficiency. A lot of people use a sound pressure level meter (radio shack and other places) to absolutely get the speakers balanced. I used to but can pretty much get it the way I like without the meter. I happen to like the Center speaker to be 1 or 2 DB louder than the front mains. I have one surround a little further away so I tweak that up +1. It's a preference/location thing in my case since all my speakers are equally efficient. For a real mixture of efficiencies, it's probably a real necessity.

It's easily changed if you don't like it. The important thing is that you like it, not a set of arbitrary rules.

ELSock

ok now i just need a good 7.1 amp for not too much $$ any ideas?

ELSock

other question i forgot to ask, is do i need a seperate amp for my sub?

tonyb

your sub has it's own built in amp.

Personally,if it was me,I would not waiste the coin on an amp with those speakers.Your receiver should drive them fine to their capabilities.Up grade the speakers,then buy an amp.You will have to cough up more coin if you want 7 channels of amp for a few hundies.

warlocks1

Don't waste your money on a new 5 or 7 channel amp. Your speakers are easy to drive. If you are not using the rear speakers inputs, you can re-route them to the fronts and b-amp your front speakers. That would basically give you over 150 wpc for the mains. Another option would be to get a decent 2 channel amp to drive the low end of your main speakers and use the Elite to drive the top end. I used the 81txv in bi amp mode to drive very inefficient Martin Logan speakers with decent results. The Elite has plenty of power to drive your center and rear speakers.

cfrizz

Why is it considered a waste? All speakers enjoy more power. And once he has the amp it can be used for all other speakers he buys in the future.

dorokusai

I'd also try the features that you have available to you now, before you spend more money. That feature, like the Onkyo TX-SR805, is a great idea.

pietro944

I have the Elite 74TX at 140w per ch.I bi-amp my monitor 70's with the pioneer and use a Crown amp to power my LSIC center(4ohms).

malcolmp6

I never noticed and difference powering my system using a 7.1 channel amp and with my receiver. I don't listen to very loud music or at high volumes. My receiver rated at 140wpc was good enough. Returned the 7.1 amp and will never look at any amp again.

dave shepard

malcolmp6 wrote: »

I never noticed and difference powering my system using a 7.1 channel amp and with my receiver. I don't listen to very loud music or at high volumes. My receiver rated at 140wpc was good enough. Returned the 7.1 amp and will never look at any amp again.

I have to ask, what reciever are you using and what speakers are you driving?
You might be suprised to find that some recievers are grossly overrated and that when all channels are driven (at the same time) the power rating drops bad. Your speakers could have been and more then likely giving all they can give and no matter what you might put behind them they have nomore room for improvement in SQ which is what is refered to as diminishing returns. But if you have a hi-fedelity speaker you can hear pretty much everything you change out but even at that level when a hi-quality piece of equipment is swaped for another hi-quality piece the SQ might only change by a small margin. I know cause I have and also alot of people here have been there and put alot of money into things that in the end made not much of a differance.


I would first look at the budget and then the system and if there is something in the SQ that you would like to change. If your not willing or able to spend much you can only expect to get so-much, spend alot, get alot spend alittle, get alittle. Try to narrow down what might be lacking and I found the best way to do that is to listen to a veriety of set-ups and if you hear something you like look at what is in the system. The biggest thing one can do to change the SQ is the speakers and not so much what is driving them unless you already have hi-fedelity speakers in place.

Dave

skykeys

These discussions can drone on and produce diminishing returns as much as the 15 extra watts of power. There are lots of good choices out there, and the recommendations in this thread are all good.

I rarely purchase anything without listening to it first, but these days, with so many Internet based amps (and everything else) available, it's difficult if not impossible to go and hear them.

How finicky are you about sound/music? This should drive your budget - for both money and time invested. If you're not a fanatic, a well known brand multi-channel receiver will be fine. Onkyo, Yamaha and Denon are all good, and there are lots of reviews/discussions in this and other forums about them.

If you go with separates, which usually means higher end stuff, it will cost more and take more time, but will be worth it if you are finicky. I suggest you check out the new Class D digital switching amps. D-Sonic, Rotel, Nuforce among many others. Some of these use the ICEPower technology, and some use their own designs. Class D amps are much more efficient than traditional amps and are smaller. They are relatively new to the market, and don't have the track record yet, but they are becoming more popular. If you are interested in going this route, be prepared to spend some time researching.

Hope this helps.

Regards.

markmarc

I have to agree with those who recognize that with the RM50's a receiver will do just fine. Now, if you're planning on changing out speakers in the near future, a new amp would definitely be something to consider. I would also chime in on looking at the Emotiva as a possible choice.