Pro installer recomend Niles amps ? how do they stack up ?

[Steve M]

never heard of niles amps ,and only found older reviews here
how do they compare .low range, mid range or high end level ??
comparable to marantz . parasound ??

 

[BMXTRIX]

Niles, Sonance, and Speakercraft are the three major brands of multi-channel amplifiers on the market that I'm aware of. They are not one I would typically go to for pro-level theater amplification, but certainly a huge name for distributed audio.

I'm not sure what your application is in this case, but their price and quality point is pretty typical.

Marantz is more for home theater than distributed audio, and would typically be a good deal more expensive, or at least a bit more expensive. Same with Parasound.

So, a bit more about what your setup is and what you are trying to achieve. If this is strictly for a home theater setup then I would probably go with something different like Marantz, Rotel, Parasound, or just Emotiva. Maybe even Crown depending on my setup.

For distributed audio, the big three I listed above are common solutions. If you look at the Niles Audio webpage, you will find that their amps really are stereo only or 12 channel units. None of the more typical 5 or 7 channel theater amplifiers.

Pro installers tend to make pretty decent money on amplifiers. This is really how they stay in business. If they are doing everything, then this is just how it needs to be. But, if you describe your system a bit more, you will likely get some solid recommendations for product right here.

 

[Steve M]

Main room had Samsung BT soundbar hooked to 65 in 4k Samsung tv but disconnected sound bar first day YUK!!!!
Now has 2 klipschs quartets and carver receiver for 2 ch TV and streaming audio off of phone
Academy center that will arrive Monday

He Recommended a 3.1 system with Marantz receiver , an martin Logan sub for that room
I pushed for amp and also 2 subs he said Niles amp . No model numbers yet as he is going to e mail me

Bar next to Av room has a TV but only concern is room needs audio to enhance and complainant the 3.1 system ,on low levels and party levels for audio only not tv
Hot tub speakers and back deck speakers need signal and power also low low levels only
So far installers are recommending sonos for those zones

He recommended a connect and play 5 and sonos sub for bar area, and
Sonos amp thing for the other zones as well
When i asked him how he fine tunes he replied audasey room correction and sonos has a mic to calibrate with and check with his ear WTF
I do not drink room correction cool aid for final set up

I want great high quality audio sound in main room and bar for low and party levels
Good HT and do not want to muddy up bar buy not buying the right things or another route ,

Hot tub and back deck area can always hot rod later not a big priority ans sonos is fine
Having the ablity to control or add Zones would be very cool

Please help skin this AV Cat as im exhausted
call it a $7 k starting budget and
i can install and do the grunt work and can even buy the stuff to fine tune with
my short fall is picking the right stuff to have the good meat and potatoes we really need to achieve the results im after and the pros seem not so pro around here

 

[rojo]

never heard of niles amps ,and only found older reviews here
how do they compare .low range, mid range or high end level ??
comparable to marantz . parasound ??

FWIW, I have a Niles SI-275, a 2-channel amp.

I've said before, it looks nearly identical to the Sonance 260. I've read that both were possibly made by ATI, or at least have uncanny similarities with comparable ATI amps.

The Niles amp's gain controls are recessed and must be dialed in with a small Phillips screwdriver. But otherwise, it's a perfectly capable, great sounding amp. I'm not one for ascribing tonal character to amps, so I can't really say whether it sounds better or worse than a comparable power rated Marantz / Parasound / Emotiva / whatever. Ultimately, I believe good sound comes from good speakers.

Re: your skepticism about the pro installers, I can't find much fault with any of their recommendations. I'm pretty fond of this Niles amp right now (and actually have it driving my center channel at the moment, just because I can); and I hear good things about Sonos for extending music without much effort. Audyssey does a pretty good job of correction, although it tends to set the LFE channel much too conservatively for my tastes. Easy enough to turn up the LFE channel volume though. Unless you get an AVR with Audyssey XT32 + SubEQ HT, you'll need a miniDSP, Behringer DCX2496, or some other DSP solution to correct multiple subs. The only obvious improvement I'd make to their advice is to go Internet direct for your subwoofers -- Hsu Research, SVS, Outlaw Audio, Rythmik, Power Sound Audio, that sort of direction, and you'll get much more performance for the money. If you're prejudiced against Audyssey, you might prefer an AVR or preprocessor which uses Dirac instead. But the audible performance difference between Audyssey and Dirac, if any, will be marginal compared to the cost difference, IMHO. If you want to perform the measurements and EQ on your own, you could always get a calibrated measurement mic and perform some measurements with Room EQ Wizard. Some of your money might also be well spent on acoustic treatments, but that's difficult to predict until you actually get speakers and take some measurements / get some listening impressions.

 

[ski2xblack]

Quartets are pretty good speakers. Klipsch high-five to ya.

Neither Quartets nor the Academy demand much power, I think you would be fine with a Niles amp, or simply the recommended Marantz AVR for the main rig.

You can do better than the recommended sub, e.g. Hsu, SVS, etc.

 

[Steve M]

Thanks a ton for the replies
Is the niles a class d or ab amp ? i really like the para-sound halo amps but $$$ but still thinking that way
My impression here is class ab amps are better than most class d for the home audio

In the 12v audio world for my boat i would not trade my Jl audio 1000w marine class d for anything
It uses less juice goes down to 9 volts
I punish that thing and i can here instruments i never heard before with matching speakers

Very loud ,clear and dependable and and not a voltage hog and 500 of those watts are driving one sub and that amp was almost $2k and worth every penny

I was thinking hsu or svs but when asked one ML is better and the other says
m&k is better ??? im thinking profit margin or belief systems

Personally I would rather flip them the cash to prescribe the right stuff over selling me something to make a profit on gear not as good

 

[BMXTRIX]

Much of this depends on you being clear about what your goals and expectations are and then adjusting your budget accordingly. While you may be happy to do grunt work, there is a lot about a professional A/V installation that may ask for more training than the typical person may have. Pulling enough cabling, labeling things properly, avoiding certain locations that could cause problems. It's nice to offer, but in most cases where I've had the customer 'help', I've had to go behind them and correct mistakes made, or troubleshoot wiring issues, or pull additional cables which the customer didn't put in place. Every customer that does it, thinks they could do it properly, and that was part of the problem.

For long term growth, pulling all wiring back to a central location with plenty of room for growth is important. Pulling the proper wiring to the different zones is important.

Sonos is great, but it's not 'cheap', and while it's a great solution today, it didn't exist ten years ago, and may not exist ten years from now, which is something that should be kept in mind if that is the complete solution to your requirements.

The Play 5, for example, while it can get louder than some speakers, isn't going to be anything like a 'club' level speaker. If your 'party' goal is to sound like a nightclub, then you need to make the astoundingly clear. You also need to identify that requirement from yourself to ensure that nobody is confused about what is expected.

If you have a Marantz receiver, I would likley use a Marantz amplifier to go with it. They are nice, and they do work well. But, good amps really are good amps. The Niles ones are far more designed for lower power and are not what I would use in a system that needs to 'crank' at any point. I might opt for some Crown Class-D amps and some much, much better speakers in rooms that need to get really loud. There is a definite difference between speakers which have high quality acoustics and speakers which can sound like a nightclub. I've literally had people who have had to yell to be heard over the speakers, complain that it wasn't loud enough.

So, all of this matters and is going to be driven by you. I would certainly take a close look at the subwoofers mentioned above. HSU/SVS, etc.

 

[Steve M]

I started this with the intent of using wires not wireless , 3 different people want to use sonos
Mainly for zone control and streamlining and i assume ease of install

My goals are below

I have no problem writing a check for some on to install it proper and wired ,but all what to go Sonos
I can wire it my self an will probably do a better job as that is one area i am way better at than picking audio gear
I have Rewired and wired new ,many boats and yachts better then a factory does
Installed many audio and a multitude of electronics that have super tiny wires to deal with and prevent them from working loose when hitting waves radar and sonar is more picky than audio gear routing wise , top it off to keep salt water corssion for messing with it and labels that hold up to salt water environment

I own a shop and We use a 8 channel scope that can even zoom in on a waveform super Tight to see connection glitches and can buss commutation on network bus systems and understand Rf interference and chafing and tension release , drip loops , 5 volt reference ect List goes on
Still do not want to do it my self , But i am way smarter about wiring than any Sonos and or audio soulitions or selection

My main system sits in the new remolded room connected to open wall in middle with bar next to it

Goal main room,
1 Want kick ass 2 ch or 2.1, 2.2 and the The ability to crank up and be clear and feel the punch when I want , and have it sound great on lower levels , A/b class amp i assume
Now with carver and 2 klipschs not enough but sounds really great
2 Switch to HT for new TV 3.1 or 5.1 where ever it lands ,not shore Yet due to rear surround speakers will not be in optimum place
3 Phono and oppo blue ray .

The old main audio hub is about 25 ft away under the stair case in main entry area and has doors and shelves and wired with speaker cable going to the hot tub speakers and and back deck speakers and the new room and cable connection tees and such there also ,

I took all the gear out of there as its a pain to use , I had cheap switch box to control zones , not user friendly place ,

Bar Goals
Bar shares open wall between main to walk back and Fourth to .
1 Keep clear clean sound and hopefully not be to noticeable sound difference when you go form main room to bar if possible
2 Prevent having to crank up main , The music does not disburse to the bar well so you have turn up main room to high to get the bar level desired when at the bar , a more unified sound through out when wanted ,
3 The Ability to crank it up in the main and bar or just main and not the bar would be cool feature
4 Probably will have to use super nice bookshelf or wall speakers if i dont use 5 play
Sub is a must preferably wireless but can run wires

I have a new Samsung blue tooth sub that came with that stupid $400.0 sound bar kit but dont know if i can use it or will it be the right sound , that sub sounded good in the main form for the day i had it hooked up

Goals for hot tub and back deck
1 Option to keep off when wanted
2 Option to not crank up during a party when main or bar is turned up
2 low level listing while in hot tub .
3 option to add more out side speakers or sub later

Controls all this controllable from a remote , phone , pad or dedicated device , makes no diff for me
.I have made this clear to the installers ,
I do not have any amps or receivers as im in learning process before buying and get mixed recommendations there also


all installers say i will have the best control with sonos ???