Recommend a good 5 channel 200+WPC amp?

[lovinthehd]

Let alone that the difference in spl between a 200wpc amp and 250wpc is a whopping 1 dB!

 

[Pogre]

Let alone that the difference in spl between a 200wpc amp and 250wpc is a whopping 1 dB!

Get down to brass tacks and it's actually only 29 watts difference based on Theo's measurements of his review unit. 221 wpc 8 ohm, 1%.

*Edit: And 356 watts into 4 ohms!

 

[Danzilla31]

That does sound ideal.
Would you say this would sound superior to the Monolith or Emotiva XPA5 amps? Just wondering.

I'm gonna try and cover a few points here.

First one almost all solid state AB amps are going to sound good. There job is to reproduce the source nuetrally and accurately. I doubt if we did a proper double blind test people could really pick those amps apart.

So what your paying for on the higher end amps is better components better engineering such as fully balanced connections improved specs reliability in the long run and customer service. Even saying this the more lower cost amps will still sound GREAT. It's just in certain areas you are going to get what you pay for. There is no such thing as a free lunch

The exception would be Monoprice and Outlaw amps they are produced by ATI I think you'll have no issues with reliability customer service at all these are the amps I would buy

Point 2 I feel your to caught up in polks specs just because it says 20 to 300 watts RMS doesn't mean you should buy an amp that constantly pushes your speakers there.
First off you'll never ever want to turn it up that loud you wont need to trust me I've tried. Save your ears you'll thank me later.

If these are the Polk Lsims we are talking about here you'll probably need an amp they are hard to drive. But it doesn't need to be a 300 watt per channel beast because I guarantee you you'll never want to turn it up all the way

I bet you money the outlaw 5000 which puts out like Gene says 135 watts RMS into 8ohms stable into 4ohms excuse me if I got my #'s wrong. I bet you it would drive them bad boys just fine.

Any 200 watt per channel amp will give you what you need and then some so save your money if I was in your shoes I'd go with Monoprice the monolith line or outlaw audio.

Hell there new is less then higher end that's sold used and will sound just as good

 

[ryanosaur]

Information overload and decision paralysis.
This is a dangerous condition. We need to proceed carefully.

Ok. I kid. All in good fun.

1dB is largely considered to be inaudible, @Landmonster .

At 88dB sensitivity, the 707s will clear Reference level peaks at your LP at 128w, probably. 200w will will get you 2dB extra, but 256w would be necessary to get you that next 1dB.

Is the cost worth it?

XPA-DR3: $2200 for 450w/ch... which won't even get you another 3dB over that last number of 256w. (You would need 512w, for that.)
Monolith 3: $1100 for 200w/ch. Monolith 5: $1300.
Outlaw 2200 monoblocks x3: $1040 for 200w/ch. x5: $1579 (And each speaker has its own power supply!)

 

[Landmonster]

I'm not sure this all pertains to just DB ratings. I don't plan on listening over 80db anyway, most of the time. But my Denon receiver will do that now.

I'm chasing sound quality, and driver control.

I am not going by Polk specs. I am just going by nebulous comments from people who have owned these speakers, and also from Polk reps, who have said the sweet spot is somewhere between 250-300 WPC.

Many people driving the LSiM 707s, 705s, and even 703s have said they noticed a noticable improvement in sound quality when they moved from their AVR to a dedicated power amp.

For a while, Emotiva even demoed their XPA-2 amp with the Polk LSiM 707s, because they felt the match was just about perfect.

I feel somewhere between 200-300 WPC is probably ideal. 200 may be fine, I don't know if 250 would be a discernible improvement or not.

Regardless, I plan to keep whatever amplifier I buy for a very long time. It may be used down the road with different speakers than these.

 

[Pogre]

Plus Sound and Vision did some measurements and determined that the LSIM 707 has a nominal impedance of 5 ohms. I didn't do the math for that but at 4 ohms the Monolith easily delivers over 300 wpc...

 

[Pogre]

I'm not sure this all pertains to just DB ratings. I don't plan on listening over 80db anyway, most of the time. But my Denon receiver will do that now.

I'm chasing sound quality, and driver control.

I am just going by nebulous comments that people have made who have owned these speakers, and also from Polk reps, who have said the sweet spot is somewhere between 250-300 WPC.

Nebulous comments are the ones you wanna take a grain of salt with. More power does not equate to better sound quality unless you're talking earbleed levels. Most of the time I'd say at normal listening levels most of us here probably don't use more than a couple of watts. The extra power just sits, unused. No gains whatsoever.

 

[Verdinut]

I'm not sure this all pertains to just DB ratings. I don't plan on listening over 80db anyway, most of the time. But my Denon receiver will do that now.

I'm chasing sound quality, and driver control.

I am just going by nebulous comments that people have made who have owned these speakers, and also from Polk reps, who have said the sweet spot is somewhere between 250-300 WPC.

Bear in mind that 300 watts is the maximum power that the Polk speaker would handle for a very short instant before being damaged. That is the peak power it will sustain. It doesn't require that much power to function normally and adequately. What the Polk reps told you is inexact.

 

[Landmonster]

I'm planning on buying an amp sometime by October or November. It doesn't necessarily have to be next week!

If I can't figure out some definitive reason to pick one amp over another, I will likely just end up buying the Monoprice 200x5 for simplicity. It seems like a high quality piece, it looks nice, and it would be new and unblemished with a good warranty. It's also relatively affordable at $1299.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=15593

Does it ever go on sale, or do they run coupon codes or promos?

 

[Pogre]

Bear in mind that 300 watts is the maximum power that the Polk speaker would handle for a very short instant before being damaged. That is the peak power it will sustain. It doesn't require that much power to function normally and adequately. What the Polk reps told you is inexact.

Not to mention the low end suggested by Polk themselves that's being completely ignored is only 20 watts. As in, all you need is 20 watts to get good sound from them, and I'll bet quite loudly as well.

 

[Pogre]

I'm planning on buying an amp sometime by October or November. It doesn't necessarily have to be next week!

If I can't figure out some definitive reason to pick one amp over another, I will likely just end up buying the Monoprice 200x5 for simplicity. It seems like a high quality piece, it looks nice, and it would be new and unblemished with a good warranty. It's also relatively affordable at $1299.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=15593

Does it ever go on sale, or do they run coupon codes or promos?

The only thing I've seen is the occasional refurb will pop up. If you're not in a hurry you can check the site every once in a while and look for one. Otherwise the price for new really is a pretty solid value still. Look into ATI. They designed and build the Monolith. They're well known among hifi enthusiasts for being very good amp manufacturers.