Amp for my Focal Chorus 716

[focalfanatic]

A fine evening to everyone, i'm looking for an integrated amp to pair with my Focal Chorus 716 speakers, what i would like is for the amp to have digital inputs, HT bypass and a dac to run bluetooth. Hope that's not too much of a tall order. I was thinking of a a Parasound Newclassic 200, Rotel RA or a 1572. Would love to hear other suggestions, want to keep it under $2000. Thanks.

 

[lovinthehd]

How about bass management?

 

[GIEGAR]

...HT bypass ...want to keep it under $2000.

HT bypass? (For "bi-preamping".) You're not looking to spend <$2000 on an integrated amp to drive a $1000 pair of speakers when they're playing music only are you?

Apart from being a budget allocation that's the opposite of how to get the best sound for your audio dollar, bypassing one perfectly good piece of electronics in favour of another perfectly good piece of electronics is not going to yield a transformational improvement to your sound.

Whatever you've got driving the Focals now is probably perfectly OK. There's far more effective ways to improve your sound than spending up deluxe on solid state electronics.

 

[PENG]

A fine evening to everyone, i'm looking for an integrated amp to pair with my Focal Chorus 716 speakers, what i would like is for the amp to have digital inputs, HT bypass and a dac to run bluetooth. Hope that's not too much of a tall order. I was thinking of a a Parasound Newclassic 200, Rotel RA or a 1572. Would love to hear other suggestions, want to keep it under $2000. Thanks.

What would the integrated amp be paired with, an AVR? In general, for HT I would not recommend integrated amps. If you believe in the audiophile myths and stuff, go with separates, such as a real power amp and external DAC.

 

[VMPS-TIII]

A fine evening to everyone, i'm looking for an integrated amp to pair with my Focal Chorus 716 speakers, what i would like is for the amp to have digital inputs, HT bypass and a dac to run bluetooth. Hope that's not too much of a tall order. I was thinking of a a Parasound Newclassic 200, Rotel RA or a 1572. Would love to hear other suggestions, want to keep it under $2000. Thanks.

I have not heard the Parasound Newclassic 200 but it offers a lot of features for $1000. I have the Hegel H90 running a pair of Canton Reference 9.2 speakers in my office. It has an internal DAC, Airplay and lots of inputs plus HT bypass capability.

The D-Class Parasound Newclassic 200 may be worth a try. Amazon's return policy could be the perfect vehicle for that test drive?

Amazon.com: Parasound NewClassic 200 Integrated Amplifier: Home Audio & Theater

Amazon.com: Parasound NewClassic 200 Integrated Amplifier: Home Audio & Theater

www.amazon.com

 

[TankTop5]

I have a pair of Focal 706’s powered by a 30 year old NAD 40 watt amp and it’s more than enough. No firsthand experience but all reviews are great on Denon PMA-800NE, Marantz PM-8006 or Yamaha AS-801. Most on this forum will steer you toward a an AVR but if just want 2 ch with the features you mentioned anything I listed will cause hearing loss with your speakers depending on room size and they should do it without distortion. If you really want performance and you need to spend $2,000 buy a $1,000 integrated amplifier and a $1,000 subwoofer.

 

[focalfanatic]

A big thank you for the responses, 1rst of i'm in Canada so prices are higher. Keep in mind my knowledge is not as vast as yours so hence the help needed, as for bass management, i'm going to assume that your meaning 1 of 2 things, the ability of the amp to control the sub or the sub itself. I want to pair the amp with my Yamaha AV R2070 for the HT bypass and i've heard that the speakers should generally be more than the amp in price but this my situation at the moment.

 

[TankTop5]

A big thank you for the responses, 1rst of i'm in Canada so prices are higher. Keep in mind my knowledge is not as vast as yours so hence the help needed, as for bass management, i'm going to assume that your meaning 1 of 2 things, the ability of the amp to control the sub or the sub itself. I want to pair the amp with my Yamaha AV R2070 for the HT bypass and i've heard that the speakers should generally be more than the amp in price but this my situation at the moment.

Do you mean Yamaha R-XA2070? If so that thing is a beast for powering the focal 716’s!

 

[VMPS-TIII]

I want to pair the amp with my Yamaha AV R2070 for the HT bypass and i've heard that the speakers should generally be more than the amp in price but this my situation at the moment.

Oh, that's a different story. The Focal is very efficient. The Yamaha will have plenty of power to make the Focal's sing. I would not recommend an integrated amp for fronts. If you still desire an external amp I would look at the Monolith 2-channel.

Monolith by Monoprice 2x200 Watts Per Channel Two Channel Home Theater Stereo Power Amplifier with XLR Inputs - Monoprice.com

The Monolith™ 2X is a state‑of‑the‑art, high‑performance, audiophile‑grade multichannel home theater amplifier. Rated at a full 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms an

www.monoprice.com

 

[TankTop5]

I see subwoofers in your future!!!

 

[PENG]

Do you mean Yamaha R-XA2070? If so that thing is a beast for powering the focal 716’s!

In that case, a $2000 integrated amp won't change the sound quality for you. A $300 ext dac and high quality media contents may.

The RX-A2070 is as good as a $2k integrated that are often mostly hype than substance. If you ever had the urge to upgrade, go separates, bypass the integrated step..

 

[focalfanatic]

It is the RX A 2070 but i've always believed that stereo amps sound better. Right now i have the Focals and a pair of B&W 606'S connected to a Rotel A14 and have been told if you dont have HT bypass you could forget how loud you left your volume and blow the speakers so i never connected it. As for subwoofers i have those.

 

[TankTop5]

It is the RX A 2070 but i've always believed that stereo amps sound better. Right now i have the Focals and a pair of B&W 606'S connected to a Rotel A14 and have been told if you dont have HT bypass you could forget how loud you left your volume and blow the speakers so i never connected it. As for subwoofers i have those.

Your Yamaha has more power than your Rotel by a lot. Put the Rotel in another room as another system. What do you want your system to do that it’s not doing now? Also what subwoofers do you have?

 

[focalfanatic]

The Rotel and the Yamaha are separate, the fronts for the Yamaha are a pair of Paradigm 90p's. as for other systems i have another RX A 2070 using a pair of Paradigm 9se mark 2's and in my bedroom a Yamaha RX A 1070 running a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitor v7, wanted to try HT bypass and reduce my lot

 

[TankTop5]

The Rotel and the Yamaha are separate, the fronts for the Yamaha are a pair of Paradigm 90p's. as for other systems i have another RX A 2070 using a pair of Paradigm 9se mark 2's and in my bedroom a Yamaha RX A 1070 running a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitor v7, wanted to try HT bypass and reduce my lot

I’m going to defer to other more experienced members here but it looks like your front Paradigm’s are monsters and your Yamaha is solid too. I can’t see any benefit to those Focals being in the system except as surrounds maybe, same with an integrated amplifier for under $2,000.

Maybe a solid BIG subwoofer crossed over low and then talk about your music source?

Again, what is your system not doing that you want it to?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The Rotel and the Yamaha are separate, the fronts for the Yamaha are a pair of Paradigm 90p's. as for other systems i have another RX A 2070 using a pair of Paradigm 9se mark 2's and in my bedroom a Yamaha RX A 1070 running a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitor v7, wanted to try HT bypass and reduce my lot

So you have two Yamaha RX-A2070 and one Yamaha RX-A1070. You're all set, bro!

No need to add anything else to the Yamaha - not Integrated amp, not DAC.

 

[lovinthehd]

In that case, a $2000 integrated amp won't change the sound quality for you. A $300 ext dac and high quality media contents may.

The RX-A2070 is as good as a $2k integrated that are often mostly hype than substance. If you ever had the urge to upgrade, go separates, bypass the integrated step..

So how would a $300 external dac help? Is that your current use with an avr?

 

[PENG]

So how would a $300 external dac help? Is that your current use with an avr?

Did you miss the key words I had there.. "If......had.....the urge to upgrade..."

Audiophiles often misplaced things of apparent importance to them, so they got fixated with amps, and somehow associated integrated amps vs a "good" avr such as the higher RX-A or AVR-X4XXXH models as the key. My point is, IF they believe that, then they should believe an external DAC should give them more, at least they would be able to play all sorts of DSD and extra high bit rate/sampling freq media content and bypass the internal DACs.

 

[focalfanatic]

Thank you all for your responses, perhaps its best to just keep the things just the way they are and keep things separate. Glad i came here for advice might have saved me a few bux, kudos guys.

 

[TankTop5]

Thank you all for your responses, perhaps its best to just keep the things just the way they are and keep things separate. Glad i came here for advice might have saved me a few bux, kudos guys.

Nobody’s suggesting you shouldn’t spend money, we would be more than happy to help out with that
Some things you may look at for tangible results. Source, high res music files but you mentioned USB input so you may have that covered. Room setup and room acoustics. Room correction through your Yamaha. Since you have a lot of Paradigm equipment your local Paradigm dealer may give you a free in home consultation, ask them for setup tips and acoustic treatments.