In need of help choosing the best option for a new receiver and pre amp

[lovinthehd]

Ended up getting the Marantz Sr5015, I know I could have gotten more power for way less but going for marantz in hope they offer better musical aspects.

Oh, Sachb will be so disappointed that you got Denon's sister product. What musical aspects would the Marantz have an advantage in?

 

[mazersteven]

Make sure you Bi-Wire and Bi-Amp them to get the most from your Cerwin Vega's

 

[Desiloth]

You realize generally the larger the speaker it is the more sensitive it is? Hoffman's Iron Law. His are fairly sensitive at 94dB. Running full range does require a bit more power than using a sub to take some of the load off, tho.

I'd just like to say I have the Cerwin Vega LS15's not the SL15's. The LS15s are rated at 102db sensitivity.

https://www.cnet.com/products/cerwin-vega-ls-15/

 

[Desiloth]

Make sure you Bi-Wire and Bi-Amp them to get the most from your Cerwin Vega's

Ill make sure to do that, I got 30ft of 10/4 type sow-a 90C wires modded to work for the Cerwins as well.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd just like to say I have the Cerwin Vega LS15's not the SL15's. The LS15s are rated at 102db sensitivity.

https://www.cnet.com/products/cerwin-vega-ls-15/

Just going by someone else's post, didn't look it up myself. At that level of sensitivity the amp power issue is much less of an issue....

 

[mazersteven]

Ill make sure to do that, I got 30ft of 10/4 type sqw-a 90C wires modded to work for the Cerwins as well.

Kimber Kable

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Some of the best sounding cable in Audio. These will make that Marantz sing

 

[Sachb]

Ended up getting the Marantz Sr5015, I know I could have gotten more power for way less but going for marantz in hope they offer better musical aspects.

Hmm, atleast you skipped the Denon that's what the good part is.

And yes, you could've got the SR6014 or SR6015, since it has Audyssey XT32 instead of plain XT.

But the Marantz should sound better than the Denon as far as I know.

I did demo the Marantz reciever years back which was paired to Golden ear towers and they sounded much better than my Denon. They were loud and had that warmish sound and plenty of low end.

But then another thing with the Marantz is that, you'll have to live with the pothole like front display which is kinda useless.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

 

[Desiloth]

Hmm, atleast you skipped the Denon that's what the good part is.

And yes, you could've got the SR6014 or SR6015, since it has Audyssey XT32 instead of plain XT.

But the Marantz should sound better than the Denon as far as I know.

I did demo the Marantz reciever years back which was paired to Golden ear towers and they sounded much better than my Denon. They were loud and had that warmish sound and plenty of low end.

But then another thing with the Marantz is that, you'll have to live with the pothole like front display which is kinda useless.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

Actually thats one thing I was looking for when choosing a receiver, I like the nice plain look, I love the looks of the rotel amplifiers to be honest haha.

 

[Desiloth]

I believe you mean you want an AVR + an Amplifier (not Preamplifier).

The CV SL-15 is 8-ohm/94dB/2.83v/m, which means if you sit about 10 FT away from the speakers and use 100W of power, the volume level would be about 110dB, which is deafening level.

400W would be 116dB volume.

Have you measured the loudness of your speakers when you listen to music? Most of us don't listen louder than 90dB since that will lead to hearing loss.

How much power do you need to produce 90dB? You need about 1 Watt of power to produce 90dB from 10 FT away.

So I would just get an AVR without any external amplifier.

Peak SPL Calculator

myhometheater.homestead.com

Thanks for the reply, I did end up getting no amp(for now), only reason ill ever need to go above and beyond loudness is when I need to power the whole house with music( upstairs, downstairs, backyard, front, etc)which does happen pretty often. While sitting alone in my area I probably would not have it over 110db.

I probably should have stated my intentions instead of people thinking im asking to go deaf over here.

 

[Desiloth]

So this is something I'm a little stumped that nobody's addressed. He has a Cerwin Vega speaker with a replaced driver and no one's mentioned. At least I was under the impression that the crossover need to be redone, reworked, a new one, whatever. Am I wrong? Is my thought pattern worped? Please help

The LS15 original woofer was a 400 watt RMS, I assume peak 800 as it doesnt say on its spec page. Sensitivity was 102db, 20-20,000, also 8 ohms. I picked out a woofer with a driver as close as possible to that, finding the LaVoce WAF 153, Its rated 500 watt RMS with 1000 Peak, 99db sensitivity, 20-20,000, 8ohms. Also it is water resistant haha. Afterwards I found a few Eminence woofers with closer sensitivitys, but only by 1-1.5db.

 

[lovinthehd]

You can use this spl calculator to help out http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

 

[Desiloth]

1) You seem to think the 500 W and 300 W are "nominal". I can assure you those ratings are most likely "maximum", or "peak" power handling capability.

Thanks for the reply man, good info for me to look into. Just wanted to clarify though, indeed the RMS on the Cerwin vegas LS15s are 400watts. Im thinking you might have mistaken them for the SL15s, the newer model, which have a max wattage of 400.

As for the Paradigms, I was mistaken they have a minimum of 10watts and max of 300 watts, so they only go for what you give them.

 

[Desiloth]

You can use this spl calculator to help out http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

2 Vegas, rated at 102, placed in corners, 3 feet away, with 100 watts=131.8

Thats nice and loud for in my room, around the same Db as my neighbors chainsaw. (this is peak obviously I wont have this on all the time, probably for just really good songs)


Same setup but 40 feet away is 109.3, way higher than I anticipated, my main goal was enough power to throw sound for the whole house including outside, seems as thought that wont be a problem for now.

 

[lovinthehd]

2 Vegas, rated at 102, placed in corners, 3 feet away, with 100 watts=131.8

Thats nice and loud for in my room, around the same Db as my neighbors chainsaw. (this is peak obviously I wont have this on all the time, probably for just really good songs)


Same setup but 40 feet away is 109.3, way higher than I anticipated, my main goal was enough power to throw sound for the whole house including outside, seems as thought that wont be a problem for now.

Are those speakers going to sound good at that high an spl, tho? Does CV give ratings for max spl?

 

[Desiloth]

Are those speakers going to sound good at that high an spl, tho? Does CV give ratings for max spl?

I am more worried about the Paradigms I think on that, I have never heard an ounce of distortion from the Vegas, the most power I have had them on would be a Sony STR, not sure the exact model, but 100 watts/ch.

On top of that the Vegas spit out 90% bass, I rely on the Paradigms for my treble, which they are great for. With the tone knobs and equalizer I can adjust down to the last tick on how I like it sounding though.

 

[PENG]

Thanks for the reply man, good info for me to look into. Just wanted to clarify though, indeed the RMS on the Cerwin vegas LS15s are 400watts. Im thinking you might have mistaken them for the SL15s, the newer model, which have a max wattage of 400.

As for the Paradigms, I was mistaken they have a minimum of 10watts and max of 300 watts, so they only go for what you give them.

I did not mistaken it but I should have mentioned that I did my research of the LS15 (could not find the 15S) and found the claim of 400 W nominal/RMS. Also that's all from 3rd parties not Cerwin Vega's, probably because they did not archived information of such an vintage product.

Anyway it is a moot point because we don't know what manufacturers mean when they use the term "nominal power", my guess is, they probably meant average, not peak or maximum if they are honest. Do you have the Cerwin Vega spec sheet and/or manual?

I considered such numbers meant peak or maximum just want to be on the safe side, so that's an error on my part for not being clear about it. Just a minor point, there is no such thing as RMS power, the correct term is average power, but the incorrect term RMS power has been widely used over the internet, to the point that outside of the electrical engineering world, this technically/mathematically meaningless term seems to have been used more often than the correct term "average power". Again, it is just a minor point, for non EEs, may as well ignore it..., I mention it here just so if you see the term "average power" (some manufacturers do use it correctly) you don't get confused.

The more important point for you to be aware is that even if the speaker is rated 1000 W average, 2000 W peak, it does not mean you have to match it with a 1000 W rated power amplifier because how much power you need is determined by the following:

- How loud do you listen, for example, in a movie cinema, it is loud, if you measure the sound pressure level there you may get 85 dB on average, with peaks up to 105 dB.

- Your seating distance.

- The sensitivity of the speakers.

With those speakers, if you sit say 12 ft from them, and listen to level as loud as that in a cinema watching Jurrrasic park series movies, you will need less than 30 W, with just one LS15 playing!! Assuming CNET's numbers were correct.

Cerwin-Vega LS-15 Specs - CNET
That's mainly because the LS15's specs were listed as 8 Ohms, 102 dB (I de-rated it by 3 dB for my calculations)

So as I mentioned before, it is highly recommended that you use the calculator to find out your power need, then it will be easy to choose the right AVR that you are planning on acquiring to drive your speakers properly.

 

[PENG]

So this is something I'm a little stumped that nobody's addressed. He has a Cerwin Vega speaker with a replaced driver and no one's mentioned. At least I was under the impression that the crossover need to be redone, reworked, a new one, whatever. Am I wrong? Is my thought pattern worped? Please help

No idea, can't tell without seeing the specs of both drivers. It is possible that the crossover can handle 25% more "power", and the replacement driver has the same or very similar characteristics, even with heavier wire gauge and a larger magnet etc.., such that the same crossover can be used.