Looking at WiiM Amp Pro

[Danny Linguini]

New members here - greetings all.

I’m about to pull the trigger on a WiiM Amp Pro almost exclusively for streaming audio from an iPhone or iPad. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on this unit, and it looks like it will do all I need it to. Don’t care about the lack of Apple Air Play, as I’m fine just using bt as the audio source. My question mostly has to do with its power output. I have an older pair of Polk Blackstone TL3’s that I was pretty happy with as part of a 5.1 home theater setup that’s since been replaced and retired. TV sound duties are now covered by a Bose soundbar and sub, which is a perfect arrangement for my viewing habits. But for music, it’s just kinda meh. So I’m looking to revive those TL3’s for that purpose, since they’re sitting there doing nothing. I also have a JBL 10” sub at the ready to fill out the bottom end. TL3”s can handle up to 125w, with a sensitivity of 88 dB.

As for me, I can’t call myself an audiophile, but I do insist on something that can fill my 13’x18’ living room full and decently rich sound. I’m prepared to grab another pair of floor standing speakers if the Polks aren’t quite up to the task, though I’d rather not if I don’t have to. I’ve also looked at the more conventional stereo receivers, but they’re all a lot more than I need as far as features and functionality. I stumbled on integrated amps while researching options, which is how I found the Amp Pro.

Question: is the 60w pc of the Amp Pro sufficient to effectively drive the TL3’s? The last receiver they were hooked up yo was 100w pc, which seemed well matched for them and could get much louder than I needed, though I do like to rattle the walls every now and then. So for those times, I’m wondering if 60w per will be enough. Thanks in advance.

 

[MrBoat]

New members here - greetings all.

I’m about to pull the trigger on a WiiM Amp Pro almost exclusively for streaming audio from an iPhone or iPad. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on this unit, and it looks like it will do all I need it to. Don’t care about the lack of Apple Air Play, as I’m fine just using bt as the audio source. My question mostly has to do with its power output. I have an older pair of Polk Blackstone TL3’s that I was pretty happy with as part of a 5.1 home theater setup that’s since been replaced and retired. TV sound duties are now covered by a Bose soundbar and sub, which is a perfect arrangement for my viewing habits. But for music, it’s just kinda meh. So I’m looking to revive those TL3’s for that purpose, since they’re sitting there doing nothing. I also have a JBL 10” sub at the ready to fill out the bottom end. TL3”s can handle up to 125w, with a sensitivity of 88 dB.

As for me, I can’t call myself an audiophile, but I do insist on something that can fill my 13’x18’ living room full and decently rich sound. I’m prepared to grab another pair of floor standing speakers if the Polks aren’t quite up to the task, though I’d rather not if I don’t have to. I’ve also looked at the more conventional stereo receivers, but they’re all a lot more than I need as far as features and functionality. I stumbled on integrated amps while researching options, which is how I found the Amp Pro.

Question: is the 60w pc of the Amp Pro sufficient to effectively drive the TL3’s? The last receiver they were hooked up yo was 100w pc, which seemed well matched for them and could get much louder than I needed, though I do like to rattle the walls every now and then. So for those times, I’m wondering if 60w per will be enough. Thanks in advance.

60 watts should be fine, especially since a sub will be doing the heavy lifting. 88db sensitivity is pretty decent so it should be about perfect, really. Filling a whole 13' x 18' room? How far back from the speakers do you expect to be listening at? I get more near field for serious listening. Otherwise, the ambient byproduct of that setup is fine for the rest of the room, especially since I am the only audio head in this house. Everyone else thinks what they get beyond my concern sounds fine. They can always do the legwork and get into the sweet spot if it matters that much to them.

ETA: I just got the regular wiim amp and it sounds fine. App is pretty cool, although I don't think I will be using but a tiny fraction of what all it can do.

 

[Danny Linguini]

60 watts should be fine, especially since a sub will be doing the heavy lifting. 88db sensitivity is pretty decent so it should be about perfect, really. Filling a whole 13' x 18' room? How far back from the speakers do you expect to be listening at? I get more near field for serious listening. Otherwise, the ambient byproduct of that setup is fine for the rest of the room, especially since I am the only audio head in this house. Everyone else thinks what they get beyond my concern sounds fine. They can always do the legwork and get into the sweet spot if it matters that much to them.

ETA: I just got the regular wiim amp and it sounds fine. App is pretty cool, although I don't think I will be using but a tiny fraction of what all it can do.

Ahh, thank you - that’s exactly what I wanted to know. I’ll most likely be listening flopped on my couch, probably 15-16’ away from the speakers. With the old amp, they used to fill the room nicely, so I expect they’ll still be fine.

As for the app, I’m not much of a techie any more, so I’ll probably just use the very basics, room calibration and source selection. Maybe mess with the EQ a bit, but mostly I just want to chill and let the sound carry me away.

 

[PENG]

Ahh, thank you - that’s exactly what I wanted to know. I’ll most likely be listening flopped on my couch, probably 15-16’ away from the speakers. With the old amp, they used to fill the room nicely, so I expect they’ll still be fine.

Given that those satellite speakers can't really take much power anyway, the potential issue is not going to be the output of the wiiM pro, but the 15 to 16' distance and the spl you considered as "decently rich sound" mentioned in your original post.

If it is anywhere near reference level that is 85 dB average, 105 dB peak then there is no way. If it is 20 dB below that then you are good.

You can check things out under any assumed scenarios by using an online calculator such as the following:
Peak SPL Calculator

The nice thing about that amp is that you can adjust the crossover, so in your case, you may want to set it to 130-150 Hz or higher if you want to listen loud without hearing too much distortions, otherwise 100-110 Hz may be fine, but not lower.

 

[Danny Linguini]

60 watts should be fine, especially since a sub will be doing the heavy lifting. 88db sensitivity is pretty decent so it should be about perfect, really. Filling a whole 13' x 18' room? How far back from the speakers do you expect to be listening at? I get more near field for serious listening. Otherwise, the ambient byproduct of that setup is fine for the rest of the room, especially since I am the only audio head in this house. Everyone else thinks what they get beyond my concern sounds fine. They can always do the legwork and get into the sweet spot if it matters that much to them.

ETA: I just got the regular wiim amp and it sounds fine. App is pretty cool, although I don't think I will be using but a tiny fraction of what all it can do.

Just curious, what speakers are you running off that amp?

 

[MrBoat]

Just curious, what speakers are you running off that amp?

Right now I am running a pair of DIY kit speakers, the "Speedsters" by Paul Carmody. But I have about 12 pairs of speakers that would work. The speedsters are some of my lower sensitivity speakers at around 84db. OTOH, my JBL S38s with a sensitivity of around 89db, get pretty loud on my vintage Pioneer SA-8500 that is rated at 60W/8Ohms.

I currently have the WiiM in my bedroom which is 12' x 16' and it's plenty loud in there with the comparatively inefficient Speedsters.

Some caveats with regard to my style of listening. I listen predominantly in the immediate near field as I have most of my life, even with my main system. I don't like sitting by myself in the middle of a room, and rarely is there natural sweet spot that fits such a centrally located arrangement in the places I have lived. That said, less powerful amps may work for me better than others trying to fill a larger space. I don't have a television or movie screen to worry about either. I pretty much have what amounts to a super-sized desktop system with two 12" subs. I have speakers that range from about 83, up to 98db sensitivity. One pair of mono blocks I have are only rated at 8WPC and with the most sensitive speakers, is still very loud even at half of that output.

This is the Speedsters when I ran them (just a temporary setup near an outlet) for the first time. Here they are hooked up to a Class D Icepower (roughly 100wpc/8Ohms) module kit and a DIY tube headphone/pre amp. With the WiiM amp and these in my bedroom, with no sub, they sound quite nice with really sweet bass. I probably have the WiiM turned up around halfway. Thing is, I don't usually like these type/size speakers, but these are sweet and I am finding I don't always have to be loud.

 

[Danny Linguini]

Amp Pro showed up this afternoon. Unpacked, connected, updated firmware, set up, and was in business in less than a half hour, including lugging the old JBL sub up from the basement. Setup was a piece of cake, as was Room Correction. Took me all of about two seconds to find where to select Bluetooth for input, then a couple of test tracks - Alan Parsons Sirius, then my favorite new rig tester, Genesis’ The Brazilian. That’s all I could squeeze in this time around, but I’m quite pleased with the result. It certainly isn’t brain-shattering loud, but it does ok. The best part is, at any level the sound is just pristine, maybe the cleanest I’ve ever heard my music. That pretty much makes up for not being able to cave in my eardrums. Time to rediscover my library. More to come …

 

[MrBoat]

Amp Pro showed up this afternoon. Unpacked, connected, updated firmware, set up, and was in business in less than a half hour, including lugging the old JBL sub up from the basement. Setup was a piece of cake, as was Room Correction. Took me all of about two seconds to find where to select Bluetooth for input, then a couple of test tracks - Alan Parsons Sirius, then my favorite new rig tester, Genesis’ The Brazilian. That’s all I could squeeze in this time around, but I’m quite pleased with the result. It certainly isn’t brain-shattering loud, but it does ok. The best part is, at any level the sound is just pristine, maybe the cleanest I’ve ever heard my music. That pretty much makes up for not being able to cave in my eardrums. Time to rediscover my library. More to come …

I had issues connecting via WI-FI a couple times. I tried Bluetooth but it didn't sound quite as good to me. Noticeably with regard to the quality of the bass. The difference had me considering running ethernet cable if the WI-FI was not going to be reliable, and I may still anyway.

I use it in a smallish bedroom and it's fine with my bookshelf speakers that are roughly a 4" woofer and only 84db sensitivity. I also have speakers that are 8" 3-way with a sensitivity of about 89db and those speakers crank. I bought the wiim with higher sensitivity speakers in mind, based on previous experience with lower amp power in the 30-60 watt phase of my audio life. I am surprised it is adequate with the smaller 4ish Ohm jobbies.

 

[Danny Linguini]

I had issues connecting via WI-FI a couple times. I tried Bluetooth but it didn't sound quite as good to me. Noticeably with regard to the quality of the bass. The difference had me considering running ethernet cable if the WI-FI was not going to be reliable, and I may still anyway.

I use it in a smallish bedroom and it's fine with my bookshelf speakers that are roughly a 4" woofer and only 84db sensitivity. I also have speakers that are 8" 3-way with a sensitivity of about 89db and those speakers crank. I bought the wiim with higher sensitivity speakers in mind, based on previous experience with lower amp power in the 30-60 watt phase of my audio life. I am surprised it is adequate with the smaller 4ish Ohm jobbies.

My Polks have a sensitivity of 88dB. I was wondering how much more I could get from something with a higher sensitivity. I’m seeing some reasonably priced units in the 95-96dB range that can handle well over the Amp Pro’s 60w; would I really hear a discernible difference in volume? I really shouldn’t be peering down this rabbit hole - half the purpose of this exercise was to make use of those idled Polk TL3’s that I searched long and hard for a few years back. But … the other half was to be able to listen to my library-in-the-cloud through something more substantial than headphones and portable blue tooth speakers. But first I need to know if it would even be worth the cost.

 

[MrBoat]

My Polks have a sensitivity of 88dB. I was wondering how much more I could get from something with a higher sensitivity. I’m seeing some reasonably priced units in the 95-96dB range that can handle well over the Amp Pro’s 60w; would I really hear a discernible difference in volume? I really shouldn’t be peering down this rabbit hole - half the purpose of this exercise was to make use of those idled Polk TL3’s that I searched long and hard for a few years back. But … the other half was to be able to listen to my library-in-the-cloud through something more substantial than headphones and portable blue tooth speakers. But first I need to know if it would even be worth the cost.

Looking at the size of the Polks, that is going to be the limitation more than the power for a large room or greater distance. They are small enough though, to move them closer to you when you want to jam, and then move them back out of the way when not in use or for more casual listening. I would not want to use those speakers for loud listening, even with 100 watts.

I don't buy or build small speakers for loud listening though. My low side for that is 6.5" point blank, or 12" for whole room performance, at least with full range speakers. I don't know if "loud" means the same to us. These days, my loud listening is perhaps 90-95db at my listening position, with around 85db being loud enough.