amp question

[moreira85]

i am running Boston VR3s for fronts, boston 920 for the center. looking into getting an amp. vr3s and 920 handle up to 250W. i know some people will say " why do you want to add an amp??". i have been looking around and was looking into parasound, bryston, rotel. bryston seems a little out of price range. should i get one amp to power the center and run it as 200w mono and a separate amp for the fronts, or should i just get a 3 channel with 200w per channel for the 3 speakers? also somone told me to stay away from adcom??? any thoughts on amps? i am looking to stay under 800$ NAd?

 

[PENG]

i am running Boston VR3s for fronts, boston 920 for the center. looking into getting an amp. vr3s and 920 handle up to 250W. i know some people will say " why do you want to add an amp??". i have been looking around and was looking into parasound, bryston, rotel. bryston seems a little out of price range. should i get one amp to power the center and run it as 200w mono and a separate amp for the fronts, or should i just get a 3 channel with 200w per channel for the 3 speakers? also somone told me to stay away from adcom??? any thoughts on amps? i am looking to stay under 800$ NAd?

You are right about the Bryston, even a used 250WX2 one would cost more than $800. You could consider the Outlaw m2200, with the high C$ right now, you may get away with 3 of them for C$1000. Apparently if you buy 3 you get free shipping.

 

[cfrizz]

You should get a 3-5 channel 200wpc amp & be done with it. Parasound, Rotel, Sunfire, Nad, Adcom, all make good amps. I have had Parasound, Rotel & now Sunfire. All of them will get the job done in spades & your speakers will sound better than ever before.

Keep an eye out on Audiogon. You can get more bang for your buck that way!

 

[highfihoney]

I hate to be the guy that bursts your bubble but your budget dont allow many real choices,new or used.If i were in your shoe's i'd save up a bit more,around $1,200 usd then you'll have some serious choices,new & used.

One thing ive learned is to try & not get off as cheap as possible when buying gear,others will freak out & say all amps sound the same blah blah blah but my reasoning is this,get what you want in the first place instead of getting what "you can" right now.

If you buy what you REALLY WANTED the first time around you wont want to upgrade again, if you try to squeeze a budget you wont be happy for long.

 

[cfrizz]

Truer words were never spoken Highfihoney! Alot of upgraditus can be avoided if people were simply patient, saved more money & got what the truly wanted the first time around.

 

[moreira85]

if i were to buy the parasound hca 750 that is capable of 250Watts when run as mono and use it to power my BA 920 center that handles up to 200watts is it possible to turn down the amp so that it is not producing 250? i assume running 250 into 200 would not be good?

 

[highfihoney]

i assume running 250 into 200 would not be good?

Im running 1,200 watts into 250 watt speakers with no problems,speaker wattage ratings are for the most part a joke,distortion or a weak amplifier trying to hard to produce wattage will damage a speaker far easier than running higher watts.

I prefer to run amps with more wattage than the speaker rating & ive never blown a driver.

 

[wire]

Im running 1,200 watts into 250 watt speakers with no problems,speaker wattage ratings are for the most part a joke,distortion or a weak amplifier trying to hard to produce wattage will damage a speaker far easier than running higher watts.

I prefer to run amps with more wattage than the speaker rating & ive never blown a driver.

Hehe
Again wise words Highfi .

 

[cfrizz]

My amp is capable of putting out 405wpc into my 250/150 wpc speakers and they are fine as well. The speakers will take as much power as they need.

Having amps this powerful simply means that you don't have to ever worry about them straining themselves or your receiver trying to get power that the receiver just can't give them, therefore blowing a tweeter/woofer or the the receiver going into protect mode.

And hopefully your common sense will tell you to turn it down before you damage your hearing, since your ears will quit long before the amp does!

 

[mtrycrafts]

if i were to buy the parasound hca 750 that is capable of 250Watts when run as mono and use it to power my BA 920 center that handles up to 200watts is it possible to turn down the amp so that it is not producing 250? i assume running 250 into 200 would not be good?

It looks like your assumptions about amp power and speaker load needs a bit of a tweaking.
Just because an amp is rated to output 250watts continuously, doesn't mean it will.
An amp will output power depending on signal strength, volume demanded, speaker sensitivity and so forth. So, at comfortable volume, it may output only 1 watt, or even much less, yet, on a high demand peak, it could go to full power for a second or a fraction. That would or should not hurt your speakers.