Lost in a brave new world

[Audie O.]

I could use some help. I've scoured this forum but haven't found exactly the info I'm looking for. I'm new to this rarefied world of serious audio, but came into a little money so I decided it was time to replace my beloved 10-year old Infinity crescendo speakers with the blown woofer. I went in to the store looking for Paradigm Studio 20s, and left with Studio 100s v3, for $1500. Wow. I've never heard speakers that sound this good. On the dealers advice, I picked up an Integra amp but surprise, my low end Onkyo receiver doesn't have a pre-amp out.

So I returned the amp, and now I'm in the market for a new receiver in the <$700 range. I use it 95% for music, to run the 100s and a pair of rear speakers, but I expect we'll be moving into more serious home theater in the next 5 years. I haven't auditioned anything. The dealer has a Pioneer Elite VSX-80TXV at a clearance price of $539, but I've heard it doesn't upconvert to HDMI. Maybe for my purposes it's fine though. Heck, we don't even have a HDTV. I keep hearing good things about Onkyo TX-SR705, but wonder if it has enough power for the 100s.

Any advice? Thanks.

 

[brulaha]

You are going to want some serious power to give those 100's the power they deserve. You can get buy with the Onkyo 705, but I'd really recommend going up to something with a beefier power plant. Probably the 805 at a minimum. I feed my Studio 60's 250 Watts/channel. You certainly don't need that much power, but the paradigms really opened up when I switched amps. I hate to use audiophile adjectives, but the highs did seems to have detailed airy quality without being bright or causing listener fatigue, while the lows tightened up and the bass was a lot more authoritative.

What you might want to do is buy something that will give them decent power for now so you stay in budget, but make sure it has pre outs so you can add a 2 channel amp in the future.

 

[bandphan]

on the upconversation side, if your listening to 90% music, it shouldnt be a concern as you stated

 

[mtrycrafts]

I could use some help. I've scoured this forum but haven't found exactly the info I'm looking for. I'm new to this rarefied world of serious audio, but came into a little money so I decided it was time to replace my beloved 10-year old Infinity crescendo speakers with the blown woofer. I went in to the store looking for Paradigm Studio 20s, and left with Studio 100s v3, for $1500. Wow. I've never heard speakers that sound this good. On the dealers advice, I picked up an Integra amp but surprise, my low end Onkyo receiver doesn't have a pre-amp out.

So I returned the amp, and now I'm in the market for a new receiver in the <$700 range. I use it 95% for music, to run the 100s and a pair of rear speakers, but I expect we'll be moving into more serious home theater in the next 5 years. I haven't auditioned anything. The dealer has a Pioneer Elite VSX-80TXV at a clearance price of $539, but I've heard it doesn't upconvert to HDMI. Maybe for my purposes it's fine though. Heck, we don't even have a HDTV. I keep hearing good things about Onkyo TX-SR705, but wonder if it has enough power for the 100s.

Any advice? Thanks.

How does it perform with the receiver you have now? Maybe you don't need to replace it?

 

[B3Nut]

The Onkyo 705 might be a good one to get if you're going to end up with an HDTV, it has preamp outputs so you can add a more robust power amplifier when you get to it. It should sound good at reasonable volume levels, adding power will give you the ability to hit concert-hall levels without clipping the amplifier. The 100's are 8-ohm nominal with 88dB sensitivity (anechoic, Paradigm quotes an in-room sensitivity of 91dB). The Onkyo should be happy driving them in the meantime. If you like the sound on your existing Onkyo, I can't see how you wouldn't be as happy or happier with the new one (especially given the capabilities of these units.)

 

[Audie O.]

Good question. I haven't hooked them up yet, but my receiver's only rated at 75 wpc.

 

[Davemcc]

Good question. I haven't hooked them up yet, but my receiver's only rated at 75 wpc.

You'll be fine as long as you don't drive it into clipping. That will be enough for most normal listening levels. If the speakers start to sound at all harsh or distressed, turn the volume down.