Budget 3 channel amp

[mannoiaj]

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampsmult&1248452509
Parasound 140W X 3 $300

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampsmult&1248375115&/Carver-Multi-Channel-Amp-AV-80
Carver 135W X 6 or 385 X 3 $650

http://emotiva.com/xpa3.shtm
Emotiva 200W X 3 $600

http://www.hificlassifieds.com/index/listings/page2132.htm
Acurus 200W X 3 $475

I want to get a 3 channel amp to assist with a 7 channel HT. The front three channels that need power consist of rocket bigfoot, and a pair of 450's. Right now, they are being powered by an onkyo 805 receiver. The receiver will continue to power 4 inwalls, but I'd like to take the front load off of the receiver and into the hands of something separate.

I don't have alot of money for this, and still am working on room treatment. I put a few examples of amps that are within my budget at the top of this post, but looking for advice and other solutions as well. Room is 1000 sq feet. Only used for multi-channel.

Thoughts?

 

[Adam]

Hi. At least when I click on the three links that have "..." in them, the address that tries to open looks exactly like what you have in your post - so it doesn't work. Perhaps I'm the only one, but maybe you could fix those so that they aren't abbreviated. Thanks.

 

[mannoiaj]

Hi. At least when I click on the three links that have "..." in them, the address that tries to open looks exactly like what you have in your post - so it doesn't work. Perhaps I'm the only one, but maybe you could fix those so that they aren't abbreviated. Thanks.

Fixed. Thanks Adam. I'd appreciate any feedback

 

[sawzalot]

I am not by any stretch an expert,but input is all you ask so my thoughts are like this,first off I have the XPA-5 and could not be happier,the other amps all look used and although they are all of good quality I feel like I would go with the XPA -3 for the great customer service along with a very nice warranty.Just one mans thoughts.

 

[mannoiaj]

I am not by any stretch an expert,but input is all you ask so my thoughts are like this,first off I have the XPA-5 and could not be happier,the other amps all look used and although they are all of good quality I feel like I would go with the XPA -3 for the great customer service along with a very nice warranty.Just one mans thoughts.

Thanks, a large part of me agrees with you... and I'm leaning toward the XPA-3. The Parasound is the other amp I'm leaning towards due to the price tag. If there wouldn't be much of a difference between these two amps, I'd go used parasound. Its a John Curl design as well, which leads me to think it will at least not crap out on me soon.

 

[sawzalot]

I agree with the quality of the parasound I actually tried to get the same model amp before I went with the EMO but someone beat me to the sale and I missed out.I started reading up on the EMO and all the reviews were so darn positive I went with and have no regrets,next up a new front stage and I'll be done for awhile

 

[PENG]

I think your speakers would prefer the more powerful Emo or Acurus.

 

[mannoiaj]

I think your speakers would prefer the more powerful Emo or Acurus.

140 vs 200 will be a pretty noticable difference? Or is it the design ? How would the speaker prefer more power and what more would the speakers provide me with the extra power given to them.

 

[CraigV]

The extra headroom the XPA-3 will afford you will be noticeable & appreciated.

 

[PENG]

140 vs 200 will be a pretty noticable difference? Or is it the design ? How would the speaker prefer more power and what more would the speakers provide me with the extra power given to them.

I could be wrong but I thought you have some big 4 ohms speakers. If true, everything else (sensitivity, the complex part of the impedance characteristics) being equal those speakers would draw 1.414 times higher current than 8 ohms speakers would. Also, with 1000 sq.ft, your H.T. room is huge and that's another reason why you need to get as much power as you can afford.

 

[Warpdrv]

The extra headroom the XPA-3 will afford you will be noticeable & appreciated.

Ohm's law states that you would have to double the power to recognize a 3db gain in output, so you will barely notice the difference between the 140w to 200w.... I would suspect your ears would be bleeding well before that point...

Get which ever one is prettier....

 

[mannoiaj]

I could be wrong but I thought you have some big 4 ohms speakers. If true, everything else (sensitivity, the complex part of the impedance characteristics) being equal those speakers would draw 1.414 times higher current than 8 ohms speakers would. Also, with 1000 sq.ft, your H.T. room is huge and that's another reason why you need to get as much power as you can afford.

Thanks for the feedback. The speakers are 8 ohm and 87 db @ 1w/1m

 

[mannoiaj]

Ohm's law states that you would have to double the power to recognize a 3db gain in output, so you will barely notice the difference between the 140w to 200w.... I would suspect your ears would be bleeding well before that point...

Get which ever one is prettier....

It will be behind closed doors... so prettier doesn't matter.

 

[PENG]

Ohm's law states that you would have to double the power to recognize a 3db gain in output, so you will barely notice the difference between the 140w to 200w.... I would suspect your ears would be bleeding well before that point...

Get which ever one is prettier....

It is not what you think, Ohm's law basically states V=IR, nothing to do with the amp output power/dB sound pressure level calculations.

Don't forget he has quite a large room, 1000 sq.ft. Even with an eight foot ceiling that's a volume of 8000 cu.ft. So he needs a lot of watts to get his dB unless he sits close to the speakers.

 

[mike c]

Thanks for the feedback. The speakers are 8 ohm and 87 db @ 1w/1m

It will be behind closed doors... so prettier doesn't matter.

87db is a bit on the low side

behind closed doors ...

may i suggest a pro amp?

Yamaha P*0000S series
or
Behringer EP2500

 

[mannoiaj]

87db is a bit on the low side

behind closed doors ...

may i suggest a pro amp?

Yamaha P*0000S series
or
Behringer EP2500

I need 3 channels of power.

 

[mike c]

two pro amps

at the price of these proamps, you can certainly buy two for the cost of one commercial amp.

 

[captiankirk28]

I can not speak of some of the other amps but im sure they would work good also but i love my EPA-3 and it gives me plenty of headroom to play with and i too have a fairly larg room with high celings and open to the kitchen to fill with sound and it does a great job. And as someone else said it does run very cool even when playing hard for a long time.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Kirk

 

[Warpdrv]

It is not what you think, Ohm's law basically states V=IR, nothing to do with the amp output power/dB sound pressure level calculations.

Don't forget he has quite a large room, 1000 sq.ft. Even with an eight foot ceiling that's a volume of 8000 cu.ft. So he needs a lot of watts to get his dB unless he sits close to the speakers.

Pretty sure that what I stated is correct

Anyways, he's still not going to notice much of a difference from 140w to 200w here, especially givin the room size...

Either way, I'm not sure how much gain he would notice, and Mike C's suggestion of a couple of pro amps would be far more beneficial especially givin that he will have them behind closed doors.... pretty need not be a factor here... If one were to go that route, don't forget to look into something that will turn on the amps remotely - ie 12v trigger and also that one needs to get RCA to XLR cables to convert the signal, neither of which are unattainable.... Monoprice for those cables, and something like this http://www.greenhome.com/products/office/computing/115594/ would work just fine for that application... they make smaller cheaper models...

 

[PENG]

Pretty sure that what I stated is correct

Anyways, he's still not going to notice much of a difference from 140w to 200w here, especially givin the room size...

You are correct about the need to double the power (assuming the increase in SPL follow the increase in electrical power output linearly) output to increase SPL by 3 dB. I hate to say it but you were incorrect in saying that it was Ohm's law that states that mathematical relation.

You don't have to be an EE or believe one but to understand what Ohm's Law is about, you can simply search the web for details. Just be careful about the sources. As for the sound pressure level calculations, definition of decibel, use of logarithmic scale, etc., there are plenty of easy to understand info on the web as well but again, go for reliable sources.

I agree with you point regarding 140W vs 200W not making much difference from SPL stand point. As a matter of fact, going from 140W to 200W would gain (10*log(200/140)=1.55 dB, definitely perceptible but it is generally believed that to perceive twice as loud, the SPL has to increase approx. 10 dB.