Amp recommendations for PSB T6

[emtuzas]

Hey guys,

Just got my self a pair of PSB T6 towers, currently hooked up to my
Yamaha RX-A810 AVR which has pre-amp outs for 2 channels.

Thinking of getting a decent quality amp to drive those 2 towers, for music mainly. Was thinking of EMOTIVA XPA-200, not sure if its a good idea, some recommend NAD instead for those specific speakers. Any suggestions?

Wouldn't want to be paying over 800-900$ for a 2 channel amp.

Thanks!

 

[bikemig]

Not sure if you need an amp for your new speakers (great speakers by the way, ) but it sure sounds like you want one. I suspect your current AV receiver does a decent job of driving those speakers. If you want an amp, though, it's hard to beat the emotiva XPA-200 at its current sale price.

 

[emtuzas]

Not sure if you need an amp for your new speakers (great speakers by the way, ) but it sure sounds like you want one. I suspect your current AV receiver does a decent job of driving those speakers. If you want an amp, though, it's hard to beat the emotiva XPA-200 at its current sale price.

Thanks for the compliment on the speakers

So you'd say no need for an AMP? I was hoping it would help to get best out of the speakers, and i dont mean just louder or anything like that, I purely mean quality wise. Or maybe I'm wrong? Pretty new at all of this stuff...

 

[bikemig]

I have a pretty modest av receiver driving my PSB t-6s and it works just fine.

So there are two questions here.

The first is will this amp work with these speakers. The T-6 speakers are 6 ohm speakers and take 20 to 200 watts. The Yamaha RX-A810 AVR does 100 watts at 8 ohms. You should look at the manual to make certain it works with 6 ohm speakers. There are a couple of threads online talking about how to set this AV receiver to 6 ohms but I'd read the manual before trusting something I read on the net, .

The second is if you want to know how loud it can play, this is a pretty useful online calculator: Peak SPL Calculator.

The emotiva amp has plenty of power to drive those speakers very nicely btw. Heck, I'd like one to drive my PSB T-6 speakers as well.

 

[GranteedEV]

Thanks for the compliment on the speakers

So you'd say no need for an AMP? I was hoping it would help to get best out of the speakers, and i dont mean just louder or anything like that, I purely mean quality wise. Or maybe I'm wrong? Pretty new at all of this stuff...

The best improvements you can presumably get would be to add some bass traps in the corners of the room and some thick absorption behind the speakers.

 

[emtuzas]

The best improvements you can presumably get would be to add some bass traps in the corners of the room and some thick absorption behind the speakers.

This option i dont have, since my setup is in a living room and i dont want traps and absorption to be visible at all...

 

[PENG]

Hey guys,

Just got my self a pair of PSB T6 towers, currently hooked up to my
Yamaha RX-A810 AVR which has pre-amp outs for 2 channels.

Thinking of getting a decent quality amp to drive those 2 towers, for music mainly. Was thinking of EMOTIVA XPA-200, not sure if its a good idea, some recommend NAD instead for those specific speakers. Any suggestions?

Wouldn't want to be paying over 800-900$ for a 2 channel amp.

Thanks!

Invariably you will get all sorts of responses on a topic like this that gets ask all the time. Those are basically 4 ohm speakers so giving them an amp is always a good idea, but doing so does not automatically mean the speakers will sound better despite hearsays around various forums including this one might have you convinced of the same. Many will tell you adding an amp will make them sound better even at low (would be nice if they define "low") listening level so be prepared for that as you are going to hear that soon.

It really depends on your listening habits and environment a lot. In my case, I have the power on hand but has never come close of using anything near the limit of any of my receivers. I have the power on hand because I just have to have it, not because I need it, YMMV..

 

[3db]

I have pair of PSB Image T45s as part of my home theater suite driven by a Yamaha RX-V1800 and before the Yamaha, it was a Technics DX-930. Even the little Technics was able to push by PSBs into uncomfortably loud volumes.

How big is your room and how loud do you want to play them? This gives you the size of my listening area.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/918451-post1.html

 

[emtuzas]

I just pulled the trigger on Emotiva XPA-200, seems like they have 30 day return policy, so ill try it out, see if its worth having it. That should help to make up my mind I guess

Thanks guys for all the input!

 

[gregcss]

cool, let us know how you like it. I have 4ohm 88db speakers (5) running at 65wx5 and thinking of getting an external amp.

 

[emtuzas]

cool, let us know how you like it. I have 4ohm 88db speakers (5) running at 65wx5 and thinking of getting an external amp.

So, I got my Emotiva XPA-200 last friday, and had a chance to mess around and compare it against direct Yamaha AVR Amp, and Emotiva.

Man, the difference is HUGE. I love the amp, the bass is more accurate now, seems like more responsive. The highs are a bit brighter now, but nothing annoying at all. Soundstage improved a lot too. The huge difference can be felt
obviously at louder volume, the sound remains crisp and clear and quite accurate
even at extremely loud volume.

So the EMOTIVA is definitely a keeper for me, especially for this price.
Dont know how it would compare with say NAD or ROTEL but those are
double or even triple the price of Emotiva.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So, I got my Emotiva XPA-200 last friday, and had a chance to mess around and compare it against direct Yamaha AVR Amp, and Emotiva.

Man, the difference is HUGE. I love the amp, the bass is more accurate now, seems like more responsive. The highs are a bit brighter now, but nothing annoying at all. Soundstage improved a lot too. The huge difference can be felt
obviously at louder volume, the sound remains crisp and clear and quite accurate
even at extremely loud volume.

So the EMOTIVA is definitely a keeper for me, especially for this price.
Dont know how it would compare with say NAD or ROTEL but those are
double or even triple the price of Emotiva.

The voltage gain on the Emotiva is like 37dB, compared to most amps @ 28dB. To be fair, you will need to crank the speaker channel levels DOWN to match your previous volume level.

The louder volume (even 1dB) will usually appear to sound better, faster, more accurate for some strange reasons.

Or you could try to use the AVR by itself, but this time increase the speaker channel level to +6dB and see if the AVR by itself sounds better, more accurate, faster, etc.

 

[3db]

So, I got my Emotiva XPA-200 last friday, and had a chance to mess around and compare it against direct Yamaha AVR Amp, and Emotiva.

Man, the difference is HUGE. I love the amp, the bass is more accurate now, seems like more responsive. The highs are a bit brighter now, but nothing annoying at all. Soundstage improved a lot too. The huge difference can be felt
obviously at louder volume, the sound remains crisp and clear and quite accurate
even at extremely loud volume.

So the EMOTIVA is definitely a keeper for me, especially for this price.
Dont know how it would compare with say NAD or ROTEL but those are
double or even triple the price of Emotiva.

I'm glad your happy with the Emotiva but like AcuDefTechGuy says..if the outputs are not level matched.... i.e. same output reading from a sound level meter, than your conclusions are falsely biased towards the louder of the two amps.

 

[PENG]

The voltage gain on the Emotiva is like 37dB, compared to most amps @ 28dB. To be fair, you will need to crank the speaker channel levels DOWN to match your previous volume level.

The louder volume (even 1dB) will usually appear to sound better, faster, more accurate for some strange reasons.

Or you could try to use the AVR by itself, but this time increase the speaker channel level to +6dB and see if the AVR by itself sounds better, more accurate, faster, etc.

You and I both own multiple amps (and yes you own more) and we can keep telling people its about level matching, gain matching etc., but there is no use... You can't overcome Placebo easily. Most people have to find out through their own experience, and will only find the truth years and thousands of dollars later. At least that's what happened to me.

 

[anthonywoy]

Looking at the UPA-200 as well.
How do you level match things? SPL meter needed?

Thanks

 

[3db]

You and I both own multiple amps (and yes you own more) and we can keep telling people its about level matching, gain matching etc., but there is no use... You can't overcome Placebo easily. Most people have to find out through their own experience, and will only find the truth years and thousands of dollars later. At least that's what happened to me.

Agreed. The only thing a power amp will give you is the flexibility of speaker choice. I guess that's a good thing if one has the money to support the habit.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Looking at the UPA-200 as well.
How do you level match things? SPL meter needed?

Thanks

With just your AVR, from where you normally sit, manually set all the speaker channel levels to 75dBC (C weight) on your SPL meter (I use a digital SPL because it's easier to look at). This may be 0.0dB on your AVR speaker channel level setting. Or it may be +0.5, +1.0, etc.

Then when you add an external amp, do the same thing. With the Emotiva, it's a sure bet you will need to turn the speaker channel levels down by 3.0 or more to get the 75dBC level on the SPL meter.

So basically you keep the channel levels at 75dB whether it is just the AVR by itself or with the ext amp.

75dB level is just one reference number. You could use whatever number you want, but just make sure you are consistent.

I personally like to keep by speaker channel levels around +0.0 or higher on the AVR setting. If this equals to 80dBC on the SPL meter, so be it. Just be consistent.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You and I both own multiple amps (and yes you own more) and we can keep telling people its about level matching, gain matching etc., but there is no use... You can't overcome Placebo easily. Most people have to find out through their own experience, and will only find the truth years and thousands of dollars later. At least that's what happened to me.

It's NEED vs DESIRE.

We may not need the amps; but we still desire them.

 

[emtuzas]

sorry im pretty new at this, so trying to figure out, are you saying that the amp pretty much did not change anything, its just being louder, thus making me think its different/better? So people who buy lets say NAD amps for 1000+$ or even better ones, are basically wasting money, cause the amp in AVR can do almost same job?

Please explain, cause now i'm pretty confused.

Or you just mean that my comparison of the two units i used is wrong, cause i didn't match the levels?

Thanks

 

[3db]

sorry im pretty new at this, so trying to figure out, are you saying that the amp pretty much did not change anything, its just being louder, thus making me think its different/better? So people who buy lets say NAD amps for 1000+$ or even better ones, are basically wasting money, cause the amp in AVR can do almost same job?

Please explain, cause now i'm pretty confused.

Or you just mean that my comparison of the two units i used is wrong, cause i didn't match the levels?

Thanks

What a power amp will give you over a receiver is speaker independence....meaning you can pick very difficult speakers to drive without the amp going into protection mode. Other than that, you summed it up very well.