Integrated Amp to drive 2 Klipsch rf62s

[mechmove]

I am looking for an integrated amp that will sound good with my newer Klipsch 62s. Those speakers rated at 125 watt rms into 8ohms. I am prepared to spend between 1 and 2K USD, though prefer a solution less than 1,000. I want an amp that is good enough to reproduce the following kinds of music at moderate listening levels in a average size carpeted living room: anything from solo jazz piano / big band / Steely Dan / Led Zepplin / Electric Band / Brand New Heavies. I prefer louder types of music, but also like smaller club jazz recordings. I tend to listen to older music with tight and loud passages. Some classical, but only on occasion.

This makes me think tube amps will not suffice for most of my listening needs, and my budget barely allows this anyway.

First question, what is the minimum rated amp that could drive those speakers for my listening needs? Is 75 wpc too low? Should I insist on at least 125 wpc?

I personally like the Onkyo brand, due to my experience of good reliability over many years, but I am open to whatever works, of course my ears to make the final decision.

This is my short list, please add your own suggestions based on my comments. Would esp. like to hear from you if you have same speakers as me, and listen to similar types of music:

Onkyo A9050
Onkyo A9070

NAD 375BEE; concern reliability.
Outlaw RR2150; heard great things.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think the HK looks good.

Amazon.com: Harman Kardon HK990 2x150 Watt 2.2-Channel Stereo Integrated Amplifier (Black): Electronics

You can get an open-box item for $1673:

Amazon.com: Buying Choices: Harman Kardon HK990 2x150 Watt 2.2-Channel Stereo Integrated Amplifier (Black)

 

[fmw]

The Klipsch are very efficient. Unless you have a huge room (larger than a room in a house) you will need very little power. I use this integrated in my workout room driving far less efficient speakers than yours. A-20 - Direct Energy Design Integrated Amplifier | Pioneer Electronics USA I recommend it without hesitation. Your other choices will all work just fine as well.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The Klipsch are very efficient. Unless you have a huge room (larger than a room in a house) you will need very little power.

I totally agree. I was going to say to just get a mid priced AVR and call it a day.

 

[KEW]

Klipsh is known for easy loads, and based on the following specs, your 62's are no exception:

NOMINAL IMPEDANCE: 8 Ohms compatible POWER HANDLING: 125W RMS / 500W Peak
SENSITIVITY: 97dB @ 2.83V / 1m

Any competent SS amp will do the job.

Personally I am partial to the styling of the Outlaw and Yamaha offerings.
I think the $800 Yamaha AS700 is a good option for power & solid design. The AS1000 below is essentially the same styling.
I always hate to see someone investing substantially more money in their amp than their speakers. For example with your total budget of ~$800 for a pair of 62's and ~$1500 for an amp, I would rather see $800 going to the amp and $1500 for the speakers. Speakers have a huge effect on your sound while amps have been consistently shown to make very little (or no) difference under normal circumstances (Competent amp design, normal loading from speakers, etc).
If you go with the AS-700, be sure to read this review so you'll understand that you should keep the Impedence setting on the back in the "high" position.
http://www.avhub.com.au/images/stories/australian-hifi/reviews/2011-05_to_12/2011-07/yamaha_as-700_amplifier_review_lores.pdf
PS-I also believe the Pioneer Elite A-20 is fully capable of powering your speakers.

 

[Steve81]

The Klipsch are very efficient.

The Reference line has a high rated sensitivity, but I would caution it can be a bit misleading.
1. The 97dB w/ 2.83V number is an optimistic in room rating. The actual anechoic sensitivity may be much lower; for example, the old RB-81 also had a rated sensitivity of 97dB w/ 2.83V @ 1m; it was measured by a third party to be 91dB, which is a dramatic difference.
2. I'd expect that would be compounded by a less than perfectly amplifier friendly impedance load.

All that said, I'd expect a HK 3490 to do a good job with them for relatively little cost, and it has the added bonus of having a couple of digital inputs.

 

[bikemig]

Agree with what others have said that you don't need to spend that entire budget on an amp to drive those speakers. One thing to keep in mind with the amps and stereo receiver that the OP put in his post that some of them (the outlaw RR2150 and the 2 onkyo units) have digital inputs or usb inputs. If you have digitized your music files (or plan to do so), getting a 2 channel amp or receiver with digital inputs is, everything else being equal, a plus.

I really, really like my outlaw RR2150 and can highly recommend it. That said, if I were thinking of setting up a 2 channel system, i'd take a long hard look at the onkyo 9070 and the NAD 356bee dac.

 

[mechmove]

Thanks for all the answers, this is a great forum! I am planning on checking out one of the NAD units this weekend, and hopefully a few others as well. Good to know I don't be needing a 100+ wpc amp to power my system!

 

[mechmove]

This afternoon, I went and had a listen to he NAD 356BEE with PSB Imagine T Tower speakers.

I had a long listen using my own audio content. I didn't realize what those “PSB” speakers were, but they did sound good with smaller jazz trios and acoustical music. That system, however, seemed a bit hollow in places with amplified music sources. Not sure that was because of insufficient horsepower from the amp, or because the speaker design lends itself more to classical music. I cannot say my listening experience was bad, it just felt incomplete at times with certain types of music.

On the plus side, I liked the look and feel of the NAD unit, but looks only goes so far.

Will continue my quest tomorrow.

 

[markw]

You should be able to bring our own music when auditioning gear. FWIW, both NAD and PSB put out pretty good stuff.

 

[bikemig]

This afternoon, I went and had a listen to he NAD 356BEE with PSB Imagine T Tower speakers.

I had a long listen using my own audio content. I didn't realize what those “PSB” speakers were, but they did sound good with smaller jazz trios and acoustical music. That system, however, seemed a bit hollow in places with amplified music sources. Not sure that was because of insufficient horsepower from the amp, or because the speaker design lends itself more to classical music. I cannot say my listening experience was bad, it just felt incomplete at times with certain types of music.

On the plus side, I liked the look and feel of the NAD unit, but looks only goes so far.

Will continue my quest tomorrow.

THe NAD 356bee is a modular unit and you can add a dac to it for a very reasonable cost if you buy the two at the same time. You get an asynchronous usb input (cool feature if you want to add a computer as a source) and an optical input. The PSB imagine T towers are very fine; I own and really like the bookshelf versions of those.

 

[mechmove]

Some disclosure about "how" I am listening. I tend to listen at far higher levels than how I would listen in the house, and this might tend to reveal "holes" in any system. After all, I am in a dedicated listening room, much better than my house. I did once give a listen to a purported 50K USD system with dual Mcintosh mono blocks and hi end Martin Logans'..... lots of dynamic range at low volume levels. Amazing, but way outside my budget. Also, the sources that seem to be lacking for me are older recordings, some of them live. Given they are jazz recordings, the recording techniques at that time were far less than studio grade. So considering this, the NAD int. amp would most likely work well in my house.

I do have a Logitech Squeeze box being fed from my ReadyNas server. I actually created 192bkit MP3s from my CD collection a while back. I was using the audio outputs, but I see digital optical and coax outputs as well. How much difference will I notice if the preamp is able to accept those?

 

[bikemig]

I have 2 squeeze box touch units; If I had known that logitech was going to discontinue them, I would have bought a 3d and stashed it away. The analog out from a SB Touch is excellent and does not benefit, in my opinion, from using an external dac. That said, the dac mod adds around $100 to the NAD 365bee I believe which is very reasonable for the added functionality.