2 Channel Amp for around $500?

[Titleist1]

Can you guys give me some suggestions on a good 2 channel amp for powering my Onix X-CS fronts? Something in the 4-$500 range? I want to be able to run my mains off of a high quality amp for 2 channel and 5.1 HT. Right now I am using my old sony 5.1 receiver (rated at 100x5 watts, but I would bet that it is only putting out 50rms of good clean power), so I feel like the speakers are considerably underpowered. This is especially noticable in 2 channel listening.

Suggestions and comments welcome!

Thanks
Titleist1

 

[JoeE SP9]

The Behringer A500 has gotten good user reports on this site. There is a thread devoted to it. You should check out the thread.

 

[wire]

Can you guys give me some suggestions on a good 2 channel amp for powering my Onix X-CS fronts? Something in the 4-$500 range? I want to be able to run my mains off of a high quality amp for 2 channel and 5.1 HT. Right now I am using my old sony 5.1 receiver (rated at 100x5 watts, but I would bet that it is only putting out 50rms of good clean power), so I feel like the speakers are considerably underpowered. This is especially noticable in 2 channel listening.

Suggestions and comments welcome!

Thanks
Titleist1

I say look on Audiogone.com for a good used amp . Look for AMC , B&K and Adcom . Also look at Bryston 3b's , I think there is a 4b on there for $700.00 ( Bryston's are built like tanks and come with a 20 year warranty , so there mightbe so left over , if you go with Bryston you will never look back . ) .

 

[moverton]

NAD used

The older NAD amps like the 2600, 2400, or 2700 are a great deal. They sound great and have an amazing amount of current capacity. They supply something like 6db's of headroom (short term power without clipping). I run a very similar setup to what your proposing (underpowered receiver with my mains being run off a separate amp). I have the 2600. These are pretty old but I don't think they degrade at all.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NAD-THX-2400-Power-Envelope-Amplifier-200-watts-RMS_W0QQitemZ300052856677QQihZ020QQcategoryZ39783QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item300052856677

 

[jcPanny]

Emotiva Amp

Titleist,
Also check out the Emotiva LPA-1 amp which AV123 used to sell. It is $500 direct form Emotiva with free shipping. You could run your whole system off of its 6/7 amp channels.

 

[kgb540]

For that price I feel you cant beat the Acurus line of products. The A200 or A250 can easily compete with amps $2K and up. They have amps from 80wpc-250wpc (8ohms) and will all drive loads as low as 2ohms. Simply wonderful amps!

 

[cstpeter]

I owned a Rotel RB-991 (200x2); bought it used from a store in Chicago for $500. It worked wonders on a pair of Polk LSi9 (4 ohm and very power hungry). I suggest you scour Audiogon for a good deal on a used amp. Here's a few to start:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ddampstran&1169834711&demo&3&4&

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1170178701

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1170120876

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1169789299

 

[Ron Temple]

$ per watt ratio points to used Carver on ebay or pro sound. I like the Carver sound and there's usually 15 or 20 units up for auction from $250-500 from 120wpc - 375 wpc.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Right now I am using my old sony 5.1 receiver (rated at 100x5 watts, but I would bet that it is only putting out 50rms of good clean power), so I feel like the speakers are considerably underpowered. This is especially noticable in 2 channel listening.
Thanks
Titleist1

Why do you think this? Is it speced for 100 watts RMS power or is it not? If the former, it will deliver that RMS power at the rated THD+N.
Why do you think the speakers are under powered?
What is the speakers impedance and sensitivity?

 

[wire]

$ per watt ratio points to used Carver on ebay or pro sound. I like the Carver sound and there's usually 15 or 20 units up for auction from $250-500 from 120wpc - 375 wpc.

Yes
I like this idea also . Carver is high clean power .

 

[cstpeter]

Audio Advisor has a Parasound 2125 on sale for $525:

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=2PAC2125

 

[mnnc]

Parasound Halo...a21 or a23

 

[Titleist1]

Why do you think this? Is it speced for 100 watts RMS power or is it not? If the former, it will deliver that RMS power at the rated THD+N.
Why do you think the speakers are under powered?
What is the speakers impedance and sensitivity?

8 ohms
90.5db

Yes, it is spec'd to deliver that power. However, all to many times manufacturers overrate power figures. This being a fairly inexpensive unit gave me the idea that it's amplifier is sub par for the rated power. Or, like you are saying, it could be delivering this power at 10% THD. It is unable to drive the Onix X-CS mains cleanly when listening to them at louder levels. And, coming from a background in higher end car audio....... the speakers sound underdriven.

 

[billnchristy]

You can get a Jolida Hybrid for 325 for the 30w model and 500 for the 50w.

I would wager a guess that power would be way more than your reciever.

HTD also has a cheap 2ch amp.

I think the Jolida would give you bang for the buck because its an integrated with 4 inputs...

 

[Nuglets]

If you want it loud you will need power no doubt. I use a Peavey pro amp and I am very satisfied with it. I have heard good things about Carver, but I have yet to try one out so I can't say much more about it. The one drawback with my amplifier is it's loud fan, which most HT amplifier do not have and still remain cool. As far as quality is concerned, I am a believer that all amp's if operated within their design limit's are pretty much equal. The main thing I noticed when I connected my amplifier vs. my receiver alone is my ability to crank it up quite a bit louder than I would ever feel comfortable listening directly for very long.

 

[mtrycrafts]

8 ohms
90.5db

Yes, it is spec'd to deliver that power. However, all to many times manufacturers overrate power figures. This being a fairly inexpensive unit gave me the idea that it's amplifier is sub par for the rated power. Or, like you are saying, it could be delivering this power at 10% THD. It is unable to drive the Onix X-CS mains cleanly when listening to them at louder levels. And, coming from a background in higher end car audio....... the speakers sound underdriven.

Well, that 10% would also be in the specs when the RMS power is speced. Do you have a ling to the spec sheet?
No, makers rarely over state their specs as you think may have happened. actually, most under rate their amps.

That amp will drive those speakers to 110 dB spl at 100 watts, period. Perhaps those speakers are out of gas at high volume? High distortion is the norm, compression, etc. Perhaps that is what you are hearing.

 

[wire]

Well, that 10% would also be in the specs when the RMS power is speced. Do you have a ling to the spec sheet?
No, makers rarely over state their specs as you think may have happened. actually, most under rate their amps.

That amp will drive those speakers to 110 dB spl at 100 watts, period. Perhaps those speakers are out of gas at high volume? High distortion is the norm, compression, etc. Perhaps that is what you are hearing.

I like what some ppl. say "the more clean power the better , no matter what your speakers can handle " . I totally believe in this , why clip your speakers ?
Go with some of these sugestions and go get a somemore clean power , your speakers will love it ( your tweets will love it , you wont blow them )

 

[Nick250]

What's the difference between "clean power" and "not clean power"? If my speakers are not clipping anyway, why bother?

Nick

 

[HiFi Jake]

I'll second the suggestion to look at a used Bryston 3B or 4B. Beautiful amps for the money, and built like tanks. Used in a lot of pro studios too, especialy the 4B.

A VERY close second to the Bryston would be to get a couple of Flying Mole DAD-M100 series mono block amps. These are extremely efficient amps, and fantastic for the money. They have rock solid power supplies as well, which really helps. These amps sound WAY better than they should for the kind of money you pay for them -- very clean and detailed, and I've heard them do a very nice job of driving even some very demanding, inefficient speakers. They'll stand up very well next to a lot of amps in the $2000 range.

 

[wire]

What's the difference between "clean power" and "not clean power"? If my speakers are not clipping anyway, why bother?

Nick

Well he said his Sony is 100 RMS per channel and he might suspect that it isnt giving him that rating (If its not giving you 100 rms like advertised) , your gonna blow a tweet ( if you like it loud ) .
If you give your speakers (maybe) a true 100 w rms ( the more the better ) , the less chance of clipping your speakers and better overall sound your gonna get .
I once seen a rating report on recievers a few years back ( consumer reports ) , it rated all the mass produced brands and some higherend brands , I remeber Sony failed badly , which most didnt come close to there advertised ratings . There was a few that did , NAD , H/K and a Pioneer ( they out did there ratings by a bit ) . I found it a quite interesting report and wonder if there producing any better numbers now days .

Hope this is clear , its late .