Adcom's reputation (Noob trying to build a stereo)

[dcshoeman2k4]

Hi guys! Let me explain a little bit about myself and the system I'm trying to
build. I am by no means an audiophile. I don't need to listen to my music with .0000000000001% THD. I'm not looking for the biggest, baddest, most expensive top of the line products out there, nor could I afford them. I'm just a twenty year old newly wed looking to build a mean, loud home stereo. Perhaps a bit later on in life when I've when I've matured a bit and have a bigger budget, I'll look into getting building a smaller, cleaner sounding system.

Let it be known that I fully intend on building this system off eBay. Before you pass judgment, keep in mind, I'm a newly wed kid with an average paying job trying to get my wife into nursing school. I don't have an unlimited income in which to buy everything new or anything top-of-the-line.

I'm a bass pig. I'm planning on getting some Cerwin Vega floor standing speaker's. I'm not precisely sure exactly what model I'll go for, but something newer with 15" woofers. Now before everyone screams- I'm not an audiophile, I'm not deeply concerned if the bass is a bit boomy or the mid's are a bit muddy. I do want something that sounds good at low volume, but also something that I can crank up and piss off the neighbors. Later on, I'd like to add some smaller, decent sounding rear speakers like Polk or somethin'.

I'm a beginner when it comes to home audio. I don't know which are the respected brands out there. I've been browsing eBay of course and have run across brands like Adcom, Rotel, Audiosource, etc. I'm going to need a beefy, reliable amp to push roughly 200+ Watts RMS at 8 ohms into each speaker.

So far all I got right now for my stereo is a Denon 3801 Receiver, a Cerwin Vega CLS15 Powered Sub and some ancient Bose 901 Series speakers I got from my Dad. Any suggestions on amps, speakers, or over all suggestions by the older, more experienced folk would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[MUDSHARK]

A used Adcom should handle your power needs (real or exaggerated) well. The company has a good reputation in the lower high-end and is used in many excellent home theatres.

 

[rnatalli]

To name a few other good brands: B&K, Adcom, NAD, Outlaw, Emotiva, Krell, Bryston, Anthem, Rotel, McIntosh, and Classe. Take a look at the Emotiva XPA-5. $799 and loads of clean power.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I don't need to listen to my music with .0000000000001% THD. I'm not looking for the biggest, baddest, most expensive top of the line products out there, nor could I afford them...I don't know which are the respected brands out there. I've been browsing eBay of course and have run across brands like Adcom, Rotel, Audiosource, etc. I'm going to need a beefy, reliable amp to push roughly 200+ Watts RMS at 8 ohms into each speaker...So far all I got right now for my stereo is a Denon 3801 Receiver, a Cerwin Vega CLS15 Powered Sub and some ancient Bose 901 Series speakers I got from my Dad. Any suggestions on amps, speakers, or over all suggestions by the older, more experienced folk would be greatly appreciated!

I think probably 99% of us who own separate amps don't even NEED them.

I think the only people who may need separte amps have super expensive $50,000 speakers that are rated @ 2 ohms or have sensitivity of 80 dB w/m or less. Certainly Bose, Cerwin Vega, and probably all lower price speakers will not need more than the 100+ wpc that your Denon receiver outputs.

eBay budget speakers to look for: Def Tech, Paradigm, Axiom, SVS, PSB, AV123, among others.

eBay budget amps to look for: Adcom, Rotel, Emotiva, Sunfire, NAD, Outlaw, among others.

 

[joebob]

I think probably 99% of us who own separate amps don't even NEED them.

I agree. I would get the speakers first and see if your Denon does what you want. I bought an Adcom amp and I can't tell any difference in the sound quality from my Yamaha receiver. I don't listed to music at ear splitting volume; so it's possible that I'd notice some difference if I really cranked it up.

That said, I do think Adcom makes quality amps, good bang for the buck. I had a little problem when my baby daughter managed to yank off, and lose, the power button. Adcom sent me a new one with no questions asked.

 

[dcshoeman2k4]

I think probably 99% of us who own separate amps don't even NEED them.

I think the only people who may need separte amps have super expensive $50,000 speakers that are rated @ 2 ohms or have sensitivity of 80 dB w/m or less. Certainly Bose, Cerwin Vega, and probably all lower price speakers will not need more than the 100+ wpc that your Denon receiver outputs....

.

Hmmm... Thanks for all who gave input! The Denon amp I have (eBay special)
is rated at 110 per channel. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea testing out the CV's on the Denon amp first. However, I don't want to push the Denon amp too hard and run it at like maximum power. I'm really paranoid of over working it. As an added precaution, I got a 120mm DC fan that I rest on top of the unit with a plastic air scoop directing all airflow from the fan in through the vents in the top of the unit.

It seems like Denon has a good reputation of making quality products. You don't think I'll be working her to hard running a couple of These do you?

 

[dcshoeman2k4]

By the way, this is undoubtedly a silly question but, can someone explain the volume system on my Denon amp? What's the deal with the lowest volume being -60 and peak volume being +18. Thnks!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You don't think I'll be working her to hard running a couple of These do you?

With a sensitivity of 95dB w/m, they probably won't need any more than 40 watts.

Those are pretty sensitive speakers.

Have you heard of the Linkwitz Orion speakers? They are $8,000/pr speakers that usually come with a 60 watts per Ch x 12 amp. If those speakers only need 60 watts per ch, even for the subwoofer drivers (which require most of the power), your CVs will be just fine with that Denon.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

By the way, this is undoubtedly a silly question but, can someone explain the volume system on my Denon amp? What's the deal with the lowest volume being -60 and peak volume being +18. Thnks!

I think that's pretty normal. If I'm correct, a Volume of 0 is suppose to be reference level (90dB), which is pretty loud. When I had my Harman Kardon receiver, the max volume I ever set was -15dB.

 

[dcshoeman2k4]

With a sensitivity of 95dB w/m, they probably won't need any more than 40 watts.

Can you explain what db w/m is?

 

[MUDSHARK]

http://www.jsdsound.com/sensitivity.htm

Short layman explanation

 

[3db]

Hi guys! Let me explain a little bit about myself and the system I'm trying to
build. I am by no means an audiophile. I don't need to listen to my music with .0000000000001% THD. I'm not looking for the biggest, baddest, most expensive top of the line products out there, nor could I afford them. I'm just a twenty year old newly wed looking to build a mean, loud home stereo. Perhaps a bit later on in life when I've when I've matured a bit and have a bigger budget, I'll look into getting building a smaller, cleaner sounding system.

Let it be known that I fully intend on building this system off eBay. Before you pass judgment, keep in mind, I'm a newly wed kid with an average paying job trying to get my wife into nursing school. I don't have an unlimited income in which to buy everything new or anything top-of-the-line.

I'm a bass pig. I'm planning on getting some Cerwin Vega floor standing speaker's. I'm not precisely sure exactly what model I'll go for, but something newer with 15" woofers. Now before everyone screams- I'm not an audiophile, I'm not deeply concerned if the bass is a bit boomy or the mid's are a bit muddy. I do want something that sounds good at low volume, but also something that I can crank up and piss off the neighbors. Later on, I'd like to add some smaller, decent sounding rear speakers like Polk or somethin'.

I'm a beginner when it comes to home audio. I don't know which are the respected brands out there. I've been browsing eBay of course and have run across brands like Adcom, Rotel, Audiosource, etc. I'm going to need a beefy, reliable amp to push roughly 200+ Watts RMS at 8 ohms into each speaker.

So far all I got right now for my stereo is a Denon 3801 Receiver, a Cerwin Vega CLS15 Powered Sub and some ancient Bose 901 Series speakers I got from my Dad. Any suggestions on amps, speakers, or over all suggestions by the older, more experienced folk would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

If you know for certain that you are getting CVs with 15" woofers, your Denon will be way more than adequate to power them. CVs like Klipsch are extraordinarily effieicient and don't require a monster amp to drive them to insanely loud levels. Just a thought to save you some cash.

 

[3db]

Can you explain what db w/m is?

the 95db w/m means that if you powered teh speaker with 1 watt of power and you were standing one meter away (1 meter is about 6" longer than a yard" ) , the volume you would here is 95db which is painfully loud.

There's a relationship between distance and loudness. You loose half the loudness (-3db) each time you move double the distance away from the loudspeaker.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So if you are sitting 3 meters away from your speakers, you are still using less than 3 watts of power on average. Now when the transient explosions and extra loud scenes occur in movies, your speakers may require 10 times the power, but that's still only 30 watts.

That just seems so funny how a lot of us have 200 watts per channel RMS amps.

 

[dcshoeman2k4]

Thanks for everyone who commented. So far, everything everyone has said makes sense. I bought a watt meter off eBay made by Realistic. Now I'm not entirely sure how accurate it is, but once I had hooked it all up, I was surprised to see that I never pushed the meter above 50 watts. Even when I had the music going pretty damn loud, it never went above 50 watts. I think I'll buy those speakers soon and give it a shot with the Denon.

I voiced this in a previous post but no one noted on it. I'm kinda worried about pushing the Denon amp too hard. Because sometimes when I crank the music up, I want it LOUD I'll turn it up to +2 on the little volume scale. Some guy earlier said he never took his above -15 The Denon receiver I have now I spent a fair amount of money on and I don't want to abuse it. I'm not too familiar with Denon's products but they seem to be a favorite on this forum. I'm all for running the CV's on the Denon as long as I wont be over working it.

 

[3db]

Sounds like you answered your own question with the watt meter

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

...I'm kinda worried about pushing the Denon amp too hard. Because sometimes when I crank the music up, I want it LOUD I'll turn it up to +2 on the little volume scale. Some guy earlier said he never took his above -15 The Denon receiver I have now I spent a fair amount of money on and I don't want to abuse it. I'm not too familiar with Denon's products but they seem to be a favorite on this forum. I'm all for running the CV's on the Denon as long as I wont be over working it.

I think you should be worried about your listening habbits, not the Denon's capability to drive the CV speakers.

Use the SPL meter to check the total volume in dB A-weight. Hopefully it does not exceed 90 dB-A.

The dB C-weight may be 90 or 95 db-C, but you are damaging your ears if you are going above 90 dB-A.

 

[Seth=L]

You definitely won't need to add that amplifier. The Denon could power the Cerwin Vegas to the point of breaking your ears.

BTW, the wattage doubles each time the decibels increase by 3. So at a distance of 2 meters, which is 7 feet, the CVs would achieve 110 decibels when the speakers are receiving 64 watts. You should never listen to speakers that close, that loud, because you would cause serious hearing damage.

 

[3db]

You definitely won't need to add that amplifier. The Denon could power the Cerwin Vegas to the point of breaking your ears.

BTW, the wattage doubles each time the decibels increase by 3. So at a distance of 2 meters, which is 7 feet, the CVs would achieve 110 decibels when the speakers are receiving 64 watts. You should never listen to speakers that close, that loud, because you would cause serious hearing damage.

what???

 

[Seth=L]

what???

Is there something wrong with my statement, or do you have a question?