Do I need a Power Amp?

[Ponzio]

I recently purchased a pair of Focal’s 1027Be speakers and was wondering whether I should purchase a power amp for my Yamaha RX-V4600 AV Receiver to get the maximum quality out of them. Per the Yamaha’s manual I’m getting 165W dynamic power to the front main speakers. There’s an Emotiva XPA-2 for sale locally ($300) and I’m wondering whether I should jump on it.

Any and all input welcome.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Steve81]

I wouldn't expect the heavens to open up should you deign to jump on it, but $300 for an XPA-2 is hard to pass up. If you think it adds nothing, you can sell it for $350 later and have a buyer pretty quickly (assuming it's in good working condition and all that jazz)

 

[j_garcia]

OR just tell me where it is and I will pick it up I agree with Steve, it is kind of hard to say if it will be an "improvement", but 165W "dynamic" is also in 2ch only most likely. If you are only driving those two, I wouldn't expect power to be an issue unless you want it pretty loud, but an amp certainly won't hurt anything and that IS a good deal providing everything is Kosher with it.

 

[Ponzio]

My existing 5.1 setup, with the mish-mash of speakers (Bose 901 main, Klipsch center & PSB B6 surrounds) is good but the goal here is for the best sound possible for music, within my budget. One of the nice features of the Yamaha AVR is the “Pure Direct” feature where it directs all power, based on the input, directly to the output without any equalization/colorization of the source signal. I read some of these threads, specifically the Speaker threads, and people talk about how their speakers “opened up” as soon as they added a power amp & bi-amped them and I want to make sure I get the most out of these puppies.
<O</O
Regarding playing “loud”; it won’t be an issue, unless you consider turning the maximum volume to -3 db loud.

I don’t have money to burn and I don’t want to pay for a slight incremental return. Plus at my age (58), when you consider how loud I used to listen to music and the amount of live concerts I’ve been to, it’s a miracle I’m not deaf.

Thanks guys.

 

[j_garcia]

Pure direct does not affect the amount of power going to the speakers. It simply removes any DSP, EQ or bass management; aka any processing, from the equation.

When a speaker "opens up" that is usually a red flag for me That typically means one thing: they were underpowered previously for the levels the person was trying to listen at. Speakers don't "open up" simply by adding amplification, however they may sound significantly better when provided with the appropriate amount of power for your listening tastes. What most people are calling "opening up" IMHO really just means they can now turn it up to a higher level than before without distortion and it typically suggests to me that they don't understand what actually happened.

 

[fmw]

As long as your receiver's amplifiers can drive the speakers to the levels at which you listen without clipping, adding another one will do nothing other than to increase your electric bill. If you don't hear distortion, then you are fine.

 

[English210]

I'll respectfully disagree....I'm a recent convert to the benefits of a 'real' amp. I had a receiver with 150wpc, added an outboard amp I had from years ago at 150wpc, and heard a marginal difference. I just replaced that with a higher quality amp, and am hearing lots of new information, and my speakers are producing levels of bass I've never heard out of them before, and my wife was surprised too..

 

[fmw]

Then the amps in your receiver were distorting.

 

[RichB]

I would pick up that amp and learn for yourself.
Those Focals are very nice speakers. A friend brought over the bookshelf earler version without the beryllium tweeters.
They sounded great with the Outlaw M2200 mono-blocks that were trying out.

My brother in law had a 140Watt Pioneer ICE receiver 140 WPC and replaced it with an Oppo BDP-105 directly connected to the M2200 mono-blocks.
His B&W's sound much more dynamic. He was frequently at -10 or lower. With that receiver, the sound never got louder because it soft-clips.

If you find a difference it will likely be better bass which can require more current that a receiver can supply.
Also, dynamics because of the headroom. Some might describe that as Open.

That Emotiva could answer the question for you better than anyone here.
However, I think you will like it

- Rich

 

[3db]

Its hard to say if the amp will help or not. We need to know how big the room is, how far you sit from the speakers, the impedance characteristics of the speaker and how loud you play them. If the room isn't too big, you don't sit too far from, play them at comfortably loud levels, and the impedance characteristics are reasonably benign, then Emotiva will not open up any sound for you. That being said, $300 is a great price and it does free up your futur speaker selection if you choose to upgrade. `````

 

[Ponzio]

The Emo train has pulled out of the station. He got $350 from a friend of mine while I dithered around. I don’t doubt I would have liked it though but to be perfectly honest I don’t feel I need it. The carpeted room is 18’ x 20’ with the usual furniture and cloth drapes. I sit about 12’ away and I cranked up the volume to +20 on the AVR; no distortion, plenty of bass and sonic clear detailed highs with no ear bleeding. They sounded just like they did in the audio room at Overture Audio when I drove them that high there. Really, what am I missing? Could it be better with an amp? From what everybody tells me on this forum, probably. Can’t miss what you don’t have though and that’s $300 towards upgrading my system. <O></O>

 

[3db]

The Emo train has pulled out of the station. He got $350 from a friend of mine while I dithered around. I don’t doubt I would have liked it though but to be perfectly honest I don’t feel I need it. The carpeted room is 18’ x 20’ with the usual furniture and cloth drapes. I sit about 12’ away and I cranked up the volume to +20 on the AVR; no distortion, plenty of bass and sonic clear detailed highs with no ear bleeding. They sounded just like they did in the audio room at Overture Audio when I drove them that high there. Really, what am I missing? Could it be better with an amp? From what everybody tells me on this forum, probably. Can’t miss what you don’t have though and that’s $300 towards upgrading my system. <o>></o>>

Sounds to me like you have plenty of power and a power amp would not have given you a sonic improvement.

 

[PENG]

The Emo train has pulled out of the station. He got $350 from a friend of mine while I dithered around. I don’t doubt I would have liked it though but to be perfectly honest I don’t feel I need it. The carpeted room is 18’ x 20’ with the usual furniture and cloth drapes. I sit about 12’ away and I cranked up the volume to +20 on the AVR; no distortion, plenty of bass and sonic clear detailed highs with no ear bleeding. They sounded just like they did in the audio room at Overture Audio when I drove them that high there. Really, what am I missing? Could it be better with an amp? From what everybody tells me on this forum, probably. Can’t miss what you don’t have though and that’s $300 towards upgrading my system. <o></o

You made a great choice by spending money on what counts most, the speakers. Amps are good, can't go wrong with them, but $300 is still a lot of money to waste if you get nothing out of it, other than bragging right, to say that hey, I have 300 WPC on hand when I only use 5W average and peaks up to may be as much as 30W 90% of the time.

 

[English210]

Then the amps in your receiver were distorting.

Is that in response to my post? I agree. The outboard Yamaha 150wpc amp was only marginally better than the Yamaha 150wpc receiver. The new amp is also rated at 150wpc, but it sounds significantly better. The point being that an outboard amp 'could' be a big boost for the OP's Focals. His follow up saying the Emo got sold, and he's got all he needs in terms of volume without distortion means he's happy, and that's what counts.

A very valid point about not knowing what you're missing, which can be a blessing I'm going back and forth with the need to add a center channel (which is tricky logistically), given the imaging is so good with my mains I don't feel I'm missing anything...however the memories are fresh of when I added a sub and didn't realize what I was missing until I heard it!! Would adding a center give me that same feeling? Would adding an amp give your Focals that same boost? If you're happy and don't need to know, then good for you!