High power amp for low level listening?

[Pyrrho]

I agree that speakers have the best goody/$ ratio. My wife won't go with treatments (though I have done what I can and pull the drapes closed for critical listening).

I'm pretty happy with the passive speakers I have. My best speaker is the Focal Solo6 Be which is an active studio monitor. It has a 150W rms, BASH amp to drive the mid-bass and a 100W rms, class AB amp to drive the tweeter.
Here is a link for the curious:
http://www.focalprofessional.com/en/sm6-line/solo6-be.php

It is quicker (more articulate) than the passive speakers I have, but also has more power (I presume) so I was wondering if the a bigger amp might close some of the gap. In the end, it is probably the active configuration which really makes the Solo's different. I'd especially welcome any comments on this!

I would certainly entertain any ideas on speaker upgrades, especially active speakers.
But it is pretty difficult to get higher end speakers in a true A-B scenario.

The biggest difference is probably that those speakers use different drivers (i.e., different woofers and tweeters), and different crossovers and cabinets from your other speakers. Given those differences, they are likely to sound quite different from your other speakers, and this has nothing whatsoever to do with the amount of power you have driving them.

If you are wanting an improvement in sound, I would look for better speakers, not more power (unless, of course, whatever better speakers you find require more power, but that can only be determined after the better speakers are selected). Your Emotiva amplifier, unless it is malfunctioning or all of the reviewers of it are grossly incompetent, is fully capable of giving you superb sound. Neither of those is likely, so you should be looking for speakers that you like as well as or better than your Focal Solo6 Be speakers.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

In the end, it is probably the active configuration which really makes the Solo's different.

I've also heard that Active Loudspeakers are better than passive as well.

I believe most of us think that the additional amps won't give you any improvement.

It's in the speakers.

Start saving up.

 

[wire]

Hi , i dont post here much , on FB to much )) All i can really say is i bought a Bryston 4b over 20 years ago now and never upgraded since . I remember , when i joined this sight , most ppl. here loved the receivers , i have never been a receiver fan since i did buy a a good Amp ( the 4b ) , that was again over 20 years ago . If you want the power and 250 x 2 is still big power now days , not much has changed in Powering amps for alongtime .
If you want the power go buy a amp you think you will live with for the next 20 years + . I recommend any Amp over 200 x 2 . If you can afford a Bryston class amp , its a good investment . Happy hunting

 

[indcrimdefense]

kew, i had to go look, i was thinking of the S4 instead of the S2. the marantz was a 2 channel only 25 or 50w integrated which was not a great match imo. it sounded ok, and it's errors were primarily omission, but was an odd match w/ the S4 imo. the mcintosh combo was easily the best, i don't recall exactly which tube preamp it was, mac cd player, and i think a 200 or 250w 2 channel amp. this was the v1 tweeter, which mac pairs very well with, i have not heard the newer versions enough to be able to offer anything useful, although my understanding is that the tweeter is greatly improved. i have some stuff probably trading in soon so will see what they have set up then.

have also heard the S8 with the same mac setup as above although i think the amp was multichannel. treble and mids were lovely, and i thought about demoing the tube pre-amp but really wanted something that would do multichannel as well. eventually i ended up buying a mac C45. over time (had my S8 for over 3 years) i thought the treble could have an edge w/ less than perfectly recorded material. the wrong component could easily make it worse (classe cdp-500 preamp, which is hyper accurate, umm until all recordings are perfect i don't want that accurate), and the C45 was a perfect match with the S8 and the remainder of my components. to be fair to the classe, i have heard it with different speakers (B&W 802D) and it sounded flawless. just not a great match w/ the S8 v1 tweeter if the recording is slightly sibilant. treble schnack is not pretty.

as for amplifiers, i'm probably not the one to ask lol. i bought cary audio 500MB mono blocks so i'm clearly in the more power camp lol.