Is a Power Amp the Answer?

[Mark Ricotta]

Hi Everyone…

I want to adjust my stereo system to sound extremely clear, virtually distortion-free, strong across all frequencies and loud, without having to turn the volume on my integrated receiver to 70. (More than that, distortion starts becoming apparent.) Plus, I’d like it to be louder, but I loose audiophile sound quality at louder levels with my current line-up.

I’m thinking that adding a power amp and hooking it up to my integrated amp might be the answer. I’ve never done this, don’t know how, and need your guys’ and gals’ input, please.

My current equipment (the brand names of the products are links to specs about the products):

Rotel RA-1570 integrated amp. 120/watts/channel; 80 db S/N ratio, phono stage, 100 db S/N ratio, Digital and LL.

GoldenEar Triton Five loudspeakers. 90 db efficiency, 8 ohms, recommended amplification, 15-400 wpc.

(Also, for the record, Oppo BDP-105, Pioneer PL-550 turntable with Denon DL-110 cartridge, and V-LPS phono stage.)

Three questions, please:

1. First, a fundamental question: Are my Rotel integrated amp and GoldenEar Triton Fives properly matched, in the sense of this: am I maximizing the features of both products, given their respective specifications. (I don’t know; I don’t understand this part of putting together a system whose synergies are maximized.)
   
   
2. I think I can use the Rotel as a preamp and match a 300-watt power amp to it to sound extremely clear, virtually distortion-free, strong across all frequencies and loud, without having to turn the volume on my integrated receiver to 70. Is this correct?
   
   
3. If the answer to question 2 is “yes,” what 300-watt power amp would any of you suggest up to $2,000. (I looked at the reviews of the Emotiva XPA Gen3, but my it was priced at only $800. Of course, as an American, I’m thinking something must be wrong, since all the other power amps in that wattage class are significantly more expensive. Am I right, or is the Emotiva audiophile class?)

Thank you, everyone. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. So happy to be a part of this group.

Mark

 

[j_garcia]

120W with 8 Ohm speakers that are 90dB sensitivity seems like it should get plenty loud, so I guess you are looking for pretty loud. How big is the space?

It does sound like an amp would benefit you based on what you said. I've been using Emotiva amps for at least 10 years and have been solid for me.

 

[Mark Ricotta]

Just a living room. I wish I had a pic to post. About 20 feet x 10 feet.

Someone suggested simply adding a subwoofer, but I don't know - and don't know how to find out -if the Rotel RA-1570 accepts a subwoofer. The word "RoteL' in the original post is a link to the Rotel spec sheet, if you can take a look and let me know. . .if you have a couple of minutes, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Mark

 

[ski2xblack]

That Rotel has pre-outs, so yes, you could use it as a pre-amp.

Keep your speaker's power handling limits in mind before application of copious power. Speaker induced distortion and thermal compression are very real, and increase in direct proportion to how hard you flog your speakers. It's probably sensible to consider truly high sensitivity/high output speakers before getting into the extremes of the brute force approach.

Also consider that you may not genuinely need that much power. Your room isn't that big, your speakers are reasonably sensitive, and the Rotel has quality amplification.

The suggestion of adding a sub (or two) is a good one, and will reward you more than an amp. You can insert something like a miniDSP in the pre-out/main in loop on the rotel for full featured bass management, making a killer 2.1 setup.

 

[TLS Guy]

A power amp is not likely to solve your problem. Yes, I bet you are driving that amp into clipping. However I bet you also have those six inch drivers at their limit. If you up the power you will probably burn the drivers out. The next thing to burn out will be your ears.

I suspect like a lot of recent posters that you are blasting rock music at continuously high levels that never lets amps or speakers catch up.

If you want to play that degenerate art form that to a large extent epitomizes most of what is wrong with the world then you need very different speakers. Go in the JTR website and that will fulfill all your desires until you burn out your chocleas and eighth cranial nerves.

 

[ski2xblack]

 

[slipperybidness]

Hi Everyone…

I want to adjust my stereo system to sound extremely clear, virtually distortion-free, strong across all frequencies and loud, without having to turn the volume on my integrated receiver to 70. (More than that, distortion starts becoming apparent.) Plus, I’d like it to be louder, but I loose audiophile sound quality at louder levels with my current line-up.

I’m thinking that adding a power amp and hooking it up to my integrated amp might be the answer. I’ve never done this, don’t know how, and need your guys’ and gals’ input, please.

My current equipment (the brand names of the products are links to specs about the products):

Rotel RA-1570 integrated amp. 120/watts/channel; 80 db S/N ratio, phono stage, 100 db S/N ratio, Digital and LL.

GoldenEar Triton Five loudspeakers. 90 db efficiency, 8 ohms, recommended amplification, 15-400 wpc.

(Also, for the record, Oppo BDP-105, Pioneer PL-550 turntable with Denon DL-110 cartridge, and V-LPS phono stage.)

Three questions, please:

1. First, a fundamental question: Are my Rotel integrated amp and GoldenEar Triton Fives properly matched, in the sense of this: am I maximizing the features of both products, given their respective specifications. (I don’t know; I don’t understand this part of putting together a system whose synergies are maximized.)
   
   
2. I think I can use the Rotel as a preamp and match a 300-watt power amp to it to sound extremely clear, virtually distortion-free, strong across all frequencies and loud, without having to turn the volume on my integrated receiver to 70. Is this correct?
   
   
3. If the answer to question 2 is “yes,” what 300-watt power amp would any of you suggest up to $2,000. (I looked at the reviews of the Emotiva XPA Gen3, but my it was priced at only $800. Of course, as an American, I’m thinking something must be wrong, since all the other power amps in that wattage class are significantly more expensive. Am I right, or is the Emotiva audiophile class?)

Thank you, everyone. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. So happy to be a part of this group.

Mark

Have you tried to play around with speaker placement and toe-in angles for these speakers?

How is the imaging on your speakers? If you close your eyes, can you pick out exactly where each instrument would be? If you had a movie soundtrack playing on 2 channel with no center speaker would it still sound like the voices are anchored at the mid-point between the speakers?

I ask because I have the GET2 running on 140WPC AVR and I can get them plenty loud, the louder I go the more details that I hear. And, these have some of the best imaging that I have heard. Your speakers shouldn't be a particularly difficult load for an amp.

So, if your imaging isn't stellar, then I suspect that you may have positioning or poor room acoustics at play here.

 

[highfigh]

A power amp is not likely to solve your problem. Yes, I bet you are driving that amp into clipping. However I bet you also have those six inch drivers at their limit. If you up the power you will probably burn the drivers out. The next thing to burn out will be your ears.

I suspect like a lot of recent posters that you are blasting rock music at continuously high levels that never lets amps or speakers catch up.

If you want to play that degenerate art form that to a large extent epitomizes most of what is wrong with the world then you need very different speakers. Go in the JTR website and that will fulfill all your desires until you burn out your chocleas and eighth cranial nerves.

Hi Everyone…

I want to adjust my stereo system to sound extremely clear, virtually distortion-free, strong across all frequencies and loud, without having to turn the volume on my integrated receiver to 70. (More than that, distortion starts becoming apparent.) Plus, I’d like it to be louder, but I loose audiophile sound quality at louder levels with my current line-up.

I’m thinking that adding a power amp and hooking it up to my integrated amp might be the answer. I’ve never done this, don’t know how, and need your guys’ and gals’ input, please.

My current equipment (the brand names of the products are links to specs about the products):

Rotel RA-1570 integrated amp. 120/watts/channel; 80 db S/N ratio, phono stage, 100 db S/N ratio, Digital and LL.

GoldenEar Triton Five loudspeakers. 90 db efficiency, 8 ohms, recommended amplification, 15-400 wpc.

(Also, for the record, Oppo BDP-105, Pioneer PL-550 turntable with Denon DL-110 cartridge, and V-LPS phono stage.)

Three questions, please:

1. First, a fundamental question: Are my Rotel integrated amp and GoldenEar Triton Fives properly matched, in the sense of this: am I maximizing the features of both products, given their respective specifications. (I don’t know; I don’t understand this part of putting together a system whose synergies are maximized.)
   
   
2. I think I can use the Rotel as a preamp and match a 300-watt power amp to it to sound extremely clear, virtually distortion-free, strong across all frequencies and loud, without having to turn the volume on my integrated receiver to 70. Is this correct?
   
   
3. If the answer to question 2 is “yes,” what 300-watt power amp would any of you suggest up to $2,000. (I looked at the reviews of the Emotiva XPA Gen3, but my it was priced at only $800. Of course, as an American, I’m thinking something must be wrong, since all the other power amps in that wattage class are significantly more expensive. Am I right, or is the Emotiva audiophile class?)

Thank you, everyone. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. So happy to be a part of this group.

Mark

If you're running out of power in a room of that size with those speakers and that amplifier, distortion at high SPL will be the least of your problems. If your room is fairly typical WRT reflective properties and if you actually operate in the 120W range, you're already in the area of permanent hearing damage and that makes distortion harder to hear. Hearing damage is progressive and it doesn't magically go back to normal if you stop being exposed to high SPL sounds.

The frequency response specs for those speakers don't show a tolerance, so I'll assume it's +/- at least 3dB, which isn't good if the mid-range is around +3 and the deepest bass is in the -3 area- bass affects the apparent loudness of a system and while bass that's boomy and disproportionately strong isn't good, blaring mid-range and screeching treble make it annoying and cause listener fatigue. A well-balanced system response removes the need to listen at such high SPL and it allows the equipment to survive the experience.

Having written this, it's your ears, your system and I'm not the "Hearing Police", but it would seem that your system isn't producing the sound quality you want, even though you may think the quantity isn't sufficient.

 

[slipperybidness]

If you're running out of power in a room of that size with those speakers and that amplifier, distortion at high SPL will be the least of your problems. If your room is fairly typical WRT reflective properties and if you actually operate in the 120W range, you're already in the area of permanent hearing damage and that makes distortion harder to hear. Hearing damage is progressive and it doesn't magically go back to normal if you stop being exposed to high SPL sounds.

The frequency response specs for those speakers don't show a tolerance, so I'll assume it's +/- at least 3dB, which isn't good if the mid-range is around +3 and the deepest bass is in the -3 area- bass affects the apparent loudness of a system and while bass that's boomy and disproportionately strong isn't good, blaring mid-range and screeching treble make it annoying and cause listener fatigue. A well-balanced system response removes the need to listen at such high SPL and it allows the equipment to survive the experience.

Having written this, it's your ears, your system and I'm not the "Hearing Police", but it would seem that your system isn't producing the sound quality you want, even though you may think the quantity isn't sufficient.

T5 has been measured by Stereophile
http://www.stereophile.com/content/goldenear-triton-five-loudspeaker-measurements#Fppw2qKY7VLQwWF4.97

 

[RBGOBLUE]

ATI amps are amazing

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