New-B Needs New amp suggestion

[Yessup]

Hello all, I just discovered this site and I am hoping someone can offer some advice on a new integrated amp for me.
I purchased some speakers last year (2 ea. Monitor Audio Radius 180, and Monitor Audio Radius 720 Subwoofer)
I am not interested in a home theater, just high quality sound. I mostly listen to my ipod, or cd's. An occasionl movie in stereo is good. My room is small, but I do like to turn it up loud sometimes, and I want it to sound great, but I also want keep it simple & clean
My old amp was an early 90's Onkyo that just died. It sounded good, but I want to upgrade. Also the my subwoofer does not have a single RCA in, rather Left & Right channel. I don't see anything at the Big box stores as all they have is Home theater type amps. My budget is $500-$1000.
Any good suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Gimpy Ric]

Hello all, I just discovered this site and I am hoping someone can offer some advice on a new integrated amp for me.
I purchased some speakers last year (2 ea. Monitor Audio Radius 180, and Monitor Audio Radius 720 Subwoofer)
I am not interested in a home theater, just high quality sound. I mostly listen to my ipod, or cd's. An occasionl movie in stereo is good. My room is small, but I do like to turn it up loud sometimes, and I want it to sound great, but I also want keep it simple & clean
My old amp was an early 90's Onkyo that just died. It sounded good, but I want to upgrade. Also the my subwoofer does not have a single RCA in, rather Left & Right channel. I don't see anything at the Big box stores as all they have is Home theater type amps. My budget is $500-$1000.
Any good suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Welcome to the forums Yessup! I'll make a suggestion that you should take very seriously. Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo, And Denon make low end two channel receivers. Forget that crap, if you don't mind spending $699.00 on an American made receiver.

Outlaw Audio is an American company that makes some seriously hardcore amps for home theater use, i.e. high output multichannel amps. They also make some nice Preamp/Processors for Home Theater. But they did something really cool, and made an old school 2 channel receiver that will drive your speakers to ear bleeding levels. Don't let the 100 watts per channel fool you, this thing has balls in the amp department, like all Outlaw amps, its under rated.

The Outlaw Audio RR2150 Stereo Receiver:

It's got old school stying, that I think is cool. It has A/B speaker selection, so you could hook your mains up to A, and your sub to B .

Read all the features, its really a cool piece.

Ric

 

[Yessup]

Thanks rick, That's looks like the tye of amp I am looking for. What do you think about Rotel?

 

[zumbo]

MA website lits your sub as having a LFE input.

With a 2.1 speaker system such as you have, I would recommend a HT reveiver to utilize it's .1 LFE output. And, you will have the benefit of the receivers bass management.

Here is the perfect deal. This receiver has a lower price compared to others due to it's lack of current AV audio format features. For music, those features don't matter. This is a smoooooking deal. This thing retailed for $1600.

http://www.6ave.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=YAMRXV2700B

 

[Yessup]

I think I need to be educated. Not sure what LFE input is, nor do I know what an HT receiver is. I will google this. Thank You!

 

[Yessup]

Silly me HT (Home Theater) I might be a little dense sometimes

 

[zumbo]

I think I need to be educated. Not sure what LFE input is, nor do I know what an HT receiver is. I will google this. Thank You!

Low Frequency Effects. Single rca output from a AV/HT receiver connects to the single LFE rca input on the sub.

 

[Gimpy Ric]

Hey, he's in this for MUSIC Zumbo, he would just use one or with a splitter both of the RCA's marked left and right. IMO a HT receiver IS NOT the way to go when the OP states this is for music.

Yessup - I love Rotel, what are you looking at? Lemme see what they have...

The Rotel RX 1052 Receiver - $899.00

If this is what your looking at, it sure is sexy! It has no subwoofer outs, so your going to have to use speaker wire, but thats ok, it has A/B speaker selection. Should produce more than 100 Watts per channel.

 

[zumbo]

Hey, he's in this for MUSIC Zumbo, he would just use one or with a splitter both of the RCA's marked left and right. IMO a HT receiver IS NOT the way to go when the OP states this is for music.

Yessup - I love Rotel, what are you looking at? Lemme see what they have...

The Rotel RX 1052 Receiver - $899.00


If this is what your looking at, it sure is sexy! It has no subwoofer outs, so your going to have to use speaker wire, but thats ok, it has A/B speaker selection. Should produce more than 100 Watts per channel.

The Yamaha is 140watts per channel.
It has bass management.
It is a fantastic receiver for 2.1, and is a steal.

I use my HT for 2.1 all the time. Don't you?

 

[Gimpy Ric]

The Yamaha is 140watts per channel.
It has bass management.
It is a fantastic receiver for 2.1, and is a steal.

I use my HT for 2.1 all the time. Don't you?

Yes I use 2.1 all the time but the YAMMIE is heavy on HT features the OP wil never use. I still think Outlaw or the Rotel for music. There may be other high end music receivers out there too. He's got sexy modern decor speakers and sub, he needs a receiver to match

 

[zumbo]

Yes I use 2.1 all the time but the YAMMIE is heavy on HT features the OP wil never use. I still think Outlaw or the Rotel for music. There may be other high end music receivers out there too. He's got sexy modern decor speakers and sub, he needs a receiver to match

I like the clean look of Yamaha. Plenty sexy.

While the features will not be used, they are certainly not being payed for. The thing is $800 for goodness sakes.

There are two important features it has.
1)Bass Management.
2)LFE pre-out.

There is not one thing that particular Rotel has over the Yamaha 2700. Not one.

It would be foolish to miss this deal on the Yamaha. Again, it retailed for $1600.

 

[Gimpy Ric]

OK Zumbo lets let the OP figure out what he wants for his money. He may have more to bring to the table I'm going buggy thinking up High End Receivers for music, i.e. 2.1. Just not that many .

 

[jostenmeat]

There are two important features it has.
1)Bass Management.
2)LFE pre-out.

Well, the Rotel might not, but the Outlaw does has bass mgmt.

However, for 2-ch, I'd opt to use the subwoofer's bass mgmt anyways. I didn't notice goodies like continually variable phase adjustment, nor choices of x-over slope, but those MA subs do have continually variable xover point.

While the features will not be used, they are certainly not being payed for. The thing is $800 for goodness sakes.

Quoting text out-of-order, the speakers don't look like they are very big, or heavy, and I wonder how much power they could handle anyways.

If the primary objective is something of a "sexier audiophile" look, I wonder if a $329 Cambridge would plenty good enough for those speakers. Just curious. That could mean money left over for a good starter set of acoustical treatments. Or heck, a speaker upgrade. He could afford some RS with the money in the pocket.

Anyhow, here's the $329 piece. Only 50w/ch. But, that's what some Yammy receivers measure at as well.
Cambridge Audio 340A

While LFE output would be an added bonus for HT viewing, I have the opinion that room correction is the bigger boon, for that has the potential to greatly improve both 2 ch music, as well as HT. While I have no idea how good YPAO is, I know the OP can easily obtain Audyssey Multi EQ XT easily within the budget.

If the Op decides that he doesn't care about LFE, nor room correction, the Outlaw is a really nice piece, replete with tuner and bass mgmt (that I don't think he needs anyways). It used to be on my short list for integrateds. Those things are very rarely on the classifieds, and when they are, they're gone in a heartbeat.

*I wonder if the subs can auto-detect/auto-switch between hi-level and low-level for ease of switching between 2ch and HT.

j

 

[zumbo]

While LFE output would be an added bonus for HT viewing, I have the opinion that room correction is the bigger boon, for that has the potential to greatly improve both 2 ch music, as well as HT. While I have no idea how good YPAO is, I know the OP can easily obtain Audyssey Multi EQ XT easily within the budget.

Quiet a good point. While there are mixed feelings about it, my YPAO did quiet a good job with my system. It's worth it for the PEQ alone.(That's parametric equalizer for the OP)

I have also spoken with Audioholics employees personally, and they also think highly of YPAO.

 

[zumbo]

Anyhow, here's the $329 piece. Only 50w/ch. But, that's what some Yammy receivers measure at as well.

While this may be a fact for certain units, not this one, it is in reference to surround mode. All channels driven.

This unit states 140 x 7, we all know it won't do that.(all channels driven)

It will do 140 x 2 without breaking a sweat.
This is NOT too much power for ANY mid-high quality speaker.

 

[jostenmeat]

Quiet a good point. While there are mixed feelings about it, my YPAO did quiet a good job with my system. It's worth it for the PEQ alone.(That's parametric equalizer for the OP)

I have also spoken with Audioholics employees personally, and they also think highly of YPAO.

Thanks. Yes, for me, room correction is the greatest boon. I've been posting recently about my hunt for 2-ch correction.

Then for some others, perhaps yourself for instance, just gotta have that LFE.

Then some people just wantt something sleek and simple.

I think I will give a tepid vote towards the HT receiver here. But, I'd completely understand if OP did get the integrated. I personally think that Outlaw looks pretty cool.