U

upperaudio

Audiophyte
Hello! I more recently got a pair of psb image B25 speakers, which I was running on a Harmon Kardon A/V receiver before she decided to dip out and go haywire. Anyway, I'm on the hunt for a new system to power my speakers.

I'm in between getting an amp or receiver. I'll strictly just be looking to play music via CD, RCA (phone), and vinyl player. I will not be looking to connect a TV or any other video through it.

I would greatly appreciate some feedback and direction in which route (amp or receiver) makes the most sense. Also, if anyone has good recommendations for brands and models to buy, that would be awesome!! Looking the bang for my buck route. Anything $250 or below. Thank you!!!
 
J

Jeff R.

Audioholic General
The best bang for the buck can generally be had from the website. Accessories4less.com

Lots of good options. Demon and Yamaha tend to be very popular options.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
U

upperaudio

Audiophyte
Thanks, Jeff.

Pro/cons to getting an amplifier vs receiver, or vice versa?
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
Unfortunately, according to Stereophile, your speakers drop to 3.7 Ohms at 177Hz and you need a receiver with a 4 Ohm rating. This may have shortened the life of your HK AVR if it was one of their entry level models!
https://www.stereophile.com/content/psb-image-b25-loudspeaker-measurements

It is a perverse reality that the economies of scale favor a more complex AVR even though you only need a stereo receiver ... and a stereo amp is even worse. The only thing I found that qualifies is this one from Emotiva:
https://emotiva.com/collections/amps/products/a-100
It's shortcomings are only one input, no remote control, and no phono connections (so it really doesn't qualify).

Even with AVR's and using Accessories4Less (also my favorite for bang for the buck electronics),I could only find one match that included a phono input! On the positive, since it is a 5 channel unit, the power supply should be a little better than that of a very inexpensive ($250) stereo receiver!
https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavrs640h/denon-avr-s640h-5.2-ch-x-75-watts-a/v-receiver-w/heos/1.html

Understand that this is a refurbished unit, but it is refurbished using guidelines approved by Denon (they provide the one year warranty). Buying from A4L has built a solid reputation among forum members as very rarely having problems (defective gear) and when they do, they always deal with the situation fairly!
One thing I would mention is I know you said that you would not connect a TV; however, since this is a modern AVR, I would recommend you hook up a tv temporarily so that you can go through the setup routine (which uses On Screen Display for providing directions). Hopefully you or a friend/family have a small one to connect to get things set up. You may not need them again, but the menu structure used to control all of the options of a modern AVR can get difficult without the ability to see more than one or two lines at a time (the display on front of the AVR).
 
U

upperaudio

Audiophyte
Kew, thank you very much for your thorough and complete explanation through things. I'm leaning towards going with an AV receiver. Just to allow for more options going forward with audio hook-ups. I do think I would be able to expand larger and become more finite with my set-up with an amp, though. I was hunting a bit and found a great deal on a Marantz PM5004 amp, which is why I curious about going that route instead of a receiver.

Anyhow, thanks again for the recs. Jam on!
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
It looks like the PM5004 is rated at 4 ohms, but a little lean on power supply with 45 wpc. Should be okay if you don't listen at high volumes tho.
 
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