Receiver and speakers upgrade

Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
Exactly why i would never buy such expensive amps. I’m going to limit my budget for them 1k receiver, 1k amp. I like the monoprice pretty good. Emotiva xpa2 is really catching my eye. 300wpc. Seems spec’d well enough for its price.
Why would you need a 300w/ch amplifier? If you know the exact sensivity of your front speakers, you should be able to calculate and see whether or not 200 w/ch are sufficient at the following link: http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html
 
Ken32

Ken32

Full Audioholic
What would be your listening position distance from the external amplifier should you get one? Would it be installed in a cabinet or put on a shelf?
17 feet away. The receiver and amp will be in a component stand.
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
It’s 999, and has awesome specs. The extra 100wpc is just a bonus. It punches above competition at a similar price. Speakers are 89db and prefer power up to 250 watts
It doesn't punch the QSC DCA 1622 which has better specs and that you can have for a little less. It has the advantage of being a more rugged amp as it is used in Cineplex and other cinemas across North America. You can't blow up that pro amp. Note that pro amps are more solidly built than most audiophile amps.

The one that I am using in my HT for the front channels is the DCA 1222 which is a 200w/ch at 8 ohms and is as acoustically transparent as any amplifier on the market. You should not question the reliability of that product which has been used since 1998 around the world without any modification since it was released on the market:

https://www.qsc.com/cinema/products/power-amplifiers/dca-series/dca-1622/

This online store sells it for $967: https://socalcinetech.com/product/qsc-dca-1622-amplifier/
 
S

snakeeyes

Audioholic Ninja
Says recommended 15-250
I would check with Peng if he thinks exceeding the 250 watts would be a good idea or not. Not sure if it would damage the speakers to do more than 250. Otherwise I would stay below 250.
 
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Ken32

Ken32

Full Audioholic
I would check with Peng if he thinks exceeding the 250 watts would be a good idea or not. Not sure if it would damage the speakers to do more than 250. Otherwise I would stay below 250.
Just messaged him. I know underpowering speakers can damage them. I don’t think a slight overage would do any harm. Though, i could be wrong.
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
IMO, a 300 watt/ch amp is less than 1dB more powerful than a 250 watt one. I would not worry as speakers can handle up to 4 times their power rating for a peak of milliseconds. The situation would be different if someone was continuously playing music and movie sound tracks at deafening levels resulting in woofer cones moving in excess of their xmax etc. In fact, there is more risk in destroying speakers with an amplifier which doesn't have enough power and distorts rather than producing clean sound.
 
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Ken32

Ken32

Full Audioholic
I would check with Peng if he thinks exceeding the 250 watts would be a good idea or not. Not sure if it would damage the speakers to do more than 250. Otherwise I would stay below 250.
PENG said:
The xpa-2 will output to the speakers to produce loud enough sound level to you. So if you don't listen Loud, it may put out only a few watts or less.

It also depends a lot on how far you sit from the speakers.

Lastly, if the 800f can handle 250 watts, then the xpa-2 is a good match regardless.

That was his reply.
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
But I think that the DCA 1222 with a power rating of 200 clean watts would be sufficient. Your speakers don't require 250 watts to perform. The manufacturer indicates the amplifier powers that it will handle.
At the end, should an amplifier put out 200 watts instead of 250 watts, you won't hear a difference as it means a little less than 1dB difference. You can get the DCA 1222 for $769 from Socalcinetech. I understand that price is a 20% off the MRSP.
 
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Ken32

Ken32

Full Audioholic
But I think that the DCA 1222 with a power rating of 200 clean watts would be sufficient. Your speakers don't require 250 watts to perform. The manufacturer indicates the amplifier powers that it will handle.
At the end, should an amplifier put out 200 watts instead of 250 watts, you won't hear a difference as it means less than 1dB difference. You can get the DCA 1222 for $769 from Socalcinetech. I understand that price is a 20% off the MRSP.
Do they make an amp that doesn’t require rack mounting?
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
One more comment about the QSC DCA 1222, it has a dynamic headroom of at least 1½dB. This means that it will output peaks of over 280 watts at 8 ohms for a tiny fraction of a second which won't distort because of its capacitor reserves.
 
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Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
Do they make an amp that doesn’t require rack mounting?
This DCA line of amps are rack mountable but they come with rubber feet should you decide to install one on a shelf.
 
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Ken32

Ken32

Full Audioholic
This DCA line of amps are rack mountable but they come with rubber feet should you decide to install one on a shelf.
They’ll all be in a component stand anyway. Won’t hardly see it. The specs on that have me looking at it especially for 20% off.
 
Ken32

Ken32

Full Audioholic
One more comment about the QSC DCA 1222, it has a dynamic headroom of at least 1½dB. This means that it will output peaks of over 280 watts at 8 ohms for a tiny fraction of a second which won't distort because of its capacitor reserves.
Would you say this amp is better than the outlaw or monoprice?
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
Would you say this amp is better than the outlaw or monoprice?
All three brands produce acoustically transparent sounding amplifiers. What I like about the QSC is that it weighs only 21 lbs, it draws less current than the two others due to it's switching power supply. In addition, it has a rather quiet variable speed fan pushing air from back to front that keeps it cool; you can put anything reasonable on top, under or around it's sides. It has features which you don't have on the others, such as a clip limiter, pilot lights at -20dB, -10dB powering levels and clipping. Another important aspect is that you cannot kill it!
For all their features, taking into account their Watts/$ performance, I love the four of the pro DCA Series amps in my possession, and I wouldn't buy any audiophile amp in the future, because they don't provide any sonic advantage and most of them don't have as sturdy designs even at several times the cost of these.

You can trust me. Once you have experienced with one, let us know your impressions. I am assured that you will love it. I have no doubt about it.
 
Ken32

Ken32

Full Audioholic
All three brands produce acoustically transparent sounding amplifiers. What I like about the QSC is that it weighs only 21 lbs, it draws less current than the two others due to it's switching power supply. In addition, it has a rather quiet variable speed fan pushing air from back to front that keeps it cool; you can put anything reasonable on top, under or around it's sides. It has features which you don't have on the others, such as a clip limiter, pilot lights at -20dB, -10dB powering levels and clipping. Another important aspect is that you cannot kill it!
For all their features, taking into account their Watts/$ performance, I love the four of the pro DCA Series amps in my possession, and I wouldn't buy any audiophile amp in the future, because they don't provide any sonic advantage and most of them don't have as sturdy designs even at several times the cost of these.

You can trust me. Once you have experienced with one, let us know your impressions. I am assured that you will love it. I have no doubt about it.
That’s awesome. I’m definitely going to order one and try it. Of course a little later after an avr. Which leads me to my next question, should i even bother with a higher end avr now? Will the sound still come from them through the amp? Or does the amp take over the the entire signal? I guess what I’m asking is will it sound the same with a lesser receiver from denon or marantz?
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
That’s awesome. I’m definitely going to order one and try it. Of course a little later after an avr. Which leads me to my next question, should i even bother with a higher end avr now? Will the sound still come from them through the amp? Or does the amp take over the the entire signal? I guess what I’m asking is will it sound the same with a lesser receiver from denon or marantz?
You had decided somehow to go with the Marantz SR7011. That AVR would perform perfectly with the DCA 1222. I am at present driving my DCAs only with a mid-priced SR5010 and I am getting an excellent sound performance.

The sound will still be controlled by the AVR and fed to your external amp through the pre-outs. With the QSC, you will need cables with male RCA connectors from the receiver end to unbalanced male XLR plugs to the inputs on the DCA 1222. When you're ready, PM me and I'll give you info on outfits that can custom make the cables for you, and maybe we could find some already made ones on internet.
Cheers,
 
Ken32

Ken32

Full Audioholic
You had decided somehow to go with the Marantz SR7011. That AVR would perform perfectly with the DCA 1222. I am at present driving my DCAs only with a mid-priced SR5010 and I am getting an excellent sound performance.

The sound will still be controlled by the AVR and fed to your external amp through the pre-outs. With the QSC, you will need cables with male RCA connectors from the receiver end to unbalanced male XLR plugs to the inputs on the DCA 1222. When you're ready, PM me and I'll give you info on outfits that can custom make the cables for you, and maybe we could find some already made ones on internet.
Cheers,
Perfect! Thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction and for all the info. I’m excited about it. My speakers come week after this upcoming (week of Friday the 13th). I’ve already put half down and pay the rest upon pickup.
 

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